of thy Enchantments But then it is destroyed for ever sunk as a Milstone This speaks the Perpetuity of the Judgment All this is most Prophetically Typical of the Judgment on Mystic Babylon We have found it was literally fulfilled as indeed in one Day and one Night on old Babylon and so it shall in the first Onset on the Mystical But the Judgments of it are so much of another Nature they shall continue much longer in the Execution like the second Death it suddenly surprizes but it continues for ever so is the Judgment of Babylon her Smoke rises up for ever and ever And If any man worship Chap. 14. 9 c. the Beast or his Image c. the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God without mixture and he shall be tormented with Fire and Brimstone in the Presence of God and of the Lamb and of the Holy Angels and the Smoke of their Torments riseth for ever and ever Thus though the Beginning of the Judgment be sudden the Continuation of it is by certain Distributions of its self till it become an everlasting Lake of Wrath and Torment Posit 4. The Princes that long bare up the Grandeur and Haughtiness of Papal Rome by giving their Power and Kingdom to the Beast called therefore his Horns shall be so overcome by the Lamb as to be made Instruments in the Execution of the Judgment in such Parts and Degrees as the strong Lord shall when he becomes Vniversal Monarch King of King and Lord of Lords commission them unto This shall highly exalt and make Illustrious the Judgment It is therefore much to be considered and is a great Confirmation that Babylon means Papal Rome as hath been already at large set forth that the so strange and unaccountable Subjection of so many Kings to the Papacy a feeble Power if we consider its Force of Arms which Statists and Men of Politicks have so wondered at is here accounted for It is indeed call'd Sorcery and Intoxication being made Drunk with the Wine of her Fornication the most Lively Description of False Religion But all is under the Divine Supreme Ordination For God put it into their Hearts to Fulfil his will and to agree together and to give their Kingdom to the Beast until the words of God should be Fulfill'd And they have one mind to give their Power and Strength unto the Beast and hereupon they make War with the Lamb and so Persecute his Truth and Servants And C. 17. 2 13 15 16. the People of these Kingdoms Nations Multitudes Tongues the Inhabitants of the Roman Babilonian Earth falling under the same Enchantment of a False Religion made Drunk and Commiting Fornication with her are as a Confluence of Waters to her on which she sitteth Was there ever or could there be a plainer Description in Prophesy of what is so plain matter of Fact which hath rais'd the Admiration and Wonder of all Observers But when the words of God shall be Fulfilled and the Time Allotted expired Then these Kings shall so far as God pleases be the Executioners of the Judgment For as the Plagues in the Text are Death Mourning Famine Burning with Fire so the Kings shall hate the whore make her desolate Eat her Flesh Burn her with Fire It 's True there are Kings that Bewail her v. 13. 18. But that pertains to another part of the Judgment when it is Advanced to the Eternal Judgment with the Explication of which I have not at the present to do But how wonderfull and Illustrious will the First Execution be when these Kings shall First Appear in it Sure It will be very Great and Glorious Propos. 5. The Greatness and Sudden Invasion of this Judgment as Denounced by God and by such Instruments as the Ten Kings are uncontrolably to be Demonstrated not only as to the Possibility but the certainty of both as from the Truth of the Lord who hath so long ago Denounced it So from the Wisdom and Omnipotency of the strong Lord who is the Judger This is not therefore in the least unreasonable but the Highest Justification from the Truest Principles of Reason is to be found in the Expectation of the Judgment upon the Beast and the City Let it be never so sudden For the Lord is every way Infinitely Shrong who Judgeth God therefore in such his great works of what kind soever appeals to the Consideration of himself as the God that stretcheth out the Earth and that which cometh out of it that giveth Breath unto the People upon it Es 42. So in the Judgment on Old Babylon He that made the Earth by his Power he hath Established the World by his Wisdom and he hath stretched out the Heaven by his understanding when he uttereth his Voice there is a Multitude of Waters in the Heavens and he Causeth the Waters to Ascend from the Ends of the Earth He maketh the Lightning with Rain and bringeth the Wind out of his Treasures Jeremiah 51. 16. 17. It 's therefore a very great Misprision of Infinite Wisdom and Power when we make that an Argument against the most Extraordinary and most Miraculous Works of God which he makes an Argument for Faith and Expectation of them as if he were Tyed by what he had done to do no more or had done all he could do and nothing to be Expected but according to the Laws of Creation and dayly providence and Leisurely Progresses and not in those Immediate Effects of Sudden Power The great God argues differently because those Works of his are so great and so high That therefore still so great and so high are to be Expected and that they should stand up so together when he pleases And so we unwisely think we very well argue he that so Wonderfully and Miraculously appear'd in the First Times of the Gospel hath done all that he will do or thinks fit to be done till the day of Judgment But undoubtedly we may better argue he hath much greater things to do to make the very latter times of the gospel-Gospel-Glory as Illustrious as their very beginning and entrance was Before his Kingdom the Man of sin and Son of Perdition shall be Consum'd and utterly defaced his Spirit shall be poured out The Everlasting Gospel shall be Preach'd The Heathen shall come to the Lord from the Ends of the Earth and shall know his hand and his might and that his Name is Jehovah And all Israel shall Turn to the Lord and be saved For Strong is the Lord who shall do all these things Posit 6. The Divine Prescience and Wisdom hath chosen and singled out a Time and decreed it for the Execucion of this Judgment when Babylon shall shew it felf in it's Pride in it's Pomp it 's Presumptive Security For as hath been said it is when she shall say I sit a Queen and shall see no sorrow as Babylon of Old said I shall be a Lady for ever and shall know no
or Violation or as in our Translation My i. e. Gods Breach of promise Numb 14. 34. The same word signifies Abruption or breaking off the even Contexture of Events begun All which have been mentioned already I will now according to these Rules discourse this Head But that I may do it with Greater Clearness I find it most advantageous to shew that in the Two Last Rules the various Instances of Reserved Times in Scripture are Deposited viz. Reserves of Time in a way of Goodness and Mercy and in a way of Displeasure and Breach of Promise Of these Two Reservings of Time being the only Kinds viz. Mercy or Displeasure I will first give an Instance of God's Dispensations in a way of Goodness Grace and Mercy in such a Reserve of Time The Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ was that very Fullness of Time that very To Day of his being Gal. 4. 