Child is come to the Birth there may be strength to bring forth 2 Kings 19 â— and that the Fruit of her Womb this Royal and hopeful Issue may be delivered from the bloody Talons and merciless Paws of this red and fiery Dragon and may be caught up to the Throne of God and there preserved that in due time he may Rule all Nations with his strong and iron Rod. Now is the time That that Grand and Set Battel is to be fought between Michael and the Dragon Rev. 12.7 For now will Michael the Archangel and all the Host of blessed Angels that are under him exert and put forth their utmost strength and power and use their utmost vigilancy and Industry for the supporting and upholding of the pure Church of Christ and to keep the Servants of God from Revolting and Backsliding and falling to Popery and being driven by the Terror of men to fall down and worship the Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless Pit And now will the Dragon also set his shoulder to the work and he and his black Regiments will labour with Might and Main to extinguish and utterly to put an End to the pure Christian Church and to drive all the faithful Servants of God to desert and forsake him and to turn to the Popish Religion and to join with the Beast of Rome which God hath declared to be a grand Rebel against him and his Kingdom And now therefore it is the Duty of every good Protestant and especially of the Bishops and Pastors of the Protestant Church to be at their most ardent Prayers to Almighty God and to implore his Help that he would have Mercy upon his Church and preserve it from being destroyed by the restless Enemies thereof Now is it their duty to lift up their incessant Cryes to the blessed Jesus that he would make good that Promise to his Church Matth. 16.18 That the Gates of Hell should not prevail against it That he would now hold up his Auspicious Hand while this Battel is fought as once Moses did upon a like occasion Exod. 17.11 and that he would stretch out his Almighty Arm for the support of his Church and Servants and Succour us frail Creatures in the Day of Tryal and Grant Success and Victory to Michael and his Angels who is represented as General of the Christian Forces Now let all the valiant Souldiers of Christ put on the whole Armour of God that they may be able to stand against all the Wiles of the Devil Eph. 6.11 For we are now to wrestle not with flesh and blood against the bodily strength of a single man as wrestlers do But against Principalities against Powers against the Rulers of the darkness or the dark and sinful Rulers of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places Wherefore let us take unto our selves the whole Armour of God that we may be able to withstand in the evil Day and having done all that is in our power that we may stand Let all the faithful Servants of Christ now give all that little help and assistance that they can in so righteous and sacred a Cause as this is when the Church and Spouse of Christ lyeth at the Stake and wherein the blessed Jesus and Saviour of the World requireth their service And then if they fight valiantly in this sacred and Renowned Cause and persevere to the end then let them expect his Euge Well done thou good and faithful Servant Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord Matth. 25.21 And saith our Lord to the Church in Sardis to the Pastors and Members thereof even to the present Christian Church as I understand it and as Dr. More also hath interpreted it Rev. 3.5 He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life but I will confess his name before my Father and before his Angels Those that overcome in this Grand Battel against the Dragon in this splendid manner like Victors and Conquerors are they to be clothed their Names are like to stand Registred in the Book of Life as those that are like to enjoy eternal Bliss and Happiness And to their unspeakable joy and endless glory they will be had in honor before Almighty God and his Angels But if any man draw back his Soul will have no pleasure in him Heb. 10.38 And our Lord hath told us Matth. 10.33 That whosoever shall deny him before men him also he will deny before his Father which is in heaven And now let all the Bishops and Pastors of the Protestant Church remember that bitter Curse which the Angel pronounced against the Inhabitants of Meroz Jud. 5.23 Curse ye Meroz said the Angel of the Lord Curse ye bitterly the Inhabitants thereof because they came not to the help of the Lord to the help of the Lord against the Mighty And let them take care that there may be no cause for the Archangel Michael now to pronounce such another bitter Curse against them for their backsliding at this Day when this great Battel of the Lord upon the account of his Church is to be fought And here we are taught how we must prevail and overcome Rev. 12.11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their Testimony and they loved not their Lives unto the death These are the means by which we are to overcome at this time and not by carnal Weapons viz By procuring an interest in the Blood of the blessed Jesus and by a meek and patient suffering for his sake and a firm resolution rather to dye than to depart from the Testimony and Faith of Christ and violate and break his sacred Commandments freely offering up our Lives to him if he should call us to the Cross to suffer Martyrdom for his sake And for our great Comfort and Encouragement herein saith the Apostle 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also reign with him And saith St. John Rev. 14.13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence forth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them And again saith he Rev. 20.4 And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God and which had not worshipped the Beast neither his Image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years This is the first Resurrection Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath no power but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years See Dr. More upon this place And for our great stay and sure support in such a fiery Tryal saith our blessed Lord Matth. 28.20 And lo I am with
