upon the Reformed an united endeavour to search by the Books of Scripture and other Ecclesiastical Records with Prayer what and what manner of Time the Holy Spirit in it did signifie as they have search'd for the Sense of Antiquity in some things of far less moment or concern to the Kingdom of Christ what doubt can there be but that the two leaved Gates of Truth in it had open'd to them and by their concerted Light and Authority Princes would be awaken'd and perswaded so that the great City and its Decimal power would soon feel the Earthquake and fall I am not at all in doubt but that to me less than the least of all Saints and the chiefest of Sinners as upon the Banks of Chebar Ulai and Hiddekel and as in the Isle of Patmos that Grace hath been vouchsaf'd upon my most Attentive Thought and Contemplation of this and other Prophesies of Scripture and upon the whole Scheme of Scripture Time that I have certainly found That at the year sixteen hundred ninety seven These great Things shall come to their Complement that are to be at even Dates with the Proclamation of the Kingdom of Christ That the Pollution of the Sanctuary shall be so far finish'd that the measur'd Temple and it's worshippers sealed up within eight the last twelve hundred sixty years shall be opened and a far more excellent Church-state Appear The Ministrations of Truth and Divine Worship much purer as the Ark of Testament seen and the Witnesses Shall have come out of their Sackcloth wherewith the so long Apostacy together with the Turkish Woe a Judgement upon that Apostacy hath cover'd them I have publish'd several Discourses to this purpose viz. A Scripture line of Time and Solomons Song adjusted to it and have found none who hath thought fit to remonstrate to them or resist the Evidence with which I have written not because I have written but because of what I have written I may say It is written It is written in the Scripture of Truth Particularly the annexed Discourse I publish'd a year ago and I cannot but look upon the present appearance of things in the World a Justification of it I have observ'd hitherto a very wonderful progress of Divine Government in the World according to the Calculation of Prophesie I have made I observe a great Preparation for the Cessation of the Turkish Woe upon the Imperial Constantinople and the Greek Cities that those Candlesticks may be Re-placed I observe yet This seems to wait for the Fall of the Tenth of the great City which motion it is to attend I have been always of the Judgment the Reformed Churches that lye in the Bowels of Nations whose Princes and Staple Laws had not established the Reformation were in Danger of fresh Martyrdoms by the cruel Policies of the Jesuites Order whose Arcana Imperii or Politics may well be styl'd the depths of Sathan I have understood those Churches symbol'd by the Church of Thyatira in regard of whom the Feet of Christ burn as in a Furnace to this day The Nations whose Princes and Laws have establish'd the Reformation I have had firm Assurance could not be re-enslav'd under the enchantment of Restoring that Power to the Beast which they had repeal'd from him nor should the Churches in them except by a short Hurricane be in any danger of force I have had the same Confidence with particular Relation to this Nation and the Churches in it and that the Soveraign Power of it shall be of the principal that shall perfect that Revolution of the Reformation into it's Complement and on that account have pray'd for the good understanding of our Supreams to that very end I have compar'd such Reformed Churches and particularly this to that of Sardis esteeming our greatest danger to be a Security a slumber in a State though splendid as to this World yet short of the Glory intended by Christ in the Advances of his Kingdom and that thereupon he would come upon us and we should not know at what hour he himself would come upon us I find no Reason to change or so much as to suspect but to be more and more confirm'd in these Sentiments I make no more doubt the present Conjuncture is a dawn of that great Revolution awaiting the Year ninety seven next ensuing than I doubt whether the dawn of the day be in advance to the perfect Light because I am not upon any single Conjecture but upon the whole Conspiration of Apocalyptical Times compar'd with the Registries of History in the course of Time since our Lords Resurrection as famous and as well known as the Reformation from Luthers Time is known I am not on any single Line of Time but upon the Concatenation of Times throughout Scripture not as it is perplex'd with the Irreconcileable Chronological Controversies but assur'd by Massy Sterlyn Scripture both by compare of the Texts themselves and Scripture Reason argued from them I have only three parts of that Line to publish viz. from Abraham to the going out of Egypt from the going out of Egypt to Solomons beginning the Temple and from the Temple begun to Cyrus his Decree for restoring it after the Babylonish Devastation I have also prepar'd so great a Probation that the day of Judgment and the Resurrection so generally acknowledg'd in Christian Doctrine are at the full dimensions of Exposition the very Milennial or thousand years Kingdom of Christ that I think upon the comparing of Scriptures I have vouch'd and argued it cannot be denyed and as a Complement of all I have adjusted to those Illustrious Scriptures the Prayer we so generally acknowledge by the Name of the Lords prayer in the Explanation of it and proved it to be the Prayer of and prepared for that Glorious Kingdom of Christ as also by eminent Scriptures the Lords Supper to be the Sacrament of the Kingdom I hope by the good Hand of God towards me to be so assisted as to make Publication of these with the great and confiding Expectation