A REVIEW OF What God hath been pleased to do This Year, According to PROPHECY; And particularly near the 23d of the Month we style August IN THE General Peace, and the Muscovian and Imperial Victories over the Turks. WITH A most Humble Apology and Defence concerning the falling short of Events, of what was expected according to the Interpretation of that sure Word of Prophecy. By T. BEVERLEY. Psal. 111. 2. The Works of the Lord are great, sought out of All who have pleasure therein. LONDON: Printed for William Marshal at the Bible in Newgate-street, and John Marshal at the Bible in Grace-Church-Street. MDCXCVIII TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE Sir Humphrey Edwin, LORD MAYOR Of the City of LONDON. My Lord, I Have observed, The supreme Providence, hath Placed you in the most Eminent Magistracies of this Great City, in Two Extraordinary Years, Engraven upon with Illustrious Appearances of his own Hand; Your Sherivalry, as I have been assured in the Year 88, The Year of the so Great Revolution in these Nations; and your Lordship's Mayoralty Enters in this Year of the Peace, and the so Grand Victory of the Imperial Army over the Mahometan, Turkish Signiory; and both so close together, and at a Time, as I apprehend, well known to Prophecy: I have therefore thought it my Duty, Humbly to present the following Review of both to your Lordship, as in so High a Station, This so Great Year: And yet, If God hath Graciously led me into the t●●e Interpretation of his Sure Word of Prophecy, This is but small in Comparison of your Authority, Extending itself into the much Greater Year 98; As I hope it will be found; In which your Sword shall be born before the Prince of Princes, the King of Kings and Lords of Lords, the Prince of the Kings of the Earth; I mean not in His Personal Appearance, as many either Ignorantly, or wilfully mistake; but in Regard of the Glorious Manifestation of His Kingdom Entering its Succession; which will not Lessen but Aggrandise both Royal and Magistratical Honour, and Authority, that Kisses the Son, and does Homage to This Supreme; and will not in the least give Countenance to Anarchy, Confusion, or Resistance to that Ordinance of God by either Le ellism or Rebellion; but Conciliate the most Holy, Humble and Pious subjection to Authority so Enstamped from Heaven, as than it will be. I have taken Notice by General Discourse; Your Lordship in your Public Attendance on the Worship of God, appears to Desire the Reconciliation of Protestants, whether under those undesirable, and, as too much managed, unkind distinctions of Episcopacy, Presbytery, or Congregational Union. I hope, It is, as Falling out this Year, not without happy Presages of that Blessed Philadelphian Church-State speedily about to enter; In which all such Names of difference will be lost in both the Purity and Love, that will overflow them in the Succession of that Kingdom; And as I have some Years ago Foretold; That the Cathedral of Paul's, (as we style it) whose Loughty Pile, which Providence seems to have allowed the Preparation of, for the National Solemn Acknowledgements of God in the Peace, wherein your Lordship will bear such a Figure, shall yet, (I am persuaded) speedily with those Names of Prelation and Prefidency in it, that have their only Basis in that Antiquity, wherein the Synagogue of Satan began to have the Ascendency, and not in pure Scripture-Antiquity, Bow Themselves at the Feet of that Philadelphian State, and Acknowledge, Christ hath Loved and Chosen it; or else both the Prelacy and the Cathedrals will suffer Abrogation, and become useless; There is one thing more, I Congratulate to your Lordship this Year of your so eminent Magistracy in; And that is, An appearance of Zeal for the Retrenchment and Extirpation of open Profaneness, Irreligion, and Lewdness of Manners: I cannot but have an Honour for any such undertaking, and beseech of God his presence with it, and Blessing upon it; So far as it bears, but a desire to prepare for, (if I may so allude) a Temple for God in the Nation; and I doubt not. It will have the assistance of your Authority, and other the Religious Participants of your Government; But yet I cannot but hope▪ Our Greater Solomon will be supreme in the Administration, and Raise it much higher than Man can do. My Lord▪ As to myself, I cannot claim any particular Knowledge of, or Interest in you; but looking upon your Magistracy in 88, and 98, as Honoured with a Prophetickness, I have on that Account taken the boldness to Inscribe your Name, and I do very humbly beseech your Patronage of this Review under its Great Patron, and the acceptance of this Dedication; Till it shall be able, as I hope, it will within few Months be, to Answer for itself to all that shall send to it or ask a Reason of its Hope; as owned by that Higher Patronage, publicly in the Eyes of all. In the mean time, as I most humbly beg the Prayers of all, who Love the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ; So my most Fervent and Earnest supplications shall be for the Magistracy of this Great City, and their as Honourable Station in the Kingdom of Christ; and most particularly for your Lordship. Mo. 9 D. 12th. 1697. My Lord, Your Lordships, Most Humble Servant, In that Kingdom, THO. BEVERLEY. An earnest Invitation, and Persuasion to All, that profess a Reverence of the Divine Majesty, to Regard the Works of the Lord; and to take Pleasure in Searching them out in their Greatness, particularly this Year; By way of Preface to the following Discourse. SEeing this Review rests upon the very Eminent Appearances of God in this present Year 1697, I think it no way Improper to prefix a serious persuasive, deeply to consider the Operations of the Divine Hand, and to search them out, as Hidden Treasures. It is the Atheism, and Irreverence of the Divine Being, and his Government of the World, that we Lavish out his Great Providences into no other Discourses, but as of News; This is not the Business of a serious Christian, and of those who have the Assistance of Sacred History, directing us what observations to make upon those works; and the Sure Word of Prophecy Guiding us, what we are to expect, by due Reflection, on what God hath done according to Prophecy, to what he will do to the End of the World: It is not enough for us with a show of Great Wisdom and Foresight, to Dilate upon the Political Tendencies of Great Events, lest we Fall into the Hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who were able to make Natural observations on the Face of the Heavens, but could not Discern the signs of the Times: We ought as to make Improvement of Mercies, and Judgements, to search and try our ways, and to turn unto the Lord; to Praise Him for his wonderful Works to the Children of Men; So to Understand as the Sons of Issachar the Times, that we may know what Israel ought to do; how to order our Supplications, and Declarations of the Hand of God; For all his Servants are yet witness in Sackcloth, who have ●ower to smite the Antichristian Earth with Plagues, as often, as they will; And it is their Duty at all Times to will to do it; to Prophecy to Prophecy, as God Commanded Ezekiel; That is, with Resolution, and Constancy to declare the Judgements of God on the Antichristian Papacy; and to shoot with the Arrow of the Lords Deliverance, not Twice or Thrice, but Seven Times to its utter Ruin; and to Give no Rest to our God, Till He make Jerusalem a Praise in the Earth. It is the Great Sin of Protestants, they do neither at this Time, with Becoming Zeal. I will therefore present, as under one view, the Great Works of God this Year, that are more Largely Discoursed in the following Treatise, and with some Remarks, that have not been made therein. 1. The Peace ●n these European Nations Signed the very Day of the Ancient Atonement, and Jubilee, and the Emperor's Entry into it on the Day of Luther's Publication of his Gospel▪ Positions in the First opening of the Reformation 1517; Oh! That as that was in the Beginning of Half Time, so there may be at this End of it, a far Higher Jub l●e and Reformation. 2. The Turkish so wonderful Defeat, as struck with a Divine Terror, so upon the Prophetical Hour of August, and it still continuing; Answering the Beginning of the Beasts Forty two Moons; and so, I hope▪ at this Time declaring His End. 3 The Prince of Muscovies so Illustrious Efforts, upon whom the Spirit of God hath appeared to Come, as on some of the worthies of Old; and by his Particular Love to Protestant Princes, as if He were the First Fruits of the Grecian Churches, and to be an Avenger of them on the Ottoman Power. 