sacred Oracles come to Light the more peccant and culpable will those be that offend against them And I conceive that men will be far greater Sinners now in turning to the Popish Religion than they would have been heretofore Because the Light of these sacred Oracles doth shine more clearly now than it did in the days of our Forefathers as to what respects Popery and the Romish Church 8. And their dead Bodies shall lye in the street of the great City which Spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified That is these Witnesses and Servants of God shall remain like dead men being cast aside like dead Carcasses in the street that is within the jurisdiction and within the reach of the Power of the great City of Rome which in a Mystical way by the Spirit of God is called Sodom and Egypt and within whose jurisdiction and by whose Power our blessed Lord and Saviour was crucified Rome is the great Metropolis of the Popish Church and by it we are to understand the whole Romish Church within which the dead bodies of these Witnesses are to remain that is these Witnesses themselves in a dead and forlorn condition being cast aside like dead men and having no more to do with the Affairs of the Church or State than dead men And Rome and the Romish Church for the great wickedness thereof is compared here to Sodom which God destroyed in a prodigious manner with fire and brimstone from Heaven for the abominable sin and wickedness therefore as we may see Gen. 18. and 19. Chapters And it is also compared here to Egypt for the Tyranny and merciless Cruelty that the Romish Church exerciseth towards the Servants of God and all good Christians as Egypt kept the People of God under hard Bondage and in a merciless manner destroyed their Children that they might not increase Exod. 3 and was prone enough to Idolatry as the Romish Church also is And within the jurisdiction and by the Power and Authority of the City of Rome was our blessed Lord crucified Pompey the Roman General had taken Jerusalem and brought Judea into subjection to the Romans about sixty years before our Saviour was born And Pontius Pilate the Roman Governour by the Power and Authority that he had from Rome did pass Sentence upon our blessed Saviour and caused him to be crucified and put to death 9. And they of the People and Kindreds and Tongues and Nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves That is the Papists the Popish Gentiles and all other Sects and People of several Nations that shall then join with them shall behold these Witnesses and faithful Servants of God in this dead and forlorn condition being made as the filth of the World as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 4.13 and esteemed like dead carcasses but still continuing stedfast in the Faith of the blessed Jesus These poor Wretches shall they behold and see before them three years and an half while they have the Government and shall carry themselves as Unchristianly towards them as it would be to see a dead man lye upon the ground and not vouchsafe to bury him But by an high Hand of Providence they shall be prevented from killing them in a natural and common Sense and taking away of their Lives By their dead Bodies I understand these Men in this forlorn and dead condition but still to be living Men. And by not suffering their dead Bodies to be put in graves may be meant their Unchristian carriage and Inhumanity towards them and that God with an high Hand would still preserve these Witnesses that the Papists shall not really kill them and send them clean out of the World And by three days and an half we are to understand three years and an half wherein Popery is to reign this being an usual thing to put days for years in the Prophecies in the Scriptures And to the Prophet Ezekiel the Lord said Ezekiel 4.6 And thou shalt bear the Iniquity of the house of Judah forty days I have appointed thee each day for a year Days were to signify years here in Ezekiel and so oft in other places and so in this place of the Revelation But to make three days and an half to signify 1260 years is a strange racking of the Sacred Text as the Learned Dr. More hath done to make it comply with his own Sentiments and being altogether ignorant as it seems of this great Woe that is now at hand And he hath confounded the 1260 days of the Prophesying of the Witnesses with the 42 months wherein the Gentiles are to tread down the holy City whereas these 1260 days are first to be finished and ended before the 42 months of the Gentiles begin For the Beast is not to prevail over them ver 7. till they have finished their Testimony and therefore the Gentiles are not to tread down the holy City and pure Christian Church till that time And if the 1260 days should signify so many years as he would have them to do and should end at the Reformation they must begin before the Reign of Constantine the Great And if they begin after the time of Constantine they must take in the time of the Reformation so that there is no appearance of Truth in understanding them this way and taking them for so many years For if these be times of Sackcloth all are Sackcloth since Christianity began There is no appearance of Truth in this Learned Man's exposition of this Chapter but it is indeed flat contrary to the Sacred Oracle in this place I say this because I would willingly prevent Men from being deluded by the mistaken Interpretation of this Learned Man in this weighty Matter to the great hazard of their Lives and Souls too 10. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoyce over them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth That is the Papists and Romish Church shall then rejoyce over these Witnesses and the Protestant Church and be merry and heartily glad and shew great expressions of their joy and gladness one to another because they have brought the Protestant Church under again and intend to put an utter end to it Because these Witnesses and the Eminent Servants of God in the Protestant Church were continually upbraiding them with the sinfulness of their Religion and Practice and warning all men to have a care of the Romish Religion and drawing Papists from it telling them that it was flat contrary to the Sacred Word of God and that nothing could be expected from it but Eternal Death and Destruction and this was very tormenting and vexatious to those of the Romish Party to hear of the Sinfulness and Danger of their Religion which they were unwilling to leave because of the sinful and worldly Profits and Pleasures
to come upon them And according to these places of the Sacred Scriptures do we make profession in St. Athanasius's Creed Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly And we may clearly see that the Romish Religion is flat contrary to the first and second Commandments of the Decalogue This is the grand Commandment of all viz. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me Exod. 20.3 But this grand Commandment do the Papists violate and make Petty Gods of the Saints and worship the Elements of Bread and Wine in the Sacrament and make Gods of them And they make and worship and bow down to Images flat contrary to the express Letter of the second Commandment They teach for Doctrines the Commandments of Men and preach another Gospel which Christ and his Apostles preached not in that they preach up the Pope's Supremacy as a fundamental Doctrine in their Religion and Purgatory and Popish Pardons c. which are not in the Gospel of our blessed Lord and Saviour but are repugnant to it and therefore they do incur the Curse of the Apostle in preaching another Gospel And herein we may see that they sin with a high hand in that they stifle the Sacred Word of God and will not let the Common People know it that they may keep it and do it contrary to God's express Command who would have all Men to know his Sacred Word and Commandments and to do them And instead hereof they order their own Precepts and Traditions to be observed and kept Thus superseding and over-ruling the whole Word of God by their own Commands at their own will and pleasure thus exalting themselves above God himself in keeping his Sacred Word in an unknown Tongue from the People and ordering their own Commands to be kept as the supreme Commands of all And the Papists are accounted no better than Gentiles Heathens and Pagan Idolaters by the Sacred Oracles of the Revelation of St. John as I understand them And you may see that Archbishop Usher and Dr. More these Learned and Pious Men are of the same mind and Dr. Barrow another Learned and Pious Man saith little less See Dr. More 's Antidote against Idolatry and Dr. Barrow's Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy We may see that there is no hope of Salvation for such as are of this Communion so long as they continue therein And I wish that all well-minded Papists would seriously lay these things to heart and take a due Care to save their Souls and not suffer themselves to be deluded to their Eternal Woe and Destruction But farther Thirdly We may see that Righteous and Holy Men would by no means be driven to break the Sacred Commands of Almighty God and to depart from his Blessed Word but would rather part with their Lives than do so The three Children would not be driven with all the Terror of a Fiery Furnace to fall down and worship King Nebuchadnezzar's Image contrary to the express Command of Almighty God Dan. 3. The Church in Pergamos would not deny the Faith of Christ tho' they dwelt even where Satan's Seat was and in those Days too wherein Antipas the faithful Martyr of Christ was slain among them and they are highly commended for so doing Rev. 2.13 I know thy works saith our Lord and where thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is and thou holdest fast my Nome and hast not denied my faith even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth The Church also in Philadelphia is commended for keeping the Word of God Rev. 3.8 And St. John doth shew that many have been put to death for the Word of God and for adhering and sticking close to the Truth and giving Testimony to it Rev. 6.9 I saw under the altar saith he the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held And Rev. 20.4 