Lord of Hosts would Please to give Success to the Arms of the Protestant Princes and States and most particularly to our own So far as may possibly consist with his own Wise and Holy Determinations Yet I am Bold to make these Prognosticks from this Light of Prophecy I have first Receiv'd and now Offer'd Partly to Arm with Patience and Submission to the Delay of such an Issue as we Naturally Desire partly to Encourage and Assure as to some great Points at the Present and Especially to Ascertain that Grand Issue of the Kingdom of Christ in the End Prog. 1. Seeing the Time of the Fall and Stroke of the Stone is not upon the Iron and Brass till 97. and that it is to be upon them in Conjunction and upon the Iron as it shall in any Part in an Eminency be Conjoyn'd Therefore neither the Eminency of France as the Iron and so in League with the Turk nor the Potentacy of the Turk who is so to continue a Woe upon the Antichristian State shall be brought down till 97. Let therefore no Impatience at the Disappointment of an Expectation herein seize us For thus it is Determin'd by the sure word of Prophecy They must both continue in a Conjunction till that Time and the Stroke with it so fall upon Them so far as can be Found by Prophecy Prognos 2. Notwithstanding this Let what can be done France shall be kept within his own Bounds to be but one of Ten and the Turk shall be but in a Low Tottering Condition to be Supported only upon the Aides and Help of France that he may not come to his End so soon but must do at last as is intimated concerning the Turkish King of the North Dan. 11. ult Now to keep France so within its own Figure is a Service so considerable to Providence according to Prophecy that it should make Princes and Nations Patient under the inconveniency of War to such an End And it may Answer for a Confederacy of Protestants with Popish Powers so far as that it may be made use of by Providence to such an End as Restraining France Agreeably to Divine Determination And it may justly call us to the Observation of Providence in Ballancing Things so as this Last and former Years it has done so that while as with one hand God is pleased to keep the French Power at such a Height with the other he so Ballances that it should not exceed its Figure So we see it in all the Disposes of Things to this Day So in the Wonderful Preservation of the Kings Person when danger was so every way about and Death so near him Because he hath raised Him up as so peculiar an Instrument to that purpose to give a stop to the Exorbitant Power of France as also to be an Interposer against the Return of Papal Power on these Protestant Nations of England Scotland and Ireland 3. As it was said to Barak This Journey or Expedition shall not be for thy Honour because God would sell Sisera into the Hands of a Woman Judges 4. 9 So the great Success of Finishing the War upon France in Conjunction with the Turks God hath reserv'd for the Stone cut out of the Mountains who is not in any Human Hand No Greater nor more Victorious Atchievements have been therefore Granted to the Confederate Armies nor any gradual Appearances of the Kingdom of Christ because the Glory is reserv'd to Christ so that all shall be done by him in an instant on the sudden at the very Time Appointed by God viz. in the year 97. so near Approaching These things shall be done The French Grandieur as it now stands in opposition to the Kingdom of Christ shall be ground to Powder The Witnesses both the Vaudois and the French Protestants at this Time under his Power and Tyranny shall see the Morning Star Dawning They shall be with Christ when he Breaks the Nations with a Rod of Iron They shall feel a Spirit of Life Entring into them and Causing them to stand on their Feet and they shall hear a Voice from Heaven saying Come up hither The Turkish Woe shall be clear Remov'd But then together with this The Confederate Princes as giving their Kingdom yet to the Beast or Bapacy and even the Protestant Princes so Far as they enter into the Constitution of a Nebuchadnezzars Image the Papal Hierarchic Clay where ever it is Found with its 7000 Names shall all be Ground to Powder also 5. The Supreme Sovereign Event of Events shall then come to pass The Kingdoms of this World shall become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ He shall Reign in his own Name take to himself his Great Power and send out his Everlasting Gospel as on the Wings of Angels and Blessed is he who is not offended at these Things but Loves and Waits for them But indeed if God should please any way to bring down the French Power or Cause it but so much as to Lye still and to Dissolve the League between him and the Turkish Potentacy sooner my Hopes and Expectations might be that God were sooner also working by such Beginnings to much greater Things for the Change of the World In the mean Time I cannot but Represent things as Prophecy Represents them and I presume no further And that I find not to be till 97. Another Prophetical Note The Lord hath been pleas'd much to imprint upon my Spirit is that Habac. 2. 13 14. where the Prophet beholds in Litteral Babylon the Mystical Babilon the Town Built with Blood the Intoxicating Sorceress Enchanting the Nations to the Exposing their Nakedness and Shame through Inebriating them with the Golden Cup of Fornication she holds in her hand and makes the Kings of the Earth Drunk with that they may commit the Whoredoms of Idolatry with her and in the beholding of this and the Foresight of the End and Destruction of it The Prophet is made to see in Spirit by the mighty Influence of that upon him while That bore and carried him alought and moved him and not any Created VVill but the Holy Spirit alone He speaks the State and Posture of Things that shall Confine and Border upon the Ruin and Destruction of that Babylon and the Manifestation of the Glory of the Lord Immediately Consequent upon it And this State he declares shall be by the peculiar Ordination and Constitution of the Lord of Hosts of him who has the Government of the whole Host of Heaven and Earth so that nothing shall be able to move to the Contrary The People shall Labour as in the very Fire the pure perfect Fire and shall weary themselves for very Vanity pure and perfect Vanity For so is it ordain'd by God that thus he may prepare for that great change of the World The very Reason why he orders it so is Because the Knowledg of the Glory of the Lord shall cover the Earth The Glory shall cover the Earth that
Kingdom and of Prophecy fulfill'd in it that had been ever before or hath been since or that shall be till that very Everlasting Kingdom of Christ come into its succession then it could not be the Kingdom of Eternity For the Kingdom of Eternity is not the manifestation of Prophecy but one of the plainest and most Fundamental Doctrines of the Gospel and of Christianity I come therefore to the second thing that this Epistle of the Apostle Peter is adjusted to and that is to the shewing the time of the Kingdom for which I give these Arguments 1. That the Apostle calls it the Everlasting Kingdom by which as was before intimated he refers to Daniel's Prophecy of that Everlasting Kingdom and Dominion Dan. 7. 