4 The Dawns of the Kingdom of Christ in any Beginnings of his Spirit poured out; Zeal for Reformation; and Particularly in Ireland, where God hath by that Parliament Vindicated the Contempt thrown upon that Honourable Word of the New Testament; Mystery; I hope, because Finishing Mystery, as He hath Evan●glized by his Servants the Prophet's is so near; And the Accumulation of his Great Works in All these things, on the lat●er part of this Year, Gives Hopes, He is making haste with his Greater Works in the End of this, and the Beginning of the Following Year. The Instances against all this in the Popish continuing Grandieur, and its seeming to Increase, The Elector of Saxony under whose Ancestors, The Reformation found its First Protection, Giving back Himself, though not his Power as Elector, to the Beast; Any other Prince doing so; The suffering Witnesses in France and Savoy, not comprehended in, the Protestant Interest not sufficiently secured by the Peace; I hope, These are all only an Argument, The Great Prince of Princes is near to break all Antichristian Power without Hand; and that when, It Cries Peace, Peace, Its Plagues shall Come in one Hour. And that Man of sin with that Blasphemous Title; His Holiness; shall be Thrown out of the Temple of God wherein He fits as God; by the Prayers of All Saints; and the Lord whom we seek, suddenly will come into His Temple. Now to All these Great purposes, Let the Lord God of the Holy Prophets, the Amen, the Faithful Witness, the Blessed Spirit, as Seven Eyes of Wisdom and Horns of Power, Running through All the Earth, Appear for his Kingdom and Bless this Discourse, and Fulfil the Word of his most unworthy Servant. Amen and Amen. A Review Of what God hath been pleased to do this Year according to Prophecy, and particulorly near the 23d of the Month we style, August; with a most humble Apology and Defence concerning the falling short of Events, of what was expected according to the Interpretation of that sure Word of Prophecy. HAving made so Long, and Large Declarations of what I have drawn from the Sure Word of Prophecy, concerning this Present Year 1697. And particularly near the 23d of the Month we Call, august; And that nothing of so Great an Appearance hath yet been vouchsafed by our Good and Gracious God; It may be looked upon as my Duty, to make either an Humble Acknowledgement of my mistake, and the Deception, that the Just and Holy Lord hath left me to therein, or to offer some Apology and Defence for myself. Now in the first Place, I would make the lowest and most self-abasing Acknowledgement; That I am most unworthy of any such Gracious Communication, or Manifestation from God in his Word; And most worthy, whom He should give up to Error and Mistake: And that therefore, It would be no wonder, nor any thing strange, If. He in just Wrath and Displeasure have so left me; All I have to say, or plead against its being so, is Infinite Riches of Grace, Mercy and Compassion in Christ to the Chief of Sinners. But this being first Acknowledged, there is yet the Great Honour I own to the Word of Truth, and to the weighty Reasons and Arguments I have derived from it; and the obligations that Lie upon me, to make the most Lowly and Thankful Declarations for any Communications of Light to me, and of what God hath been pleased to begin to do this Year, and so hath not left wholly exposed, what I have spoken with Relation to 97. I would render therefore the best Accounts I could, in Points of so Great weight and concernment to the Churches of Christ, and even to the World in General, and to myself in Particular. The General Proposal being then, to make a Review of this Year accordng to Prophecy; I would reduce the Discourse upon it to these four Heads. 1. To observe in a General way, and to Acknowledge Freely, what is most undeniably wanting in any thing, that hath yet come to pass, of the Great Expectations according to Prophecy, as yet in this 97. 2. To press notwithstanding; That due Confession and Adoration be made of, and to Divine Providence in what hath Eminently been done this Year, and upon the very Time according to Prophecy; And to inquire diligently into its agreement with Prophecy. 3. To consider what is to be expected, as Imported to us in that of our Lord's Oath; That the mystery of God shall be finished in the Days of the Seventh Angel, when Rev. 10. 7. He shall Begin to sound, by observing the several Applications of the Word Mystery to Things in the New Testament; And showing, that every one of those things shall have their Compliment, and Finishing from the Seventh Angel Beginning to sound, Till the very Kingdom of Christ, and In it. 4. To offer the best Conciliating Apprehensions, and Hopes with Relation to Time, according to Scripture, and Prophecy, between the Failure of Expectation in 97; With what is to be Expected in 97 Ending, and 98 Beginning. 1. As to the first Head, I must Humbly and Freely Acknowledge, we do not yet behold the mighty effects of the Spirit of Life from God, upon the Witnesses in their sufferings under Anti-christian Powers; or the Universality of the Witnesses of Christ out of their Sackcloth-state, and Mournful Prophecy of the Kingdom of Christ in delay, and not yet being in its Illustrious Appearance: They have yet the Seal of Concealment on their Foreheads, and do not yet stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb, having his Father's Name Conspicuously written on those very Foreheads, where the Seal was before. That is, there is not yet that Pouring out of the Spirit; They are not yet publicly justified, as the Witnesses of Christ along the 1260 Years. 2. That the Stone cut out of the Mountains, that is not in Humane Hands; That is; That doth his Great Works immediately by himself, in breaking the Image of the Four Monarchies in the last of them, and himself becoming a Great Mountain filling the whole Earth, hath not yet thus appeared; must also be confessed. 3. That therefore the Antichristian, and the Mahometan State joined with it, though as a woe upon it, are not so broken yet, as that the Kingdoms of this World should by the Ten Kings being overcome by the Lamb, be Proclaimed to be become the Kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Christ, and He himself Universally Acknowledged King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and his witnesses with Him, Called, Chosen, Faithful, and known to be so. All which I had Hoped and Expected, should have come to pass in this Year 97: and in the Prophetical Hour, Viz. In the latter part of the Month August: Herein therefore and thus far, I most willingly and humbly Acknowledge my Fault and Mistake: I come therefore to the Second Head, and that is to observe, how far God hath been pleased to own his unworthyest Servant this Year, and in the very time of the Year, in the Interpretation of Prophecy. And there are two Things, which I would Remark upon, as very Eminent ●isposes of Providence, wherein by Regarding the Operations of the Lord, and Searching out the more hidden Things in the Works of his Hand, as those who Take Pleasure therein; We may find a very wonderful agreement of Providence, with Prophecy in this very Year, and at that Noted time of the Year. 1. The First is, That so Illustrious Providential Revolution, of setting Peace in so many of the Kingdoms (into which the Western Roman Empire hath stood so long divided) after so long a War. 2. The strokes by the supreme ordination of Divine Government in the World, by the Hand of the Prince of Mascovy, as a Prince of the Christian Profession (according to those we Call) the Grecian Churches; and by the Hand of the Imperial Power, that submits its self to the Roman Church (as it is also called) and its Papacy upon the Turkish Empire. And on each of these I would make their Particular, and Peculiar Remarks, and First on the First. Rem. 1. The settling Peace in the Borders of any Nation, and of Nations together, after many Evils, and Harassing of War is a Great Mercy and Goodness of God to those Nations, wherever It is displayed. This is very easily Intelligible, and as easily Acknowledged by the rejoicings, and Hopeful Expectations from the present Peace, and the Triumphs wherewith it is Received: And War is Accounted one of the Four Great Judgements of God in the World. If we then consider, what an unreformed Nation we ourselves are, and how unreformed the Nations about us are; It is not according to the usual Method of Providence to Remove Judgements without much Greater Effects of Ruin, or Reformation; What then can we think, but that God bears with Patience the Great Provocations of the Nations of Europe? Because they are Kingdoms, that Peculiarly belong to the Kingdom of Christ; For the Lamb shall overcome the Ten Kings, into a Voluntary subjection to his Rev. 17. 