AN ALARM TO THE VVORLD OF THE Appearing of Sions KING OR A brief Discoverie of the foot-steps of the Lord upon EARTH Isaiah 24. 19. The Earth is utterly broken down the Earth is clean dissolved Matth. 25. 6. And at midnight there was a crie made behold the Bridegroome cometh goe ye out to meet him Rev. 16. 15. Behold I come as a thief blesed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and I see his shame LONDON Printed for Giles Calvert at the Black-spred-Eagle at the West-end of Pauls 1649. To the READER Honored Friend WHen thou openest this little Book for to travel through it if thou meetest with any thing that thy heart cannot close with as possibly thou mayst yet let thy heart respect thy friend who hath writ his heart to thee and watered the lines with his tears by reason of beholding the earth watered with blood I with the blood of Kings Princes and mighty ones of the Earth and yet further he will proceed in blood even to the horse bridles and what I have writ I have writ not respecting the person of any man but out of pure love to all and in love I have told you in part what you are and what I am my self and in part what will become of us all I have not written any thing in the least against Kings and powers with a grudging heart or a scorning of Kingly Authoritie but exceedingly honoring them all and by this it is manifest in giving you notice and warning of the great Kings coming who is the King of Kings and therefore will unthrone all Kings and overturn all Kingdomes and all powers and none but the Lords King and Kingdome shall stand Friend Thou wilt finde something written in a very mysterious way But time shall declare and dayes to come shall bring forth to the view and knolwedg of all every mysterious truth of God especially to them who are saved and called with a holy calling And therefore in the holy number if thou art one of the holy number thou art honored with a Princely name which name is Israel and it belongs as a gift given to the Princes of Israel to know the mysteries the very inside mysteries of the Kingdome of Heaven where Christ thy King hath dwelt ever since his ascending but now ready to be revealed in these our dayes being the last dayes of the last dayes in the which all things that are written shall be fulfilled even so Amen THOMAS BANASTER TO all Emperours Kings Princes Rulers Iudges Magistrates and Powers throughout the earth after what name or Title soever mentioned with all Ministers and people high low rich poore noble and ignoble and thou Israel amongst the rest throughout the whole inhabitable parts of the world do I send greeting with a word Behold the King of Kings is coming now with Clouds to visit you and by and by with light THOMAS BANASTER AN ALARM TO THE VVORLD OF THE Appearing of Sions KING Revelation 1. 7. verse Behold he cometh with Clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the Earth shall waile because of him even so Amen WHeresoever you finde the word behold written you finde something more then ordinary following it something very excellent very admirable and wonderfull and also something very terrifying and amazing by reason of the great destruction which attends it which things at their appearing let them be either joyous or grievous they will cause great admiration great wondering and great astonishment upon all people and paleness upon all faces here followeth this word behold joy peace rest salvation with eternall glory also fear trouble confusion plagues Judgments with eternal misery Therefore Hear ye dispisers and wonder and perish and hear ye Saints and in hearing rejoyce and blesse his name who is your King and coming now with clouds which appearing will cause great joy of heart and great sorrow of heart ye shall joy for joy of heart and they shall sorrow for sorrow of heart for here is life and death joy and peace hasting on apace for the Lords warning peece is shot off upon the world to give warning to the world of the coming of Jesus Christ and that there is such a thing reade Phil. 3. 20. Our conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for the Saviour Heb. 9. 28. And unto them that look for him he shall appear the second time c Titus 2. 13. Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God Revel 22. 20. Loe I come quickly even so come Lord Jesus This coming of Jesus Christ will be a coming to the purpose his second coming therefore hear ye sons and daughters of Jerusalem your King is come and yet coming still but it is a cloudy coming or appearing He that you have waited for so long and looked for with so many a long look with fetching of many a long sigh and groane and in the bottome of your sigh was written Lord when wilt thou appear why behold he is now coming to thee oh thou afflicted soul to ease thee of all thy troubles and to deliver thee from al thy many sufferings which thou hast suffered for this many thousand years by thy own evill heart and fleshly minde and also by wicked men which hated thee and thy King therefore now lift up your heads and cast sorrow from your heart for he that is your joy is descended the second time behold he cometh Here are three things considerable in these words first who it is that proclaims this news with a behold he cometh it is the Lord by the mouth of John Secondly what it is he proclaimes it is of the coming of Iesus Christ Sions King Thirdly to whom it is proclaimed it is to all the world good and bad godly and prophane and the reason why it is proclaimed to all is because all shall see him and every eye shall see him The first appearing of this King is a cloudy appearing and this cloudy appearing will be a dark tempestuous confused and destructive appearing and also bloudy and for the proofe of this read Isaiah 50. 3. Psal 97. 1. The Lord raignes let the earth rejoyce and the multitude of the Isles be glad thereof clouds and darkness are round about him and Psalm 18. 9. The Lord bowed the Heavens and came down and darkness was under his feet This Scripture is fulfilling in this your dayes the second time and then it will be finished The Lord raigns do not ye see and feel his power and if not why do ye tremble oh ye Inhabitants of the Earth Psalm 99. 1. The Lord raigneth let the people tremble and let the Earth be moved Ye finde it also in the Text and that cloudy raigning there mentioned or coming is now The Lord is entered his Throne upon Earth but entered with clouds and darkness and sits there with clouds and darkness round
