THE TRIAL and CONDEMNATION OF THE Two False Witnesses Unto the late MIDNIGHT-CRY Published by M R MASON The Author of that present Great Assembly in Buckinghamshire who are met together under a Deluding Expectation of Christ's Coming to Iudgment on Whitsunday approaching SHEWING Of what dangerous Consequence this may prove to the present Government if they should persist in the same Enthusiasm till next Whitsuntide come Twelvemonth c. under pretence of a literal Mistake c. Licens'd May 14th 1694. LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin â—6â—â— The Tryal and Condemnation of the TWO WITNESSES UNTO THE Late Midnight-Cry WE have credible Information from several Hands that this Mr. Mason a Minister of the Church of England in Water-strafford in Buckinghamshire is a Person of a Pious Life and Conversation who above Three Years ago writ his Midnight-Cry which being a serious and practical Sermon tending to stir up our exceeding vicious and debauched Age to a startling Consideration of the near Approach of Christ to Judgment the great Argument used both by our Saviour and the Primitive Church in those early Days of the Gospel unto constant Watchfulness c. was a grateful Subject unto all the godly amongst us and though there appeared to several at least nothing extraordinary in that Discourse more than to quicken up all sorts to an earnest Expectation of and Preparation unto Christ's speedy Approach to Judgment Mr Mason's Modesty not prefixing any limited Time c. yet it became of such Universal Acceptation with the more pious sort who under this late Great Revolution throughout the Christian World and more especially in these Kingdoms have been waiting for some extraordinary Things immediately Antecedent thereunto that the Book soon spread and not altogether so much from the Title thereof which was singular and startling as from the Curiosity of many who expected to find some prefixed Time or such singular Prognosticks thereof 〈◊〉 might be Equivalent thereunto But being frustrated herein the â—oud Rumor thereof was buried for a Time But soon after the great Enemy of Souls began to lead the Apostate â—ge which like the Rebellious Unbelieving Jews of old was greeâ—ily looking after a Sign into his dark Labyrinth of Error and Conâ—usion and converting himself into an Angel of Light raised up Two â—old-fac'd Men who called themselves The Two Prophets unto the Midnight Cry Ward and Evans who with much admir'd Arroganâ—y and Presumption laboured hard to ingraff a fixed Perswasion into â—â—s That They were immediately called by God to bear witness to the Truth of the Revelations And that They were the Two Witnesses in Apoc. 11. who were to be slain c. Also That God had passed â—n Irrevocable Decree against England for most immediate Destruction more Infallible than that Sacred Oath which he sware against the Jews That they should not enter into his Rest. Making this dangerous Impulse of their deluded Fancy equal with the great Articles of our Faith that are Essential unto Salvation and of the same Divine Signature as is that Testimony or Witness of the Holy Ghost in true Believers The chief Subject of the ensuing Discourse being to detect this Spirit of Delusion and to bring it to a fair Tryal by the Touchstone of Scripture-Truth and to condemn these Arrogant Presumptuous Impostors by the Harmony of the Word of God throughout the Old and New Testament This hath been written Two Years since and was presented to his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury and to some other of the Reverend Bishops and Clergy c. and had then come forth into the Publick if They had thought That had been the fittest Season and in whose Wisdom the Author did confide Since that Time the Infinite Goodness of Divine Providence hath wonderfully preserved these Nations from that Immediate Destruction now Three Years which these Two false Witnesses did then so presumptuously pretend to foretel as if by Divine Revelation was then instantly and inevitably to befal us and which they affirmed with such amazing Confidence as if They had been in the Secret Council of the Almighty These Two who thought themselves little inferior to the Two Anointed Ones that stood before the Lord of the whole Earth being thus shamefully confounded and put to silence by the Event of things which is the surest Interpreter of Visions and Revelations the satanical Spirit of Delusion takes an other occasion to vent it self and now laying aside Ward and Evans transforms it self in a more subtile manner than before viz. through a Dream or Delivery Vision in the Brain of Mr. Mason the Author of that Midnight Cry Herein imitating those Sacred Dreams and Visions of the Patriarchs and Prophets Now by what Fantasms resembling these Sacred and Oracular Visions even some good Men have been Acted in our late days is too long here to particularize it might be wished there had not been so many Instances thereof That Impulse of