4. made Known the only Begotten Son and for our Lords Entring into his Glory All Power in Heaven and Earth Psal 3. was Given to Him for his Spiritual Kingdom which He then Receiv'd and for the pouring out of his Spirit Then he Received the Sealed Book of all disposes over the Kingdoms of this World Rev. 5. And yet there were Fourty Days Surplusage of Time from the Resurrection of Christ to his Ascension And Fifty Days from his Death to the giving the Spirit Now the Death of Christ was plainly Foretold in the Middle of the Last Week And then he could not be Holden of Death but must Rise again the Third Day according to the Scriptures But that he should continue with his Disciples so long and that from his Death Fifty Days should be made up to the Giving of the Spirit was not so plainly Revealed Indeed if we could have laid our thoughts before or now closely consider the Distance of Time between the two Feasts of the Passover and Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks and that the Antitype must Answer the Type we might find some Ombrage of it But it was so obscure as hardly to be Traced till Reveal'd in the History of the Event though so prefigur'd at such a Dâ—stance Now this was in Mercy That our Lord Christ might give those many and Infallible Proofs of his Resurrection and speak to his Apostles whom he had chosen of the Things pertaining to the Kingdom of God But the Effect of Vision was herein much Lower then in his sitting down on the Right Hand of the Majesty on high in the Heavens and his making Intercession for us So the most Glorious Effects were not till such a Time after yet still the Principal Time was not Remov'd from its Dignity For the Death and Resurrection in that most Eminent Period of Time the Half Week Remains the very Base of the Forty Days and to all After-Time the very Hinge on which it turns till it shall come to the Fullness of All Times the Kingdom of Christ Ephes 1. 10. And as this was but such a short Time so it did but summ up and Recollect the Glorious Ministry of our Lord Jesus and could not be exceeded In the way of Judgment I give a Second Instance The very self same Night of the 430 Years Inclusive of the 400 Years assign'd to Abraham Gen 15. had indeed the Great Event of the Going out of Egypt yet that Glorious Constellation of Events Bringing into the Land of Promise and Casting out the Nations was not perform'd till Forty Years after This was indeed no way that we Know now to have been found but by God's so Immediate Revelation of Forty Days Prophetically given a Day for a Year It was but a short Time compar'd with the 430 Years And it could not be Transcended The Certainty of the Highest Complement of the Great Promise Fullfill'd was there to Begin And the Forty Days of Years was but a Surplusage of Time and a Recollection and Summing up of the Sojourning State of the 430 Years But that which I have especially to Remark upon it is That it was in the way of Infraction of Promise and Abruption of that Contexture or God's Breaking off from what he had begun to do in the Deliverance out of Egypt signified by that Hebrew Word so Emphatic hereof Numb 14. 34 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But yet this very End of the 430 Years Remain'd the Foundation of the Time following after and was not mov'd from its Dignity For the passing through the Red Sea and Pharoah's Overthrow in it the Victory over Amalâ—k the Nomothesia or the Giving of the Law the Rearing of the Tabernacle Rested All on this Time and its Great Event and the Forty Years are dated from it which were else but Thirty Eight Years from the Ill Report of the Spies to the Entry upon Canan and the Ending of the Following Course of Time to Solomon's so Resplendent Reign and the Building of the Temple is Dated from it 480 Years 1 Kings 6. 1. Even from the Going out of Egypt And this Instance is the more Remarkable Because although this Time was Known to and Resolved of God as before as all his Works from the Foundation of the World Yet it comes in by way of Infraction of Promise and it broke off the Contexture of Great Deliverances It is Given so in Prophetic Language therefore a Day for a Year as in our present Prophecy we are upon and was upon the Account of Provocation and unsuitable Frame to Deliverances and the End of this Surplusage of Time touches the Entring into the Land of Promise the Type of the Glorious Kingdom of Christ Another Instance of this Kind may be The Seventy Years of the Babylonish Captivity had their most Known and Celebrated Period in the First Year of Cyrus as the Vniversal Monarch in the Second of the Four Kingdoms the Persian Kingdom we find therefore his Proclamation Twice Recorded in Scripture viz. in the End of the Second Book of Chronicles and in the Beginning of the Book of Ezra But here was not the Complement of Effects The Spirit of God Gives Account of several stops and stays till the very Seventh Year of Artaxerxes There the word of Restoring Judah and Jerusalem had its full going forth It was all yet as one United Time of the Words going forth to Restore and to Build Jerusalem It began in the Decree First of Cyrus then of Darius then of Artaxerxes King of Persia Ezr. 6. 14. which so full decree of Artaxerxes we have C. 7. 12. c. This he makes as Successor to Cyrus in that Monarchy and of which Nebuchadnezzar was the Golden Head viz. of the Four Vniversal Kingdoms and so styles himself King of Kings Now here Great Abruption had been from what God begun in Cyrus So that the work was stayed to the Second Year of Darius Ezr. 6th 24. Then another Seventy Years had slid in Recorded by Zachariah C. 1. 12. Which had their Epoch or
THE GOOD HOPE THROUGH GRACE The Jubilee of the Kingdom of Christ shall come upon the Counterfeit Jubilee of Rome and before the end of the Following Year 1700 shall begin to bring under Desolation that Great City and its Papacy Therein Uniting the Year 1697 with 1700. according to Prophecy Humbly Presented to the Faith and Prayers of all Sincere Protestants By T. BEVERLEY Rev. xviii xix In one Hour is she made Desolate LONDON Printed for William Marshall at the Sign of the Bible in Newgate-Street and John Marshall at the Bible in Grace-Church-Street TO THE HONOURABLE His much Honoured Sir Samuel Barnardiston Honoured Sir ALthough I must ever Acknowledge a long Series of very great Obligations to your Friendship and Favour for me Yet That is not the Sole nor so much as the Principal Reason of the presenting this following Discourse to your Acceptance The more Due Reasons of that are That by the Freedoms you have Allowed me of Conversation with you I have very undoubted Evidences of your sincere Love to the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory in its present Spiritual Evangelical Administration and in its Gradual Illustrations of it self in Glory Promised and Foretold to the latter Days And yet more particularly as in All Things I had observed your Patriottal Spirit your Great Love to your Country the true English Spirit so your Great Love to Protestancy and Bewailing That no Greater Liberty and Security could be procured for the Suffering Protestants beyond the Seas and particularly in France But I hope God supports you in so long a Life to see the Openings of his Kingdom And That your Honourable Lady whom I have long observed the Truest Consort of All the Varieties that God hath been pleased to Dispensate to you may Rejoyce with you in that so Great Joy is the Humble Earnest Prayer of Most Honour'd Sir Your most Affectionate Humble Servant in our Great Lord T. BEVERLEY The PREFACE to the Favourable Protestant READER THE Discourse following I Humbly Present as the Result of the most Close Researches into the Sure Word of Prophecy after the so great Disappointment of the Hopes I had at the Year Ninety Seven I Humbly Acknowledge to Infinite Grace it gave me not the least Doubt of the Truth and Divine Authority of sacred Scripture or particularly of the Prophetic Scriptures of Truth which the Divine Spirit takes such care to assure Are the True Sayings of God and that These Sayings are Faithful and True And I Humbly Bless Him I have besides all those Great and Weighty Arguments that so many Holy and Learned Men have Established the Autopisty or self-evident Diviness of Scripture upon I have the particular Assurance of so Admirable a Prophetic Scheme and Frame God hath given me that I am sure none but Infinite Prescience could ever have Projected or so curiously have Wrought and Inlaid and only to be Found by Compare of one Prophetic Scripture with another and when they are so matched one with another the Admirable Artifice is seen Now this very Adorable Workmanship led me to Ninety Seven by Prophetic Iconisms or Images adjusted to Prophetic Numbers of Time and justified and verified by Matters of Fact or as Prophecy calls them Effects of Vision in Ez. 12. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Matter of Fact of Vision universal History and Chronology Corresponding to them And in the very last Year after all Hope seeming to be past it pleased the Lord to shew me that Character of Time stiled Indictions or Fifteens of Years even studiously observed in adding 2 and 3 Fifteens to 1260 made up of so exact Dan. 12. Fifteens making them 1290 1345 All which sure could never be by Chance This Note of Indiction I say what I had always accounted I found enclapsed whole Prophetic Time from Solomon's Death to the Blessed Time at the end of the 1335 Days all which make 2730 Days â—â— Indicted As any one versed in Accomptancy may easily find And the very first the 390 Days of Ezekiel's bearing Judah's Sin begin in set Indictions Hereby I have found Ninety Seven established by even Arithmetic Demonstration as I have made out in a Treatise on purpose Printed 1699. Vpon all this I could not remove from Ninety Seven However so great a Failure looked so unfavourably upon it What therefore God upon earnest unwearied Prayers and so strict Enquiry aâ— the Holy Oracle was pleased to give in the Night at the House of an Elect Lady near Sarisbury and to enable to Cultivate and Improve I have here given to public view consisting of Four Heads 1. The Certainty of a most Stupendious Judgment to be executed on some City descyphered by Babylon and this City proved to be Rome 2. That the Time of this Judgment to be executed is at some pompous Time of Babylon such as the Holy Year or Jubilee and great Princes appearing for it 3. That whereas the Time this Judgment to be Executed was most properly Ninety Seven there is by a curious Artifice of Prophecy a Reserve of 3 Years and a half reaching to 1700 With an Answer of Objections to search of Time from Mistakes 4. That such a Reserve is called God's Infraction or Breach of Promise or his Abruption and Breaking off the Series and Contexture of Begun Providences the Notions of which are opened and applied to the present Case there are also Reserves in a way of Wisdom and Goodness from Ninety Seven And all recommended to Faith and Prayer under Divine Blessing and Humbly laid at the Feet of the Supreme Palmoni or Wonderful Numberer of Time the Apocalyptes or Revealer the High-Priest or Man Cloathed in Linnen and the Apostle of our Profession That He may judge whether his Word or not To Him God over all Blessed for ever be Glory for ever Amen THE JUBILEE OF THE Kingdom of CHRIST Coming on the Counterfeit JUBILEE of ROME Rev. xviii vii viii She saith in her Heart I sit a Queen and am no Widow and shall see no Sorrow Therefore shall her Plagues come in one day Death and Mourning and Famine and she shall be utterly burnt with Fire for strong is the Lord who judgeth her THE Intention of the following Discourse is to give Encouragement from this Scripture first then to excite and even arouse the Protestant Zeal Faith and Hope and to oblige the earnest Prayers and Supplications of the Reformed Churches and Nations and humbly to beseech the Princes and Governments of them by their Commands and Examples so to lead the way that we may all Rev. 6. 10. cry out with the loud Voice of the Souls under the Altar How long Lord Holy and True dost Thou not avenge the Blood of thy Servants on Them who dwell on the Earth which is a Prophetick Periphrase of Pagan Rome first and then of Rome Antichristian And this at a Time whereunto the Divine Spirit hath directed us so plainly and specially to
Generally Count 98 but in the Prophetic Calendar 97 Just Ending I therefore as before so now again give the Account from 97 and to Ninety Eight in the same Prophetic Style one Year To 99 is Two Years To 1700 still in the same Prophetic Style is Three Years viz. at each Autumnal Equinox and at the Vernal Equinox of 1700 ending in Vulgar Account but in Prophetical the Half of 1700. The Last Half Year of the Three Years and a Half will Expire then in the very Middle of the Year at the Vernal Equinox The Time of our Lords Resurrection Illustrious I Humbly hope with mighty Effects of it in the Rising again of the Glory of the Gospel the Witnesses and all the People of Christ so long lying Dead in the Breadth of Babylon and its Antichristian Papacy then beginning to be Judg'd I have now with all Humble Reverence of the Divine Oracles Covering as it were my Face whatever of Light and Underâ—â—anding God hath given me as yet not Able to behold their Glory And my Feet in the sense of my Unworthyness and Great Darkness and Imperfections in Knowing or Prophecying I have yet with Reverence and Godly Fear shewn That there is a Frame of Prophecy Curiously and wonderfully made By which Insensibly however certainly foreknown to God which way every Thing would come to pass the Great Events should with such an Equal Ballance be made Inclinable to 97 or 1700 That Providence should with the Truth of Prophecy as it saw Fitt Determine upon either at the very Time I come therefore to the Fourth Head propos'd Viz. To consider the Reasons of the Translation of the Great Events to have been Expected at 97 from thence to 1700. Head 4th The Translation of the Great Effects of Prophecy The Accomplishing to Scatter the Power of the Holy People the Rising of the Witnesses and the beginning to Finish Wonders have been Translated from 97 and are Humbly to be expected e're the End of 1700 on this Threefold Account 1. Principally and in the First place by way of Infraction or what Scripture is pleased to call Gods Breach of Promise or Repenting of the Good he said He would Benefit his People with at such a Time Jreme 18 10. We know in strict sense The Faithful God who notwithstanding our Vnbelief cannot deny himself cannot Break promise nor can any of his Predictions Fail Yet he knows how so to order Things that the Sin of his Servants should be under such an Ordination of Providence as if both Promises and Prophecyes did fail for the Punishment of their Unbeleif and Disobedience and Unsuitable Frame I have Reason therefore more to bewail the Disagreeable Frame of my own and other the Hearts of those who are called Protestants and the Reformed in not being more Ready for those Great Effects at the Time then the being mistaken iâ— the Explanation of Pr ophecy and the Prophetic Numbers or even the Determination upon Ninety Seven For it is most Evident God hath Reserved to himself a Prerogative of Pronouncing Evil very possitively as in the Case of Nineveh Jonah 3d. Yet Fourty Days and Nineveh shall be destroyed And yet God seeing their Turning from their Evil ways also Repented of the Evil that he thought to do unto them So on the other side he makes a seeming Breach of Promise in Delay of the Good he intended at such a Time And yet as I have before Argued in Nathan So it is plain no Blame could lie on Jonah for the mistake of Time but for his too high Resentment of the Dishonour as he Apprehended on himself of being Accounted a False Prophet However God Justified him not long after by the Irrepealable Prophecy of Ninevehs utter Destruction by Zephaniah The Delay or Translation of the Great Effects of Vision from 97 to 1700 I Impute therefore in the First place to Infraction or Gods Breach of Promise with Great Assurance and Boldness of Speech as to the manner of Expression Because God hath been pleas'd to use it else I should not have Dared make use of it and then as to the Thing it self I am Bold because I Find so Great Reasons for 97 as the most Central Time of Prophecy and such Fair Delineations and so Curious a Hand of Prophecy Reserving a Liberty and Freedom of so Uniting 1700 within it as Providential Righteousness and Justice by way of Infraction or Abruption Or Wisdom in a way of Mercy and Glorious Illustration of