14, 16. Kingdom; Which appears in that, They shall Hate the Whore, and burn her Flesh with Fire. I cannot but hope therefore, God spares them from Ruining one another, because he reserves them for that Time. Thus, because he would make the Israelites a Type of the Kingdom of Christ; Although even at the Time of their deliverance from Egypt, They Lifted up their Eyes to the Idols of Egypt, and God lifted up his Hand to Destroy them, yet he wrought for his Name sake, and did not Destroy them; And so I hope he does now. Rem. 2. It is certain according to Prophecy, Peace is a Great Signal Ezek. 20. 9, 10. of the Kingdom of Christ. And such a Time there shall be, When Nations shall beat their Spears into Pruning Hooks, and their Swords into Esa. 2. Mic. 4. Ploughshares; Nation shall not Lift up Sword against Nation, Nor shall they Learn War any more; They shall sit every Man under his own Vine and Figtree; Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, shall be no End▪ and of the Increase of his Peace, even as of his Government there God will do that Astonishing Thing in the World; He will Psal. 46. 8. make Wars to cease to the Ends of the Earth; He will break the Bow and Cut the Spear in sunder, and burn the Chariots in the Fire; All the Instruments of Cruelty shall, as by Gods own Hand be brought to an utter End; He will Still All by his own Appearance, as God, when He in favour of his own People will be Exalted in the Earth; when He is with his People, as in that City, whose Name is Jehovah Shammah, The Lord is there. Obr. I know it will be said, There have been many times Treaties of Peace, and that have been Consummated in an effective Peace, and yet no Kingdom of Christ hath succeeded; what Argument then can it be of such a Kingdom now, That there is such a Peace? Answ. 1. Yet every Peace is an Olive Branch, and a memorial of that Kingdom of Peace; Even as every Judgement is an assurance of the Last Judgement; and every War a Forerunner of the Great Battle at Armageddon, That shall bring All Enemies under the Feet of Christ, and his Saints. Answ. 2. The certain Argument of such a succeeding Kingdom of Christ does not Lie Singly in a Peace, but in a Pea●e at such a Time, when by the Line of Time, the Kingdom of Christ is so justly to be Expected; and so the Line of Time, and the Peace do mutually strengthen, and assure one another; In the wisdom of Divine Government of the World, There was an Universal Peace under Augustus, at the Time of that First Specimen of the Kingdom of Christ, His coming in the Flesh: It was not by itself a direct Argument of his coming at that Time; But the Fullness of Time for his Coming, and the Peace did mutually Corroborate one another, and give the Expectation of the Messiah then to appear: And so I hope, it will appear at this Time; As some Years ago, In the Light of Prophecy, I predicted; The End of this War, whether by breaking the French or by Peace, would be speedily followed by the opening of the Kingdom of Christ. Rem. 3. This Providential Revolution of the Peace, hath given a stop to the French Kings Aspire to Universal Monarchy; Which as (most contrary to the Bo●nds and Measures Assigned Him by Prophecy, To be but one of Ten Kings and not the whole Ten, a part of the Iron and not the whole Iron; I have always with greatest confidence, in the very height of the War asserte●; He could never obtain; But He would find the same Disappointment, the House or Austria found in Charl●▪ ●●ifth, Retreating into Solitude after the attempt; and in His Son Philip of Spain, from that defeat of the Armada 88 Sinking lower and lower to this Day. Now in and by this Peace, an Eminent Hand of God hath caused that Haughty Monarch to Acknowledge; That he had Coveted an Evil Covetousness, and Increased That, which was not His; and therefore, though He hath not been spoiled by the Force of War, or the Prevalency of Victory; Yet He is made to find; He hath in Aspiring to set his Nest so High, and to establish an Universal Monarchy by Blood, Laboured in the very Fire, and wearied himself for very Vanity; And oh, That that which follows in Prophecy, might now speedily follow in Time, brought to pass by the immediate Hand and Power of God; That the Knowledge of the Glory of the Lord might cover the Earth, as the Waters cover the Sea: And then, All that is within his Poor Servants, Hab. 2. 14. should Bless his Holy Name: But it is not very Remarkable, that that Prince, who hath Arrogated to Himself in the common Language of his People; Our Monarch; as Preparatory to the Style of Universal Monarch; should so quietly Resign and Give up his pretensions; and I make no doubt, however Insensibly to himself and others, through the secret Force and Constitution of Prophecy; That the Western Roman Empire, that was under one Caesar as supreme, till It ceased in Augustulus; and then was to be Variegated into Ten Kingdoms as Ten Toes under One Papal Head, or Supremacy in an Image, as Prophecy styles it most Prophetically, (which it also styles the Beast) might so be, till his Time, Times and Hast a Time shall be Accomplished; When those very Ten Kings, who gave their Kingdom to him, shall together as Ten, Recall it, and hate the Whore; As therefore Prophecy hath been in this Peace just to its word, They shall be Ten till then; So I doubt not, It will be true in their speedy subjection to the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, whose Right Alone, It is, to be the truly Universal Monarch; And this shall be, when the Ten Kings shall be thus overcome; It is therefore so signally set at that Time, and on that overcoming; He is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. And it is much the more Remarkable, That the Great Lord, who hath Times, even as the Hearts of Men and Princes, in his own Hand, should order this Peace in the Year 1697. In which ending, I am bold yet to declare; The Times and Half Determined to the Papacy, Expire; So that this Year must be the Ending of Half Time; As then at the Beginning of Half Time, In the Wise and Holy dispose of God; There was by the Emperor Charles V being King of Spain, and Chosen Emperor of Germany 1519. an offer made at Universal Monarchy, and was so Repressed, as hath been spoken, for the making Good of Prophecy; so in the lat●er End of Half Time, He hath permitted the same Attempt by the French King for some Yea●s past, and having wearied it all along by the opposition raised to it by the Confederacy, upon the very end of Half Time, this very 97, He hath by the Peace given this Boundary to it; That he may show, He magnifies his Word, (and particularly of Prophecy) above All his Name; Rem. 4. It deserves just Reflection, That the Time of Negotiating, and Transacting this Peace, must in the nearest and most Conclusive Treaties of it, have run through the Prophetic Hour▪ Viz. From August 15th to the end of that Month, and so into the following Month; So the public owning and signing of it, was on the very 10th of the Seventh Month, the Day of the Ancient Atonement and Jubilee; and that therein God hath in some measure pleased to own the Reference of his unworthyest Servant to that very Time; Oh, that it might be an earnest of the Acceptable Year of the Lord, as of the Jubilee of his Kingdom Approaching, though, as yet I must Acknowledge, much below my Hopes and Expectations; I cannot yet but add; The Proclamations of Peace in England and France, in this Month of October, Answer in Time in this last Year of Half Time, to Gods Gracious Impulse upon the Spirit of Luther, to Proclaim an open Evangelic War on Antichristian Rome, in the same Month of the First Year of Half Time, Viz. 1517. And those, who Joined to herein with him, were Called Evangelici, as in Allusion to the Word used in Prophecy, for the Finishing the mystery God had Rev. 10. 