have an end therefore thus saith the Lord remove the Diadem take off the Crown this shall not be the same exalt him that is low and abase him that is high for I will overturn overturn overturn and it shall be no more untill he come whose right all is Let me tell you all that are in power let it be kingly or not kingly you shall all be overturned and for the Kings of the earth if they were once as the signet upon the Lords right hand yet now their time is come of being pluckt from thence Oh how all the world startles at the footsteps of the Lord upon earth being they are cloudy dark bloody and tempestuous steps indeed well ye may fear when the Lord appears surrounded with clouds and tempests who is he that will not fear and be in great trouble in that day why this is the day Psal 50. 3. Our God is come ye must now reade it the verse indeed runs Our God shall come and shall not keep silence a fire shall devoure before him and it shall be tempestuous round about him Esay 30. 30. The Lord shall cause his glorious voyce to be heard and shall shew the lightning down of his arm with indignation of his anger with the flames of devouring fire scattering hail-stones and tempests you know clouds are the forerunners of storms and tempests and this the cloudy appearing of the Lord hath caused for to be great storms and amongst many one is this the storm of war Esay 3. 25. Thy men shall fall by the sword and thy mighty in the war Is it not thus let me tell you the war that is now in the world is the war that Christ spake of long ago and that was the war of wars though not the first yet the last war and that war is the confused and unnaturall war a war having many divisions in it Luke 12. 51 52 53 here is division upon division the father and the son the mother and the daughter each one against the other and a war that causeth most to be offended Matt. 24. 10. Then shall many be offended and betray one another and hate one another it is an iniquity-abounding war verse 12. great tribulation attending of it vers 21. This shall be in the day of the Son of man how is it that ye do not discern this time you shall hear of wars saith Christ but not only kingdom against kingdom but kingdoms divided Cities Towns and Families divided and divisions in every mans heart too as well as in the kingdoms Hear all once more The Lord is come down with a sword in his hand which sword hath a long time been bathed in heaven and now it is fallen upon every accursed thing or upon the people of his Curse Esa 34. 5. Come near O Nations and hear Kings Priests and People and thou Israel for you are all turned out of the way and now the Lord hath met with you look how every man comes bleeding back some die in the place where the Lord met them and some falne by the way in their retreat We have all turned aside from the Lord and therefore wo be unto us Esay 10. 1 2 3 4. Wo be unto them that decree unrighteous decrees and turn aside the needy from judgment and take away the right from the poor that widows may be their prey O how is this Scripture fulfilled in this our age therefore all our glory is like to come down nay it is falling it is falling it is falling for the Sword is drawn I must call it the Sword of the Lord the Lords sacrificing Sword which will not regard neither Kings Priests nor People because all are falne from the Lord Jer. 6. 13. For from the least of them to the greatest from the People even unto the Priest all are given unto covetousness Israel thou art not out of the number the Lord hath a controversie with you among the rest Hosea 4. 1 2 3. Hear the word of the Lord ye are all unclean and a polluted generation fit for nothing but to fall by the Sword of the Lord and to be devoured by the fire of his jealousie not regarding Kings Ezec. 39. 18. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the Princes of the earth every one hath taken of the accursed thing and every one shall drink of the bloud which his bathed Sword lets out and therefore the Lord hath called for a Sword Esa 13. 3. I have commanded my sanctified ones I have called my mighty ones for my anger vers 11. He will punish for iniquity and cause the proud to cease vers 12. The Lord will make a man more precious then the fine gold behold this is the day the Sword of the Lords vengeance is come down in this the day of the Lords vengeance and in the year of the recompence of the controversie of Sion therefore behold the day of the Lord God of Hoasts the day of his vengance a day of wrath a day of trouble of distress of wastings of clouds of thick darkness that no man knows where he is for every man walks up and down like blind men that is the reason that every man runs upon the sword of his brother friends All things and all powers and all practises are corrupt and perfectly corrupt and this cloudy power is to destroy them and now being come destroy he will and that Nations not a few and for that end the Lord hath called for a Sword and this Sword shall enter into all the inhabitable parts of the earth Me thinks I see where the Lord hath called up his sanctified ones and I hear him still calling them up in all the kingdoms of the world and ere long you shall hear of the Sword of the Lord being drawn and sheathed in the sides of all Kingdoms by a civill war England thou hast begun to drink blood and thou shalt yet drink one draught more to all the world and they shall pledge thee round in a bowl of blood again for the Lord will give them all blood to drink therefore Hear all ye sanctified ones of the Lord whom he hath called up to offer up a sacrifice of blood in what Nation or Kingdom so ever you are Esay 13. 3. Esay 54. 16. The Lord hath created you for to destroy and called you to do that that never was done and to unthroan that never was unthroaned throughout the world yea and that quickly Jer. 25. 26. And all the Kings of the North far and neer one with another and all the kingdoms of the world which are upon the face of the earth wherefore look now on your left side for there I suppose is a sword it is the Lords bathed sword his sacrificing sword the sword of the Lords vengance turn you whether you will ye shall never be prevailed against so as to be conquered by a sword of steel of the world you shall have power