27. which is postpon'd to four Kingdoms and Monarchies the last of which was then in course when the Apostle wrote this and to the last state of which viz. the Feet of Iron and Clay and the ten Horns and a little one chief of the Ten there was an allowance of Time Times and Half a Time before the Kingdom of Christ could come into its Succession 2. The Apostle by saying The sure word of prophecy shines as a light in a dark place intimates it foretels the time of that glorious Kingdom how could it shine so effectually as to enlighten the dark place if it gave no Knowledge when Prophecy should be fulfill'd For that Prophecy does not pass immediately into effect made the space between the appearance of Christ in Flesh and in Glory dark and therefore the light of Prophecy gives us a direction upon the Time when the eflect of Prophecy shall be the hope and assurance of which Enlightens 3. The Apostle according to other Scriptures distinguishes between the day dawning and the Day-Star arising one signifying the succession of the Kingdom of Christ the other the glory of that Kingdom So the Mystery of God is to be fulfilled in the days of the Seventh Angel and then Christ appears in his Glory So the Apostle distinguishes between Christ blasting the man of sin with the Breath of his Mouth which is by the mighty power of the Everlasting Gospel and then utterly consuming and annihilating Him with the Brightness of his Coming or Appearanee 4. The Apostle describes the Apostacy that should so long delay the Kingdom of Christ in mystical Terms under the shade of Nicolaianism and Gnostiscism so fit to type out the Idolatry impurity of Manners and all the Abominablenesses of the Antichristian State of which Antichrist the little Horn in Daniel whose representation Daniel gave as thinking to change Times and Laws until the time of the Kingdom of Christ Now of this very changing Times and Laws is the Second Chapter of this Epistle a delineation and most prophetically and at greatest advantage after the mention of Prophecy it is given 5. His Third Chapfer most plainly and exprsly refers to Time for he answers not as some think the Atheists but the Antichristians Objection those great Burlesquers of Christianity into Fables called therefore Scoffers who say That all things from the Flood having continued as they were there is no such change as of the Kingdom of Christ to be expected and so all that which concerns the Kingdom of Christ hath passed with them for Millenarian Heresie The Apostle hath therefore laid down the Rule and Standard of Time accounting the Six-days of Creation each as at a Thousand Years and in the Evening or as between the two Evenings of the sixth Millenary begins the Sabbatical Milenary or the Seventh Thousand which is with the Lord that is with relation to the Lord or the Lord Jesus Christ in relation to his Kingdom but as one day often called the Day of Judgment and that Sabbath Day in which Saying of the Apostle That a Thousand Years is as one Day there is a manifest foresight of the Divine Spirit what it would make known by John even that number'd exactly Numbered Time of a Thousand years which the Apostle Peter affirm'd to be with the Lord viz. as Time designed and set out to the Lord as his own Times That one Day Now as this view of this Epistle gives us a clear apprehension how full to the purpose of Prophetical Scripture this Epistle is written how it simpathizes and is contemporate with the whole Scope and Spirit of it so the Words and Sense of Interpretation is exactly fitted to all and no other can fit it For there were two things all the Hebrews both unbelieving and believers were fully agreed in 1. That the Prophecies of Scripture were of Divine Inspiratien that Prophecy of Scripture came not by the will of man but was from the Holy Spirit This the Believing and Unbelieving Jews were both most zealous of 2. That Messiah had a Kingdom assured to him in the Prophesies of Scripture This even the Unbelieving Jews were all in highest expectation of at that very time and the Believing Jews also were earnestly at that time in expectation of To these the Apostle therefore cannot be supposed to direct the force of his Discourse But that Jesus Christ was not to be owned as the true Messiah the Son of God and the King of Israel notwithstanding his Kingdom did not immediately appear was a Point the Unbelieving Jews are to this day scandalized at even to their rejection of Christ the True Messiah and the Christian Hebrews were very tender in Therefore that Jesus Christ was the True Messiah and that great Prince the Apostle gave first the proof of the Transfiguration as hath been shewn And that he with James and John were Eye and Ear-Witnesses Three Witnesses in the Mouths of whom it was establish'd and no Cunningly devised Fable to shift off the Scandal of the mean Appearance of our Lord in the days of his Flesh But saith the Apostle We have a more sure word of Prophecy as hath been opened to which you do well to take heed But the Objection still remains That the Prophecys run all upon a Glorious Kingdom of Messiah at that time to appear as the Unbelieving Jews thought and therefore the Scribes Pharisees Chief-Priests Elders their whole Sanhedrim determin'd against him with a high hand that he was a Deceiver The asserting therefore the Divine Inspiration of Prophecy could not be to the main purpose but that it is not of Private Interpretation but that serious Christians may find the sense and meaning of it and that it is not within the Enclosure or Embarasse of any Sanhedrim Council or Infallible Breast This is indeed highly to the purpose and that according to the Sense and Meaning of the Divine Spirit in it one part compared with another by the Assistances of the same Spirit it would appear that as Daniel's Seventy Weeks brought down Time to its fulness viz. at the Death Resurrection and Ascention of Christ that a dark place or Interval of delay and patience for that Kingdom must needs be for a long
of the very Light it self what Prophecy Reveals is so contrary to the State they are in that they are as the Expression is in Job upon all appearance of such Light as it were in the Terrors of the shaddow of Death The Aspect of Prophecy upon both the Civil and Ecclesiastick State of the present World is most Terrible especially when it comes to the Determination of Time as near Thus the Lord makes Foolish the Wisdom of the Wise c. Esay 28. that they cannot endure it and so hate the Light and will not come to it least their State should be Reproved and Shaken and are Angry that such a Light should be flashed in their Faces But these are only the next or second Causes there is a higher judiciary Cause that sways Righteously and Holily and yet so as Permitting and leaving Men to themselves even this That Because men do not like to attend to the sure Word of Prophecy God gives them up to this Culpable Cause and Reason of all the Injudiciousnesses concerning the meaning of Prophecy and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prepossessions against the Interpretation of it as if it were private and Reserv'd and thus that his Wise and Just purpose purpose should be fulfilled that the dark place should be a dark place still while the Apostacy should according to the Oath of Christ for Time Times and half Time continue and till the Day down and the Day-Star arise in mens hearts and yet no Encouragement or Boldness ministred to it that it might continue so Dark without Great Sin And indeed though the faulty Cause of all this be the not Receiving the Truth in the Love of it on which God gives up the Apostacy to strong Delusions and to believe a Lye and because of the Few and Small Things he hath against his Suffering Churches of Pergamus and Thyatyra and the Sardian State of the Reformation that hath a Name to Live and yet is dead Upon all these Accounts Prophccy is so little understood saying the Glimmerings of Light given by a very Few and those very Little Acceptable Interpreters that do inlighten and shew by a Little how this dark place would be inlightned by taking heed to the Sure Word of Prophecy But I am about to say if Prophecy were as Fully and Truly Interpreted as the Publickness of its Constitution for Interpretation would give Leave to it would especially now so near the End so inlighten the dark place that there would be no Room found for the Darkness of the Apostacy but it would fly away like Shades of the Night at the Morning Appearance But as the Apostle says God hath concluded All under Sin so under the Apostacy either in Full as in the Antichristian World or in Part as in the Reformation-Part that in his own Time he might have mercy upon All. On the Heighth and Depth of the Riches of both the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his paths and his ways past finding out For of him and by him are all things to him be glory for ever 2. The Disagreement among the Interpreters of Prophecy and more particularly the Great Mistakes they have fallen into in point of Time seems a more formidable Objection against the Freeness and Publickness of the Interpretation of Prophecy and most as to Time For when Wise Learned Sagacious and very Diligent Zealous and Holy Persons have set themselves to inquire and find out the Mind of