Mr. Sedgwick called Doomsday Sedgwick is yet too fresh in Memory to be wholly forgotten and is revived on this unhappy occasion now before us It had been greatly to have been desir'd that this Mr. Mason had read a most Elaborate Manuscript now fitting for the Press wherein all the Numbers of Daniel and the Revelations are made to Accord in one and the same Years for the Accomplishment of All these great Changes that are expected coming on the Christian World and particularly the Time for Christs Second Coming and also for The End of the World which Mr. Mason hath so well observed are Two distinct Times in his Midnight-Cry And whereon the whole is Illustrated by the Joynt Consent of all the Prophets in the Old and New Testament and all other parts of Sacred History as also by the great Works and Wonders of God from the Creation to this present Time in their Historical Chronological Mystical and Typical Significations in several Thousand famous Instances A Work of that great Rarity and Acurateness that it hath been perused by some of the most Learned Divines and Persons of Honour and Quality in Foreign Parts as well as by several eminent Divines both of the Church of England and others with extream satisfaction and particular Recommendation unto the World which ample Testimonies c. will be prefixed which when it comes forth in publick may soon remove that darâ— Veil that now is so much spread on all our Faces to say nâ— more In the mean time if the Reader please to afford a deliberate Examination of the many remarkable things presented to his serious consideration in the following Treatise he may soon perceive on what Sandâ— Foundation these Two false Witnesses build their Predictions c. and consequently may the better judge Whether these self-conceited and audaciously confident Men are like to be the Supporters of the Divine Oracles of God or the Harbingers of that Great Midnightâ—Cry which is immediately to precede the Second coming of our Saviour whatever Impressions Mr. Masons
Dreams or Visions have madâ— on that poor deluded Multitude who will find their expectation frustrated in few days to their real shame and confusion of â—â—ce For how can They who proceed so directly opposite unto the wholâ— Sense and Tenour of Scripture Threatnings in all the most severe and positive Comminations against the greatest Sinners which always intend a Condition or purpose of Revocation upon Repentance and are denounced for that great End and not to drive Men or Nations as Ward and Evans have done into the Gulph of Desperation c. I say how is it likely these Ignorant and Presumptuous false Prophets can be sent of God And whether these Brain-sick Impostors who have thus strangely Transformed the Infinite Patience and Goodness of God into false Notions Dreams or Impulses of their own head and which Three Years experience have abundantly demonstrated to be false and also dangerous even to the present Governmeut by strengthning the hands of our common Enemy who watcheth for all such Occasions â—nd weakning the minds of many who otherwise would strenuously â—nd unanimously oppose that Inundation threatning all our ruine whether these Men are likely to be the Two Silver Trumpets for Proclaiming the Great Jubilee or the Second Coming of our Blessed Saviour unto Judgment beginning his Glorious Kingdom here on Earth 〈◊〉 St. Paul had the right apprehensions of that Time 2 Tim. 4. 1. And believe it the great Midnight-Cry Mat. 24. will be of another Nature and Effect both on the True Church of Christ and the Apostate State of Christianity those Wise and Foolish Virgins who both awoke arose and Trimm'd their Lamps at this Alarm Having given this necessary Precaution to undeceive the deluded Multitude who are met together in a great Assembly in Buckingham-shire expecting The Appearance of Christ to Judgment on Witsunday now immediately approaching according to Mr. Masons limited Time in his Dream or Vision which being to expire so speedily as a Week or a Fortnights time will be soon confuted and therefore needs no other Arguments thereunto but the short Event We shall therefore leave that Fraternity to their honest meaning Mr. Mason's Apprehensions which is like to prove no other than the Embraces of Juno in a Cloud c. and cast a more stedfast Eye on the aforesaid Ward and Evans those Two deceived Witnesses c. that so we may rightly inform our selves of what Complexion they are and of what deep and â—hastly Lineaments their Proteus-like Countenance is Composed who â—o speak the Truth in one Word do seem to cast something like a â—ontempt on the Articles of the Christian Faith and also on the Spirits â—â—fallible Testimony and on the Sacred Symbols of Christianity or â—â—ose Seals of the Covenant of Grace by making their Whimsical â—mpulses equal thereunto if not preferring them before the â—â—me That which follows on this Subject is Written in a Letter to a Friend Proving That the most Tremendous and most