that since I have had so great cause to believe no one sees Reason to chastise the Discourses I have publish'd and that the Divine Administrations of these latter Times are going on to justifie them they will be serviceable as Goads to the enquiries of greater Masters of Assemblies and their every way more acceptable Researches into these things to the greater hastning of the Glory and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fall of his Enemies to be his Footstool by the earnest Prayers of his Churches and Saints and that in the mean time they will be as Nails fastning those Tents and Pavilions of Princes who are to serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords in their Station For I am sure they are given from one even the chief Shepherd and Bishop of his Church Jesus Christ I am not enclin'd nor have ever had a Temptation to represent the Prophesies of Scripture as a Doctrine of
Blood. I am sensible what Spirit Christianity is of to its greatest Enemies Christ came not to destroy mens lives but to save them I expect a Battel of Christ that shall not be as of the Warriors with confused noise and Garments rolled in Blood but with fewel of Fire pure and clean Holiness a pure Ether of Justice and Righteousness for in Righteousness he Judges and makes War and that in the mean time there shall be no more use of Instruments to destroy than the most Righteous and just Constitutions and Governments of Nations allow For the Angels of the Vials upon the Anti-Christian State are cloathed with Linnen pure and white and their Breasts girded with golden Girdles their Vials full with no other wrath than of God Almighty Rev. 15. Yet not offering to be particularly definitive I Avow in the general Yet Eight years and the Kingdoms of this World shall become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and Papacy und Mahometanism shall sink down before Him his Monarchy shall then begin its Succession although his glorious Investiture shall not be till seventy five years after In which time The everlasting Gospel shall be preached by a new Mission equal in speed and effect to that of the Apostles and more universal symboll'd therefore by an Angel flying through the midst of Heaven bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles and effectual to the Conversion of the Jews upon which Saviours shall come upon Mount Sion and destroy the whole race of Pagan Mahometan Anti-Christian Edomites and the Kingdom shall be the Lords ADVERTISEMENT IF any please to assist in the Publication of the whole Designation they shall receive Proportionably It consists of the Scripture Line of the Kingdom drawn from the first Sabbath to the thousand Years Sabbatism The Song of the Kingdom or Solomons Prophetick Song adjusted to it The Doctrine of the Kingdom or Demonstrative proof by Scripture the Kingdom of the thousand Years is the Resurrection or Day of Judgment The Prayer of the Kingdom or the Lords Prayer prov'd principally to look at that Kingdom The Sacrament of the Kingdom or the Supream aim of the Lords Supper argued to be at that Kingdom T. Beverley To the Reader THe People of this Nation professing the Protestant Religion are in danger to be surrounded with all Methods of Insinuation and Seduction to entertain the Popish Leaven which how little soever it appears in Bulk and how small a Proportion soever in number of Persons compared with Protestants it is rated at it yet undoubtedly hopes to Leaven the whole Lump of the Nation claiming to it self the Privilege of the truly Catholic Christianity to which it can no more than pretend The Romanists do not only seem to themselves to be but likewise glory as being on the higher ground tho' infinitely as it may be in general Expression said inferiour to the Protestants in Arguments of Scripture Reason and Antiquity Yet while they offer Argument for Argument Objection for Objection Answer for Answer All Men and at all times are not so wise to see know and be firmly perswaded for Truth against Errors especially when Deceptions are flank'd with hopes of advantage on one side and fears of disadvantage on the other which the Supreme Prince hath in His hand to distribute on each side At the best the Controversie seems to depend and to be like to depend while the World stands as thus menag'd but if indeed the Word of God having plainly foreseen the state of things and the Roman Obstinacy and Impenitence to the last hath given the Pourtracture of Romanism in its full Proportion so that it may be known and understood of all who will apply their Minds to the Consideration This cuts off all further Dispute and all its specious Pretences and seeming Arguments and the Vails thrown over its Superstition Idolatry and Blood are thin Lawns under which may be seen plainly the City and the Beast described in the Revelation Now no Arguments against it can be like this nor sooner make an end of the Controversie nor more secure Persons from being tempted to revert to that Vomit the Nation hath cast out nor more effectually perswade out of that Congregation and Assembly those who are now in the midst of it altho' it seems to Fare much with the Generality of them as with those of whom Solomon speaks who falling into a deep Ditch as abhorred of God They seldom return again and take hold of the ways of Life for such Guests are in the Depths of Hell. And because it concerns them who are the Votaries of that Religion to wipe off this great Blot that Prophecy I make no doubt to say I have demonstrated hath laid upon them And because too many Protestants are not willing to think so severely of them as this Prophecy Imports nor to judge the way of Prophecy proper to deal with them and because particularly One of a publick Ecclesiastic Character seems to take upon bimself as an Umpire