Vengeance on the Enemies of the People of God saw Fit To give therefore a more full Account of Infraction or Breach of Promise I would offer my Apprehension with all Humility and Modesty and yet with Uprightness and Sincerity I say therefore God had by the Prophecys of his word Pointed to 97 as the Ending of the Sackcloth of the Witness Prophecy in their Prophecy Fulfil'd in the Kingdom of Christ and of other the Great Effects but with a Conditional Reserve if there were a Suitable Frame in the Witnesses both the Sufferers and the more self-Subsistent Protestancy under Reformed Princes Nations and their Laws I say If there were a Frame and Activity Suitable to so Great a Revolution Such a Frame as Agrees with the Spirit of Life from God with their standing on their Feet with their Appearing with the Lamb on Mount Zion having the Fathers Name written on their Foreheads But there was not such a Frame among Protestants of any Distinction or Denomlnation of any Title Order or Degree Hereupon Rises the Lords Breach of Promise For in the Room of such a Spirit of Life the Sardian State lies heavy upon the whole They have a Name to Live and yet are Dead They do not Fill up the Things that Remain and are in order to the Kingdom of Christ They are in a very Sleepy and Vnwatchful Temper as to the coming of Christ so that it is like to come upon them at an Hour they know not When the Lord saw this it displeased Him then said He they shall know my Breach of Promise What I had Determin'd at 97 shall be as a Further Delay If they had been in a Condition to have Smitten as often as they would with a high Impulse of Will the Antichristian Earth with Plagues to have Shot with all the Arrows of the Lord's Deliverance their Accomplishment to Scatter should have immediately commenc'd with Finishing of Wonders But even the Suffering Part of Protestants and much more the Generality being found in the Condition before describ'd without any Reflection on the Protestant Princes It looks as if in David's Numbering the People the Lord was Displeased and left him under Effectual Motives so to Number which brought a Plague on All So God Provoked Justly with the Universal Declination of the Reformation from His Truth and the Purity of His Worship and the Holiness of His Ways withdrew that Spirit of Zeal Courage and Resolution in the Cause and Interest of God His Gospel
further Reserved Time for Wise and Holy Reasons in a way of Grace in the Retirements of Prophetic Sense And so I cannot but hope There is at this Time That Wise Holy and Gracious Purpose of the Delay That the very Just Season of the Judgment on Babylon should be taken according to what hath been already laid down and needs no Repetition that shall also concur with those of Displeasure Viz. The Popish Jubilee And seeing according to what I have Humbly laid down The Prophecys of Scripture have placed nothing beyond these Three Years and a Half ending with the Year 1700 but the Finishing Wonders in Daniel and the Seventh Trumpet of Finishing in the Revelation As I have most Abased Sense of my own Weakness Darkness and Unworthyness and Profoundest Reverence of the Divine Wisdom Holiness Supreme Dominion In which Regard none can stand before him or as a Shepherd appoint him the Time So I cannot but Trust in his Mercy and the Mâ—ghtiness of his Arm He will bring it at that very Time to pass and I observe That in Callenging of any Shepherd to stand before him he especially Directs to those who when they hear of the Judgments of God on the Enemies of his People Edom and Babylon and So now on Babilonish Rome think They can bring up Jerem. 4â— 50. those who shall Oppose the Councels of God like a Lyon coming up from the Swellings of Jordan with all speedy Rage and Power and oblige him to choose another Time for the Execution of his Judgment These are Jer. they who would stand as Shepherds before him and appoint him a Time Not they who would wait upon him in the way of his Judgments and would Discern the Signs of the Times thereof For it is a Severe Reproof The Stork in the Heavens knoweth her Appointed Time and the Crane and the Swallow and the Turtle observe But my People know not the Jerem. 7. â— Judgment of the Lord. Surely the Prophetic Scribe especially in Accounting the Numbers Time it sets He made it in vain the Pen of that Scribe is in vain It is true the Apostle does most Vehemently perswade â— Thes â— not to be moved with Letter or Spirit or Word as if the Day of Christ were at Hand But then at that Time He gives the most certain Substantial Line of Time in General to it Viz. The Course of the Son of Perdition till he goes into Perdition And then the Apostle John very particularly gives the Definite space of Time his Forty Two Moons of Years that we may know how to Distribute betwixt the Too Great Suddenness or the Too Long Delay of the Expectation and yet throughout to maintain that Looking for and hasting on to the Day of God in all Holy Desires and Preparation by Suitable Conversation while we daily Consider How he hath Declared the End from the Beginning that we may see and behold it together and be struck with Admiration This is that Glorious Challenge God makes upon the Idols of the Heathen in Justification of himself against them Declare Shew to us the Things that are to come Do Esay 41. 23. c. Work Good or Evil Judgments or Deliverances that we may know you are Gods To attend our God therefore herein in searching out and declaring what he hath first declar'd is to give Glory to him And this is the only End I have through his Grace propos'd in this Esay 41. 13. c. Discourse In its Beginning By setting out the certainty of Babylons Judgment at the Times of its Greatest Solemnity of Pomp and Pride and of the Strongest Combination of the Horns of the Beast the Princes of Europe to strengthen and exalt it and for the Persecution of the Servants of God who will not Receive his Mark nor Worship his Image Now that in this Time its Plagues may come upon that City of Fornications Drunk with the Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus as in one Day I cannot but Humbly Beseech and Recommend it to all the Servants of God who Love the Appearing and Kingdom of Christ not to be Discourag'd with the Delay beyond 97 but to cry with the Spirit and the Bride Come Lord Jesus come Quickly knowing the Time so undoubtedly Fixed and so near Herein The Grace of our Lord Jesus be with you all Amen Books lately Printed and Sold by John Marshall at the Bible in Grace-Church-street A Funeral Sermon on the Death of the Reverend Divine Mr. Thomas Gouge Who Deceased Jan. 18th 1â—99 By John Nessbit one of the Merchant Lecturers at Pinners-Hall Breadstreet 2 The Government of the Thoughts Prefactory to the Government of the Tongue by the Author of the Duty of Man An Ellegiack Essay on the Pious Memory of that Eminent and Learned Divine Mr. Mathew Mead with his True Effiges newly Engrav'd to the Life also most of his Works with most sorts of Books to Learn Short-hand