7. Evangelized his Servants the Prophets in, or made them Evangelics concerning, which gives great Ground of Hope, there shall be some Highly Evangelical Product of this Peace, and defiance of Antichristianism by it; Oh! Let us Humbly wait and pray for it. Rem. 5. It is very Greatly to be remarked, that God was pleased in the Last 1688. To have made an Extraordinary (Universally Acknowledged to be so) Revolution in these Protestant Nations, of England, Scotland, and Ireland in Bar of Popery (endeavouring to return upon them) and Universal Monarchy; That hath been owned, confederated, and allied with by some of the Greatest Princes, that yet Give their Kingdom to the Beast; and hath been disputed by the French King, from the very Entrance of it, and in continuation, till this Peace; And with whom the Abdicated King, the Late King James hath had his Residence ever since; Now that God hath been pleased to own the Protestant Prince, this Revolution brought in; to sustain him, and these Nations in so Long and Expensive a War, in the midst of many great Losses by Sea, in a mutual satisfaction, and confidence one in another; That he hath preserved him in so many Hazardous Pass, and Repassing the Sea, in so many Approaches of Danger, and Jeopardyes of Life (as Scripture speaks) in the High Places of the Field, where his person was so constantly Adventured; That he hath been so secured from Private Conspiracies, and Assassinations; and now so Highly Agnized, so Publicly, so Solemnly and Augustly by the very French King, who made it his Glory to disown Him; and is Returned this very Year of 97. Safe with Public Triumphs and rejoicings in the Peace, equal to the Triumphs of a Victory, how Glorious soever; Oh, how many Grand Agreements hath all this with Prophecy! The attempts of Refunding Popery into these Nations, hath been a Design, as Ancient among the Depths of Satan, the Arcana Imperii, or Counsels of Antichristianism, as the settlement of the Reformation here, and by all Imaginable Artifices of Policy and Power; And it seemed the very Crisis for it in that last Reign; That the most High decided against it with so High a Hand, was very Glorious; That God hath given so Great Advantages in Appearance for the Return of King James by such a War, so Tedious, so Burdensome, in such an absence of the King; And that the whole should be thus resolved into so very an August Acknowledgement by the Grand opposer of Him; and that the Interest of the same King James should be, as it were hushed into such a silence, and neglect, as now appears, and by his very so Great Ally, is a very Exalted Hand of Jehovah, for the Justification of the Reformation in these Nations; And that it should be reserved for this Year 97. Is an Honourable Character fixed upon this Year (as I hope) Immediately preceding the entrance of the Kingdom of Christ. Rem. 6. That the War hath been Carried on by such a Balance of Equality, that, except we consider that Great Intention of Providence, to confine within his own Figure Allowed by Prophecy, the French King, (in which It Confederated so many Princes and States, however differing among Themselves) and the securing Protestancy to these Nations; Except I say, we consider this; All hath been Labouring in the very Fire, and wearying the Nations for very Vanity; And yet God hath, as by an Immediate Hand of his own, Determined All into Peace; This is, I have Great Trust; Because the next Thing he will do, shall be, to Fill the Earth with the Knowledge of his Glory, as the Waters cover the Sea. Rem. 7. I should Rejoice to find this Peace Propagating an Universal Reformation of the open prophanesses, and wickednesses of the Nations; Which the Societyes for Reformation in this City give some Hopeful Appearances of; and it is much to be desired, The Power of the Magistrate would with its own Authority and Influence, Encourage such Honourable undertake: And if it be not so, as I doubt not It will, a Greater Magistracy will Take the matter into its own Hand: But the very Motions however unformed, or Abortive they would, or might prove of Themselves, are some Preliminary Motions to that Great Reformation, the Kingdom of Christ will bring in, when to the People shall be turned a Pure Language; And Men shall Fear the Lord, from the Rising of the Sun to the going down of the same. Rem. 8. It is Greatly to be Lamented, if the suffering Witnesses of Christ, in any parts Comprehended within this Peace, have found no place of consideration in it and Relaxation by it; But if they have not, I am the more Assured; It is reserved for the Immediate Hand of the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, overcoming the Ten Kings, and moving them, as by an Impulse from himself with the Hatred of the Whore; and He will show his Servants, as a Light Arising in the darkness of their sufferings yet continuing, the Morning Star in the first Dawns of his Kingdom; Till it shall come to the Bright Morning Star of his own Glorious Appearance in that Kingdom at the Highest Elevation of it. Rem. 9 It is in the next Place of a most Hopeful Reflection to me, That this Peace Falls, as a Blow upon the League between the French King, and the Turkish Sultan, so as to dissolve it; For as I have heretofore argued, so I shall now more Fully, and yet very Briefly Represent it: The true Account of the Visional order of Breaking the Image, Dan. 2. Is, That the Stone smote the Image on its Feet of Iron and Day First, and so the whole was broken: This is most Precisely and Definitively set down, v. 34. The Stone Cut out, which is not in Hands, smote the Image upon his Feet, which were of Iron and Clay, and Broke Them to Pieces: And again, v. 35. Then was the Iron and the Clay First) and All the Image Broken, so, that it became as the Chaff of the Summer-Threshing Floor: This therefore from compare of one part of this Prophetic Vision with another, and with the New Testament Prophecy of the Revelation, must be the Order The First part of the Image smitten is the Iron Feet of the Ten Kings Rev. 17. overcome by the Lamb, and the Called, Faithful, Chosen Witnesses with Him; Then these Ten Kings, who had with one Consent given their Kingdom and Power to the Beast, serve the Lamb by hating the Whore, and burning her Flesh with Fire; This shaking, as an Earthquake, the Great City, and its Decemprincipality, or Tenfold Principality Arising from the Ten Kings, so giving their Power to the Beast, that Carried Her, Falls. Thus the Clay is Broken by the First Approach of the Kingdom of Christ, wielding the Iron, or the Ten Kings to his service: But then All is Threshed and Broken, as into Chaff, by the stone Becoming a Mountain fuling the whole Earth; So there remains no Power but Christ's, and his Saints with him, to whom the Dominion under the whole Heaven is given. But now, v. 45. The Stone cut out of the Mountains without hands, broke in pieces first the Iron, then nor the Clay, but the Brass. The True Order of the Final Stroke was set down before, which could not be changed; what therefore is given, v. 45. must be some previous and preparatory stroke, that Falls upon the Iron and the Brass in a Conjunction; and the Greatness, that Each▪ had by that Conjunction, comes to nothing: And by that change of the Order, this Previous Stroke is shaded under the Full and Final Breaking of the whole, and silently intimated by it. By the Iron I understand the French Power, in this Great Spread of itself against so many of the Ten Kingdoms confederated, as it hath been of late years, and its Aspire to be the whole Iron itself; that is, to Universal Monarchy. And this I look upon to be noted by the Iron in this place of Daniel; By the Brass I Apprehend the Grecian Power, as now in the Hand of the Turk; whose Port is the Grecian Constantinople: Now than this is a private Prophetical Watchword of the very Time, when the whole Image shall be Broken; It shall be, when that Unnatural Conjunction between Him, who would be the whole Iron of the Feet, and who will be called the most Christian King, and the now Belly of Brass, the Turkish Power, the Professed Enemy of Christians, shall be Broken by the Stone, cut out of the Mountains, in his Supreme Providence, and come to nothing: Now this Conjunction we see thus brought to nothing by this Peace; the French King not able to bear up his Former retensions by the Loss of Turkish Aids; nor the Turk against the Emperor, by the Loss of French Assistances. And in this very 97. why then should we not look for the whole Image to be soon after Broken in its own Just Order now First given? And the Strokes upon the Turk in the very Time of the Treaty are Justly to be looked upon as the Proclaiming his Coming to an End, and None to help Him: Now if this be a True Interpretation of this Prophetic Vision, (and I do not s●e what can be objected to it) what a Great Assurance is it, That in this 97. the Great Change that this Vision foretells must needs be very near to come into effect; and who can once imagine, that so Divine a Vision, so exactly in every Thing framed, could by