the Spirit and have not found it but have disagreed among themselves and so some must be in mistakes For they cannot differ and all be in the Right This is much more against the Interpretation of Prophecy being not private than if none had attempted For were it not under Reserve why have they not been more successful in finding that have so tryed and put themselves forth to the utmost therein Answ 1. We ought to be very wary to urge either Mistakes or Differences of Interpreters in interpreting Prophecy of Scripture lest we shut our selves out of all Interpretation of Scripture in General yea even out of Great Points of Faith and Truth of the Gospel Because in all these there are Great Differences of Explication and therefore Mistakes on some side Should we therefore Reason These are so Dark and Reserv'd as not to be medled with This would be an high Dishonour to our Christian Profession Let us much rather make our Attendances to Reading and Meditation more Inward Constant Serious Deep Humble with more earnest Supplications for Divine Assistance and Free Communications of his Spirit the Author of all Knowledg in the Truths making wise to Salvation and so in Interpretation of Prophecy Answ 2. Whensoever Any have fallen short or are mistaken in the Interpretation of Prophecy we must conclude there was a want of Due Attendance and God Left even Good Men and his Servants so to themselves that they have miss'd in what they have seem'd to themselves or even to others to have attain'd But in the mean time nothing is to be charg'd upon Prophecy of Scripture or the Nature and Constitution of it as to Interpretation as if it were dark and incertain and we could ne're be sure whether we had it aright or not so contrary to the Apostles Doctrine concerning it For as no Weakness or Indisposition of the Eye or Disadvantage in Avenues or Entrances of Light are to be charg'd on the Light it self so none of the Hallucinations or over-sights or Stumbles of the Interpreters of Prophecy are to be imputed so much to the Difficulty of Interpretation of it as in it self but to our Dullness of sight or hearing what the Spirit hath therein said to the Churches Nor is any one therefore to be discouraged but only cautioned not to be high minded but to fear Even as the many Miscarriages in persons seeking Eternal Happiness should not deter us from walking in the way of Life but oblige us to do it with an holy fear and trembling lest we should so much as seem to fall short Object 3. It will be said It is true Nothing is to be laid to the charge of Prophecy it self or to the Constitution of it for such Interpretation as God intended for it But it may hence be collected God intended Prophecies should be kept secret until either they shall be opened in such a glorious state of the Church as is signified by the Kingdom of Christ or till each Prophecy shall be fullfilled or at least till as near the Time of fullfilling as it was when Daniel by Beoks understood concerning the End of the Seventy Years Captivity Answ 1. Nothing of what is mentioned in this Objection will satisfy what the Apostle Peter hath here affirmed For that Prophecy should be a Light shining in a dark place can by no means be accommodated to the state of the Kingdom of Christ That could ne'r be styl'd by the Apostle a dark place although it is most True Prophecy
Dan. 7. v. 9 This therefore I lay before me as another Archetypal Vision relating to the Powers of the Gentiles and the Enemies of the Kingdom of Christ And having to do with the Roman Monarchy the last of the Four from the Times of the New Testament I most particularly consider that and Finding that the Evangelist Luke gives an Early Notice of it as an Vniversal Monarchy in Augustus Caesar Commanding a Cense of the whole World as his own Dominion Luke 2. 1. Even before the Birth of our Lord I conclude this must be the Fourth of Daniels Monarchies For though some would have it the Macedonian as Divided after the Death of Alexander the Great I find That cannot be both because the God of Heaven would not have set up a Kingdom in the Days of those Kings as is expresly said Dan. 2. v 44. And also because The Kingdom of Christ Even yet is not that Universal Dominion it was Foretold it should be And Lastly Because I find so Admirable an Harmony betwen the Prophetick Figures in the Revelation and the plain Historical Accounts of that Monarchy and that the Spirit of God hath even to plain Litteralness or more than so Interpreted it to be Rome and its Empire I lay therefore before me this Roman Monarchy in the Pagan Empire in the Antichristian Empire viz. The Papacy which to give publick Notice it is a Throne Assumes so Solemnly and Notoriously Enthroniczation to it self and the European Kings given as Horns of Strength to it as also the Mahometan Saracens and Turks coming as two Woes upon it are adjusted in Time Now finding the Iconismes or Images of Prophecy every way Agreeing herewith both in the Freest Analogical and even Litteral Interpretation as I have shewn all parts squaring one with Another I cannot but be thus far assur'd The Interpretation of the sure word of Phrophesy must needs be Fair Just and Right or seeing no other Interpretation can be Found thus to Square Prophecy must be indeed of Private Interpretation altho the Apostle assures it is not so More particularly with Relation to the Prophetical Numbers of Time I Found the purely prophetical Time on that Basis or Ground of it the Three Hundred Ninety Days of Years of Ezekiel his Bearing the Iniquity of the House of Israel These I make Sevenfold according to the Standard of Seven God so often fixes in the punnishment of Iniquity Levit. 26. And so they comprehend in that Sevenfoldness which makes the 390 2730 the Forty Days of Years of Ezekiels Bearing the Iniquity of the House of Judah and the Twenty Three Hundred Eves Morns of the Sanctuary Troden under Foot until the Sanctuary Cleansed or Justified according to Ezekiels Vision in the Glorious Kingdom of Christ These Twenty Seven Hundred Thirty Years making Seven Times Three Hundred and Ninety is one of the Transcendents I find in the Scripture-Line of Time according to my Computation of it and the Third Standard now given In this Grand Portion of the Line viz. Of the Twenty Three Hundred Eves Morns Fall Evenly and Justly All the Numbers of Time given after in Daniel and the Revelation or that can be supposed necessary to fill up any Spaces according to History or that are necessary to make up the 2300. although the Numbers are not in Lesser or Collatteral Lines to the 2300 Named in Prophecy which Yet must be and are Seventy Five before the Weeks and Four Hundred Years after the Weeks For all others are expresly named in Scripture-Prophecy But however as I have often shewn All Agree in their Just Order and Agree among themselves and Agree with the Notes of Discerning them Scripture hath given and lastly Agree with History and General Chronology All which make as great Assurance as can be of a True Computation and Account seeing neither Chance nor Art can Tune Things to such a Manifold Agreement For as They say Res nolunt Decipi Things will not be deceived nor imposed upon so they cannot be Forc'd Compell'd nor Flatter'd into an Agreement and so manifold an Agreement when the Natural Mutual Respect they have one to another does not incline them That particular Portion of the Line of Time given to measure the Time of the Apostasy by so often and so variously given viz Time Times Half a Time Twice Forty Two Months Twice Twelve Hundred Sixty Days and Three Days and an half and so the Last Thirty and Forty Five most Evenly and Justly according to the Line of Time take hold of and succeed one another in their Just Places The 1260 concert with the Ten Kings Receiving Power at one hour with the Beast The Beasts Supremacy the Mahometan Times So as to give all the Assurance that can be Fall in One with Another All according to the Justest Configurations of Prophetical Images and Historical Events And herein I observe Four Transcendencies which most unexpectedly and surprizingly meet the Considerer herein according to the Third Standard here given and would make the Meditative upon them cry out I have found I have found 1. That as Scripture-Prophecy gives the Time by Moons to the Gentiles and to the Beast and Days of the Sun to the Witnesses and the Woman and that these Days of the Sun and Moons are to Agree one with another as Lunar and Solar Time do I find according to my Calculation they do Agree according to the so celebrated Rule of the Golden Number and that thereby the Succession of the Beast or the Antichristian Papacy according to the Exact Laws of Succession to the Christian Emperor as Seventh Head and Eighth King Revel 17. 