Positivâ— Judgments of God in Scripture denounced against Persons Cities 〈◊〉 Nations do not lay them under an absolute Necessity of continuinâ— Impenitent or of Perishing under the same Doom exceeding useful botâ— for Sinners of the greatest Obduracy as well as for such who arâ— Wounded under the sense of their Guilt and tempted to Despairâ— who may here clearly behold the Nature of Gods most Simple and Iâ—â—fallible Decree touching the Damnation of every Self-reprobating Sinâ—ner and how it becomes the Antecedent unto but not the Physicâ—â— Cause of their Damnation which Destruction is therefore possible to 〈◊〉 Prevented taken in a Simple and Physical sense and consideration 〈◊〉 Man as a Rational and free Agent whose Will was never forced 〈◊〉 Prenecessitated to do Evil meerly from Gods Decree as the Effect thaâ— follows its Cause although this Decree grounded on his foresighâ— of Mans Self-Reprobation as also his Decree for peculiar Election whicâ— is grounded on no Good in Man foreseen admits of no Frustration These weighty Matters with some other considerations of greaâ— Moment are on this occasion here briefly and clearly handled even to the apprehension of the meanest Capacities and the Judgmeâ—â— of all such whose Education-Light or Interest or Partial and blinâ— Respect of Persons hath not cast a Mist on their Understandings aâ—â— the Arguments are Solid and Orthodox agreeable to the Doctrin 〈◊〉 the Church of England and the Consent of the Universality of Dâ—â—vines beyond the Seas and above all to the whole Tenâ—ur of 〈◊〉 Scripture throughout all its parts A LETTER to a FRIEND On the Occasion of Mr. MASONS's Midnight-Cry AND Those Two false Prophets who most boldly Presumed to Comment thereupon from their Whimsies and Impulses being the Forerunner of and Preparative unto the said Mr. Masons late Deluding Vision which hath gathered such a great Concourse of People in Buckingham-shire to the disturbance of the World Sir SEeing you have been pleased to ask my Opinion of that Book lately published by T. W. and V. E. who call themselves the Two Witnesses to the Midnight-Cry it 's one small part of the Duty and Honour I owe you to Comply with this Request though I â—ave at present something on my hands which hinders me from giâ—ing such an ample Answer as otherwise I might I was in expectation to find some extraordinary thing in that Midnight-Cry not knowing at first sight but this might be that Cry â—retold in Matth. 25. 6. which all agree is to be the Prodromus of Christ's Second Coming immediately to ensue thereon upon which Alarum the Text expresly tells us 1st That the Wise and foolish Virgins who were both asleep Awoke 2d Both these Virgins Trimmed their Lamps 3d. The Foolish go to the Wise for Oyl to furnish their Extinguished Lamps 4th Being repulsed they go to buy Oyl where it was to be sold and while they went to buy The Bridegroom came When I see such a grand effect or something like it throughout the Christian World made up of Wise and Foolish Virgins and that it receives its Life and Influence from this late Midnight Cry I shall be Induced to consider if not to conclude that this Alarum is likely to be That of which our Saviour spoke in the Text before In the mean time the Author thereof doubtless had very Pious Ends in Publishing a Warning to us all so useful and seasonable at all times That the Sins of England and particularly of this City are very great beyond all others in the World besides if we consider the heinous Aggravations we lye under with respect of that clear Sun-shine of Gospel-Light which we enjoy and the many wonderful Mercies and Deliverances God hath wrought out for us beyond what he hath done for others and the many Warnings we have had by several great Judgments both of Plague Fire Earth-quakes War c. and our great Incorrigible Frame growing rather worse and worse under All and therefore that we may have great cause to fear and expect some
extraordinary Desolating Judgments unless we Repent by deep Humiliation and Amendment is that wherein all sober Persons are unanimously agreed and God Almighty grant us all a true Repentance We have also no reason to presume we shall escape better than other People and Nations whom God hath destroyed for less provocations than are found among us unless we throughly amend our ways But yet How long God is resolved to lengthen out his Patience and Long-suffering to a very provoking People concerning whom God hath positively and expresly declared the Limited Periods of his Mercy in his Holy Word and especially when we read in Scriptures how prevalent the Cries and Prayers of one or other of his peculiar Favourites have been in turning away his Wrath from a City or Nation is a Secret amongst his Arcana Imperii into which no Person no not the Holy Prophets and Apostles to whom God did so immediately Reveal himself ought to prieâ—â— Nor will any truly humble and conscientious Person dare presume to affirm and least