Chance, and ●ot without some Great Design, and Purpose, Transpose the Iron from the Feet of Iron and Clay, to the Belly and Thighs of Brass, and place the Clay of the Feet between the Brass of the Belly, and the Silver of the Breast. And I cannot but demand, what Fairer Exposition, or Interpretation of Providenttal Event, could be given to such a Prophecy? Now I must be bold to say, Whoso hath Wisdom, let him consider it; The Wise shall understand, but the Prejudiced and the Careless will not understand. Rem. 10. All this is much the more Remarkable in that Prince, who hath been the severe Enemy, and the open Persecutor of the Reformation, and yet continues so; and therefore i● the Kingdom of Christ be so near, as these Compares of Prophecy give hopes; he must either be Removed suddenly by a stroke of Judgement, or by so eminent a Conversion, as Persecuting Paul was an Hypotyposis, or Pattern of; For he hath Raged even to Madness against the Reformation, and been Breathing out Threaten against the Witnesses of it, and so continues; And yet his Kingdom is one of the Te●, whose Kings shall be overcome by the Lamb, and Hate the Whore. He must then either be a Great Instance of Converting Grace, as it were from Heaven, (or of Judgement)▪ and seeing the God of All Grace is most Glorious in the Former, and the Fruit of it might be much Greater in the World; I look upon it as our Duty, to pray for it, and desire it, if I may not say, to hope for it; That God, who hath bowed his Heart so far in the Acknowledgement of a Protestant King, so set up by himself, may please also to Bow his Soul to the Protestant Religion, and to a Zeal for it answerable to his former Persecutions, and to this very day. Now thus far I have Remraked upon the First of the Providential Events of this Year, as it is preparatory to the Kingdom of Christ, according to the Interpretation of Prophecy, That prophesyings may not be despised, but All awakened Earnestly to Pray, and wait for that Kingdom; seeing there is so much to be observed in this Providential Revolution of the Peace, as to be a Door of hope, and a Day of small Things; and that in this very Year of 1697. And I dare not Assume it to be more, I humbly confess, as yet; As in the Following Observations upon the Great Strokes on the Turkish Potentacy, I shall further Acknowledge. I come now to the Second Grand Providential Event of this Year 1697. The severe Strokes, The Great Governor of the World, and Lord of Hosts, hath caused by the Arms of the Czar of Muscovy, and of the Emperor of Germany, to fall upon the Mahometan ottoman Signiory; and to adjust them by Prophecy to the near Approach of the Kingdom of Christ. That I may present this in the Clearest and most Compendious Table, I shall First consider Mahometanism in the General, as common to the Saracens and Turks; and then peculiarly, as it is now seated in the Ottoman Turkish Emp●r●●, and each in several short Notes of Observation; and Argue from them the Great Hopes, that these Strokes upon that Mahometan Imposture and Tyranny, are Forerunners of the Final Dissolution of it, and of the Kingdom of Christ, succeeding. 1. The very Essential State of this Imposture and Tyranny, is designed by God, as a Mock-Antichrist to the Grand Roman Papal Antichrist, a Paraselene, or Counterfeit Moon to his Moon, even as Antichrist is a mock-Christ, or in Despite to our True Lord Christ. 1. Mahomet acknowledges Christ a Great Prophet, even as Antichrist does; but robs Him of the Glory of his Divinity, and of being the only Supreme, True Prophet, wherein He is an Antichrist. 2. He Abhors Idols; Herein He mocks Antichristian Idolatry, but sets up the Idol-Prophet, Mahomet; Therein He is an Antichrist. 3. He pretends to an Universal Kingdom; Herein He mocks the Papal Antichrist; One by the Spiritual, the other by the Temporal Sword, pretends to an Universal Kingdom, but both undermine Christ●s Kingdom, and Both are Antichrists therein. 4. He offers a Fool's Paradise, and Deliverance from Future Misery, but as Counterfeit as the Pope's Deliverance from Purgatory, by his Key of the Bottomless Pit; Herein are they both Antichrists, but Mahomet, as coming last, and upon the Papacy, is a Mock-Antichrist, an Antichrist in despite. 5. He pretends some Reverence to some of the Sacred Writings, but hath brought in a Nonsensic Alcoran, as vain as Papal Traditions, and Oral Laws. 2. The Time therefore of the Beginning of this Imposture and Tyranny was soon after the Papal Supremacy, the one at 606. the other at 622. The one the Antichristian, the other the Mahometan Hegire, when its Tyranny came forth; while the one lasts, the other lasts also; when the one ends, the other shall end also: If therefore Antichristian Times determine in 97. Mahometan Times shall determine with them; why them may we not hope, this Blow on Mahometanism is an Alarm-Blow upon Both Antichrists now ready to Expire? I come now more particularly to consider the Ottoman Turkish Power, and to Remark on that, as more precisely before us in the Events of this Year; and so make these Remarks upon it. 1. The Ottoman Power Appeared in the Greatest Extremity, and lowest Condition of the Witnesses after the Great Persecution upon Those we call the Vaudois; and the most cruel Slaughter of so many of Them: In Revenge of which, God sent the Ottoman Power, to Remonstrate against the Antichristian Salvagenesses. 2. They were designed by God to Raise the Mahometan Imposture and Tyranny, to the Imperial Throne of Eastern Rome, or Constantinople. C. 11. 45. This is expressed by Daniel, as the planting the Tabernacle of his Palace between the Seas, in the Glorious Holy Mountain, so Honourably styled, because it was the City of Constantinople, that First Christian Emperor, and Great Type of the Kingdom of Christ; This was in the Year 1453. 3. The Ottoman Emperor, Selimus, in, or upon the First Year of the Reformation, 1517. seized upon Judea and Jerusalem, styled by Daniel, Ch. 11. 41. the Glorious Land. 4 There is an Absolute Determination of God; This Mahometan Ottoman Prince shall come to his End, C. 11. 45. Seeing this is so determined, we have Reason to look upon this very Year as the Year of his Approaching end, on these Reasons. 1. The Mahometan Ottoman Emperor, Coming in as a Judgement upon Papal, Antichristian Cruelty, and Advanced to the Throne of the Eastern Roman Empire, That he might be a Mock Antichrist to the Grand Antichrist in the West; He must in all the Reason and Sense of Prophecy, be Limited to the Times of the First Antichrist; Because, when the Sin is Removed, The Judgement shall be Removed also; And when the True Lord and Christ shall Consume the Great Antichrist by the Breath of his Mouth, He will Consume All other Antichrists with Him: If then the Times of the Papal Antichrist, shall End in this 1697. The Mahometan shall End in it also. 2. Accordingly we find; The Time Assigned to the Ottoman Power standing prepared to obtain, and to hold in possession that Roman Eastern Empire, will exactly agree from the Time of His Rising with the End of Antichristian Times; For let us with the best and most of Chronologers, Date his Rising to the Year 1300. And Prophecy Assigns to him for the obtaining, and holding the Grecian Empire under his Power, an Hour, a Day, a Month, a Year; Which by Fair Prophetical Computation make up 397 Years, and so must end 1697. 3. The seizing on Jerusalem just at the Reformation, when the last 180 Years, or Half Time of Antichristianism entered, is a very Hopeful Argument to me, That this Ottoman Term of Power is this Year to End; For there is a Concurrence of Three Great Periods, according to that very seizure of Jerusalem by the Ottoman Power in the Year 1517. Which Fall on this very Year 1697. The Period of the Antichristian Times, in the last Half Time being Remarked as by the Reformation, so by the Particular stroke of God on the Papal Antichrist, in the seizure of such a Place, to which so High a Devotion is pretended by the Grand Antichrist into the Hand of the Mock Antichrist, and who Himself, to show Himself a Mock-Antichrist, made the same pretence of Devotion to, and at it; As History Reports of Selimus, that Turkish Saltan▪ who seized it: And it is worthy observation, That the Enlargement of the Ottoman Empire at that Time, and in those Parts, and Particularly on the ●oly City and Land, Gave the Fair and Plausible pretention to the Papal Raising Money by Indulgences to withstand and resist it; Which odious Cheat of Indulgences gave the Great Advantage to the Reformation, as is well known; And it gives much Encouragement to Hope; So Eminent a Consiguration against Antichristianism, as of the taking Jerusalem, and the Reformation, and the latter so Derived from the Former, upon the Year 1517. Gives it an undoubted Title to be the Beginning of Half Time, or the Last 180 Years of Antichristianism, and so to be at an End this 1697. 