look for it as at a proper Season God hath forescen and singled out for the Execution of his Judgment on Babylon even this her Enchanting Jubilee when she says I sit a Queen I am now on a Throne giving out my Pardons and Indulgences I am no Widow nor shall know the lofs of Children Behold from all Parts how they gather about me at this very time And at the time of so violent a Persecution upon the Servants of God making the same Protestation with our selves against the Papal Idolatry Superstitions and Tyranny If we are not concern'd at such a time as this we have only a Name to live as Protestants and the Reformed but are dead as God Charges upon the Church of Sardis the Prophetical Emblem of the Churches stiled the Reformed We have forgotten how we Received and Heard in that so great Appearance of God by the Rev. 3. 1 2. first Reformers and Princes will too sadly seem to have lost that first Protestant Spirit c. which acted those Princes in the Transactions at Spire Am. 1529. Oh that therefore we might Remember Hold fast and Repent And if there were a Spirit pour'd out from on high upon us a Spirit of Prayer who knows but that in the midst of this false Jubilee These two things Widowhood and loss of Children Alienation of Princes and People might come on this Mystic Babel in one Day in one Moment If we could wrestle with God as Jacob these Two Things would certainly come upon Her in their Perfection as on Esay 47. 8. that Babylon of Old for the Multitude of her Sorceries and Enchantments in this very day of her Jubilee To this very purpose I will draw out from the Text as it stands in connexion with This the Former the Following Chapters Six great Propositions and then argue further upon them in compare with other Scripture Prophecies Proposition 1. There is undeniably a great Judgment denounced by God and largely described upon some City Figured by Babylon the Great that must most certainly be Executed in its own Time and upon the City designed according to the sure word of Prophecy Cap. 1. 1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave to him to shew to his Servants things shortly that is with great speed from that very time it was given to come to pass successively till the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in comparison of which all time is short Now because this Judgment cannot yet as will appear be possibly supposed to have come to 1 Cor. 7. pass it must yet come to pass And because so much hath all along and for so very long time been coming to pass according to this Prophecy and yet this Judgment hath not been Executed the Execution of it must needs therefore be very near Prop. 2. There are Infallible Characters fixed by the Prophecy in these Chapters before us on the the City so denounced upon assuring this City is the present Papal Rome For if Rome be the City Characteriz'd as it is now Papal it is that City so threatned by this Judgment For the Characters and the Judgment are inseparable Now Rome will appear to be the City Characteriz'd and therefore on it must the Judgment here written be Executed Prop. 3. It is one of the great Glories of this Judgment that the first coming of it into Execution shall be with great suddenness and surprizal and when very Few stiled by Christ the Few Names in Sardis have a Thought or Apprehension of any such thing One Day one Hour one Moment as of Ancient Babylon speak the very great Velocity of the Judgment Prop. 4. The Princes that at this time Bear up the Grandeur and the Haughtiness of Papal Rome by giving their Power and Kingdom to the Beast called therefore His Horns shall be by the Lamb King of Kings and Lord of Lords so overcome as to be made Instruments in the Execution of the Judgment in such Parts and Degrees as the strong Lord who Judgeth shall Commission them unto which shall highly Exalt and make Illustrious the Judgment As an Indication of this it is said C. 17. 16. The Kings shall hate the Whore shall make her Desolate and shell eat her Flesh and shall burn her with Fire and in this Text her Plagues are Death and one concurring with the other Mourning Famine and burning with Fire Prop. 5. The Greatness and the sudden Invasion of this Judgment as denounced by God are uncontroulably to be demonstrated not only as to the possibility but the certainty of both as from the Truth of the Lord who hath so long ago denounced it so from the Wisdom and Omnipotency of the strong Lord that judgeth Prop. 6. The Divine Prescience and Wisdom hath chosen out a Time and decreed it for the Execution of this Judgment when Babylon shall shew it self in its Pride its Pomp its Presumption Security For it is when she shall say I sit a Queen and shall see no Sorrow and 't is most undeniable its Jubilee is such a Time and when Great Princes shall so be at her Devotion as for her sake with such a violence to persecute and Protestant Princes stand by and have nothing to say against it Prop. 1. I begin with the first Proposition that the Judgment here forewritten must most certainly be executed That there is a great Judgment here described and denounced on some City Figur'd by Babylon the Great is most uncontestable every word in the Foregoing and this Chapter assures it and in the following Chapter we have most solemn Doxologies and Thanksgivings upon it In Cap. 17. 1. The Vision begins thus John is called to come to the Angel who would shew him the Judgment of the Great Whore In this C. 18. 1. Another Angel having Great Power and with whose Glory the Earth shone Appears and he cry'd mightily with a loud Voice Babylon the great is fallen is fallen certainly and irrecoverably Fallen and so the Vision goes on in the most dreadful Expressions and Pourtraies of a Judgment most stupendious The Kings of the Earth bewail and stand afar off for fear of her Torment her Merchants throw Dust on their Heads and cry out in their Lamentings Alas Alas and at last her Irrecoverable Ruin is set out by a Millstone cast into the bottom of the Sea by a mighty Angel pronouncing So shall Babylon be thrown down and found no more at all ver 15. 19. 21. If this Judgment then be Prophetically denounced by the Holy the True the Mighty God It must and shall certainly come to pass in the Time and upon the City designed This is a Principle of Natural Light and Intellectual Reason so clear I shall no further insist upon it What then can be levied by way of Objection I can possibly suppose but two Things Either the Authority of the Book of the Revelation must be called into question as not from God or it must be said
Judg'd For as the City and the Beast have been shewn to be Inseparable If the one be Roman So must the other be also so are they also as to the Time of their being Judg'd Herein they are Inseparable when the one is Judg'd So must the other also be Observ 5. That the Time of the Judgment of the City and of the Beast that carried her must needs be very near as will appear by that Account of Time I shall now present upon such Prophetical Grounds as I hope I cannot be mistaken in Observ 6. These Numbers all consider'd and Adiusted one to another Reach down to Sixteen Hundred Ninety Seven of Vulgar account and so as I have in another Discourse even to Demonstration made out That from Solomons Death to the very Glory of the Kingdom of Christ There lie in a due Series and Connexion of these Numbers 2730 Years and in a most Exact Succession of an 182 Indictions or Fifteens of Years of which Eighty Four make the Just Time Times and Half Time ending at 97 This with many other Assurances especially of the coming to pass of Events according to the Prophetic Figures and the Times setled for them so exactly agreeing shew that Year as the Year fixed for the Commencing from it of the happy Revolution of the Kingdom of Christ I have in many Discourses affirm'd this and find no Reason to Retract it That which will I know with all Severity be objected against it is That things have not come to pass according to Prediction and Expectation at that Year And from thence will be inforced That It is Presumption to enquire into Prophetic Time or to make any Determination upon it I will therefore endeavour to shew It is not Presumption but a Duty to Enquire what or what manner of Time The Spirit of Christ in his Prophecys hath signified Notwithstanding whatever can be Agravated against mistake And that it is better to search notwithstanding mistake then by Neglecting to search to think to be secure from mistake And then in the Second Place I shall apply my self to shew how the mistake is from Prophecy to be explained and set Right and yet Ninety Seven to be Vindicated as the Great Prophetic Year For the first That it is not a Presumption nor Daring to C. 49. 