of all to Determine as our Two Prophets undertake to do with such Confidence and Infallibility as if they had sate in Council with the Almighty and that the Secret of VVisdom and Vnderstanding had been locked up within their Breast And yet if they were Divinely assured that God had revealed a prefixed Period for his Judgment nay though he had confirmed it with a Sacred Oath and that it seemed never so Positive or Irrevocable yet the whole Tenor of Scripture as by and by we shall observe in several great Instances in all its Prophetick parts agrees herein viz. That God reserves a Secret or tacit Condition and either Implicitly or Explicitly resolving notwithstanding to shew Mercy and not to destroy in case of Repentance let their Doom be never so great and the Period never so plainly express'd and this also even when Destruction is Threatned immediately to attend even as at the Door Is any Angel much less any Man Infallibly assur'd but that God may have said of England as he did of Old unto sinful Judah and Jerusalem for whom the Prophet wrestled although they were at that time a greater provocation than all others Jer. 14. 7 8 9. O Lord though our Iniquity testifie against us do thou it for thy Names sake although our Back-bitings are many and we have sinned against thee O the hope of Israel and the Saviour in the time of trouble VVhy shouldst thou be as a Stranger in the Land As a Man that cannot save Yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us and we are called by thy Name leave us not The Prophet better understood Gods Will and had a nearer access to his Heart and was more acquainted with his Secret than T. VV. and V. E. our two late Prophets can pretend to be A Blessed Prophet whereof we have in that famous Text Isa 48. 1 2 c. Hear ye this O House of Jacob which art called by the Name of Israel who swear by the Name of the Lord and mention the God of Israel but not in Truth and Righteousness For they call themselves of the Holy City and Stay themselves on the God of Israel I knew that thou art obstinate and thy Neck an Iron Sinew and thy Brow Brass c. yet thou heardest not yea thou knowest not yea from that time that thy Ear was not opened for I know thou wouldest deal very treacherously and wast called a Transgressor from the VVomb Yet for my Names sake will I defer my anger and for my Praise will I refrain that I cut thee not off for my own even for my own sake will I do it for how should my Name be polluted and I will not give my Glory to another Which is an excellent Coment on that Famous Text in Deut. 32. 26. Where we may see by what wonderful Argument God is pleased to persuade himself from a total Rejection of this his Sinful and Rebellious People who had been a continual provocation to him from the day they came out of Egypt all along in the VVilderness for Forty Years I said I would scatter them into Corners I would make their remembrance to cease from among Men v. 27. Were it not that I feared the wrath of the Enemy lest their Adversaries should behave themselves strangely and lest they should say Our Hand is high and the Lord hath not done All This. v. 28. Though they are a Nation void of Council neither is there any understanding in them And Moses in his Intercession useth the same Argument with God Exod. 32. 12. compared with Numb 14. 13 14 15. Who can tell but God may have spoken thus to England also But T. W. hath published to the World as a Person of extraordinary Call by God and by and by we may discover he takes himself and his Brother V. E. to be those Two Witnesses in the Revelations c. 11. sent to denounce unto us That there is a dreadful Judgment immediately coming on the Land and that the honour of God and of his Justice and of his Goodness to them and their Posterity obligeth him some would do well to perswade him thus plainly to express himself if he knows his own meaning to begin and make an end of them at once pag. 8 And in the same Page he pretends to tell us what kind of Judgment this will be which he would perswade us he is most infallibly certain as of any one Article in his Creed will immediately overtake us his Mercy engageth him to send forth his Army and destroy them And he often repeats it that we may not mistake him in such a matter of importance viz. That this Belief of his That God's Decree is irrevocably gone out to destroy us immediately without any limited Conditions of our Repentance is the Great Point or Article of his Faith as pag. 11. though my Faith in a Judgment immediately coming upon us be the principal thing I am enlightned in c. And pag. 11. I am in the Faith of it still And again in the sane Page If I should grant this a Delusion O how would it break my Faith all in Pieces And therefore there is a necessity laid upon me to maintain that it is from God because I should overthrow my Religion if I did not I wish he knew what his Religion is if he can tell us Again in his Postscript And therefore I dare not so much as admit of an If As much as if he had said God hath determined that all our Repentance shall not prevent his Infallible Decree that is gone out And in pag. 12. he proceeds I cannot tell how any can make out that this Faith is a Delusion but he must reflect upon That Speaking in the Words before of David ' s Testimony of the Spirit touching his own Salvation thus equalling his Impression or Impulse with the Sacred Seal or Witness of the Spirit And if we track him a little further