2. The Period of the Jewish Captivity, and Jerusalem's being Trodden under Foot of All Nations; For seeing those Times upon Judea and Jerusalem, are Bounded by the Gentiles Times Fulfilled, and that the Time of the Antichristian Apostasy, are peculiarly by Prophecy Branded, as Gentiles Times of Treading under Foot the Holy City: If the Antichristian Half Time (which is its last) Began 1517, and Ends 1697. Consequently the last 180 Years of ●ewish Captivity, and Conculcating, or Trampling under foot-Times must end, and Consequentially also, Mahometan Times, that hold Jerusalem and Judea under that Conculcation, must end at the same time too. 3. The Period of Mahometan Times Themselves, must be found in this very 1697. For then the Time of Turkish planting the tabernacle of his Palace, in the Glorious Holy Mountain, Ceases; And Constantinople shall Return to its Former Glory under Constantine, and be a Grand City in the Kingdom of Christ; The taking therefore of Constantinople, drew so near to the Time of the Reformation at the last Half Time of Antichrist, to Foreshow, Both those Antichrists of East and West, shall be consumed together in 1697 Ending. 4. That Complication of Power, that seems at this Time to be Gathering against the Ottoman Empire, looks like a Hopeful Symptom, Their End is now Approaching: For so Daniel describing his End, says, Tidings out of the East and North shall Trouble Him, and then the Dan. 11. ult. Conclusion of All is, He shall come to his End, and none shall help Him. Now, how very exactly does this agree with the present Juncture, Viz. The Combination of the Muscovian Forces on one side with the Imperial on the other side, in the same Design of bringing Him down: And what may come upon Him from Poland, He is not Insensible of; Now All these Trouble Him; And that unnatural Aid He had from France is deserting Him; So that Things make up the very Aspect of that Prophetic Vision of Daniel upon Him. 5. If we consider the Muscovian Prince; He is of that Profession of Christianity found among those we Call the Greek Churches, who, though they are the other Wing of the Roman Eagle, or Empire, that Rev. 12. c. 13. Carried the Church into the Antichristian Wilderness, and the other Horn of that Lam●, that spoke as a Dragon, yet the Antichrist itself settled, in what is Called the Western, or Latin Rome, and the other are not under the Black Brand of that: These two parts of the Roman Empire are styled in Relation to one another, The Rest of Men; And it is said of the Antichristian Rest of Men, Notwithstanding the Judgement on the Eastern Rome, Rev. 9 ult. c. 11. 13. They Repent not; But of the Rest of Men of the Eastern Part, when they saw the Judgement on the Western Babylon, or Rome, they were Affrighted, and Gave Glory to the God of Heaven by Repentance, which speaks to me in short Prophetical Language, the Restitution of the Grecian Churches; And it immediately follows; The Second, that is, The Mahometan woe is past; I Rejoice therefore, That God hath made use of a Prince of the Grecian Profession, so Victoriously over the Mahometans, by whom they are now held in slavery. 6. The Imperial Power, though yet given according to Prophecy to the Beast, is yet made use of in the Sense, It is said; The Earth helped the Woman in Drinking up the Mahometan Flood; The Judgement falls especially on the Civil, and Ecclesiastic Antichristian State, and therefore it doth its utmost to resist it; and particularly God hath made use of the Germane Emperor, as a Bulwark of the Western Roman Empire against the Mahometan and I hope The Empire shall yet become an eminent part of the Kingdom of Christ. 7. That Great turn God hath pleased to make in the Spirit, and Victoriousness of the Ottoman Power, from so High a Tide to so low an Ebb; And under this very present Prince, who seemed to recollect All its former prowess and magnanimity, but it hath proved like a last effort, or as they speak, like a Lightning before Death. 8. The weight and severity of the stroke in so great a slaughter, and as by an immediate Hand of Gods own, as in Times of old on his Enemies; Terror upon them, Castingthem Headlong into the River, Does I hope Intimate a near approaching Final Destruction; And that All this is come to pass in this Year 1697. According to the Line of Time, and in those Remarkable Months we Call August, and September, and in the very prophetic Hour of August. I have so Remarked upon; and so upon the Time of the Scripture Jubilee; In All which I cannot but hope, God hath been pleased to take off much of the Scandal of my mistake; And this is the Consummating Reason of my Hope. I have now dispatched the Second Head of this Apology, and come to the Third; Or what, It is I expect, when Time shall be no more, but for the Finishing of the mystery of God; Which I shall but just represent in the several uses, the Spirit of God makes of the Word Mystery in the New Testament; And show, That the Mystery of God in every of those Things, shall be Finished in the Kingdom of Christ, Beginning and Going on to open itself into its Fullest Glory. 1. The Gospel, the Comprehensive Mystery, the Mystery of Faith, of Godliness; The Mystery of God, of the Father, of Christ; With All its Divine and Glorious Truths, The Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven; shall be Finished, by the Full Revelation of it in the Everlasting Gospel, Preached to every Nation under Heaven; And particularly in that Branch, Christ Received up into, or rather for Glory, Viz. The Glorious manifestation of Himself, upon which the Apostasy hath so long lain as an Eclipse, and Delay. 2. The Mystery of the Union betwixt Christ and Believers, in the Spiritual Marriage, shall be Finished in the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, making herself Ready, and the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb. 3. The Mystery of the Gentiles, Universally brought in, and illustriously united as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or One Body with the Israel of God. And further, The Eclipse taken off, that is yet upon the Gentile Churches, and their return to a Full orbed Light, according to the Promises made to the Churches in the Glorious Kingdom of Christ. 4. The Mystery of Reconciliation, Reception, Salvation, and Fullness of All Israel, when that Full Glory of the Gentiles is; Then shall be a Great Appearance of the Fulfilling All the Great promises, and Prophecys we find in both the Old and New Testament to that People; when the Gentiles Times are Fulfilled, as was Noted; a Summary Assurance of which is the very Name of that City, The New Jerusalem. 5. The Mystery of the Seven Churches, as Seven Golden Candlesticks, in the midst of which The Son of Man walks, and the Seven Stars of the Evangelic Ministry, seen in his Right Hand, in all the Glory of each; The Seven Churches, as Types of the Churches, of the New Testament successively with their Angels; And comprehending under them Those Grecian Churches of Asia, All brought into the Glory and Purity of the Philadelphian Church; and the New Jerusalem, the City of our God coming down into it, shall then be fully Finished. 6. The Mystery of the Antichristian Church, City, and the whole Hierarchy of it, with All its Abominations, shall be laid open, understood of All, and come to an utter end by the mighty Spirit of Christ's Mouth, by the Brightness of his Appearance, and by the Judgements, He will execute according to Rev. 17. and C. 18. On the Woman's Forehead was written Mystery; The Mystery of the Woman, and the Beast that Carried Her, and the Judgement of the Great Whore, were made known to John by the Angel, and it shall be a Mystery Finished, that is, Laid open and brought to an utter End. 7. The Mystery of the Divine will in Recapitulating, and Recollecting All Things in Heaven, and Earth in Christ, even in Him, as the Head; in the fullness of Times, of All Times (that is) in the Glorious Thousand Years-Kingdom of Christ, Eph. 1. 10. 