And I saw saith he the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God By these Instances and many more that might be alledged from the Sacred Scriptures and other Authors we may see with what great Courage and Magnanimity righteous Men have stood to the blessed Word of God and maintained it and have chosen rather to resist even unto Blood than to be driven from it or to violate it in any notorious manner And this doth shew that we ought to do so too and may serve for a sufficient disswasive to us to keep us from falling to Popery tho' we run very great hazard in standing against it But Fourthly We may farther consider that we are under several solemn Engagements that are flat against Popery We of the Clergy especially and many others have taken the Oath of Supremacy and many of us have subscribed the Declaration called the Test We have read and given our Assent to the 39 Articles of Religion and have subscribed the three Articles in the 36th Canon And these in many particulars are all directly against Popery And if we should now fall to Popery we shall notoriously break and violate all these solemn and sacred Engagements to the contrary and be most wretchedly perfidious and shew to the World that there is no Truth and Faithfulness in us but that we are cursed lying Children And according to our great Wickedness herein if we should do so shall we be dealt with For we are plainly told Rev. 21.8 That all lyars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone And it will be sufficiently manifest both to Men and Angels too that such we are and that in a high manner too if we have no regard to all these solemn Engagements which we call God to attest and bear Witness to If then we have any fear of God before our Eyes and would avoid his dreadful Wrath and have his Favour which is better than Life it self If we have any regard to the grand Concerns of our Souls and our eternal Well-being and Happiness in another World If we would avoid that dismal place where the Prince of Darkness and the Father of Lyes is to have his residence and abode Then we must have a care that we do not violate the sacred Word of God and these solemn Engagements that we have made but resolve rather to part with our Lives tho' it be at the Stake than to break them and fall to Popery But I am apt to believe That the standing against Popery in a Meek and Christian manner with Spiritual and not with Carnal Weapons will be the best way to preserve both Life and Soul too and that such as do so shall be preserved alive when many others that fall to Popery on the one hand or that rise up against Authority on the other shall perish and lose their Lives And Archbishop Usher doth shew that the sincere and faithful Worshippers and
Servants of God shall then be preserved when many others are like to perish Many of you Reverend Brethren by your late Miscarriages in taking the New Oaths c. have put your selves into a worse Condition than otherwise you would have been in and after a short time I suppose you will be fully convinced of your Error in so doing But by your sincere and hearty Repentance and earnest Prayers to God and by all other good Endeavours to this purpose and especially by the blessed Help and Assistance of Almighty God which we must all rely upon I hope you may recover your Ground and be able to stand against Popery and so preserve your Souls and Lives too if God sees it good to spare them or else may be able chearfully to lay them down if he shall require it at your hands I hope and am fully perswaded that Mercy doth yet wait upon you and that if you will now return and repent you may be saved But if ye still proceed on in your own ways and despise the Goodness and Long-suffering of God which doth now in an extraordinary manner waite for your Return to him If you now stop your Ears against all the loud Cries and Calls to Repentance and persist on to Backslide more and more If you now slight all the kind Invitations and Warnings of Providence and instead of repenting should fall to the Black Religion of Rome There is then no Peace nor Comfort for you that I know of but a Tremendous expectation of Judgment and Fiery Indignation which will consume all before it With Eyes therefore full of Tears and with a Heart full of Sorrow and true Christian Charity and Compassion as I hope do I earnestly entreat and beg of you That you would not now Trifle with Eternity when you are upon the very Brink of Destruction and have but one moment of time to provide for your Security and to save your selves in Remember poor Esau that could find no place for Repentance tho' he sought it carefully with Tears when once the Sentence was past against him Heb. 12.16 17. Gen. 27.33 It was then irrevocable and all his Tears and his exceeding bitter Cry could not alter it And when once the Heavens now are covered with thick Darkness your Cries will hardly pierce thro' it and find access to the Throne of Mercy And when once the consuming Fire of God's Wrath is kindled it is not a few Tears that will quench it In the Bowels of Christ Jesus then and by all the Endearments of a Christian Brother do I earnestly beseech you now to return and thankfully to accept of the Overtures of Mercy while Mercy may be had before abused Goodness be turned to Wrath and Mercy it self be shut up in displeasure against you For then you may cry aloud for Mercy like the Worshippers of Baal 1 Kings 18. and find as little answer and regard as they did But if you