his fellow Witness comes after and tells us he is sure none will ever have a Warrant from God to speak or write against these things And takes upon him very proudly and arrogantly to determine that Satan hath transformed himself into an Angel of Light in Mr. Baxter's appearing against them with a pretence to vindicate the Truth Ex Vngue Leonem c. Surely it becomes these extraordinary Prophets as they would have us take them to be to shew themselves to be Men of God by Meekness and Gentleness even to those who oppose them and in modesty to mention so great a Subject as the Immediate and irreconcilable Destruction of a Kingdom for which God hath but very lately manifested his miraculous Goodness and Power and his infinite patience and long-suffering convincing the most indocible that he is even yet exceeding unwilling to give us up a Victim to the Fury of the Adversary and a Prey unto their devouring Teeth How ought this Consideration to check if not to â—radicate the most bold presumptuous Confidence and self-Opinion â—f our Two new-raised Prophets who if they knew what a godly â—ealousie meant would fear lest they be left by God to the Judgment â—f spiritual Pride lest the Devil hath transformed himself in them actâ—â—g by the delusory Impressions and Impulses of their own Imaginaâ—â—on and tempting them in this manner unto such dangerous and almost unparallel Presumption as they seem guilty of in sober and understanding Persons thoughts and how greatly doth it become them â—o lie prostrate in Dust and Ashes lest God in his Judicial Anger â—mite them dead for daring in such a confident manner to enter into the Secret of his Decree and with the Bethshemites to look into the Ark 1 Sam. 6. 19. Their Delusion may evidently appear to any who will please to weigh the following Considerations CONSIDERATION I. Touching God's Predeterminate Will Decree or Purpose concerning Judgment on any Person City or Nation although it be threatned most positively and expresly in Scripture yet they always carry with them a secret or tacit Condition or Limitation and are never to be understood as Irrevocable MANY famous Instances hereof we have in SCRIPTURE 1. God seemed most positive that he would drown the old World repeating his purpose many times without once expressing his Resolution to spare them if they repented at least that we read of but plainly threatning to wait no longer than One hundred and twenty Years Gen. 6. 7 15 17. compared with ch 7. 4. and at the end of that period then to destroy them Yet this had a secret Condition in it with a Resolution to have spared them upon Repentance and God's Patience and long-Suffering towards them in bearing and forbearing so long had a direct tendency unto this great End 1 Pet. 3. 20. compared with Rom. 2. 4. 2. God seems most positive for Pharaoh's Destruction and several Texts plainly tell us God hardned him Exod. 4. 21. 7. 3 13 14. 9. 12 15 16. And S. Paul sets him forth as a famous Figure of that which we call Reprobation Rom. 9. 17 c. Not that God is Active in hardning any Sinner or in tempting any unto Evil as Jam. 1. 13. but only is pleased to deny to some his sanctifying Grace for their abuse of the Strivings of the Spirit in his common Grace or in a Word for sinning unto high degrees against the Light and Conviction of their Illuminating Conscience And because this most just denyal is the Antecedent of that Infallible Consequent viz. Hardness of Heart and Impenitency and bears such an Analogical resemblance of the Cause and it's Effect therefore the Scripture so frequently expresseth it as if God was Active in it as the simple or Physical Cause of hardning wicked Men which in reality is no other than his leaving those self-hardning Sinners who resolve to persist in Sin without fear and trembling against the checks and wounds of their Enlightned Conscience unto the Lusts and Corruptions of their own Hearts which without his Sanctifying Grace will assuredly arise daily unto greater and stronger Rebellions and end in final Obduracy Unbelief and Impenitency Pharaoh was left by God to the liberty and freedom of his own Will for who questions but he had the power to let Israel go as appears plainly from Exod. 3. 19. Chap. 9. 30 34. but he first hardens his own Heart against God before God in his Just Judgment left him to himself as Ex. 5. 3. 8. 15 32. 9. 30 34. And the Heathen Philistines had learnt so much Divinity that the grand Cause of Pharaohs Destruction was to be layd at his own Door and not at Gods in that Famous Text of 1 Sam. 6. 