It is therefore most Rationally according to Scripture to be suppos'd there were some former Methods of Judgment upon Antichristianism which is by all Protestants acknowledg'd to have enter'd much earlier than Mahomet But these Judgments though they remov'd the former State of the Western Empire yet under the New Model of several Supreme Monarchs together with the Papacy in the Place of the Emperour It was continued and even the very Imperial Grandeur surviv'd as Romane in the Eastern Empire And when the Sin of the former Model is so close Rivetted and that it enters so into the Substance as to pass along into all Change of Forms and People Then God knits a Chain of Judgments that shall for ever make an End of that Sin Princip 5 It is not agreeable to the Wisdom and gracious Government of God that either such a Sin or Judgment should last always and this sin and this Judgment having under some very solemn Determination of God endur'd already longer than any other except the Sin of the Jews and the Judment upon them which is by our Saviour foretold to be as long as any Gentile Times It is a strong Presumption all these are now near an End Princip 6 Now when God hath given so long a Time to such an united State of Sin and Punishment in the Jew and Gentile as he never yet gave from the Beginning of the World to this Day We have Reason to believe the next Change shall be a Final Change to his Kingdom and Glory For so the Course or all Scripture runs So that as we have so great Reason to believe some Change after so long a lasting Sin and Judgment is near we have also Reason to believe that the next Change so near shall be a Change once for all to that never Ending Kingdom of Christ Princip 7 An Interpretation of the Prophecies of Scripture that shall not only agree with these Great Principles of Scripture-Reason but shall by Evidence from Prophecies themselves shew that they Pourtray and Represent to us both the Antichristian Apostacy as the Grand Sin and the Mahometan Imposture and Tyranny lying as a Judgment upon that Grand Sin and the Notes of Time exactly agreeing to both we have Reason to be assured Such Interpretation is a True Interpretation of Prophecy and that we may expect Things to come to pass accordingly I come therefore to give as I hope they will appear Irresistable Proofs from the Letter of Prophecy from the Types and from the Times Assigned by it that the Space of Time the Mahometan Imposture and Tyranny as a Judgment on the Antichristian Apostacy have already taken up hath been such that the Kingdom of Christ must needs be so near coming into its Succession as 1697. Argum. 1 It is undeniable by express Evidence from the very Words of Prophecy Rev. 10. c. 11. That the Time of the Seventh Angels sounding the Seventh Trumpet cannot be a Time wherein any thing of such Enmity to the Kingdom of Christ as Mahometanism is by All that bear the Name of Christians and the Papacy by All Protestants is acknowledg'd to be have any place For it is sworn c. 10. 6 7. there shall be Time no more viz. of such Time Times and Half Time as were sworn should be Dan 12. 7. for the scattering the holy people and for the wearing out the Saints of the Most High but that the Mystery of God in the Glory of his Kingdom should be finish'd The Contrary therefore could then have no place And when the Display of the Seventh Trumpet is describ'd the Kingdoms of this World are by Loud Voices in Heaven proclaim'd to be become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Rev. 11. 15. 18. and then his Servants Great and Small shall have Rewards given them and They be destroy'd who destroy'd the Earth There could then be no possible Room for the Mahometans whose King is Apollyon nor for the Papacy Represented by the Beast making War with the Saints Argum 2 Seeing the Seventh Trumpet is so distinguish'd that there should be such Time Times and Half Time no more and that None of the Six foregoing Trumpets are so Distinguish'd There is a Great Assurance given that those Time Times and Half Time flow back into the Six Trumpets and take them up For then Times of a contrary Temper to the Kingdom of Christ and to Finishing the Mystery had according to the Oath Dan. 12. their Place Rev. 8. c. 9. Argum. 