will now repent and return to God with all your heart and firmly resolve to abide by him at all times I hope you will readily find him and find him a God ready to help and succour you now in the greatest Straits and Dangers And to animate us all the more herein we may see that we have very great Encouragements in the Sacred Word of God patiently and contentedly to undergo all the Persecutions and Sufferings that befal us here for doing our Duty to God and keeping a good Conscience and sticking close to our Profession and the Truth of the Gospel And First We may see that this is declared to be a blessed thing when Men suffer for Righteousness sake and those that do so are pronounced blessed and happy Behold saith St. James 5.11 we count them happy which endure And saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 2.19 For this is thank-worthy if a man for conscience towards God endure grief suffering wrongfully And ver 20 But if when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God And 1 Pet. 3.14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness sake happy are ye and be not afraid of their terror neither be troubled And to this purpose 1 Pet. 4.14 If ye be reproached for the Name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you on their part he is evil spoken of but on your part he is glorified This we see is a most blessed thing and highly acceptable in the sight of God when Men suffer for Righteousness sake and keeping a good Conscience towards Almighty God Secondly We may see that such as endure constant to the end and forsake not their Profession for any Persecutions that befal them shall be sure to be saved from Eternal Death and Destruction and often tho' not always from Destruction here in this World when they are in great danger of losing their Lives God then in a wonderful manner delivering them by his good Providence out of all their Troubles and Danger This is often declared by our blessed Lord in the Gospel that such as endure constant to the end shall be saved Matt. 10.22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my Name 's sake but he that endureth to the end shall be saved And Matt. 24.12 13. And because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold but he that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved And these words are not so to be confined to one particular State of the Church as to exclude all others but so as to be Instructions to Christians at all times when there is need of such and such in an especial manner doth this present juncture of time seem to me to be The Church while it is Militant here below is always like to be subject to Persecutions and when these grow very smart and sharp the love of many is like to grow cold But that this may be no great discouragement to good Christians at such a time and may not make their heart to grow faint when they see so many to fall off they are to encourage themselves with such Sacred Consolations as these And saith our Lord Mar. 8.35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel's the same shall save it The exposing of our Lives to hazard upon this account is the best way to preserve both Life and Soul too and so I believe it will be now Thirdly We may see that our blessed Lord doth promise abundant reward even in this Life to all such as do sustain any loss for his sake and the Gospel's Mar. 10.29 30. And Jesus answered and said verily I say unto you there is no man that hath left House or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my sake and the Gospel's But he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time Houses And to this purpose in
Temple of God and the Altar and them that worship therein This is spoken in allusion and with respect to the great Temple of God's worship at Jerusalem But by the Temple here we are to understand the Christian Church and by the Altar the Religious Worship and Services and Devotions that are performed in the Christian Church and by Them that worship therein we are to understand the Worshippers in the Christian Church For the great Temple at Jerusalem hath long since been destroyed even before St. John wrote this Book of Revelation as it is affirmed And by this measuring the Temple of God here is shewed That our blessed Lord would come to take a strict View and an exact Account of his Church in the end of this sixth Trumpet which begins Rev. 9.13 and before the second dreadful Woe should come upon it which is now at hand As heretofore God told Abraham that he would go down to Sodom and see whether they had done altogether according to the great Cry of their sin and wickedness that was come unto him Gen. 18.20 21. before he destroyed it in such a dreadful manner 2. But the Court which is without the Temple leave out and measure it not For it is given unto the Gentiles and the holy City shall they tread under foot forty and two months As if our Lord had said But the Court which is without the Temple cast thou out as wast ground that affordeth me neither profit nor pleasure and delight and therefore I have given way to the Gentiles that is to the Papist that they may take possession of it and use it as a part of their Church and therefore have thou no regard of it and be not curious about it in measuring of it And the holy City that is the true Christian Church shall they tread under foot and domineer over forty and two months that is about three years and an half By the Court without the Temple we are to understand the formal Professors of the Protestant Church whose Religion consists in an outward Shew that like the Pharisees and Hypocrites they may appear righteous before men Matth. 