6. God really desir'd Pharaoh should Obey him and had rather he should have Turned and Lived for ever in his Favour then to have perished in his Sin if we dare credit the Scripture and take it in its own express words without Mens Glosses and Coments Exod. 4. 5 8 9. 6. 13 29. 7. 1 2 8. 10. 9. 20. And Chap. 10. 3. puts it yet more clearly out of doubt How long wilt thou yet refuse to humble thy self before me And to make it yet more evident we are to consider that the First Threatning God sent him was The Death of the First-born throughout Aegypt and this Judgment was the same that after all made him bow by force Exod. 4. 23. compared with Ch. 11. 1 4 5. Thus Gods Patience and Long-suffering waited on this self-destroyer to bring him unto Repentance and Salvation as 2 Pet. 3 9. And thus it waiteth at this day on the great Enemies or Oppressors of his Church 3. What more positive than the Destruction of the Canaanites several times Sentenced to be all cut off Exod. 23. 24. Deut. 7. 2 16 20. and if any of them remained it 's expresly forbid to make any Covenant with them Exod. 23. 32 34. 12. 15. Deut. 7. 2. and yet repenting Rahab is preserved and the crafty Gibeonites famous League with Josuah was such a Heavenly Mystery that the Sun and Moon was made to stand still a whole Day while Josuah fought for their defence Josh 9. 15. compared with Ch. 10. 12 13 14. whereby all the World were invited to take Cognisance thereof 4. What more plainly foretold and threatned than the Destruction of the Jews Deut. 29. 28 29. and of Jerusalem by the Babylonians Ezech. 21. 7. 2 Kings 20. 17 18. Ch. 23. 26 27. The last Text telling us this should come to pass for the Sins of Manasse Nor did Hezekiah and Josia the two most Pious Kings of Judah prevail to alter Gods resolution herein notwithstanding their great zeal in Reformation And yet for all this if Zedekiah had gone forth to meet the King of Babylons Princes then he should have lived and Jerusalem had not been burnt notwithstanding all the Predictions of the Prophets from God himself threatning the same as by an Irrevocable Decree Jer.
Heresie and to condemn their horrid Impiety and Blasphemy who pass their wicked Sentence of Irrevocable Damnation on whom they please so opposite to the End of Gods Severest Threatnings against the greatest Enemies of his Church throughout the Scripture making the Silly and Ignorant think They only are Heavens Secretaries of State and the Registers of Gods Vnalterable Decrees These Considerations I hope through Gods Blessing may Strengthen Comfort and Establish many poor Self-condemning Christians who under Hellish Suggestions and Temptations do entertain very unworthy apprehensions of the Eternal Infinite Goodness Mercy Justice Wisdom Truth and Love for God is Love 1 John 4. 8. And that we may rightly understand how his Irrevocable Decree for the Damnation of some can consist with Vnlimited Goodness and Love we are to consider that it is Grounded upon his Eternal Fore-knowledge of the wilful and final unbelief of all those from whom the most Just and Righteous Judge of all the Earth as Gen. 19. is pleased for most wise reasons never to be understood by us in this World to deny and withold Special Sanctifying Grace whose Sovereign Will and Pleasure herein is not the Real or Physical Cause of their final Impenitency or Damnation but only the Antecedent to that Infallible Consequent as the withdrawment of the Sun is the Antecedent of Darkness Jer. 2. 17. Hast thou not procured this unto thy self v. 19. Thy own Iniquity shall Correct thee Hos 13. 9. O Israel thy Destruction is of thy self but in me is thy help Yet lest we mistake on the other hand we are to know that Gods most Absolute and Sovereign Will to deny Sanctifying Grace to some which he gives to others is the Causa sine qua non for without this Will they had not perished but not the Physical or Natural Cause of their own Damnation because it doth not Actually Compel or Influence no not that Debile part of Man's Free-will that yet remains since the Fall unto any Sin And this is that VVill of God to save some and pass by others whom he pleaseth of which the Apostle speaks in Rom. 9. 