3 It is most certain by the express Text the Fifth and the Sixth Trumpets must in some things agree with the Seventh Trumpet and in some things so utterly disagree that the Space of the one as hath been said cannot be the Space of the other They agree in that They are All Three Woe-Trumpets and bring Judgment and Woe upon some Grand Enemy of the Kingdom of Christ And so the Two First Woes are Preparatoty Woes to the Third Woe of the Seventh Trumpet They agree also with the Seventh Trumpet in this That they carry on Time so that there should be no Remaining Time of Hinderance to the Finishing the Mystery of God but that such Time should be no more But they must herein disagree to the utmost that the Executioners of these Two Woes are as the Assyrians and Babylonians of Old though executing the Judgments of God on Idolatrous Pretenders to be his Peopâ—e yet themselves great Enemies to the Kingdom of Christ and of the Serpentine Kind compared to Scorpions and Serpents Rev. 9. 10 11. 14 and are under their Prince the Angel of the Bottomless Pit They therefore are themselves to be enfolded in the Last Woe being to be destroyed as the Destroyers of the Earth Argum. 4 It must be most certain the Days of the Seventh Angel Sounding cannnt be yet because the Papacy in the Sense of All Protestants and the Mahometan Imposture and Tyranny in the Sense of All Christians are so opposite to the Kingdom of Christ and have yet such a prevalent Interest in the World that the Kingdoms of this World cannot by such loud Voices be said to be the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Argum. 5 There is no possible Denial That the Book of the Revelation hath fix'd 42 Months of the Gentiles treading under Foot the Outward Court and the Holy City and of the Beasts having power over Tongues and People and making War with the Saints and 1260 Days call'd also Time Times and Half a Time and Three Days and a Half of the Witnesses being in Sackcloth the Woman the Church in the Wilderness the Witnesses lying Dead and the Church hid from the Face of the Serpent Rev. 11. 2. c. 12. 6. 14. c. 13. 5. It is also most certain there are great Examples in Scripture of a Day appointed for a Year when Prophetical Time is Cypher'd And it appears on greatest Reason from Ezek. 4. to be made a Standard of Prophetick Time
part of the Time since the Christian Empire but that it might most Justly be said to have been Trodden under Foot by the Gentiles For such are All who do not profess Faith in Jesus Christ and so are styl'd Infidels This No One of the Christian Name will Deny and therefore that Gentiles Times must be still But for the Time it hath been in the Power of Christians so much as in Name which hath been but Inconsiderable for now above these 1600 Years either those short Intervals for their being so short and surrounded on all sides with the Power of Gentiles to Tread iâ— under Foot were over-look'd by Christ as not worthy to make an Exception or else which is the much Truer Account the Heathen Roman Dragon so without any Interruption of Death but only of a Deadly Wound gave his Power to the Roman Antichristian Beast that even in the Purest Time of the Christian Empire Jerusalem was in the Judgment of Christ Trodden under Foot by Gentiles either Pagan or Antichristian and so Pagan Times of the Gentiles have still run on But take we either Opinion as we please Lo here even a Scripture Land-mark of Times and even Demonstration that Gentiles Times are not yet fulfill d For if we consider the Scope and whole Context of our Lord's Assertion it is plain that so long as Gentiles Times last Jerusalem in Round Account of the Matter however some Lucid Intervals as we speak there might be must be so in the Power of the Gentiles as to be Trodden under Foot by them And on the other side so long as Jerusalem is Trodden under Foot of Gentiles Gentiles Times must be in their Course and whenever Gentiles Times end after what Manner soever Jerusalem shall be Restor'd it shall be no longer Trodden under Foot by Gentiles For there shall be Gentiles Times no longer for them to Do it in Let us now compare with this plain Text in Luke that of Revel 11. 1. and by way of Resemblance or Symbol taken from the Outer Court of the Temple and of the Holy City Jerusalem Trodden under Foot by plain Gentiles in the very Letter There is a Prophetical Signification That the whole Breadth of the Cbristian Name Profession and what is call'd the Vniversal Church as Visible and Appearing shall be Trodden under Foot by Antichristian Gentiles And hereunto are Assign'd 42 Months Concurrent with which as Mourners upon such a Calamity are the 1260 Days of the Witnesses prophecying in Sackcloth And by the Course of the Vision as these Months must needs be Times of the Gentiles For they are the Months of the Gentiles and Gentiles Months must be Gentiles Times So they must be the Last Course of Gentiles Times because when they with 1260 Days of the Sackcloth Prophecy end the Kingdoms of this World will become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and Gentiles Times be no more v. 12. v. 15. It is therefore in the first place most certain these 42 Months and the 1260 Days parallel with them must be