their King who hath taken to himself his great power and reigns although it be but with clouds and as his coming is a cloudy coming so his wrath that he poures forth is a cloudy wrath the day of the Lords wrath is come and yet still to come and it hasteth greatly thou hast outward temporall wrath falne upon thee from the Lord and therefore ye are intombed in your own blood the Lord hath waited long upon the world for their filling up the measures of their fathers wrath and now they are full the world is full of evill and darkness hands full and minds full and hearts full and now behold he is come to recompence wickedness filled up to the brim with plagues filled up to the brim and my King hath begun with the plague of the sword called by the name of a Sicle Joel 3. 13. and in verse 9. A Sword you wonder a at these strange things that befall you and you say in your trouble you think the world is almost at an end why thy world O worlding is almost at an end it shakes mightily it reels apace and would quickly fall were but thy doom read to thee you shall receive your doom here and sentence in this world where you have passed sentence upon so many of the Lords heritage thy sentence hath been upon them Let them die the death Psal 94. 21. They gathered themselves together against the souls of the righteous and condemned the innocent blood the very same sentence is passed upon thee from the Lord with a wo Esay 33. 1. Wo to thee that spoilest and wast not spoiled and Esay 54. 17. wo be to you indeed for you have risen up against the Lords heritage and now the Lord is risen up against you you have judged the Fathers beloved many thousand years and he is now come for to judg you and the first Judgment is this a wounding you all with a taking peace rest and quietness from you and so taking that you shall never see it more because the day of the Lord is come the day which thou hast so long desired with a praying Thy kingdom come Thy will be done and Hallowed be thy Name thou mayst now it may be call to minde what you have said all of you and whom you are angry with how many times have you said Hallowed by thy Name Thy kingdom come you little know what you said and what you desired you prayed for the Lord to come and glorifie his name which you and I and all the world have prophaned all our dayes and you prayed for the Lords Power Justice and Judgments to fall upon you behold it is come according to your desire although it be with clouds and that is the reason why Kings fall and lose their Crowns and Thrones too the Lord the Lord of hoasts my King whose possession all the kingdoms are is come and earthly Kings have do and shall perfectly fall before him for all kingdoms are the Lords and he is now come for to take possession of them Dan. 7. 13 14. Behold one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of dayes and there was given to him dominion glory and a kingdom what wilt thou do O world now thy long desire is granted or where will ye stand the Saints fear and are so moved they cannot tell where to stand Mal. 3. 2. But who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth Behold he is come and you are doubly miserable by it and in a worse condition then ever you were for there went out a wo against you long ago for this thy desire Amos 5. 18. Wo unto you that desire the day of the Lord for the day of the Lord is darkness and not light even very dark and no brightness in it therefore what profit hast thou by it but rather trouble fear with great astonishments and sorrow added and in stead of a Lyon a Lyon and a Bear and a Serpent too for to bite and to tear and who shall deliver you out of his hand you are hurt and in trouble and yet you cannot tell who hurt you why it is the Lord and nothing but the Lord and he is come for to gather you for destruction the day of the Lords gathering is the day of the worlds reeling too and fro Esay 24. 19. The earth reels too and fro I must reade it and is removing like a Cottage and the transgressions thereof are heavie upon it and shall fall and never rise again there are great breakings up and great cries in verse 11. and the 21. the Lord punishes the Lord is risen to the pray do you not hear the sound of his feet nay ye do not only hear but feel not only feel but see and yet ye cannot tell that the Lord is come down and that is your plague Mich. 1. 3. Behold the Lord cometh forth out of his place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth and the mountains shall be moulten under him you are all in great trouble and in fear and you would fain know what the meaning of it is and to what it will grow thus much is the meaning of all your trouble it telleth you the Lord and Sions King is come down upon the earth and by reason of his presence the earth shakes and fears and trembles I and sinks under him being not able to bear his weight nor to behold his cloudy presence indeed it is impossible but that it should fear for the breaker up is come up and hath broke up Mich. 2. 13. And Michael the Prince stands up and my Lord is risen and your King is before you O Saints this is a mystery Dan. 12. 1. And there is now come and for to come still such a time of trouble as never was for that must be shaken ye and is shaking that never was shaken and that must be removed that never was removed because that that is to be brought to my Father is that that never yet was brought heaven and earth must be removed before thy glory shall come to thee O Israel Oh how heaven and earth does shake at this the cloudy appearing of Jesus Christ Friends where are you all where do you now stand in this the day of the Lords shaking heaven and earth let me tell you one thing in a mystery again all are risen out of their seat in heaven because of the great shaking there and all are risen out of their seat on earth and dare not sit any longer there because of the great shaking there Behold I shake heaven and earth sea and dry land all Nations and then the desire of all Nations shall come and fill ye all O ye Israel with his glory Hag. 2. 6. Heb. 12. 26. Oh what a shaking is there of both things visible and invisible there is a leaving strong holds visible and a leaving