19 c. which no Man ever did or ever can resist CONSIDERATION II. They to whom God was pleased to reveal most of his Secret Council throughout the Scripture have been Men of extraordinary Holiness and Exemplary Piety such who were to do or suffer beyond all or most others for the Testimony of the Word or for the Name and Glory of God THIS is so clear that it needs no words to confirm that wherein all Men are agreed And perhaps our Two Witnesses might consider that the Vnbelieving Age we live in would Question their Eminency for Sanctity coming only from their own Testimony of themselves and therefore may have endeavoured to persuade the World that they have set themselves apart for Martyrs speaking positively of their readiness to Sacrifice their Lives in the maintenance of this Article of their Christian Faith CONSIDERATION III. As to the way and manner of Gods Discovery of Judgments or Mercies we find it various in Scripture viz. by Apparitions Voices Angels Dreams Visions c. But it is the Vnanimous Opinion of Divines and other Solid and Vnderstanding Christians that every of those ways are long since Ceased 1. WHatever the Holy Prophets and Penmen of the Word speak in a way of Prediction as it had immediate relation unto Judgments yet what they foretold was always most Congruous unto the Tenour of Gods Covenant And here we might enlarge But to be brief we find throughout Sacred Writ that the Conditions of the Covenant are these 1st Severe Chastisement in case of a long continuance and growth in Sin and Obstinate Rebellion 2d Gods greater readiness to return to be Gracious even in the greatest height and aggravations of their Sins and under the seeming most Forlorn Circumstances than we can be to Repent and turn to him that so we all may be assur'd no State on this side Hell with respect unto Gods severe Indignation threatned is remediless and wholly desperate Now if our Two new Prophets are to be tryed by this Touchstone we may easily perceive what Spirit moves them unto such Presumption as to assure the World that our Nation though God knows a most wicked â—nd Rebellious People are past all Recovery or that it is Impossible God can or will give Repentance to us for so we are to conclude 〈◊〉 Judgment is Immediately and Irresistibly to overtake us By what â—pirit these Men are Acted let all Judge 2. The great End why God discovered himself by these Ways in his â—acred Predictions is now Ceased and therefore all such ways of â—iscovery since that time are Ceased with respect to any matter of â—ublick Prophecy relating to a City or Kingdom Now the great â—nd of Sacred Visions in the days of Old were 1st To beget a Holy â—we and Reverence in the Church towards those Persons whom God Selected out from many in and by whom to make an immediâ—te discovery of his Mind and Will not thereby to lift them up who were more humble and more afflicted and less in their own and others Eyes than most good Men beside 2. That the Sacred Oracles of his VVord might be Sealed up thereby both to that present Age and to â—ll future even to the End of the World But we are not to expect â—â—nce the Evangelists and Apostles any other Writings of the Immediâ—te Inditement of the Holy Ghost as all theirs were And therefore to â—â—tertain any Men as Prophets raised up by his Immediate Inspiration to â—ublish any Predictions unto a City or Nation of as Infallible Certainty as 〈◊〉 written VVord and how much more then when the Matter â—â—ey foretel is contrary to the Tenour of all Scripture Threatnings â—hich never excludes a Possibility of avoiding the Judgment by Repenâ—â—â—ce is to offer high Indignity to God himself and to his written â—ord and to all the Holy Prophets and Penmen thereof 3. This written VVord St. Peter makes to be a more sure and safe 〈◊〉 for the Church to walk by than that Voice of the Father which was â—â—â—rd by him and Two more of Christs Disciples and Favourites James 〈◊〉 John at our Saviours Transfiguration on the Mount although it 〈◊〉 from the most excellent Glory and confirmed the Truth which was Testified throughout the whole Scripture and is one of the most importaâ—â— Articles of our Faith viz. that Christ was the Father's beloved Son aâ—â—sent among us that we should Hear him preaching to us 2 Pet. 1. 1 〈◊〉 18 19. But we have a more sure VVord of Prophecy c. A famoâ— Text to assure us how eminently God hath honoured his written worâ—â—â— Which confutes the pretended Authority of Rome's Tradition and alâ— of any who would impose their Impulses and Impressions on the Worlâ— as if they were to be reverenced like the holy Scripture 4. All that before hath been said doth not gainsay but that
9. 24. That Scripture in Ezek. 14. 14. may be Objected Though Noah Daniel or Job were in it yet they should deliver but their own Souls Answ 1. We all know God sometimes makes a plain discovery of a limited Period for his Mercy to a City or People with this Prov so That if they Repent not in that time they shall be Destroyed But where do any prove that this present Year is Englands last Period for continued Mercy Conjectures are many perhaps but we must not Build our Faith on Impressions or Impulses and Idolize our own Apprehensions Answ 2. If we attentively consider the aforementioned Text we may find how much we all lie under a Vulgar mistake for that Scripture often repeats it that we might take a particular notice thereof and not run into a dangerous Error God there tells us plainly and no more that yet I learn viz. That when he is so highly provoked with a Nation as to Begin to bring his Desolating Judgments thereon or in the Scripture words when his Decree hath begun to bring forth it may sometimes so happen though it seems not to be a constant General and Infallible Rule as in the Case of Phineas Intercession when the Plague was begun and other Instances That he will not hear the Prayers of his greatest Favourites but will proceed to destroy And if notwithstanding that harder Text be Objected in Jer. 15. 