10 11. is fix'd at 475 or 6. as it ought according to all History to be and determin'd to its End or Going into perdition at 1697. Lunar Time and Solar Falling in Exactly according to all Chronology with this Prophecy 2. According to my Calculation by the Time the so known Character of Time Indiction or accounting by Fifteens of Years was well known and settled after Constantine the Spirit of Poophecy hath Adopted it to Enter into its Own Computation of Time For the Time Times and half Time beginning accordingly at 437. are in the whole and in each Division cast into Indictions or Fifteens of Years viz. the Three Times or Thrice Three Hundreds and Sixties and the Half Time or the One Hundred Eighty and for their sakes the Thirty making 1260 1290 by Two Fifteens and the Forty Five making 1290 to be 1335. Dan. 12. 11. 12. is evidently by Three Indictions or Fifteens And to All this may be added the Observation that the Words chosen out by the Spirit of God in the Chaldee Hebrew and Greek to express Time Times and Half Time so Sworn by Christ as to be Determinate Time may be Emphatically Translated Indiction or Indicted Time Now what can this mean but that Over-Ruling Providence so Disposes All that such Notations of Time should be found out and come into Use as
order It is said when the Stone cut of the Mountain came to smite the Image the stroke was upon the Feet that were of Iron and of Clay Again v. 35. when the Method is given as they say Analytically or the Image in the Breaking is Resolv'd from its Bottom to its Top from the Foundation to the Neck It is said Then was the Iron the Clay the Brass the Silver and the Gold Broken to Peices together and became like the chaff of the Summer Threshing Floor Before the Image was given from Head to Foot Here from Foot to Head But the Conjunction is kept most Inviolate and the Order considering forward First and then backward is the very same Now this Conjunction and order are so Essentially and Substantially Fix'd They can never be unfix'd any more This must be the Conjunction this must be the Order and nothing that Comes after it can Disannul it And yet when it comes to the last Catastrophe in the Interpretation of the Dream and so when the Event is suppos'd to come to its Complement that the Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands Falls upon All and Grinds them to powder Then the Iron and the Clay are separated by the Brass that has nothing to do in the Feet but with the Belly and the Thighes only For they only were of Brass This is the very Order given by the Spirit of God in this last part of the Vision I Find upon search no Reason to doubt in the least there appearing no demurr on a Different Reading as it stands in the Chaldee Verity or the Syriac Version as may be seen in B. Walton's Polyglot Bible And yet it is as if the Feet of Iron were joyn'd immediately with the Thighs of Brass and the Clay removed out of their place and as if the stroke were on the Brass before it was on the Clay whereas it was made again and again and a third Time Certain The stroke is on the Feet of Iron and Clay before the Brass should feel the Force of it Now all these are so great Points of the Vision that nothing can unsettle them without subverting the whole Frame For then the Dream could not as he hath said be Certain nor the Interpretation be sure nor what is grounded upon it be unshaken It must needs therefore be That for the Truth of the Conjunction the Order of the Metals and of the Parts and the Order of the Stroke were all given before as they are were and shall be And that the Spirit of Prophecy presumes that none would think It either on purpose or Casually would Destroy its own Frame I offer therefore to deep search of others and the Consideration of All who have Regard for the sure word of Prophecy to Attend to the Reason He hath Assisted me the Unworthiest of all his Servants to give and I am Humbly perswaded he Foresaw He would so Assist me to give it in so publick a Ministry to his Servants in general And the Reason is this That God might make known to the King and in him to after Ages what should be hereafter As Daniel assures us Now the very utmost of that Hereafter is very near Come Even as Near as Ninety Seven as I have fully set out By comparing therefore the state of Things now with this Change in the Vision we may arrive to some good degree of Understanding in the Reason of the Change I say comparing it with the present State I look then upon the present state of the Ten Horns as Prophecy calls them or Kings and their Kingdoms I consider which of them of All others bears the Metal Iron at the greatest Lustre of Appearance at this Time and by plain matter of Fact that is the French Power and Kingdom Then I consider where that which was heretofore call'd the Brass in the Image of the Four Kingdoms now Resides and the Brass being the Grecian Kindom as All Interpreters agree The Grecian Empire is beyond all Contest known to be in the Hands of the Turk whose Port is known to be at Constantinople There are then two things God makes known to us by this Change in the Vision concerning that last State of this Image when the Stone shall fall upon it 1. That the Stroke shall be struck and the Fall of the Stone Grinding the Image to Powder shall be when the Iron in the most Illustrious Appearance of it near the very End shall be joyn'd to the Brass and in League with it So that tho the Iron even the whole Iron together with the Clay shall be broken before the Brass yet the Brass is Transferred out of its proper both Conjunction and Order not indeed so but as in a Figure to give a Watchword that when the Iron in an Eminency shall be signally Conjoyn'd with the Brass viz. That Turco-Grecian Power Then the Blow shall be given and the Brass not before the Clay but in its own Order shall be Broken viz. The Feet of Iron and Clay First and in their own Conjunction then the Brass and the Silver and Gold immediately upon it Now therefore observing the Iron in so Illustrious Appearance joyn'd with the Brass at a Time we know by the Line of Time the Blow is so near to be given It is a Concurrent Assurance It is very near 2. The Spirit of Prophecy is pleas'd hereby to Brand the Unnaturalness of the Conjunction of France with the Turkish Power a Kingdom belonging to the Feet and Toes mixed with the Hierarchic Antichristian Clay and giving Power to it and yet Uniting with the Brass or Mahometan Power a Woe upon that Antichristian State A thing as Monstrous as if the most Eminent Toe should separate it self from the Feet to joyn it self immediately with the Belly and Thighs so is the Papacies most Christian King Leagued with the Mahometan Enemy of Christianity as in the Antichristian State Rem 2. The second Remark I make on that Vision is from yet more undeniable if possible Letter of Prophecy that the management of the last Stroke when the Stone by its own Direction of it self shall fall on the Image and Smite it It shall be not by Humane but by Immediate Divine Power that tho it will Raise and Fit what Instruments it pleases Seven Shephards and Eight Principal Men yet the Stone it self will be Visibly seen Illustrious above All altho there shall be with the Lamb the Faithful and Called and Chosen yet the Lamb himself as by his Immediate Power shall be seen above All For the Stone that is Cut out of the Mountains is said to be in no Hand or which is not in Hands according to the Strictness of Translation or in any Hand of Man And when he comes to work it shall be as on the sudden and at an Instant For when Divine Power works Nullum Tempus Occurrit Regi Nothing can Lett Divine Power Altho then I most Sincerely and Earnestly Pray that the