between Protestancy and Popery and like the Days-man in Job lays his hand on both I therefore desire any of those persons laying aside Passion in which soever of these Classes to make void what I call Demonstration and to render my Speech nothing worth For I would only surprize in the first place this one Objection viz. That the Greek Churches and the whole Train of Churches that follow them are either omitted by Prophecy or must be condemned as under the Apostasie with the Romanists although they have denyed and do deny the Roman Supremacy Infallibility and come not up at least to their Transubstantiation and its Idolatry But it is most Evident Prophecy hath not omitted them nor does yet charge them so deep in the Apostasie as the Roman Church though it does severely Censure them of too sad a Part in it It does not omit them For the Two Wings of the Great Eagle that bear the Church into the Wilderness the very Expression of the Apostasie though Including the mysterious Providence of God in things also do so plainly Import the Eastern and Western Empire that they define For all these things see the Line of Time. the Time of the Apostacy beginning within the space after Theodosius the Great and Augustulus For at no other time had that Empire its Two Wings so distinct as from his Death to the Cessation of the Western Empire It also Represents the Eastern and Western Apostatizing Hierarchies by the Two Horns of the Other Beast that spake like a Dragon though Horn'd as a Lamb that joyn'd in making the Image to the Grand Roman Beast and to Cause it to Speak and to Cause c. Revel 13. All which was notably fulfilled in the Grecian Affectation of Universality by John the Patriarch of Constantinople laying the Foundation of that Tyrannous Title which Phocas the Grecian Emperour soon after decreed to Rome and its Bishop and the Grecian Counsel of Nice together with
Sun. Those Months being time of the Moon given by Prophecy must be taken and applyed to time of the Sun given by the same prophecy that they may be rated and known what time They contain According to the exactest Computation that can be made Fourty two Months apply'd to Twelve hundred sixty Days for Years must be Twelve hundred twenty two Days for Years that is Twelve hundred twenty two Years The Epoch or Beginning then of these Months fixed at the Cessation of the Christian Emperour the prophetical Seventh King which was in the Year of our Lord 475 must needs reach to the Year 1697. The Twelve hundred sixty Days or Years both of the Witnesses and of the Woman ending necessarily at the same time for the one cannot out-last the other must begin thirty eight Years before the Months viz. 437. But because the Witnesses could not be supposed to put on their Sackcloth without just Occasion given the Gentiles under the other Beast Treading the Holy Court must have begun their Fourty two Months when the Twelve hundred sixty Days of the Witnesses Sackcloth and the Womans Wilderness State began also viz. 437. It is no matter what became of the Gentiles Fourty two Months after the Beast first Risen and grown up to his Image and Power to enforce the Worship of it and the receiving his Mark Name or of the Number of his Name viz. at 725 his Famous 666. For then the Beasts Months support the Seventh Headship and the Roman City or Apostate Church and the Gentiles Months Merge or are drowned in them The Months and Days being given under the Character of Time Times and Half a Time and three Days and a half when they arrived to the Beginning of the half Time and Days such a partial Rising of the Witnesses and Retrenchment of the Bestian Kingdom such a Fall of some of the Ten Kings from the Beast as was seen at the Reformation was allowable by Prophecy after the manner of our Lord 's three Days and Nights in the Heart of the Earth and was a Pledge of the complete Fall of the Beast and of the City's Fall from their whole Ten Mark those Kings who bewayl Babylon c. 18. 9. cannot be those Ten Kings who at last Turn to hate the Whore who they are will not be known till that Burning of Babylon shall be better understood King'd Principality at the end of the half Time or 1697. At the same time when the Days of the Witnesses and the Months of the Beast End The Turkish Second Woe or Tyranny shall pass away and cannot sooner because it is the Second Woe Trumpet upon the Bestian Kingdom lasting till its Fourty two Months End Which being an Observation foreign to this Matter needs not be enlarged yet well observ'd adds strength to the whole The last Argument I shall use to perfect all that hath been said already Last Arg. shall be an Appeal to All that in any degree know the State of the World whether the Condition of Papal Rome since the time especially of the Beasts receiving the Key of the Bottomless Pit as a Fallen Star in the Days of Phocas his coming to his Number and Image in the days of Leo Conon hath not answer'd the Characters of Prophecy Ann. 725. Does the Prophecy signifie a City perpetuating Eternal Rome in a Church as False Impure and Adulterate as the Mother of Harlots Imports Which Title cannot be due in its highest degree but where True Religion is Prostituted as appears in Aholiab and Aholibah And hath not Rome been such a One as Papal in all its Idolatrys Superstitions and Sensualities Does the Prophecy Represent a Caesar in an Image and hath not the Pope's Tripple Crown elevated upon his Spirituality and Vicarship of Christ been such a One Does the Prophecy speak Rome in all the Grandeur of Scarlet Purple and precious Stones And is not the Splendor of Rome its Pope Cardinals and Hierarchy such Does the Prophecy set out an Universal Propagation of the Fornications of such an Imperious Whorish Woman prevailing upon Kings Nations Kindreds and Languages and what hath Papal