8. The Mystery of the Living Saints changed, who shall Inherit the New Earth, during the 1000 Years, and walk in the Light of the New Heavens, or Jerusalem above, in the sight of Christ, and of his Saints of the First Resurrection, and in bodies every way Proportioned to that Blessed State, and Healed with the Leaves of the Tree of Life; This the Apostle shows, as a Great Mystery, 1 Cor. 15. Now other than these eight Great uses of the word Mystery, or what is most clearly referring to Them, I do not find in Scripture; and seeing the Spirit of Prophecy hath so comprehensively used the word Mystery concerning its Finishing, and that each of these things is Styled Mystery in the Gospel, and shall have so certain a Consummation, and Compliment in the Kingdom of Christ, We may very well Expound the one by the other, and be sure of their coming into their Finishing, when Time of a former sort, that is, of the Time, Times, and Half Time shall be no more; And because there are such direct assurances of the Finishing of each of these in the Prophecy of the Revelation, How clear is it! And now I come to the Fourth and Last Head; To give the duest and justest Apology concerning no more Appearance of the Finishing of the mystery of God, in All these Great mentions of it, already in this Year 1697; And to adjust between the Humblest Acknowledgement of my own misunderstanding in what Hath fallen so much below; and yet with equal Acknowledgement of what hath been already reflected upon to have passed, as an Earnest and Pledge; And wherein yet I have sure Grounds (as I most Humbly conceive and believe) in the sure word of Prophecy concerning 97. And hereof I will give Account in this short, but yet full Declaration of myself, and of my Sense herein. The Year 1697. I must still look upon, as I have all along Remonstrated to be the very Year, in which the Time, Times, and Half Time of the Antichristian Apostasy, and of the 1260 Years of the Witnesses in Sackcloth, and of the Church in the Wilderness are to Expire and End. But now, whether in the Beginning of the Year 97. as I first Hoped, or towards the Middle of the Year, on the Twenty Third of the Month, we call August, Answering to the Twenty Third of the same Month, 476. on which the Roman Western Empire ceased in Augustulus, as I had Entertained Hopes, when I found no such Appearances in the Beginning of the Year; or that in, and with the very Ending of the present 1697. the aforenamed Terms Expire▪ Solomon says, The Desire of a Man is his Kindness. I desire with all Sense of Unworthiness to speak it; The earnest desire of my Soul in Love to the Kingdom of Christ, and the Hope of it deferred, making my Heart even sick, excited my Zeal to prefer the Times, that I had any Reason to pitch upon, that were nearest: And this, as I now find, produced the mistake, which I desire with All Self-Humiliation to confess before God, his People, and to own it as a Rebuke from Him; Though I trust, in Love, that I might not trust in my own understanding, or be any way Exalted in any Communications from his Word, but Lie low before Him; and that his Truth, and Wisdom may be seen in my Folly and Weakness; and in this regard I take pleasure in it; That his Power may Graciously yet Tabernacle over me, and His strength be perfected in my weakness, and his Grace sufficient for me; Under this Correction, I have come to consider; That this Year 97, must perfectly run out, Ere the Time, Times and Half a Time, the 1260 Days, and the 42 months' End; And that, as God appointed the Beginning of the Sacred Israelitish Year, to be in the Month Nisan, or about the Vernal Equinox; And that this was the Time of the Children of Israel, Going out of the Bondage of Literal Egypt; So that the Slavery under Spiritual Egypt should end with the Year, and Deliverance begin in 98. beginning. 2. I always Accounted; The Apocalyptical Epoch, or the Beginning of Times Given in the Prophecy of the Revelation, take Their Commencement from the Day of the Lords Resurrection; which falls in, as is well known with the Beginning of the aforenamed Israelitish Year; and consequently, the Beginning of the 1260 Years must be at the same time of the Year; and consequently also, They must there end; when therefore they are ended, In the beginning of the Following Year 98. shall the Passeover from Spiritual Egypt be Celebrated by the Spirit of Life on the Witnesses; Proportionably shall Fellow the Pentecost of the Spirit poured out; Proportionably also shall follow the Fall of the Greai City in the Month called August, at the Cessation of the Beasts Months. 3. Herein shall be seen the Exactness of Divine Truth, and of the Justness of Christ to his Oath, That there should be Time, Times, and Dan. 12. Half a Time to the utmost Hour; The Antichristian State then Ending with the End of 97. In the very Beginning of 98. The Sun of Righteousness shall come from under the Eclipse by the Moon of Antichrist, and shine out with Healing in his Wings; and so Things go forward to the Kingdom of Christ. And then comes in the other Oath Indented with it; Time of such sorts shall be no more, Rev. 10. If any should say, How if you are mistaken in the Beginning of 98, as you was in 97. The Answer I must make, is, I should then lay my Hand upon my Mouth, and say with Job, I am vile; Once, yea, Twic● have I spoken; But I will do so no more: I would, through Grace, Repent, and abhor myself in Dust and Ashes before God, as having provoked Him so Justly to Deny his Presence and Powerful Attestation, to what I have declared out of his word; Because He was not pleased to Led me to the true Interpretation of it; And yet I can no more be persuaded, the Appearance of that Kingdom of Christ, I have so much spoken of, can be far off, than I can be persuaded, The Prophecy of Daniel and the Revelation are not true; Because I find so Great Assurance, the whole Scope and Tendency, and the order of the Visions, and so many and great Events Recorded in undoubted History and Chronology, do so set it beyond all doubt, That this Kingdom must be near Approaching; But if the Humble hopes, I have in the End of this, and the Beginning of the Following Year, and Prayers for it be not Answered; I shall look upon myself obliged, to Acknowledge; The very particular Year, when it shall be, God hath hidden from the most Humble and Industrious search, and Enquiry into the Prophecy of Scripture concerning it, which I have the Testimony of Conscience, I have waited upon Him in. Obj. If it be said, why will you then having been confessedly in an Error concerning the Former parts of the Year 97. Presume on the End of it, and so of the Beginning of 98. Answ. 1. Because I find all the Great Reasons, I have Founded my Determination for 97 upon, stand as Good and as Firm for the End of it, and for the Entrance of the Kingdom of Christ in the Beginning of 98; as in any other part of 97. And in this Regard more Firm, that hereby the Computation of Years from the Resurrection of our Lord, is the Apocalyptick Epoch is more Ascertained; It is more certainly known where to Begin and where to End: Hereby it is known, the 2300 Eves, Morn's of Years, Dan. 8. Begin in the Vernal Beginning of each Year, and so End, where the following Year Gins. That the 1260 Years of the Witnesses Sackcloth-Prophecy, and of the Church's Wilderness-State must Begin, and End so; And that the Forty two Moons of the Gentiles and of the Beast, must be Correspondently Governed; and so the mistake of August the 23 was only in a Circumstance; as if the Lunar Years of the Beast, might have begun there and so end there. But if the Beginning of all Account of Apolyptical Time, and so of the End, be the Beginning of each Year in the Spring; Then must the Event Answering the 23d of August, when the Roman Western Empire ceased, Fall into the Year, not of the last of the 1260, Because the Time of the Months will not be run out, while the Last is Current; but The first Year of the New Era of Time, for Finishing the Mystery, and when the Seventh Angel shall begin to Sound, must produce that Great Event in that Month, we Call August; and follow the Rising of the Witnesses in the Beginning of that Year, Answerable to our Lord's Resurrection; and the Pouring out of the Spirit, Answerable to the Apostolic Pentecost; and so the Fall of the Beastian-Power, and his Months quite darkened, Answerable to that 23d of August when they began. But if there had been the Change of the very Year itself, and so the Loss of it. The very Frame of my Scripture Line itself must have been altered; If the Year 97 Must end itself, that that whole-Course of Time may end and a new one begin in the Spring of the following Year, and the Finishing, our Lord in that Vision, Rev. 10. speaks of, Begin with it; All stands clear and firm in the main; And for this therefore I wait and