Months and Days of Years seeing Jerusalem hath been for so many Hundreds of Years under the Power of Mahometans which All who own Christ will acknowledge deservedly styl'd Gentiles and still it is so Trodden under Foot by them Gentiles Times must not therefore have ended yet For then Jerusalem had been no longer so Trodden under Foot as yet it is And sure it is a very Remarkable Ordination of Providence that Its Treading under Foot hath been by the Enemies of the Christian Name that All might herein Agree that Gentiles Times are not yet fulfill d seeing notwithstanding All Attempts and under such Title of Merit and with so great Noise and Pomp of Devotion to Rescue them those very Infidels have had the Power of the Holy Land and Sepulchre as it is so often styl'd under their Feet And with the very same Wisdom by the Figures of Propheoy the Christian Outward Court and Holy City or Visible Worship and Church are said to be trodden under Foot by Antichristian Gentiles however call'd Christian that both these might give Light one to another and Antichristian Times and Mahometan Times run parallel as hath been hitherto Discours'd For while Jerusalem is so under the Power of Gentiles we are sure the Gentiles Months being the Last Course of Gentiles Times are in their Motion And while these Months are in Motion there is a Certainty Jerusalem shall be still so trodden under Foot even by those Gentiles or Mahometan Infidels under whose Power It now is And by finding when these Months viz. of the Gentiles and of the Beast both falling into one another shall End we know how long Jerusalem shall be so trodden by Gentiles even as by the so long having been trodden under Foot we knew these Months and the paraliel 1260 Days are of Years We Know therefore the Time from the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus until Constantine were Gentiles Times because so long Jerusalem was trodden under Foot by Absolute Gentiles But there might then be a Doubt when Paganism was by Him Desolated throughout the Empire and such a Change particularly made at Jerusalem as History Records by Constantine there might be a Doubt whether Gentiles Times any longer continued than till the Christian Empire We receive therefore Times rising up a New Revel 11. 1 c. under the Character of Gentiles Times to shew that though they had so run under Ground as to seem discontinued yet in truth they were not discontinued Gentiles Times continuing but forc'd to run secretly for fear of the Christian Empire until they appear'd under another Character not of Pagan but of Antichristian Gentilism And within Eight Years after Antichristianism Appear'd in a Supremacy at A. D. 606. viz. A. D. 614. Jerusalem was trodden first by Persians then by Saracens and then by Turks All acknowledg'd Gentiles ever since for almost the whole Time to this Day that All might be convinc'd who own Christ of so long Gentiles Times Now from that Antichristian Appearance they are limited to 42 Months Seeing then Antichristian Gentilism was sprung up to such a Height as to tread the Outer Court and Holy City so many Years ago as All Protestants Acknowledge viz. soon after 400 to have Amounted to 42 Months or 1260 Days of Years we might expect this present or every next Year to see Jerusalem no longer trodden under Foot by Gentile Powers For it is made a sure Gauge of Time Gentile Times cannot be Ended till then and whenever they end they must have began 1260 Years before But I shall therefore in the next place offer Great Reason That Gentile Times must not have began till A. D. 437. and so end 1697. Argum. 11 The Holy Spirit hath been pleas'd with Admirable and Curious Art to In-lay a peculiar Note when the Pagan Antichristianism that had been much before in Gathering was come to such a Height that the Judgments upon it
the North and of the South c. 11. 5 c. peirc'd to the East and I find these Great Agreements between this Prophetic Portraicture and all I had said on the Types Rev. 9. 1. The Antichristian State as the last Course of Gentile Times shall continue till the Indignation against Jerusalem treading it under Foot shall be accomplished v. 36. 2. The Mahometan Southern or Saracenic and the Northern or Turkish Powers are the First Judgments or Trumpets on the Roman Antichristian Empire but making one Trumpet with the Last Woe Trumpet v. last call'd all Three the single Trumpet of the Three Angels Rev. 8. ult come in the last Course of Judgment so Daniel says at the Time of the End v. 42. 