Rome pretended more forcibly to than such an Vniversality of its Religion which is called Filthiness Spiritual and Bodily and All Abomination Does Prophecy set out the Idolatrys of such a City and its Prince by the Blasphemy of God of his Tabernacle of All that dwell in Heaven and this openly avow'd by a Title writ on her Forehead according to the manner of the most Infamous Prostitutes and of Babylon Mad of Graven Images and yet all under a Mystery So as to be doubted whether Idolatry is justly charged upon it by even Those who deeply suspect it And is not this and hath not this been the State of Rome most Remarkably since the Days of Leo Conon Does the prophecy Represent a Bestian War with the Saints a Causing that all who would not Worship the Image should be Kill'd and proscribing them that they should not Buy nor Sell All Great and Small Rich and poor who will not receive the Mark c a City Drunk with the Blood of Saints and what can we say but that the Excommunication of Princes deposing and Depriving them the Interdicting of Kingdoms Massacres Martyrdoms Inquisitions Ravages upon the World on the account of that Religion Falsly so call'd have answer'd the prophecy Do other prophecys of Scripture say there should be a Grand Apostasie out of which should come a Man of Sin and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one above all Law and Control as Supreme and Infallible justly styl'd a Beast One sitting in the Temple of God exalting Himself above All that is called God or is Worshipped That though the Mystery of Iniquity was then at Work for Him yet that He could not be Revealed but in his Season Do we not see such a One that hath been long in the World claiming from the Apostles whom yet the elder Ages of Christianity knew not till the Time pointed out by Prophecy was come A Lord God the Pope as hath been Blasphem'd Does that same prophecy say The Lord will Consume that Man of Sin with the Glory of his Coming and with the Brightness of his own Appearance And do we not see at this Day his Times drawn out and lengthen'd beyond parallel for such an Appearance And does not the prophecy of the Revelation say the same Thing For his utter Destruction is not till the Heavens open to Christ Revel 19. Does not another Prophecy say Some a certain Sort and Society or Community of Men shall Depart or Apostatize from the Faith giving heed to wandring Spirits as Divels are called and to their Apparitions and so to Doctrines of them as Daimons and of the Worship of them through Or Saints departed the Hypocrisie of Lyars and Legendary Priests who disguising themselves in the Garb of extraordinary Holy Persons Coyn such Stories of such Spirits appearing to them to draw others
to Worship them having in the mean time their Consciences seared with a hot Iron whose Badges by which They are to be known are Forbidding to Marry and to Abstain from Meats making these Things the Cognisances of their Orders And have we not seen this Scripture fulfilled Did not the Apostle John Foretel a Great Antichrist of which the Little Antichrists in his Days were but Forerunners and did He not Foreshew a great Idolatry coming upon the Christian World in Derogation from the One Jesus Christ who is the True God and Eternal Life on which account He makes it the Farewel of his Epistle Little Children keep your selves from Idols Amen And have we not seen that great Idolatry against the New Testament in the Invocation of Angels of Saints and above all of the Virgin Mary as a plain Violation of the One Mediator Jesus Christ Equal to the Idolatry against the One God and the Worship of Him and that in all kinds of Imagery and even in a piece of Bread These certain Matters of Fact and of daily Experiment joyn'd with the Prophecy cannot but give a Plerophory a full measure of Assurance That this present Rome is that Community City or Church out of which we are call'd if we would be the People of God. Having now so far demonstrated that the City Church and Community out of which we are commanded to come is the very present Papal Rome It remains that we enforce the Command it self to come out of it by particular Inferences from it For hence It appears how necessary It is for Christians in general Infer 1 to know and to take notice that there is such an Apostacy from Christian Religion disguised under the Name of Catholick Christianity that hath concentred it self in Rome under the name of an Vniversal Church and in such a Head of it as the Pope under the name of Head of the Church and Vicar of Christ The Apostle not only speaking Face to Face Not only when with them but by Epistle when at distance from them writing to the Thessalonians thought it a point of great Moment and of deepest Interest to inform them of it and to possess them of it and in them all Christians Learned or Unlearned And the Love of God the Father gave the Revelation to Jesus Christ to shew it to his Servants as containing this as One of the greatest Points of it viz. Concerning this Apostasie the Seat and Residence of it this Prostituted Church and City and the Beast the Prince of it It can therefore be no such mysterious or unnecessary Doctrine as It is generally suppos'd but hath its greatest and most Fundamental Uses That the true Christianity may by the Compare be more known and understood in its true Beauty and Excellency being a Pure Solid Even Supreme Extract and Cube given from the Increated Unerring Wisdom of God in the Face of Jesus Christ Divine Heavenly Spiritual Pure and Chaste Full of Mercy and of all good Fruits But Popery is an Irregular Odd Traditional Christianity made up of Idolatrous and Superstitious Rites Pomp Riches and Pleasures of Sensuality All of the present Evil World full of Rage Cruelty and Blood against All who do not swallow their monstrous