pray. Answ. 2. When I duly consider the Imperial Victory, not only as I have already spoken of it, but as I have kept in Reserve till now; That it is to be compared, as with the Time of the Cessation of the Western Empire of Rome in Augustu●us, so with the Determination of Prophecy upon, and with Relation to that Cessation, and what it Intended, and Designed upon it; I cannot but Acknowledge a very Extraordinary Hand of God in it; and such as owns a peculiar Regard to it, and gives a Pledge of Future Expectation upon it; so that I cannot with Just Estimation of, and Acknowledgement due to that, lay down either my Hopes, or public Testimony concerning this Year Ending, and the Following Beginning. First then, I consider the Time of this Imperial Victory, I have so far, and I hope not without Great Weight Remarked upon▪ and I find the Imperial Army so in motion and preparation for i●, by the most Certain and Valuable Intelligences we have Received of it from our 23d of August: and the very Victory itself upon the 31st of that Month, according to our Old Style Account, within the Verge of the Prophetical Hour, that I cannot but stand in Humble Admiration at it: For every ●ove of the Armies to that very Day of Victory itself, is to be enfolded with, and united to it; So that herein is in undeniable Matter of Fact, an Agreement thus far in Time. Obj. I know the difference of New and Old Style may be objected; and that the New Style, as being the Reformation of the Calendar is most Exact: And that from this the Prophetical Hour in the Sixth Month, and so the Imperial Victory Flies further off by the Ten Days difference; and the Peace in the Seventh Month from the Day of Atonement and Jubilee. Answ. 1. But in Answer to this, It is nothing strange, If God is pleased to neglect that Papal Reformation of the Calendar, as coming within that usurpation of his Changing Times, Dan. 7. 25, Who would not Reform his Changing of Laws, even those Eternal ones of the Word of God; Although he must needs see a Divine Hand had gone some considerable Number of Years before Him in such a Reformation, by Luther, and other eminent Servants of his, Churches and States, viz. from 1517. to 1582. But He, who by his Great Works of Providence, changes Times and Seasons with Supreme Right, Justice and Authority, or Retains them, pleases to Honour the Old Style with peculiar Respect to this Protestant Nation, that still uses it. Answ. 2. Although some Time's God in his Great Works observes Time to the self same Day; yet at other Times, He may, as he pleases▪ make some Variation; as Solomon's Beginning to Build the Temple, is dated 2 Chron. 3. 2. On the second Day of the second Month from the Going of the Children of Israel out of Egypt, which was on the Selfsame day of the Fourteenth of the First Month: This shows God sometimes is pleased to Allo● a Latitude: I cannot therefore but most Humbly Adore Divine Goodness, in Approaching so near with so Eminent a Providence, as so complete a Victory over the Power of the Eastern Antichrist, so Acknowledged an Enemy to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, upon the Time Remarked by the Unworthiest Minister of his Kingdom. Answ. ● But it is much more considerable, That the Gracious God hath, by Striking that M●ck-Antichrist so near that very Day of the Cessation of the Western E●●●●●, in the Year 476; yielding Rist to the 42 Moons of the Beast, and the Ten Kings; given Warning, that according to the True Adjustment of Lunar Time to Solar, Their Space of Reign then, strictly speaking, ended, and that was their last August of Power; and before the Coming of that Month, in the following Year, They shall be in Subjection to the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Answ. 4. It is most Remarkable, That the Effective Treaties of the Peace at Reswick, and the Victory over the Turks by the Imperial Forces were very hear together, by which our Wise and Holy God was pleased to show; That He would dissolve that Union between the French King, that would have been the whole Iron, or an Universal Monarch, as hath been said, and the Brass of the Graco-Turkish Potentacy, and Bring that Potentacy Low at the same time; and that by both He would preserve, as hath been before Argued, the Ten Kingdoms of the We●●ern Empire, till They shall as ●en be Overcome by the Lamb at the Expiration of their Term with the Beast now so near Expiring. And it is indeed very observable That as in the disposes of our True God, the Power of the Eastern Empire was Thrown early after the settlement of the Ten Kingdoms in the West, out of the ●estern Empire, and the Exarchate of Ravenna made to cease for many Great Services, and Ends according to Prophesy; So although in a way of judgement, God hath suffered Mahometan, particularly Turkish Eruptions into it, especially in Hungary, and Transy●vania; Yet he hath still Reprimanded the●, and the Attempts of the Greatest Princes among them, as of their Magnificent Solyman upon ●enna, was shamefully disgraced; and from the Last Bes●iging of it in the Year 80 That Empire hath been Tottering and Shaking: Because therein it hath dared to pass the Bounds set it by Prophesy; Although it hath entered into the Holy Land, Egypt hath not escaped, Ethiopia hath been at its steps; Yet it never could stretch its Hands, as over other countries', Or overnow to Vienna, m●ch less to Rome carried Alought by the P●pal ●east. This Struck therefore hath so overtaken and surrounded the Turkish Armies in hungary, as if God would give Testimony; That at the same time He preserved the Ten Kingdoms from the Aspire of an Universal French Monarchy by the Peace▪ He would also Vindicate Th●m from the Overspread of a Mahometan Turkish Overfl●w. In all which the wondered Do of our Great, and Holy God, aught to be Triumphed in by Al● His Servants; and most especially by the Unworthiest of his Servants in the Sure Word of Prophecy, as happy Forebodes of his Kingdom at the End of 97. and the beginning and Going on of 98 And now upon All that hath been spoken, I cannot but Rejoice, in Recalling that Prophesy I have ●ome Years ago in a former treatise enlarged upon; Found in the Study of ●ustus L●psi●s, Ann 1606. and that hath been near Fifty Years Extant in the Exposition of D● M●yer on those Books of Scripture, called, The small Prophets; which I will again here Transcribe, for more universal Notice, because I Know It to be ●ounded on Greatest Reason of Scripture, and Assured by the Chrono●ogy of Prophetic Events, and therefore I cannot but Think the Composer Assisted by a Prophetic Spirit. The Original Prophecy. Post Mille Expletos a Partu Virginis Annos, Et post sexcentos Rursus ab Orbe Datos: Nonagesimus octavus, Mirabilis Annus Ingruet; Is secum Gaudia Laeta Fcret. Corruet Hoc Anno Turcarum Invisa propago, Roma Tuum in Libris Fabula Nomen Erit. Omnia Tunc-Ibunt Munde, sursum, atque Deorsum Imperia, ut populos sceptra Novella premant: Vtque suum cunctas Verbum Diffundat in or as Christus; & Imperitet Nomine Vbique suo. The Translation. From Virgin's Son Thousand Years when Told, And after them a Hundred more are Rolled, Then Ninety Eight a Year of wonders comes, And Joys on Joys it heaps to vastest Sums: The Hated stem of Turks that Year shall Fall, Oh Rome, in sacred Books Foretold Men All Shall Call thy Name that Lie; Earth's Empires move Their upside down; a Novel Empire proves The Universal Monarchy; Then Christ To tb' Everlasting Gospel giving R●st, Shall through All Tongues and Kindred's it diffuse, And for Imperial style his own Name use. I would now conelude all, with earnest desires of the constant Fervent Prayers of the Servants of God, for the speedye● Answer of that Petition; Thy Kingdom Come; Come Lord Jesus Come quickly; and ●ith my Humblest request in some Variation from the Apostles Words; Let no M●n trouble me; For I bear upon my Mind and Condition, the Stigmata, or marks of the Kingdom of Christ yet in Delay: Upon the Account of which I can in some measure say; The present State of this World is Crucified to me, and I to it. THE END. Catalogue of Mr. Bever●●y 〈…〉, 〈…〉 the Bible in Grace-Church-Street. 1. THE Catechism of the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Thousand Years: Showing by Scripture, 1. That the great Articles of Redemption, 2. The Resurrection, 3. The Mystery of the Saints not Dying but Changed, 4. The Judgement, 5. The Delivery up of the Kingdom to God All in All; cannot be Explained at full Dimensions without it: The Second Edit. with Adit. Price 6 d. 2. 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