3. The Turkish Power as it began by Trangolipix in Persia and seiz'd Egypt by Saladin which as it is said in Daniel did not Escape v. 42. so it came to a Settlement in the Ottoman Family which grew great above Any of the Former Turkish Families But it was in greatest Trouble by that so dreadful Impression from the East-North v. 44. by Tamerlane who carried with him the Proud Sultan Bajazet in a Cage of Iron and held him in Fetters to his Death After this the Ottoman Princes went on with a Fury to Kill and to Destroy as the Prophecy Speaks and planted their Tabernacle or Palace between the Seas viz. at that Meeting of the Seas a most Illustrious Character of Constantinople on which Account it is called The Port even as its Mountainous Scite makes it called the Holy Glorious Mountain It might be understood of Judea and Jerusalem which was soon after seiz'd by Selymus out of other Mahometan Hands viz the Sultans of Egypt But I rather understand it of Constantinople call'd so by way of Allusion to Jerusalem because Constantine the First Christian Emperor made it the Tower of the Christian Empire and as it were a Jerusalem Consecrated to God and to Christ v. 45. And how when All was thus setled to shew The Turkish Potentacy would be then in its last Stage of Time It is said This Northern King shall come to his End and None shall help Him And it appears an Insinuation That when he shall be very near his End he shall have some unaccountable and unexpected Help such as at this Day he finds from the French Power that by Diverting the Imperial Arms gives an Aid to the Continuance of this Turkish Power for a small space But this notwithstanding He shall come to his End and None shall be Able by Any Help whatever to prevent it even at this 1697. But because the Knot of the Eclipse of Christianity Rests in the Antichristian State First the Vnion of the Pope and the Ten Kings shall be fully Dissolv'd And then this Woe shall pass away I may in the Last Place Add We must Understand the Prophecy of Daniel and of the Revelation by their Types or never Understand them till the Time of the Days Dawn and the Day-Star of the Kingdom of Christ it self Arising in our Hearts For that they shall not be understood except in Eternity sure Any One will be asham'd to say But that it is our Duty to understand them Now is plain by what the Apostle says We Do well to give heed to the Sure Word of Prophecy shining in the Dark Place or Time of the 2 Pet. 1. 19. Apostacy and that Christ says Let him that hath an Ear hear and here is Wisdom Let him that hath it count Now that the Types and the Events Rev. 13. 8. pitch'd upon Answer with so Great Exactness we may know by comparing the Events which I have given with the Events God hath himself expounded Prophetical Types into that he might thereby give us an Example in Expounding Prophetical Types as that Nebuchadnezzar was the Head of Gold c. Dan. 2. 38. That the Ram was the King of Persia that the He-Goat was the Dan. 8. 21. King of Grecia that the Kingdom was divided after the Death of the First King of Grecia by whom None doubt Alexander the Great is Intended putting an End to the Persian Monarchy in Darius the Last King These things then give us the Key of Expounding Prophetic Types 1. Agreement of the Types and of the Events 2. In an Orderly Succession 3. That they be Events of a High and Signal Eminency in that Succession 4. That they keep the Course of Time a-foot * Within Dan's 4 Monarchies to the great End or Kingdom of Christ 5. That being rightly Hit they are as significant as plain Words All which shew the Necessity of the Types I have insisted upon to be the True and that there can no other be Expected So that I boldly conclude whoever considers them must say They are certainly the True or at least most Rationally to be believ'd to be the True Prophetical Types and so that Christ's Kingdom must be so near And thus I have given such Arguments for the Great Change of the World at 1697 that as I most Humbly Appeal to the All-Knowing Spirit concerning their Truth in Agreement with what He hath so long a-go spoken and written so I am most Bold to say Neither the Understanding of Angels or Men can Resist Them having so Great a Presence of Divine Manifestation in Them If any be perswaded we are yet to expect that Slaying of the Witnesses before this Happy Change which must have its Three Years and a Half I have given Great Reasons against that Judgment as founded on that Text Rev. 11. 