1. It is as easily Answer'd For Jerusalems Destruction was thereby foretold in all the appearance of Irrevocable Judgment and yet as was before observ'd in the 4th Note under the 1st Consideration notwithstanding all if Zedekiah had gone forth to meet the King of Babylon's Princes the City had certainly not been destroyed by the Babylonians Answ 3. Our plain Rule is this That none ought to conclude their condition or the State of any Nation or People so desperate as to be exempted from all hope of Mercy or Salvation no though God possibly Denounceth Destruction and prefixeth a very speedy Time or Day without any Condition limited As that Famous Instance in Ninive may serve once for all There God had Twice declared it positively that within Forty Days that City should be Destroyed first to Jonah before his Storm Jonah 1. 2. compared with ch 3. 2. and afterwards It may be Asked whether if Immediate Destruction should come upon England will not this plainly Evidence these Two Men were Divinely Inspired and sent by God Answ This will no more prove they have the Spirit of Prophesy and are immediately sent by God than it proves that any Minister hath that Divine Gift in an Extraordinary manner because he publisheth he Verily Believes or is fully persuaded some sudden Judgment is coming upon us and yet I make not this an Article of my Faith and least of all to believe we are in a Remediless Condition For with God all things shall be possible unto them that believe And how many Philonides are their amongst us who need no Extraordinary Inspiration to make them believe the same But to draw the Eyes of all Men upon them as Extraordinary Prophets of God raised up to denounce against England a desolating Judgment Immediately and Irrevocably falling on us is such a Secret as if God intends to accomplish the same yet perhaps he hath not revealed it to any Angel or Creature And it is very evident that several great Evils are like to follow if these Mens Impulses are taken for Oracular Truths As 1st their own Self-exaltation Pride Self-â—onceit as if the World must needs fix their Eyes in a singular manâ—er upon these Two Persons as the Two witnesses in the Revelation They â—re not Jealous of themselves it seems how far Satan may become â—ransform'd into the white Devil and hold a Dominion in â—â—eir Spirits 2. It occasions Profane Men to deride Piety and to â—ontemn the Christian Religion and the Seals of the Covenant and to â—ullifie and Ridicule that precious Faith of true Believers by which â—â—ey are Justified Adopted and Sanctified and to think contemptibly of the Seal or Witness of the Spirit by whose Infallible Light Believers are more or less Divinely assured that they are the Children of God A more sure and safe Testimony than all Visions and Revelations than all Voices and Secret Impulses and Impressions 3d. It serves excellently for blowing up that Animosity that still remains in a sort of Men amongst us who so much desire yea thirst after and wait for Englands Calamity and Imbrument in War Blood and Confusion and who will not want â—absheka's fine-spun Argument to perpetrate their Mischief as if they were sent out against our Land to Execute by Immediate Commission from GOD himself his â—â—revocable Decree 2 Kings 18. 25. Thus I have endeavoured to Answer yours according to my Capacity and that strait of Time â— was then in when your Commands came to my knowledge The Lord gives us all a right understanding of his Word that we may not be tossed to and fro by every Wind of Doctrin but Established in 〈◊〉 and Holiness and Comfort and Assurance with full perseverance unto the End and that we may by this Divine Touchstone now presented before us Try the Spirits of these and all such like Pretended Prophets and Impostors which are gone forth into the World to deceive if possible the Elect themselves who shall all be kept by the mighty Power of God through Faith unto Salvation If real benefit may hereby redound to any single Person and more especially to Troubled Souls lying under a deep sense of their own Irrevocable Doom c. I shall heartily bless God who hath granted me my chiefest End in Publishing these few Leaves and shall have cause to rejoyce that no discouragements either from within my self or from others c. have any longer detained this Epistle from your genuine Censure thoâ—gh its prolixity may be sufficient Ground to ask your Pardon for so large a Trouble But your Goodness is such as makes me depend upon the grant of this Request who am Sir Your Humble Serrvant to Command ERRATA PAge 5. line 15. dele whereon p. 10. l. 24. for Prophet r. Proof p. 11. l 15. dele that