6.16 and 23.28 but they do not take that due care that they ought to approve themselves to God and to purisie their lives and hearts from all sin and wickedness that they may be fit Temples for the blessed Spirit And this the Reverend Archbishop Usher sheweth The outward Court says he is the formal Christian whose Religion lies in performing the outside Duties of Christianity without having an inward Life and Power of Faith and Love uniting them to Christ and these God will leave to be trodden down and swept away by the Gentiles But the Worshippers within the Temple and before the Altar are those who do indeed worship God in Spirit and in Truth whose Souls are made his Temple and he is honoured and adored in the most inward thoughts of their hearts and they sacrifice their Lusts and vile Affections yea and their own Wills to him And he also taketh the Papists to be the Gentiles that are here mentioned as I also affirm them to be And as the outward Court was far larger than the inward Court and the Temple so is it to be feared that the greater part of those that now go for Protestants will then turn Papists as soon as these Popish Gentiles appear with their displayed Banners and menace and threaten the Protestants with death But let not this shake the faith of any good Protestants but let them remember what our blessed Lord hath told us Matth. 7.13 14 viz That the Gate is wide and the way broad that leadeth to Destruction and that many there be which go in thereat But that the gate is strait and the way narrow which leadeth to Life and that there are but few that find it By the holy City are we to understand the true Church of Christ that it shall be trodden down of the Papists and that they shall prevail and domineer over it forty two months or about three years and a half or 1260 days as it is Rev. 12.6 But these I understand of natural and ordinary days and not of prophetick days when a day is put for a year For there is no appearance of truth in taking them that way and suppossing them to be now past For about three years and an half then is Popery like to reign over the true Church of Christ and to spread it self as far as ever it did before This seems to be plainly shewed Rev. 13 5-9 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and power was given unto him to make war forty and two months And it was given unto him to make war with Saints and to overcome them and power was given him over all Kindreds and Tongues and Nations And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world If any man have an ear let him hear This is certainly meant of the Papacy and Romish Church And here we see that this Romish Beast viz. the Popedom is like to overcome the Saints and to have Power over all Nations that is all Christian Nations where it had power before This Romish Beast had his deadly wound given him in the Reformation when so many Provinces and Kingdoms fell off from Popery and the Romish Church and it was in a fair way to have been totally destroyed But now this Wound is like to be healed up again for a time and all these Provinces and Kingdoms are like to be brought again under the Power and jurisdiction of Rome and all are like to worship this Popish Beast but the true Servants of Almighty God who are resolved to dye rather than to defile themselves with the Popish Religion and to fall down and worship this Beast and his Image 3. And I will give power unto my two witnesses and they shall prophesie a thousand two hundred and threescore days clothed in sackcloth As if our Lord had said But that I may shew my Pastoral Care over my Church and not be wanting to it at such an extraordinary Time as this is I will order my two Witnesses two eminent parts of my Church and some of my faithful Servants and they shall prophesie 1260 days that is about three years and an half in a mournful manner before these Popish Gentiles shall have power to tread down my Church and the Romish Beast shall prevail over it That all my Servants may have timely notice of it and such as will hearken to my Sacred Oracles and the Voice of my Providence may be advertised of it and may have time to Arm and prepare themselves against it and may not be surprized therein in to their prejudice And that I may declare to all the world how desirous I am that all men should come to Repentance and be saved
of God resolving to put an end to the Protestant and pure Church of Christ And that the Wrath of God then came upon them and prevented them from doing of it and defeated this bloody design of theirs And that it was time then that these Dead Men that were dead in trespasses and wickedness and past all hopes of being Reclaimed and brought to Repentance should be judged and sentenced to Destruction according to their great Sin and Wickedness And that it was time then that God should think upon all his faithful Servants and all such as fear his Name of what Rank or Degree soever they be and reward them according to their Piety and the faithful service that they have done for him And that he should destroy and Sentence to Corruption those of the Romish Church that destroy the Earth and corrupt all the Morals of Mankind For this is here related as past 19. And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven and there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his testament and there were lightnings and Voices and thundrings and an Earthquake and great hail And The Temple of God saith St. John was opened in Heaven And hereby seems to be meant that the Protestant and pure Worship and Service of Almighty God shall then be publickly set up again and celebrated in publick Churches to the Praise and Honour of his great and glorious Name and that all men shall then have free access to his sacred and pure Worship again and to all the Mysteries of the Christian Religion which seem to be meant by the Ark of his Testament being seen therein to wit That all men shall then be admitted again to draw nigh to God in his Church and Temple and sacred Worship and admitted to his Table again in the holy Communion And the lightnings and Voices c. seem to shew the great acclamations and shoutings of joy that there shall be then and the Psalms of praise and thanksgiving that shall then be heartily sung to Almighty God and the great alterations that shall then be made for the better ordering of Affairs both in Church and State The third and grand Woe of all is to be executed in the time of this seventh Trumpet-Angel about the year 1826 as I have said but the Angel having declared ver 14 That the third Woe cometh quickly the farther treating of this Woe seems to be put off till some Chapters after upon which I shall briefly touch by and by I have here endeavoured to make this sacred and infallible Oracle as clear as I well can that the Light thereof may now shine forth and that it may Proclaim aloud to the world this second dreadful Woe that is now at hand That men may now at the last be admonished and prevailed with to repent and amend their lives seeing the heavy Wrath of God now hangeth over our heads and this Woe is now ready to be executed upon us That they may now be awaked out of their carnal security and take some effectual means for their own safety seeing the Danger is so great and at hand and there is but one step between them and the Pit of Destruction And let all the Bishops and Pastors of the Protestant Church now read over with hearty attention the Epistle to the Church in Sardis and look upon it as directed to themselves There they may see that they are too tardy and too negligent of Christ's Flock even according to the Divine and Infallible Censure of our blessed Lord himself Rev. 3.2 Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to dye For I have not found thy works perfect before God Be watchful and double your diligence and look after and strengthen that little Flock of Christ that remaineth and is ready to dye and perish For your works you see are not found perfect before God Let all the Bishops and Pastors of the Protestant Church now take care to cherish and strengthen their Flocks and especially to fortifie and strengthen them against Popery that they may not be devoured by that Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless Pit I here give publick Warning to all the Bishops and Pastors of the Protestant Church that our blessed Lord is coming and at hand and therefore let them take care That their loins be girded about and their Lights burning and they themselves like unto men that wait for their Lord Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching Luke 12.35 And ver 43 Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Of a truth I say unto you that he will make him Ruler over all that he hath But if any man will not take warning but put his confidence in an Arm of flesh and trust to Carnal security If any will not prepare for such a Coming of our blessed Lord as I here warn him of but will put the Evil Day far off and out of his thoughts and sing Requiems to his Soul and pursue his pleasures and delights Let that man know that these very words of our blessed Lord shall be verified upon him Rev. 3.3 If therefore thou shalt not watch I will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee And how our Lord will then treat such a man he hath plainly told us Luke 12.45 46. But and if that servant say in his heart my Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to beat the men servants and maidens and to eat and drink and to be drunken The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him and at an hour when he is not ware and will cut him in sunder and will appoint him his Portion with the unbelievers And let all the Protestant Bishops and Pastors and all men else take care that this be not their Condition and Doom at this time Now is the time that the Angel is to be sent forth with the Seal of the living God to Seal the Servants of God in their foreheads and to mark them out for Protection and Deliverance that the destroying Angels may not hurt them Rev. 7.2 And let all the Pastors of the Protestant Church take diligent care that they may be fit and well qualified for such an Angelical and Divine Mark of Mercy and Protection And let them use their utmost endeavours that others may be so too and may be Registred in the Book of Life both for Salvation at this time and also in the world to come Now is the time that the gloriously adorned Woman the pure Church of Christ is like to undergo her hard and sore Travel when the great red Dragon will wait and stand by her ready to devour her hopeful Off-spring as soon as it is born Rev. 12.1 And let all the faithful Pastors and Members of Christ's Church now implore the Divine Assistance of Almighty God That now seeing the