9 and am sure it cannot be the Sense of a Prophecy that requires a much longer space to fulfil it self in even of the whole 1260 Years of the Apostacy yet with a peculiar Respect to the Deepest Time of both the Pagan and Mahometan Tyranny according to the Allusion to the Deep Part of our Lord 's being in the Grave those Three Days so Famous in Evangelical History Yet I will not be so bold as Absolutely to Deny there being just possible Time before 97 to be so and yet the Witnesses to Rise so soon but there may be some such Space by way of Re-Capitulation and Epitome of that Deep State at the Last of the 1260 Years Which if Decreed by God may be insinuated by the Framing the whole Vision of the Witnesses so as to End in Three Days of Years and a Half and then the wonderful Change at their Rising by the Spirit of Life entring into Them to ensue And hereunto it would much incline any ones Judgment to observe the Great Wickedness found at this Day among the Protestants their Vnpreparednefs and deep Aversation to such a Kingdom of Christ as is so Near and that therefore some very Dreadful however Short Course of Judgment must winnow the Reform'd so call d Nations and even Churches for it And if this be so We must of Necessity be Just Entring into so Trying a Time and ought to prepare for it and to take into deep Consideration All such Possible Fore-bodes of it in the Present Agitations in the World we now see especially if Tending to a Re-Revolution the only Possibility of such a Black State in Humane View within these Kingdoms But though in Abundant Caution and warn'd by the Last Summer's Suspension of Decision I thus speak Yet I hope Better Things and Things that have Fast Hold of the Kingdom of Christ which shall Reform the Age by an Unknown hitherto since the Reformation Multitude of Converts and for all such Rebels as will yet Hate to be Reform'd and will not see They shall see and be purg'd out by the Majesty of the Lord then Appearing And whether of thâ—se Two Judgments on this Prophecy is the Justest to it I am perswaded the Next Summer's Action will give a certain Prospect For Time is so short to 97. that the Motion in Relation to it if there should be such a Gloomy Three Years and Half must be very quick If Any still think The Time Allow it All for Preparation and No such Dark Parenthesis or Time between is too short both in regard of so many of the Ten Kings and Kingdoms Remaining Popish and even in regard of the Vn-Reformed Protestancy I say for a Conclusion Thus it ought to be that Prophecy may be Fulfilled For this Blessed Change and Re Reformation is to be at the End of Half Time And the very Nature of the End of Half Time requires That All Things should be Running on in a full Stream and Carier as it were for a whole Time and then suddenly and to Amazement coming to an End in the very Half or Midst as the Man spoken of Jerem. 17. 11. who is Cut off in the midst or as the Hebrew Word is even as of Half Time in the Half of his Days and at his End proves a Fool so shall the End of the Antichristian State be sudden surprizing and at an Instant as a Line that Appears in full Length but cut off in the Midst The Suddenness is express'd by the same Hour the Surprisal by Great Fear or Affrightment Revel 11. 13. And So Let it be Oh Lord. THE END
A Demonstrative Scripture-Proof FROM Mahometan Times THE Kingdom of Christ Must needs be in its Succession 1697. By T. BEVERLEY REVEL XI 14 15. The Second Woe is past Behold the Third Woe cometh Quickly And the Seventh Angel sounded and I heard Loud Voices in Heaven saying The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ London Printed in the Year 1692. A Demonstrative Proof from the Space of Time run out since the Hegire Era or Great Date of Time to the Mahometans like the Year of our Lord to Christians when the False Prophet Mahomet appear'd Arm'd viz at 622. That the Kingdom of Christ must at the farthest be in its Succession 1697. the 1260. Days of Years of the Roman Empire in the Papal Tyranny then Ending and the Mahometan Imposture and Barbarous Potentacy shall then also pass away according to the Line of Time given SEeing It will easily be allowed the Parahles of Scripture are as truly the Word of God whether expounded or not if rightly understood as the most plain Doctrinal Scripture It must also be allowed That we ought to search for that True Meaning and Sense of them seeing it is a Rule concerning All Scripture it ought to be search'd and because Parables require more laborious search that they may be understood Christ giving his Doctrine in Parables so often us'd that Parabolical Admonition He that hath Ears to hear let him hear And when Christ said to his Disciples not understanding the Parable of the Sower though he had not then exâ—ounded it Vnderstand ye not this Parable How then will ye understand all Parables Mark 4. He implied thereby There would be given in his Word many and very dark Parables and yet that All Scripture Parables ought to be understood by Christians though not expounded viz. by Search and Compare with other Scriptures and so they may be understood else it could not be our Duty to understand them Now All Prophetical Hierogliphick Emblems and Figures particularly those of the Revelation are Prophetical Parables and so ought to be search'd and understood and may be as other Parables Christ therefore Seven Times together uses that very Parabolical Admonition he us'd in the Gospels He that hath an Ear let him hear c. 2. c. 3. And yet in a more dark Parable and less practical than those Epistles to the Churches viz. that of the Beast c. 13. 