19. Jerem. C. 50 44. Appoint God a Time or to stand as a Shepherd or Governour of Time before him But Duty to search Scripture throughout even to the Prophetical Numbers given us therein It is not for us indeed to know the Times and Seasons God hath set in his own Power Yet to use all means even by Books to understand what ever God hath been pleased to give so far out of the Peculiar of his own Prerogative as to Reveal though in Mystic Numbers when he hath been pleased to Reveal Things They then belong to us And Hee that hath a Mind and Wisdom hath an Obligation by Command to Count and our Lord charges it as Sinful Rev. 13. 18. Hipocrisy not to search Discern those either Prophetic or Moral Signs of the Times And I cannot find what can be said against the Commendation the Apostle gives to them who give heed to the sure word of Prophecy as to a Light that Shines in a Dark Place Nor can I see Why it should be look'd on as an Offence that is placed as a Character of Honour on the Sons of Issachar 1 Chron. 12. 32. that they had understanding in the Times which they attain'd undoubtedly by enquiry into and Meditation upon any Oracles God had been pleas'd in those Times to vouchsafe Daniel thought it no Presumption to enquire further of the End of Wonders when he understood not what was first Reveal'd The C. 12. account of the 1290 and of the 1335 Days to the very Blessed State was then given to him not so much for himself who was to go his way to Rest until that End but for us the People of God in every Age. What can then be objected against Searching into the Mysteriousness of those Numbers and what may be from the difficulty of Interpretation Argued The very same may be objected against searching into any of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Scripture as the Apostle Peter calls them or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as The Apostle Paul Styles them Things hard to be understood Interpreted and so we should be Confined only to the most plain Scriptures and of most Indisputable Interpretation whereas the Apostle Resolv'd to Leave the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ as well secur'd And to go on to Perfection in search after the more Retyred Truths of the word of God as concerning Melchisedeec the Type of Christ though hard to be Interpreted Heb. 5. 11. 2 Pet. 3. 16. To the Objections Arising from the Danger and mischeif of mistakes It may be very well Answered by the due Consideration That in very many things without Error in the main Points we Darken Counsel by words without Knowledg And if the mistakes in Job 38. 2. the most Eminent and Learned Servants of Christ in Interpretation of Scripture and Explication of Extra-Fundamental Points most Inoffensively to Substantiali Principles were as Visible as mistakes in Computation of Prophetic Time we might if mistake were a Valuable Reason be Discourag'd from Researches either into Scripture Exposition or the Truths of it any further then in those most undoubted Points wherein all Holy Good Men agree It is True Prophetic mistakes are as I may say surviving and still in the Eyes of Men whereas the mistakes of the other sort are as they say of the Errors of Physitians under Ground and out of Sight Yet in themselves no more or Less Culpable being useful for the shewing the Weakness and Fallibility of Humane Understanding wherein it is not under the most certain Conducts of Truth And as in other Cases Variety of Sentiments and Enquiries shew the undoubted Excellency of Divine Truth And Search into the word of God speaks it the Greatest Business and Exercise of Understanding And is like the Running to and fro whereby knowledg is Increased whereas on the other hand a Kind Dan. 12. 4. of Resolved sullen Neglect in General brings forth Ignorance and Stupidity and either a Superstitious Dread of Intermeddling with Divine Things if some what Removed from Common Catechism or an Irreligious Carelessness And in particular In Prophetic Points of Time this kind of Reserving our selves from all the search we can make is as if God had given such parts of his word to be only a Sealed Book or the Cruces the Torment of all search and enquiry into them or that we were Prophanely Careless How Things are to be according to Prophecy with the Church of God and with the Kingdom of Christ or how the many and Great Predictions of Scripture and of the Spirit of God by the Prophets are to be Fullfill'd But much Light Knowledg
and awakenedness concerning them comes in by search and from hence also proceeds Light when we may humbly expect the Fulfilling of them and thereby Faith Hope and Prayer be excited amongst the Servants of Christ arising from the Elaborate Treaties of those whose Hearts God hath engag'd to Separate themselves to Intermeddle with this Wisdom and Arm'd with Courage to bear the Reproaches of Men upon their being mistaken in openly Declaring and Publishing what they have Found And then this opens a way to Paraeus Napier Brightman Mede Goodwin Moor Jurieu further enquiries of themselves or those who may arise after them for the setting Right in those mistakes For so God hath been pleas'd by many Servants of his to make advances further and further till the Day Dawn and the Day Starr Arise in the very Hearts of all his Servants Nor can any one shew why mistakes in these Prophetical Enquiryes should tend to Atheism but quite the contrary even as Different Apprehensions upon Faithful and Diligent searching into other points do highly assure the main Foundation Nor do I find mistakes Springing from Faithful Endeavours and sincere Designs for the Truth Glory and Kingdom of God although Clouded with Infirmity and our knowing but in Part and Prophecying in Part are through Grace in the Mediator Displeasing to him equally as Ignorance Negligence and Gallio-like not caring for any of these things The Evils of the present Sardian State and even of the Angel or Ministry of it That they do not search with More United Enquiries That they might as the Watchmen of Sion see Essay 52. 8. Eye to Eye and lift up their Voices concerning these things There is a Great Instance of a Prophetic mistake 2 Sam. c. 7. and yet we find no Censure fix'd by the Spirit of God upon it where David Discours'd with Nathan the Prophet concerning Building God a House He spake as a Prophet Go and do all that is in thy Heart For the Lord is with thee undoubtedly he understood by Scripture Oracles Gods choice of the Tribe of Judah and his Intention of Building a Sanctuary like the most High and Loughty Buildings and of that Firmness to be like the Earth Estblished for ever And therefore Collected It was to be Built by David Whereas it is plain God had Determin'd it should be Built by Solomon the Son of David He was Right 2 Sam c. 7. in the main but Err'd in the Person that was to be the Builder But we find no severe Rebuke or Reproof Only God is pleased to set him Right by his word coming to him that Night and Instructing him concerning Solomon I have humble hopes that what may appear mistake in the very Circumstance of the Year 97 is Yet Right in the Essential Matter of a very near Time to be United with it And that what he hath been pleas'd to Enlighten me into in his word shall set it Right While I with great Humility and Modesty and not with too Great a Positiveness or Presumption of Assurance but Submission to the Supreme Governor of the World and Lord of Time as to his Dominion over all so to his Wisdom and Prudence in his Sure Word of Prophecy Declare what I find For the Vindicating the Year 1697 to be the Great Year where the Scripture Prophetic Line Centers for the End of the Times and Half of the 1260 Years of the Sack-Cloth and the Wilderness State of the Fourty two Moones of the Gentiles and of the Beast and yet that the great Effects of that Time did not appear I shall lay down this Position as the Foundation of what is to Follow The Great Effects to be Expected at the End of the Foremention'd Times Position are to be by a Supreme Ordination of God Transferr'd from Ninety Seven and are to be Humbly Expected at the End of Three Years and a Half after the End of Ninety Seven viz. at 1700. But in the first place that I may clear the sense of this Position It must be consider'd That Prophecy doth not Reckon the Beginning and End of Years either according to the Sacred Israelitish Account in the Vernal Equinox or at our Vernal Equinox which we call March 10th or 25. Nor at what we call January 1. But according to the Beginning of the Civil Jewish Year at the Autumnall Equinox Of which we have an Unexceptionable proof In that The Sabbatizing Sacrifice and Oflering by the offering Dan. 9. 