the knowledg of the Glory of God may so cover it also even as the Waters the Sea that even as in the Sea there is nothfng to be seen for Water even so in the Earth There shall be nothing to be seen for the Glory of the Lord it shall so take up the whole View througout all the Earth From hence therefore I Argue All kinds of Disappointment and Frustrations of All the Labour Undertakings Enterprizings that are in the World the Expectations from Princes Councels Governments From Trade and Commerce at Home and Abroad From Armies and Navies From Generals and Commanders of them and their whole Force and this not only in one part of the World but in the Nations and People taken together and in the Gross Such Labouring in the very Fire and wearying themselves for very vanity are no Argument against such a Glory of God being near and the Knowledg of such a Glory covering the Earth as the Waters do the Sea Such a Glorious Revolution and Change of the World being very nigh and at the doors so that they are rather an Argument for the nighness of it to us For God hath given us this as a Prognostick In the very same manner This Divine Prophet beholding that Great Vision of the Kingdom of Christ in its last Accomplishment when all his Enemies shall be under the Invasion with his Troops Intimates That even in the Labour and Service of Nature it self There shall be great Frustrations and Disappointments that the Fig-Tree may not Blossom the Labour of the Olive may fail there may be no Fruit in the Vine the Flock may be cut off from the Fold and the Heard from the Stall And yet saith he will I Rejoyce in the Lord and Glory in the God of our Salvation For tho I do Acknowledg the World is always so full of Disappointments in all these Kinds that what the Prophet speaks is most suitable to all Times All is full of Labour and Vanity as Solomon speaks Vanity of Vanities All is Vanity and Vexation of Spirit All is made subject to Vanity and to Corruption yet as if God would wind up the whole Web of Vanity before the Time of the Salvation of the Restitution of All Things The Prophet thus speaks and goes on That the Lord will make his Feet like Hinds feet and set them upon the high places the Mountain of Spices and that then the Time of Songs shall indeed come in and of Singing to the Stringed Instruments Like David at the Kingdom of the True David the Root and Off-spring of David together in comparison of which All songs are but Howling and Lamentation now Now if we were to Judg of Things by the present Aspect of Things and of what is in Prospect we may have Reason to hope That the Change of the World is near and I should Rejoice to be so happily Mistaken that it is indeed nearer than according to the Line of Time I can conclude it There is every where such Labouring in the very Fire and Wearying our selves for very Vanity In the last place to conclude the whole Argument from the sure Word of Prophecy I would in brief present the whole Table of Time The whole ground Plot of Prophecy is the State of Things from the First Creation and Sabbatism under the First Adam to the New Creation and Sabbatism of the Second Adam First Design'd but Remaining to be Accomplished even from the Foundation of the World even when God on the Seventh Day Rested from the Works which He had made according to Heb. 4 5 7. It began to Remain to be Accomplished This Sabbatism Comprehends the Highest and most excellent Temple State or a State of Enjoyment of God and also a Dominion Lordship Throne and Kingdom of the Second Adam and of his Seed over the Creation of God All things being put under the Feet of him and of his Seed in the Sabbatism which remains to the People of God God the Lord of Time hath made and given in his word an exact Line of Time from Sabbatism to Sabbatism of near or to the Evening or between the two Evenings of the Sixth and Last Milenary and allotted a Just Cubical Thousand years the perfection of Time to that Sabbatism it self or Kingdom of Christ This Line is at this Day to be Found in Scripture made up of Historical Time reaching as far as it was necessary to Reach to make up such a space of Time Till by Fair Commissures Prophetic Time came in and joyn'd it and made up the Rest even 5759 years to the great Sabbath To the two great Types of this Temple and Kingdom expiring viz. The Reigns of David and Solomon at Solomons Death This Line of Time is given plainly and Historically Emboss'd only with some Ornamental Resemblances of that Kingdom and Temple-State All which I have made out according to the very Letter of Scripture and Fortified our Hebrew Copy as truly the Word of God by great Evidence as I hope of Argument from Scripture and Scripture-Reason And those several Historical Lines to Solomons Death make 3029 years These I do not particularize because they do not so properly fall under the sure word of Prophecy but the sure word of Scripture-History From thence even at Solomons Death begins Prophetical Time however Historically Supported in many great Branches of it yet the Ministration and Representation of it is All Prophetical and Mystical All and Each of these are of great Consideration to him whoever he be that would understand Prophecy This general Plat-form being now laid according to and in my Line of Time I here present it in brief to View together THE Prophetical Scripture Line of Time As it is Given from the Death of Solomon to the Temple New Jerusalem and Throne of the great Solomon Son of David in purely Prophetical Numbers  Days of Years FRom Solomon's Death when the Types of the Kingdom of Christ in David his Father and himself Ceas'd to Ezekeil's Temple c. The first Time of Sollemn Bearing Iniquity or the Punishment of it in the delay of the Kingdom of Christ the Antitype giving Spring to all Prophetick Time 390. Ezek. 4. 5. c. 40. c. In that Ezekiels Temple was but a Visional Temple the former 390 years are made according to the Standard of Seven given by God * Levitic 26. 18 c. seven times three Hundred ninty days of years of bearing Iniquity in the Delay of the Kingdom of Christ to Ezekiels Sanctuary Cleans'd or Expiated and Justified in that Kingdom 2340 From Ezekiel's Vision of the Temple after Forty Days of years Bearing the Sin of Judah and stoping any so much as Appearance of a Temple-state to a Faint Appearance of that Vision in Cyrus his Decree for Building the Temple the first 40 of the 2340. 0-40 Ezek. 4. 6. From the End of the 40 days of years at Cyrus his Decree to the Sanctuary Cleans'd 2300 eves morns
Dan. 8. 14. From the Decree of Cyrus the first going out of the word for the Restoring the Temple by the God of Israel and Cyrus King of Persia to the full going out of that word by Artaxerxes Longimanus the first 75 of the 2300 Eves Morns of years a Time of the Treading it under foot this Time therefore is Detach'd from the 2300. 75. Made out by Scripture Argument and Chronology From the word fully gone Forth to the Time of Annointing the Sanctuary by the Powring out the Spirit on the Apostolick Church at the Ascension of Christ Represented in the midst of the Half week by the Vision Revel c. 4. c. 5. And so the other Half Week continues the Time of the Confirming of the Covenant a Time cut off from the 2300 of Treading the Sanctuary under Foot 490 Dan. 9. 24. Of these 490 years or 70 Weeks seven of them were a Time of Building the Walls and Streets of Jerusalem according to all History Assuring the former 75 with these 49 years to reach ten years within the Reign of Darius Nothus and to be 124 years and therefore the First seven weeks are so cut off from the seventy Weeks and so many Persian Princes expresly nam'd in sacred History 49 Dan. 9. 25. Ezr. 6. 14. Fsther 1. 1. Neh. 12. 22. From the end of the First forty nine years of the Weeks are Sixty two Weeks distinctly nam'd a Time of Vassalage Tributariness Straits and Difficulties under Heathen Princes especially Antiochus Epiphanes a great Type of treading the Sanctuary under foot by Antichrist until the Publick Ministry of Messiah the Prince 434 Dan. 9. 25. From Messiah the Prince Appearing in his Ministry to the end of confirming the covenant to the Jews at the last week in the midst of which he Died the other half week by the Apostles and their Beginning Desolations 0007 Dan. 9. 