10. he again says If any Man hath an Ear let him hear And because the Parables of the Revelation are of so deep Enquiry and require much Thought Christ invitâ—s so painful Re-searches with the Promise of Blessedness not only to hâ—s Minâ—sterial Servants to Read and Expound but to his People who are to be Instructed to Hear by that Inscription as in Letters of Gold on the Portal Blessed is he that Readeth c. c. 1. 3. All whâ—ch assure us That its Parables are given to be understood and that we may and it is our Duty so to search as to understand to be assured we have the True Word of God and the Sense of it even as in other Scriptures and that our Blessedness is to be found therein Else the giving that Book of Scriptures and the Promise before it were vain and unreasonable Having thus far Prefac'd to the Arguing from the Space the Mahometans False Prophetism and Tyranny have been in the World that the Kingdom of Christ must at the farthest be in its Succession at 97 I propose Two Heads of Argument The First shaâ—l be taken from General Scripture-Principles which none can deny The Second shall be taken from the verâ— Letter or most unavoidably necessary Sense of what we find in that Book of the Revelation relating hereunto which also None shâ—ll be Able to Deny when the Reason for so giving the Sense is duly consider'd and that All Chronology and History undoubtedly Agree I begin therefore with such Principles as will strongly Argue from the Consideration of Mahometanism according to General Rules of Scripture Princip I That the Mahometan Falshood and Tyranny hath been a Judgment upon the Christian World No Christian of what Peâ—swasion soever can or will I think deny That it hath arisen for this 1069 Years viz. fâ—om 622 to thâ—s 1691. can no more be denied than the other I Argue therefore seeing there hath heen so Great and setled a Judgment upon so Universal a Profession as the Christian is a Sin of proportionable Settlement and Duration ought to be search'd out and match'd with it acâ—ording to the whole Tenor of Scripture as the Jews Killing the Lord of Life and Calling his Blood on Them and on their Children and their so Obstinate Vnbelief in him is own'd by all Christians to be the Just Cause of the Wrath that hath come upon them to the End Now what sin of the Christian World can be thought to be that Sin but the Apostacy in the Christian Church the Apostle so long ago foretold 2 Thes 2. and which All Protestants acknowledge hath been in it ever since the Rising of Mahometanism and from Time before it very near 200 years in its Beginnings Princip 2 Such a Relation betwixt a Judgment and a Sin is especially most Argumentative when the Sin in its Appearance is Engraven on the Judgment Now whoever considers the Pope having taken upon him to be Vniversal Bishop and Pastor Vicar of Christ Head of the Church and so Vniverâ—al Prophet and to have the Power of the Keys and so of the Sword in Ordine ad Spiritualia and by his Infallibility to give Universal Law to the World and so many Christian Princes Enchanted to support him in All and then compares Mahomet taking upon himself to be the Greatest True Prophet of the World yet with some Allowance to Moses and to Christ to give the Alcoran as an Universal Law and to be appointed by God to Proselyte the World by the Power of the Sword and to have thereby prevail'd on so great a part of the World and withal to be a Detester of all Image-Worship in opposition to Popish Idolatry How must it needs be own'd God hath Anger'd the Christian or rather Antichristian State by a Foolish Religion as he speaks Deut. 32. and set Mahometanism as a Counter-Antichristianism to Antichrist in a way of Horrible and Dreadful Judgment upon that Antichrist and as a Paraselene or Mock Moon to the Beasts Moons Princip 3 When a Judgment hath Counter-ballanc'd a Sin for several Ages Apparently together and They born the Characters of a Mutual Relation It is not according to Scripture-Reason supposeable the Judgment should remove before the Sin be removed either by Reformation or by Final Judgment upon it when it is not reform'd nor the Iniquity purg'd till they die Princip 4 The First Beginnings of a Sin are according to Scripture chastis'd though often with very severe Judgments yet of a less severe kind and such as are as it were Fore-runners of greater