27. once for all of the Lord Jesus Christ is Fixed in the Middle of the last of Daniel's Seventy Weeks so Universally allowed to be Weeks of Years by All The Time of which Offering must needs be as All agree at the Vernal Equinox which was indeed made the Beginning of the Sacred Year but not of the Civil Year For then was the Time of the Jewish Passover If then the Vernal Equinox was the Middle or Half of the Week of Years it must needs be the Half or Middle of the Fourth Year whose Beginning and Ending can be no other than the Autumnal Equinox to which Two Extreams â—he Vernal is the Half or Middle Point And the Reason of Prophecy so accounting by the Civil Jewish Year is very plain For that it should be some Account of Time according to the Usual Computations of the People of God is most agreeable because To them were committed The Oracles of God And seeing these Prophecies have Respect to the Monarchic Periods Therefore that which concern'd the Sacred Constitutions was not so Congruous to Civil and especially to Pagan Dominions most intended Let us then account from the Autumnal Equinox 97 to the same 98 we have One Year to the same 99 Two Years to the same 1700 Three Years and from thence to the Vernal Equinox of 1700 ending at 1701 according to the Computation of the Years so Beglnning as we speak in the Church of England and we have the Three Years and a Half at or before the End of which I have most Humble Hopes through Grace there shall be such Assurance from the Great Effects that we shall not doubt the Year 1697 United with the Year 1700 is the very Time Prophecy hath set so Great Remarks upon as the Time for the High Changes and Revolutions God will please to make in the World Now if the Lord please upon the Foundation of these Propositions to Direct his most Unworthy Servant that hath Reason to be Humbled and Abased in Regard of the Failure of the Great Expectation at 1697. and yet to shew him how the Great and Compleat Effects then Expected and that That Year made some Offertures of Themselves may be Transferr'd to this present Year of Jubilee 1700 as a Year so Remarkable by the Providential Ordination of the Jubilee upon it a Time to which Prophecy so Points without any Dishonour to 97 or Injury to Prophecy And that I may without Just Imputation of Presumption Humbly Present that Fair
Collineation of Prophecy together with the Plain Undeniable Encouragement of the Text I am upon to stir up the Earnest Prayers and Humble Waitings of All his Servants Loving and Looking for his Kingdom to see what God will please to do this Year Oh how Great will his Goodness be herein and beyond this I will not dare And if the Lord be pleased to Honour this Enquiry with his Great Works I will therefore propose these Six Heads to insist upon in order to so Great Ends. 1. I will consider what is to be said concerning Ninety Seven with Relation to the Great Events I have assign'd to it 2. I will shew that there are Reserves in Prophecy in some Cases within it self of some further Time that shall lye within the most Known Noted and Expected Time and though it Reach out beyond it it is yet United as One Time with it and so it will be found in the Times now before us 3. This shall be Endeavour'd to be made out That in such a Case there may be found in Prophecy a Curious Artifice or Contrivance of the Divine Spirit of it that there shall be an Equipoize of it that may without Injury to it be inclin'd the one way or the other by the Hand of Interpretation And though that Blessed Spirit the Author of Prophecy most Certainly Fore knew to which it would be by Providence Determin'd yet without Immediate Revelation from Himself no Humane Understanding could Determine All which shall be particularly shewn in this Instance between 97 and 1700. 4. I shall observe with Scripture-Authority That when there is a Delay of Events and Effects of Mercy beyond the Principal Time most Openly held out in Prophecy it is call'd Infraction or Breach of Promise And when Providence Retracts what it had Begun and given some Essays of It is call'd Abruption or Breaking off what was so Begun And That Sin is the Demeritorious Cause in Both These Cases and herein also a particular Application to the present Case shall be endeavoured 5. That the Certain Determination of a Time Accessory and in Delay of the Principal Time is in neither made doubtful or Incertain but it carries the more Forcible Assurances from the Delay upon that further Time And this is also Reduced to the present Case 6. That the Closest Enquiries into these Things according to the Word of God is on no True Account of the Matter a Blame-worthy Presumption but encourag'd by Scripture Head 1 st With Relation to Ninety Seven Past I must take the Humble Boldness to say I have made a Review upon my whole Prophetic Scheme Backward and Forward and considered the mutual Respects to and Configurations of Prophecy one with another and their Just Spaces of Time and could find nothing that should shake my Assurance but had it much more Confirm'd by that Plerophory or Full Assurance of Understanding arising from the whole Prophetic Line being from Solomon's Death compacted under that Chronologic Period of Indictions or Fifteens of Years as I have most Fully in a Discourse on that Subject made to appear even to the End of the 1335 Days or the Blessed Time So that I cannot remove from Ninety Seven as that Central part of Time in the Prophetic Line without distrusting the Truth of Human Faculties and even Arithmetic Demonstration But being very well Aware of this Great Pressure upon me That seeing the great Effects I expected at that Time did not appear It must necessarily be inferr'd That either the word of Prophecy which is to be abhorr'd is not sure Or that Ninety Seven is not the Time Prophecy hath Directed us upon For it cannot be the Time if it be not Illustrious with those mighty Events as the Great Effects of Vision On this therefore I most Humbly besought the Lord that he would clear this Difficulty to me concerning which I cannot but have Greatest Searchings of Spirit and Thoughts of Heart And it hath pleas'd Him and doth still please him to Impress much on my Thoughts That the Three Days and a Half Assign'd to the Witnesses Lying Dead in the Streets of the Great City Should according to the Prophetic Standard be as Three Years and a Half laid to Ninety Seven And then shall those Mighty Works expected shew forth themselves But that this may not appear Fancyful or Enthusiastic I am obliged to turn my self every way to the Law and to the Testimony As the Prophets Searched no doubt throughout the Sacred Records to find What or what manner of Time The Spirit of Christ 1 Pet. 1. which was in them did signify So that I may find How these Three Days and a Half may be so added to 97 as to be Consonant and Agreeable with Scripture and Prophetic Measures and particularly how it may be Reconcil'd with what I have Found and can yet find no Reason to Retract concerning 97. Head 2. I will come therefore to shew That there are Reserves of Prophecy in some Cases within itself and that it sets a further Time when it hath First set any Time more open and in view and that further Time Reaches out beyond it It is yet but as one Time United with it And so it will be found in the Time now before us Concerning two such Times United as into one I would set in full and open view to Run on every occasion into Consideration these Rules to Judg of them by which have been already Intimated 1. The Principal Time is held out more clearly and openly The other by way of Reserve is given as a Mantissa or Surplusage or as an Epitome or Recollection of that Time and cannot be found but by closest Attention to what hath been before Revealed Or by New Revelation 2. When such a Reserved Time is the Principal Primary Determined Time is not Removed from its Dignity But it is alway Decorated or Graced with offertures of some very Great Events And though the further Reserved Time is made most Illustrious with the whole Constellation of Events yet that Surplusage or Consummation of Time Rests upon the Principal as its Basis and Foundation both for Time and also for those Great Events Dan. 12. 