27. The Duration of the Force of Annointing the Sanctuary was to continue during the Sealing of Vision and Prophecy viz. That great Vision of Ezekiels Temple which Sealing was both of Reserve from Immediate coming to pass of that Vision and of securing it from Antichristian Violation for that Time 400. Rev. 6. c. 7. Therefore this Sealed time is Divided into two halves  The First of which was of the Purer time of the Sanctuary when the Annointing was most upon it And this the Wisdom of the Spirit of Prophecy has set out by Ballances in the hand of that Just Emperor Alexander Severus weighout the time of the Purity of the Sanctuary according to the weights of the Sanctuary 202 Rev. 6. 6. The Sealing was to secure till there was a Full and Perfect Emblem of Christs Kingdom in the Christian Empire  The other half from Alexander Severus his Death till the taking away the Daily Sacrifice when the Annointing pass'd off and the Sealing as to the Security went off from the Outer-court and Rested on the Inner-court and Persons Worshiping in it 202 Rev. c. 6. to c. 8. and c. 11. 1. From the end of sealed time began Indicted time or time times half time so stil'd in Chaldee Hebrew Greek so call'd because sworn Time or Time declar'd by Oath Dan. 12. 7. Dan. 7. 25. c. 12. 7. And Accordingly God Provided by Constantine a Character of Time to be an Agreeable Distinction of Time viz. Indictions of 15 y. to Ascertain when the Indicted time times and half time should have place there are therefore twenty four Indictions that make the first Time or Third of 1080 Days 360 Rev. 11. 3. c. 12. 16. The two Times or two Thirds of 1080 Days are twice 24 15 of years or 24 Indictions 720 The last half of Indicted Time or an 180 years in twelve Indictions making up 1260 y. 180 At Rev. 10. Half Time begins as hath been shewn The Epoch or beginning of the Time Times and half Time is to be taken from the 42 Moons of the Gentiles as hath been shewn Beyond the time times and half time or the 1260 days of years are the Thirty days of years of the Voices making 1290 by the Addition of two Fifteens or Indictions 30 Dan. 12. 11. Rev. 14. The last part of Time till the Fullness of Time makes the 1290 1335 by the Addition of three Fitteens or Indictions or 45 Days of years and are the time of Powring out the Vials 45 Dan. 12. 12. Rev. 16. Now these two last parts of Time are Indicted Time also because they come under the Oath of Christ that in the Days of the Seventh Angel and his beginning to Sound the Mystery of God shall be Finished  Then follows the Thousand years the Glorious Kingdom of Christ the Fullness the Perfection of time Stild Rev. 20. Thrice The Thousand Years 1000 I am now come to the last Head of this Discourse I proposed Some Brief Reflections by way of Inference upon the whole Infer 1. This shews the great Price God hath put into our Hands in the Profession of Christianity of giving mighty Evidence to the Truth of the Scriptures if the Apostacy that hath come upon our Profession had not Robbed us of the Hearts to make use of it For God hath given us a Sure word of Prophecy that cannot Fail nor deceive us in any of the great Futurities the things to Come It hath Foretold They shall certainly be Fulfill'd each in their Season For Infinite Wisdom hath designed and contrived them that cannot upon any Emergent Unconsidered Change its Counsel For it calls the End at the very beginning Infinite Veracity or Truth hath Declared them which cannot deceive it is a sure word and Allmighty Power will bring them to pass Now Prophecy or Declaring things to Come is by God insisted upon as the greatest Assurance of the Divine Being Declare to us says God Things to Come that we may know you are Gods Yea do good or evil viz. When you have Foretold them Let the Things Foretold come to pass by your power Now seeing our Scriptures are full of Prophecies on which these Evidences must be Founded There wants nothing but Interpretation Adjusting what is past to its Just Times of Coming to pass according to Prophecy and History and thereby laying assured Grounds of Interpreting Prophecy concerning what is to come Oh why do we not then concerning Things to Come which Christ hath Promised the Spirit shall lead us into and shew us engage our selves in Interpretation Seeing the Apostle Peter hath assur'd No Prophecy is of Private Interpretation or Reserv'd even as in things past Relating to Christ which we so vehernently Argue upon against the Jews and with so great Reason why not in things to come concerning his Kingdom Infer 2. We have hence Authority to Joyn Interpretation of Prophecy and the Expectation of the Return of Miracles together that when in Daniel c. 12. 6. It is Enquired How long shall it be to the End or to the Perfecting of Wonders Those great Numbers
but if it was so It Argues There was some Observation Defer'd to it by him that he gave that Paper a place in his Study which Foretold Rome as the Catholick Church should become one of the most notorious Fables in the World and be exposed as one of the greatest Cheats upon it Altho he seem'd to adhere to it I say He seem'd for of so great a Wit I question it However bigotted he appear'd in Writing the Virgo Hallensis But that which is enough to me and will be I suppose to others in this Kind is That it hath undoubtedly been extant in Print above Forty years and so in the Hands of many persons and that any one may see it at any Time that Pleases Now it must needs be Dr. Mayer knew it a Prediction of some Age in his Time in Assigning it to Lipsius his Study who Died near Fifty years before and how long before it came into Lipsius his Study it cannot be said Yet indeed Forty years in this matter is as much as an Hundred and Dr Mayers Preface in this Case as much as Lipsius his Study For the whole stress lies here that such Events were Foretold so long before that there was no Train of Causes leading probably to that Ninety Eight more than any other year and that there be sufficient Assurance of this by the Predictions being in well known Hands Now both these are uncontestable concerning this Prediction by being so long ago in Print in Dr. Mayer and Dr. Mayer's Works in many Hands The Sum of the matter is This Prediction was so long before 98 an undeniable matter of Fact in Print and known to be so But I must not conceale There is a Prediction in Stows Annals p 749. According to which This I am Discoursing most probably was Form'd as appears by several Allusions of the one to the other so plain as not to be Denied It is a Prediction upon that famous year 1588 running thus Post Mille Expletos a partu Virginis Annos Et post Quingentos Rursus ab orbe Datos Octagesimus Octavus Mirabilis Annus Ingruet Is secum Tristia Fata Feret Si non hoc Anno Totus Malus Occidet Orbis Si non in Nihilum Terra Fretumque Ruant Cuncta Tamen Mundi sursum Ibuntque Retrorsum Imperia Luctus undique Grandis Erit There Englished thus When after Christs Birth there shall be expir'd Of Hundreds Fifteen years Eeighty and Eight Then comes the Time of Danger to be fear'd And all mankind with Dolors it shall fright For if the World that year shall not fall If Sea and Land then Perish ne decay Yet States and Kingdoms then alter shall And men to ease themselves shall have no way Now this last Recited Prediction is said to be written by Regiomontanus that most Famous Astronomer of his Time in the year 1475. the year before he died at Rome And the Prediction I now Recommend may seem to be a meer Imitation of it and so to be the Diversion of a Fanciful Poetical and Adventrous Pen wantonizing upon a Former Prediction and Running Counter to it and that therefore there is no Regard to be had to it But I shall argue the contrary and that upon Due Compare of the one with the other That in Dr. Mayer will be much advanced in Repute I do grant That it was written by one that had laid the Prediction of Regiomontanus before him Nay I make no doubt he writ it after the year 1588. when the Remarkable Events of that Famous Year had given Reputation to the Prediction upon it Whoever therefore writ the Prediction before us Coasted and Glanced along upon that of Regiomontanus grown into Esteem by Things Answering it and grafts a far greater Prediction upon so much as would serve his main purpose and Leaves the Rest And this he did to give it some Remarkableness by appearing in some of the Garb of what had obtain'd a Degree of Honor by the Effect Following it But it indeed far exceeds its Copy and since I know it is so Truly according to the Sure Word of Prophecy I am assur'd whoever writ it writ it either from a Judgment enlightned by deep Enquiry into Scripture Prophecy or by some Divine Impulse and far above the Copy And as Reasons of my Assurance herein I make these Observations upon it 1. In the other Prediction there is nothing but what falls within an ordinary Human imagination supposing the world in an Hurly-Burly and Confusion but such a Series of Events known only to Scripture and its Prophecy not to be Read in the Stars nor in the Book of Nature but the Book of God only shews a much higher Original than Human Imagination taking Copy from one much lower than it self but either a mind Divinely Taught by Scripture Prophecy or at least Providentially Impell'd as Caiaphas's was John 11. 