Articles of Faith and submit to that slavery of their Antichristian Government To keep men therefore wholly to that Excellent Rule of the Word of God in Doctrine Worship and Practice and under that most merciful Discipline it is necessary to know the Goodness of the One by the Badness of the other That one Grand Reason of the so sad Imprevalency of so excellent a Religion as the Religion of Jesus Christ might be understood The great Eclipse of it is by so foul an Apostacy and Mystery of Iniquity casting so black a shade upon it and such a Cloud of Tares upon the Field of Wheat And this hath so universally obscured Christianity and allay'd its Supreme Excellency and turn'd it into so worldly a Religion that it neither hath nor can be Refin'd to it self till that whole Apostasie be consum'd out of the World And then but not till then there will be another Face of Christianity And this is necessary to be known to abate the Scandal That the dark Interposition between the Kingdom of Jesus Christ according to all the Prophecies of Scripture due to him at his Resurrection and the glory of it may be duely apprehended For the Mystery of Iniquity work'd early that it might arise to the taking away the true daily Sacrifice of Christian Religion and scattering the power of the Holy People for Time Times and half a Time. Now this is most necessary to be known to take off the Scandal of so many Massive Prophecies and Promises as were to ensue on the Kingdom of the Messiah both in relation to the Jews and to the whole World of Mankind not yet come to pass but we ought against it deeply to consider There was to be forty two months of the Gentiles and of the Beast running parallel to the twelve hundred sixty days Sackcloth of the Witnesses and the Wilderness-state of the Church all which was to be by the Fathers own Appointment who reserv'd Times even as that Day and Hour in his own Cognisance or Right of Dispose before the Kingdom of Christ and the glorious Accomplishment of the Prophecies such as Esay 2. 1. Zech. 14. with innumerable more which being so peculiar to that Kingdom cannot be adjourn'd to the Day of Judgment as generally understood For then Christ shall render up the Kingdom to God and the Father and God shall be All in All. There arises in the wise Ordination of God a mutual Justifieation of the Prophecy by the Separation from Rome upon the general Principles and Rules of the Word of God without close and strict and express Attendance to the Prophecy or deriving Directions from that for how is the Prophecy honour'd and vindicated in commanding to Come out of that City and Church which Holy Wise and Conscientious Christians see Reason and just Grounds from its extream Pollutions in Doctrine Worship and Practice and the Imperiousness of its Tyranny to come out from although they did not understand Prephecy so commanding them And how could Prophecy be either understood or fulfill'd if Things were not so bad upon such Fundamental Accounts How could it be verified that Prophecy were so to be interpreted if there were not so great Reasons for Coming out supposing there had been no such Prophecy On the other side How is the Separation justified by the Prophecy thus rightly expounded and interpreted For who might not scruple that so great and so long an Apostacy should grow up out of the Profession of Christianity and that the Prophecy of the New Testament should not have seen and foretold it So that it were without this Reason also hardly to be believed with that firmness and full Assurance that now it is viz. that such an Apostacy is And why
THE Voice from Heaven Come out of BABYLON my People DEMONSTRATED To mean the coming out of the present Papal ROME AND IT 'S COMMUNION AND Herewith a Solemn Proof is given that the Papacy can survive but Eight Years in the Principality it yet Retains Enforced by a PREFACE ADJUSTED To the present Illustrious Appearances of God in the WORLD And particularly in this NATION By T. BEVERLEY Printed and Sold by John Salusbury in Cornhill 1688 / 9. A PREFACE TO THE READER Upon the following DISCOURSE suited to the present Juncture of Affairs in the World and to the particular Signs of the Times now Emerging THat which bore up the great Princes and Leaders among the Servants of God in Elder times to such a Transcendency of Action was immediate Revelation from God The Word of God came to them as Christ speaks and ennobled them as Gods upon Earth Immediate Revelation in the same manner bore up so High the Spirits of the Prophets that they feared none of the Powers upon Earth how great and formidable soever in delivering the Divine Messages even when they threatned them with that Ruine which they knew would most enrage them to Hear of The very same immediate Revelation stirred up the Spirits of the Vniversality of the Servants of God in Prayer and suitable Action so that they offered themselves willingly to the Services of their Generation even in the Loughtiest Atchievements when they knew themselves Arm'd with the Assurances of the Purposes of God to be fulfilled in those Seasons wherein they were summoned to such Action That which next to such immediate Revelation would now Inspire the Servants of God in each Station to the highest Elevation in Divine Manifestations to the World in Prayer and Action must be a Discovery of the Signs of the present Time according to sacred Prophesie and especially that great Prophesie of the New Testament which is peculiarly entitled The Revelation Because it is and ought to be in the place of immediate Revelation to All who Read and Hear it and all the Servants of Christ ought to Read and Hear it For it is the Revelation that God gave to Jesus Christ to shew to his Servants things that are shortly to come to pass And that shewing is plainly declar'd to be