4. 3. When such a Reserved Time is it is Generally a very short Time with Relation to the Time that went before that Principal Time and was to End in it 4. When this Reserved Time is Expired God is pleas'd so to order It shall never be Transcended or Exceeded but the whole of Events designed shall be Compleated at it 5. This lengthning out Principal Time by such a Reserve or Mantissa of Time it is either in a way of Wisdom and Goodness for Gracious Reasons towards his Churches Or it is in Justice and Displeasure against the undue and unsuitable Frame and State of his People to such Mercies as that Time designed should have brought forth 6. When it is in a way of Displeasure It is Express'd by a word that Imports Infraction
Nations in that great Interest of the People of God the Freedom and Peace of the Reformation in France Piedmont Savoy the Palatinate and other Parts and He Himself the Principal Persecutor under the miserable Bigotry of Thinking He Does God Good Service in Persecuting as the Tenor of his Letter Imports wherein he Appears Drunk with the Wine of Babylonish Fornication Secondly Another Instance of Divine Abruption and so of Insraction in the same Year was that Monumental Victory over the Mahometan Army and the Ottoman Sultan in Person with it Now seeing That Tyranny more immediately presses the Grecian Professors of Christianity and Hath laid them under so great Slavery and Darkness This Eastern Part of the Christian Church Falling into a like Superstitious Ignorance Any True Servants of God among them were carried as with the other of the Two Wings into a Wilderness-State and fell into Re. 12. 14. great Darkness from the Light and Purity of the Gospel and so into Slavery under Mahometan Imposture and Tyranny and thus have continued to this Day And in how Lethargic or rather a State of Death All those whom we call the Greek Churches or Grecian Christians do at this Time lie None that know them can be Ignorant There being only Remainders and the Ruins of those Ancient Churches even as of their Cities The Prophesies and Promises of Scripture Reach yet unto them and at that very Year 97. Accordingly therefore about the same Autumnal Equinox of it It pleased Infinite Wisdom and Goodness to Arm with a Mighty Power and Spirit the Imperial Army and the Leaders of it and to give them a very Monumental Victory even a Victory like as in the Day of Midâ—aâ— or upon any other of the Ancient Enemies of the People of Israel to their Greatest Consternation and the Breaking all their Measures and Designs Hereto Add what God was pleas'd not far from the same Time to do by the Czar of Moscovy a Prince of the very Grecian Profession of Christianity These Victoriousnesses had undoubtedly been carryed to the very Gates of Constantinople Had there been but that Spirit of Life from God upon them But all lying in that Dead State The Emperor in the very God of Popish Antichristianism and the Bond of that Evil The Russian Prince in all the Superstition and Blindness of that Profession There was then First Gods Infraction as to the Year 97 The Great and Complemental Effects shone not to expectation that Year as Light Day And therefore there was an Abruption a Breaking off that Series and Contexture God had began So all is laid still in a Peace between the Port and the Empire and a Truce betwixt the Ottoman and Moscovian Princes Which how God will Dispose of we are yet to observe in the following Course of Providence Disposes of God with Relation to the Ottoman Signiory are the more to be observed on these Great Prophetic Considerations 1. It pleased the Divine Spirit to place the very opening of the Kingdom of Christ and Finishing of Wonders on that Mahometane Potentacy coming to its End and none to help it Dan. 11. Last with C. 12. 1. c. 2. That the Grecian Churches as we Style them Are the sad Remains of those Seven Apoclyptic Churhches made the Types and Emblems of all Christian Churches till the Glory of the New Jerusalem And therefore from the Time of that given However under such a Rejection Now Yet are Beloved for the Fathers sakes I mean Those Primitive Churches 3. The Hour the Day the Month the Year allowed to the Turkish Empire to stand Arm'd and in Procinctu Reaches Rev. 9. Just to 97 as hath been by other Apocalyptic Interpreters as by my self Less than the Least made out 4. From the passing away of the Second or Turkish Woe That great and Blessed Sound Commences The C. 11. Kingdoms of this World are Become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ But as Mahometism came first as a Rev. 11. Judgment on the Latine as it is to be Distinctly call'd or Western Antichristianism So it is to be Preferr'd in the Expectation of Judgment First upon it self That so Tyrannous a Pseudo-Prophâ—tism that came upon it may not be Removed before the Provocatiâ—n of the Sin Oh how much Reason have we then to cry to Heaven for that Spirit of Life upon us all I hope I much more Desâ—re it upon my self then the Honour of being a True Prophet concerning it If one could be Separated from the other Although I am afraid to defer any thing to Phantastry I cannot yet but Just Mention That That so unaccountable even Phrenetic Superstition of the Turkish Procession was order'd on the First New Moon in the Month called Decemb. 97. and fell out on its Third Day That Procession was a Publick Declaration Their Affairs were come to Extremity Their Deprecation of the Displeasure of Heaven so Vehemently spoke an Apprehension of the Tottering and Ruine of their Port and Empire Thus Providence Discover'd what was in the Womb of Prophecy if there had not been an Abruption And that Abruption shew'd it self in that So great a Victory was not made an Advance to further Victoriousness and even Ruine of that Empire And indeed I cannot but make a Paralell of it with Esay 16. 21. Moabs wearying himself on his High Place and then coming to his Sanctuary to pray And the word of the Lord since and from that Time is That within Three Years as exactly Numbred as the Days of an Hireling and the Glory of the Ottoman Power shall be Contemned And all that great Multitude and the Remnant shall be very Small and feeble Now these Three Years are to be Accounted to End in the Month December in the Year 1700. Objec But may there not be on continuing Provocation and Unpreparedness for Mercy a further Infraction and Abruption even at the Year 1700. Answ By That Scituation of the Three Years and a Half between the 1260 and the Seventh Trumpet and the so closely Conterminating on each and Prophecy so express and positive therein That it should be Subjected to any such Ballance of Prophecy is utterly Impossible For though when there is an Equilibration of Prophecy there Providence does as it sees fit although all way in it self Determin'd Yet where Prophecy is Peremptory and Absolute Providence alway Acts according to it And so it is here that there can be no Fear of an Infraction or an Abruption Having thus discours'd the delay according to the Scripture words Gods Infraction and Abruption For he is pleas'd so to Style it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Breach The True and Faithful God takes such a Prerogative to speak his Intentions of Grace at such a Time under the Reservation of a Condition That there should be a Suitable Agreeable Frame in his People to his Promises Or else a further Time Reserved But as I have made out there is also a