51. and not speaking of it self 2. Whereas in the other Prediction The Events though signified to be great yet are but General and Confused and no one Express In this Prophecy all is very great each Event is of the greatest that can be Thought of within the state of the whole present World each is Distinct Firmly declared Like one that knew he spake on great ground this Poetry and Fancy do not use to do 3. Whereas a mere Fancy or Humor of Foretelling would have chosen some nearer Time than above a Century beyond that 1588 to raise a quicker Expectation and thereby a greater Amuse this Prediction carries steddily to 1698 so far off 4. A Naked Fancy or Incertainly guided Arrogancy of Foretelling if it had born so Aloft and at a Distance from the Time of the Former Prediction would have hardly miss'd of the Crime of 1688 Answering 1588. For we see common Expectation hath of it self run upon that year and has not been greatly mistaken in Regard of the Revolution in this Nation wherein All the European World hath been so much concern'd also to carry therefore the Prediction as from one 88 and not to stop and quarry as one may say upon the next 88. but to fall Perpendicularly upon 98. is a higher flight than of a Fancy 5. The words chosen out by whoever was the Predictor so susceptible of so ready to Fall into and to Cope with the words and Images of Scripture Prophecy are a very great Argument and Assurance He either from Great Acquaintance with Scripture Prophecy and Assistance from it in that mediate way or some more immediate Inspirings of that Holy Spirit of Prophecy or at least from a Providential Impulse or Motion of Mind was Enabled to use words which the Holy Spirit Teacheth comparing Spiritual Things with Spiritual 6r That which above All Assures me there was a Divine Extraordinary either Explorating and searching out of the Testimony of Jesus in the Written word or from some Emotion of the Spirit of Prophecy in some Holy and Sanctified Person or at least from some Providential Impulse of that Spirit upon the Person that writ the Prediction is that he hath fallen upon that very time I have by exact Calculation found to be the very Time for the Coming of these great Events to pass in a settlement in 98 after their beginning 97. FINIS
shall lye open as a Volume most clearly and fully understood in the Hall as I may say of that Palace of the Kingdom but not as in a dark place but as Light uniting with Light unto perfect Brightness Then it is the Day shall dawn and the Day-star shine in the very Hearts of all the Servants of Christ and the Light of one Day be as the Light of seven Nor can the Apostles sense be made good by Prophecy being understood when fullfilled For indeed the Disputes are as Great concerning the Time at which Prophecies that undoubtedly have been long ago fullfilled were fullfilled as concerning Prophecies yet to be fullfilled And though it may well be allowed that there have been some Bruits and Noises of the Things foretold by Prophecy that they were coming to pass at the time they did come to pass yet there are Two Things evidently intended by the Apostle as the Great Scope and End of his Discourse much to be considered by all that would find the Purpose of the Holy Spirit by him 1. That there is one Glorious Day and Day-Star to break out and shine in the World which is the Great Point at which Prophecy aims and into which it shall unite as a Lesser Light with a Greater and more Glorious which is indeed the Kingdom of Christ and to which the Apostle had respect as is to be shewn throughout this Epistle This is that Time of the Restitution of All Things of which all the Prophets have spoken since the World began as that same Apostle Peter spoke Acts 3. 21. This is the Mpstery to be fulfilled as he hath spoken or Evangelized as Happiest Tydings by All his Sevants the Prophets Rev. 10. 7. Prophecy is therefore a Light shining till then and guiding to the Time when it is to begin and then falls in One with it as the forenam'd Scriptures shew 2. There is a very particular dark place that Prophecy shines as a Light in till then and it is indeed the whole Time from the Delay of the Kingdom of Christ at his Resurrestion and Ascension till it dawns and rises as a Day-star but it is yet more particularly the Time and State of the Apostacy which is as a Smoak darkning the Air even the whole State of Christianity in the very Heavens of it Prophecy shines therefore as a Light in a dark place giving Assurance of and shewing the Time of that Day and Day-Star dawning upon the World till it shall Illuminate into the very Heart with its mighty Influences and Beams of Glory Object 4. It is to be further urg'd If the Time of this Kingdom and Glory be not generally known and agreed upon it can do but little Service for the Inlightning the dark place of the Apostacy and that we do not find it hath been and if Prophecy be not in its own Constitution of private Interpretation yet if it hath Eventually proved so how is the Light of it seen Answ 1. It is very agreeable to the Wisdom and Glory of God that the Fountains of Truth should be running and the Lights of it shining though the Streams and Rays are not received nor have their kindly Effect as the Evangelist John says The Light shineth in darkness though the darkness comprehend it not God left not himself without Witness among the Heathen though we know of Few who received the Testimony Acts 14. 17. How many have the Gospel-Light without its proper saving Effect Answ 2. There hath been a strange Collineation or Levelling and Aiming of the Servants of God upon the Years of this Last Part of this Seventeenth Century for the Glory of Christ's Kingdom and besides some Later a Prophecy found in the Study of Justus Lipsius transcrib'd into the Preface of Dr. Mayer to the Volume of his Interpretation on the Prophets Great and Small is perpendicular on the Year Ninety Eight in such a Language as speaks Effects begun and in their Course as at Ninety Seven as shall Appear in a short Appendix to this Treatise But to All that hath been said it may be added in satisfaction of the Principal Objection that supposes Prophecy hath not been understood till fullfilled It is very plain we cannot give a certain Account what Light God may have given his Servants into Prophecy in any Times He gave Noah the Exact Time of an Hundred and Twenty Years before the Flood to Abraham Four Hundred years from the Time of that Oracle to his seed Returning from the Egyptian Nation after God had Judg'd them Till which time They were under that oppression According to which Moses very Probably thought His brethren would have understood God would deliver his people by his hand Because it grew so near the time and Moses was a person so signalized by God in his miraculous preservation and his having the offer of being called the Son of Pharoahs daughter and yet Refusing that Glittering Honour as mark'd out by God for much Higher viz. In the deliverance of his People with whom he Chose to suffer Affliction rather then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Of all which I have no doubt He had the notices from the four hundred years He knew were Given to Abraham The Children of Issachar were men that had Knowledge and understanding of Times and Knew what Israel ought to Do 1 Chron. 