by their Reading and Hearing For it immediately follows Christs shewing and signification of it by the Testimony and Writing of his Servant John. For he is commanded to write-for after Ages And to encourage in such Reading and Hearing There is a Promise of Blessedness adjoyn'd to the Reading and Hearing I do not at all doubt there is a mystical Reading and Hearing by the Spirit and Power of Christ instructing and actuating his Servants according to the Principles and Services of this very Prophesie And that what is now doing and operating in the World and in our Nation is according to it without explicite understanding or attending to the Explanation of it But yet undoubtedly a more open and bold Explanation is due especially to this Age of the Churches of Christ and approach of his Kingdom We ought now to be more skill'd in the Signs of the Times than by a meer kind of Implicite Faith. And that must be by the Calculation of them according to this Prophesie for the Signs of the Times are compounded especially of the Definition of times by Prophesy and the events determin'd to come to pass in those Times and our discerning the Signs of the Times is to be by a compare of Prophesie and the product of Times agreeable to the Prophesie together even as the Time of Messiahs coming was design'd by the sure Word of Daniels Prophesy and Jesus Christ mighty in Word and Deed came at the same Time. Now our Lord condemns the Ignorance of the Scribes and Pharisees and People who did not discern the Signs of that Time not as simple Ignorance or Nescience but as gross Hipocrisie that they would not know what they might have known and proportionably in all times but especially in these Times wherein mighty Works are to shew forth themselves and begin to shew forth themselves in the downfal of the Turkish Tyranny with which the Papal is to meet in such degrees of Ruine as are determin'd to be parallel in each and in parallel Times I most humbly and earnestly therefore Beseech the Angels of the Reformed Churches That they would search this so great Prophesie of the New Testament as commensurate as hath been said to Immediate Revelation and that they would Minister out of it to the Princes and Powers of the Ten Kingdoms that have so long given their Power and Kingdom to the Beast especially to those which are already of the Reformation For the Words of God are near to be fulfill'd for God had said The Beast shall have Power to continue Forty two Months and to receive great Power and Authority from those Kings giving their Power and their Kingdom to Him. And the Word of God was fulfill'd so that their Kingdoms were entirely so given till the Reformation when the Morning of the last half Day or half Time of the forty two Months gave Liberty to some of those Ten Kings to reverse and recal the giving of their Kingdom As Christ arose early in the Morning of his last third Day and appeared to some of the Apostles and Disciples But it was Evening e're he met them in a Body and those who saw him since were Instrumental to prepare those who did not see him till the Evening so those Princes already of the Reformation shall be Instrumental to oblige the rest who have not yet renunciated to the Beast and the false Church to do the same now near the End of the last of the forty two Months Let them therefore have those grand excitements and encouragements of Prophesie undoubtedly Cyrus though a Gentile Prince was highly animated by the Prophesies of Isaiah and Jeremiah for the Destruction of Literal Babylon which Prophesies we may be assured were expounded to Him by Daniel so great a Prophet in his own Times how much more will Christian and Protestant Princes exalted in their Spirits summon their Prowesse and puissance for the service of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ to be within these Eight next Years proclaim'd by loud Voices from Heaven For when the Words of God are to be fulfill'd that the Ten Kings and their Nations do give their Power no longer to the Beast Then the Kingdom of Christ is proclaim'd although his Inauguration as we speak shall not be till seventy five Years after If any should say the Prophesie is dark and not to be understood and Men very disenclin'd to believe the Explications given of it let them consider it is very dangerous to say of any Book of Scripture with the unlearned we cannot read it because we are not learned and with the learned we cannot read it because it is sealed If there were by the pouring out of the Spirit
hence Let us then consider the Importance of this Voice and it is plainly the Separation of the People of God and so of every Person among us if we are of his People from any Communion with that City or Community concerning which we shall by the Light of this Prophecy duly weigh'd and consider'd be convinc'd that It is the City symboliz'd or set out by this Mystical Woman And our Separation must be proportionable to the danger of being tainted or struck with the Contagion of its Sins or Apprehended and Reach'd by the Thunder-shaft of its Plagues For so is the Charge Come out of her my People And so is the Enforcement Lest ye be partaker of her Sins and lest ye Receive of her Plagues Now that we may do this It is highly Expedient at least to use the utmost Enquiry into this Prophecy that we may know by the Characters of it What and what manner of City the Spirit of God in it doth signifie and what or what manner of Time also It hath denoted or else we cannot so well judge what is 1 Pet. 1. 11. our Duty or what our Danger For though I would allow with as much Largeness of mind as can be desir'd that by the General Rules of Universal Scripture we may without the particular Understanding of this Prophecy be secur'd from both the Impurities and from the Judgments of this City by Adhering to the Truth and Purity and Mercy of the Christian Religion in Doctrine Discipline Worship and Practise according to the just measures of the Word of God yet we cannot do it with those particular Evidences of that Divine Reason nor with those vigorous Emotions of Zeal against such an unclean Communion as this Prophecy rightly apprehended would arm us with For certainly The Pen of this Divine Scribe was not made in vain I will therefore use the highest Diligence of Research and close Enquiry into the Prophecy concerning the City and the Times appointed to it and then concerning the Comming out of it and enforce the Charge here given to come out of it and all this as peculiarly deriv'd from this Holy Oracle in comparison of which all the Streams deriv'd from Antiquity are Low and Flat in shewing the Great Abominations of that City But Blessed is he that Readeth and They who Hear the Words of this Prophecy for now the Time is more at hand as to what we are now to Treat of than when the Oracle was first given although each part of this Prophecy was in its own Time and Order at Hand according to the Line wherein each Thing was to come to pass and which Line began in the Things that were first to come to pass and did come to pass from the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ which are but one Time in the Account of Prophecy as we say in Law The whole of each Term is but one Day and from thence the Revelation is dated as from its Epoch or Beginning-Point First therefore concerning the City there are such Characters as undeniably assure us This City can be no other than the City Rome that is here thus describ'd The City resembled by a Woman a not only Imperious but Charact. 1 Imperial whorish Woman is plainly Expounded by the Angel to be a City And it is usual in Prophecy to Figure Cities by that Embleme of a Woman and not only Cities but Churches as Revel c. 17. c. 18. Zion by a Woman grieved in Spirit the True Church in this Prophecy is often Typ'd by a Woman the New Jerusalem by the Bride the Lambs Wife And Adulterous Churches by Adulterous Women as Aholiab and Aholibah are the Pictures of Samaria Ezek. 23. and Jerusalem both as Adulterous Cities and Churches But this Woman this Imperial and Imperious whorish Woman is affirm'd to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all the Emphasis and Force of Expression that can be The City The Great That hath now saith the Apostle John that I am in writing it at this very present Time the Kingdom over the Kings of the Earth Now a City that had then the Kingdom over the Kings of the Earth undeniably imported a Capital City the Seat of an Vniversal Monarchy at that Time. For as a Monarch hath in the very nature of a Monarch all subordinate Magistrates under him and accountable to Him so an Universal Monarchy hath States and Kingdoms under it that however in their particular Kingdoms They may be over and above all others yet still their Power is Limitable and accountable to and may be Appealed from to the Universal Monarchy and Power When therefore This City is said to be The City The Great Having at that Time a Kingdom over the Kings of the Earth It is to say the City spoken of was at the Time when the Revelation was given the Seat of an Vniversal Monarchy and that some Supreme Power had its Imperial Residence there took its Title from that City exercis'd its Power under that Title and as the then present Head of that City bore up the City by such Title so that it is said to have a Kingdom over the Kings of the Earth because such a Power so related to it had a Kingdom over all other Kingdoms far and near or had sueh an Universal Monarchy or Kingdom Now what City that was that had then a Kingdom over the Kings of the Earth in the sense now declared besides the Notices of Universal History in that matter it is most evident from Scripture that it must be even that very City Rome for Augustus at that time the Emperour of Rome when our Lord was Born made a Decree that All the World viz. the World of the Roman Empire which Aspir'd as it were to equal the very Habitable Earth in Extent should come under a particular Census Luc. 2. 1. or be describ'd that so an Account of the large Bounds of the Dominion the Numerousness Strength and Riches of the Subjects might be render'd to Him. We read in the History of the Acts of the Apostles how great the Honour was for any City to be accounted a Member of that City that its Natives might be the Free-Born of that City It made such a City no mean City The Immunity of being so Free-born was so great that many purchas'd it at an exceeding Rate who had it not by Birth We find the Apostle Paul though he was a Jew and immediately subject to the Jewish Law yet as it were directed by an Impulse of Providence Appeals to Caesar's Tribunal as the Highest upon Earth These and Acts 22 28 many other Expressions assure us what City it was that at that Time Reigned over the Kings of the Earth And it was very necessary the Scripture that loves most in all weighty matters to be serv'd by its own Records should take this great Notice of the Roman Empire Because as the Fourth Monarchy it was of the Four the most Remarkable For