12. 32. And undoubtedly some Oracular Instructions they had Joyn'd with Jacobs Prophecy by which they knew Judahs being a Royal Tribe and that the Lyon of the Tribe was the Emblem of it even till Christ the Lyon indeed of it and they Collected Davids Royalty should then begin Daniel understood by Books not onely the Book of the Prophet Jeremy But as we may very Reasonably suppose by the Books of other Servants of God that Kept or Searched Records of Times according to Jeremies Prophecy I doubt not Simeon Waited for the Consolation of Israel according to Daniels Seventy Weeks What Light God gave to his servants in the First times of Christianity we have not such certain accounts as might be desired But as it is reported to us by Ecclesiastick History It was foretold of Julian he was Nubecula cito Transitura a Cloud tbat would soon vanish But this I am sure was according to Prophecy that Sathan being cast down by the change of the Pagan Empire into the Christian Empire After Constantine there could be in the Roman Empire no place found for him any more of continuance in its Heaven though some short Attempts there might be as of Julian Eugenius Argobastes Maximus in his Pagan Supremacy altho under the Name of Christ as it were in his Right and as the Vicar of the Fifth Monarchy of him the Manly Birth on the Throne Satan crept in as an underminer and in the Anti-Christian Supremacy He hath a Throne as on Earth whether therefore the Speaker had his Ground it self in Prophecy The thing it self had and it could not be otherwise
but that the Empire of an Apostate to Paganism must be very Short even as of a Prince relapsing to Popery in these Nations It was the business of Anti-Christianism to suppress the Interpretation of Prophecy that had so dreadful an Aspect upon it self as much as it could yet the common Fame and Bruit of Anti-Christs coming was spread far and near when the Christian Empire which was the Let according to Thes 2. c. 2. was taken out of the way the joynt being so Natural between the Christian Ceasing and the Anti-Christian Begïnning to supplant having so much of the Name Christian The Voicing the Papacy to be that Antichrist lifting up himself above what ever was called Sebast or August as he did about that Time was heard all along from the time of Petrus Waldo till the Reformation and since the Reformation how many Eminent Servants of Christ have Labour'd with success in the Interpretation of Prophecy notwithstanding some particular mistakes with whom I humbly joyn my self a Fellow Labourer and one that hath taken part of their Labour and now the Fields are white unto the Harvest when many others shall enter into our Labours according to that saying One soweth and another Reapeth and yet he that Reapeth shall yet receive wages unto Life Eternal so that they who have sown and they that reap may Rejoyce together And indeed the Time is now so near that whatever Influence That nearness may be hop'd to have upon Interpretation of Prophecy according to Truth I may humbly hope for For tho the Time of Daniels public Interpretation upon the Seventy Years was nearer to their End yet the Time of his understanding was undoubtedly earlyer The Time of his Prophecy was designed to be close upon the very end of the Seventy Years and that so sollemn Prayer for else it is Evident The Time of his praying was every Day towards the Desolations of Jerusalem with his Windows open'd Three Times with foresight of the very time Seeing then the very Time of Ninety Seven I have now for some years pitch'd upon as the very Time when the Desolations of the Sanctuary shall be Accomplished and the Kingdom of Christ be in Succession of which I find dayly new Confirmations and Assurances as the Time Approacheth Therefore I hope I shall be Enabled and many Servants of God with me to set our selves dayly by Supplication and Prayer and so much the more as we see the Day approaching Obj. 1. It may be said what is the Good or Advantage of Knowing the Secrets of Prophecy or the Times more especially Defined by it have we not such plain Doctrines and Rules of Scripture that are every way sufficient to take up our Time and Thoughts that are more sure and certain in their tendency to God and have less of Scruple and Dispute in their Sense and Importance Ans 1. Whatsoever is vouchsafed to us by God as a Manifestation of and Revelation from himself to us in his Word not to regard receive and improve it is in the Scripture Phrase a wearying of God Isa 7. Ahaz made a fair and plausible Pretence of Trusting God without a Sign when God so Gratiously offered it to him he said He would not Tempt God and yet this his Refusal was called a wearying of God God understanding much better what is necessary for us and to our advantage than we do our selves and if he hath given us a Rule of Times it will be found to be our great Sin and Neglect if we do not search and enquire every one in our places What of the Night and also how near the Morning is Comming Esay 21. 11. Ans 2. Let us ask what Good it was to Noah that God told him The Old World should have only the Reprieve of an hundred and Twenty years before the Flood What Good was it to Abraham when God told him It should be Four Hundred years ere his Seed should be brought back What Good was it to the Church of the Jews to be assured the Babylonish captivity should be but Seventy VVeeks and that there should be but Seventy weeks of years from the full Restoring Jerusalem to the comming of Messiah Such as was the Good of these Manifestations to the Servants of God such is the good that arises from the Knowledg of Time Times and Half Time the 1260 1290 and 1335 days of years given as the measure of the Antichristian Times as the Measure of the Preparation for the Kingdom of Christ till the Glory of it such is the Knowledg of the 2300 Eves Morns from the Babylonish Captivity ending to the Justification of the Sanctuary in the New Jerusalem according to the Vision of Ezekiels Temple And Lastly such is the Good of the Knowledg of the 1000 years Glory of Christs Kingdom manifested to us and then of the Kingdom Delivered up to God and the Father the Last end and Consummation of All. I have thus far argued the Grand Assertion that All and every Prophecy of Scripture is not of private Interpretation and therefore not prophetick Numbers of Time but that there are Standards of Interpretation in laid into Prophecy it self and such Assistances from that publick Spirit vouchsafed to All that wait for them that it is justly to be stiled not private but publick Interpretation I have also counter-argued all the Objections I could discover I come now to the Third Head Head 3 d. The Third Head shall be to consider What Standards according to Scripture-Reason and the Ballance of the Sanctuary there are by which the Interpretation of prophecy may be judg'd to be a True Interpretation when it is offered us by any one that hath made it or whereby the person that hath himself made it may know it to be Just and according to the Sense of the Holy Spirit of prophecy and his Conduct into that Sense The Standards of Tryal for the True Interpretation of prophecy I would lay down are These 1. When the Types and Symbols of prophecy in the Old and New Testament are taken All as under One intire View and Consideration and so Analogized and shewn in their Agreement one with another as to make up a Full and perfect Portraicture and Table each Part appearing in its proper Symetry and Proportion in its own Scituation in its Lively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Beauty and Lively Air of prophecy This is like a philosophick System of the Creation solving All Phenomena But if we take some single Parts only though there may be handsome and fine plausible and probable Descants upon them as they stand by themselves and if they alone were to be answered for Yet when they come to be examined by the rest of prophecy and it be considered how one part answers another in the whole Frame of prophecy and one single part under such or such a Descant Those Descants will be discovered to be only worthy of Rejection This therefore I have endeavoured and most closely