called Sodom for the Filthiness of its Fornications and dreadful Burnings that it is devoted to And Aegypt first for its Oppression of the Saints with whose Blood it is Drunk Then for the Plagues that will come upon it and lastly for its Pharaoh-like Principality first in the Pagan Dragon and then its Draconick Pope to whom the Dragon consign'd His Power And to follow all the Emblems of the City as on purpose to bring it Home to Rome It it both Resembled to the City where our Lord was Crucified signifying its Whoredom to be like the Whoredom of that Infamous Aholibah or Jerusalem the False Whorish Church and under the Jurisdiction of Rome so much at that Time that not without the most Notorious Sentence of the Roman Judge Pontius Pilate Our Lord was Crucified which was for the very Service of this Prophecy so particularly we may Believe Recorded that in that Sense the very City Rome was the City in which Our Lord was Crucified All this Affects this City so that its Tenth Falls Now this City sits on the Beast For to shew it is the same City that sits on the Beast when the Beast the very same Beast that Ascends out of the Bottomless Pit c. 11. c. 17. Kills the Witnesses Their Dead Bodies lye in the Street of that Great City which plainly joyns the Beast and the City together the City as the Imperial Residence the Beast as the King of it as the Vision of the c. 17. does For He as King having Power of Life and Death those whom He Kills lye in the Street of his Great Emperial City So then the City and the Beast are here first so nearly conjoyn'd and so again c. 17. How then comes the Tenth of this Great City to Fall whatever we understand by it for I will not now dispute that How comes it to Fall I say when It sits on the Beast It could not be if the Beast Himself did not Sink and how could He Sink if His Fourty two Months were not out For so long was given Him by Prophecy which in another Character is call'd Time Times and Half a Time and as apply'd to the Witnesses Three Days and a Half in Imitation of our Lord 's three Days in the Grave Till the Morning then of the Half Time and Day there could be no such Alteration in his Kingdom as the Reformation made and till that Time of the Forty two Months fully exhausted when the Twelve hundred sixty Days End also in the Rising and Glory of the Witnesses There cannot be a Fall of the Tenth of the City which He bears up the Grandeur of And to shew farther that this Beast that Slays the Witnesses is the same with the Beast c. 17. It is made known by that certain Mark of it the Ascending out of the Bottomless Pit and that we may know they are both the same with the Beast who hath the Fourty two Months c. 13. He makes War with the Saints who are the Seed of the Woman and Hold the Testimony of Jesus C. 12. Vlt. or are the Witnesses being thereunto Deputed by the Dragon who gave him his Throne and Great Authority and He that Beast is Taken c. 19. as is foretold also c. 13. He that leadeth into Captivity shall go into Captivity And the Ten Kings who give him their Power who make War with the Lamb and He overcomes them are Kill'd with the Sword of his Mouth c. 19. as was foretold c. 13. He that killeth with the Sword shall be killed with the Sword. All which farther Assure together with what hath been said before That It is one and the same Beast throughout the Prophecy of the Revelation viz. the Seventh Head of the Roman Empire and its Eighth King to whom the Ten Kings as Horns give their Power The second Oracle given us concerning the Period of the Forty two Months is c. 17. God hath put into the Heart of the Ten Kings to Do his Will or execute his Determination and to execute and perform One Determination untill the Words of God shall be fulfilled Now this Counsel Determination and Will of God is that which is explain'd what it is It is even that they should Give their Kingdom and Power to the Beast And how long Vntill the words of God shall be fulfill'd And Those words were declar'd c. 13. Authority was given to Him as a Beast of Ten Horns to continue Forty two Months The great Event therefore at the End of the Forty two Months is That then the Ten Kings shall Hate the Whore and make her Desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with Fire From whence it is evident how close the Union is between the City call'd the Whore and the Beast For while the Kings give their Power to the Beast they bear up the Beast who bears up the City while they fulfill the Decree of God for the Beasts Forty two Months They are One in giving Him their Kingdom and Power and so long They are drunk with the Wine of the Whores Fornication But when those Words are fulfill'd and those Forty Two Months then They hate the Whore and then this Tenth of the Great City Falls viz. the whole Circle of the Power given by these Ten Horns or Ten Kings who now Recall their Power from the Beast and that Tenthness of Power Falls also For however the Grammar of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will not bear such an Exposition of it as should signifie the Ten King'd Power yet the Prophecy of Daniel in the Ten Toes of the Image the Ten Horns of the Beast and The whole Frame of the Prophecy of the Revelation concerning the Beast his Ten Horns or Ten Kings does forcibly over-sway the nicety of Grammar and carries the Prophecy to this Sense and much the rather because as hath been argued The Twelve hundred sixty Days will be then ended and the Words of God fulfilled concerning the Bestian Power which lay so much in its Horns or Ten Kings persecuting the Witnesses Let us now recollect the Summ of this Argument in the Proof it gives The Argument runs thus The Roman City or Church sits on the Beast or Eighth Kimg who hath been in Possession of the Time allotted him by Prophecy so long as from the Seventh other King of a short space after the sixth King that was in the Apost John's Time till now within nine or ten Years of the Expiration of that Time as a Time allowable to remain for the fulfilling of All Events This is the Beast or eighth King bearing up that Rome whether City or Church out of which Gods People are Called But the present City or Church of Rome sitting upon the Pope is and hath been in that Possession so long That Time so allotted is expresly said to be Fourty two Months those Months must be Prophetical Months or Days for Years Those Months must be Time of the Moon and not of the