COLLECTION Of many Wonderful PROPHECIES Relating to the Government of England, etc. Since the First Year of the REIGN of King JAMES I To this present Time.  
All which have been truly Fulfilled and Accomplished.  
ALSO Of many PROPHECIES, yet foretelling what Government is to Succeed to make this Kingdom happy: With the certain Time of the Downfall of ANTICHRIST throughout the World.  
Written and Published in the Years, 1623., 1628., 1641, 1647, and 1660.  
With many Special Remarks on the same, and on the Several Changes of Government.  
By P. C. M. D. a Lover of Religion and his Country.  
Dedicated to the LORDS and COMMONS now Assembled.  
LONDON, Printed for Thomas Salusbury at the Sign of the Temple, near Temple-Bar. 1689.   

Advertisement.  
SEveral Discourses and Characters, Addressed to the Ladies of the Age. Wherein the Vanities of the Modish Women are discovered. Written at the Request of a Lady, by a Person of Honour. Printed for Thomas Salusbury, at the Sign of the Temple, next to the Inner Temple-Gate in Fleetstreet, 1689.   

To the Right Honourable the LORDS Spiritual and Temporal, and the House of Commons Assembled in this present Convention.  
THE following Poem containing several remarkable Prophecies of what has happened for several Ages past, with Directions and Assurances of what must succeed to make this Kingdom happy; which Business being at present under Your joint Consideration, I thought it expedient to Dedicate these Lines to Your Honours; which, if perused, I doubt not may be both acceptable and useful, and is the only Reason that it is published, hoping the Success may be according to the earnest Desire of a Lover of Religion and his Country.  
P. C.   

To the Reader.  
THE ensuing Prophecies being of great use in this present Conjuncture, I thought it not amiss to expose them for the public Benefit, which all true English Men desire should be settled under a happy Government, without Personal Interest, and will certainly be effected according to the Purport of this Poem; the Author having had the said Revelations from God so many several Years before they were acted, which are past, as also those that succeed, as may appear by the several Dates when they were exposed by the said Author, and I hope will be now acceptable to all that love their Religion and Country, and are Enemies of Antichrist and his Adherents.  
Farewell.   
AN EXACT COLLECTION Of many Wonderful PROPHECIES Relating to the Government of England, etc.  

This was Printed in the Year 1623.  

AND since Men wand'ring in a Wood by Night,  
When they shall through a Glade behold some light,  
Take thereby Courage to walk cheerly on,  
In hope their Fears and Toils are nearly gone.  
I'll from a Cloud flash out a little Gleam  
Of Lightning, and disclose a little Beam;  
Whereby on you a Glimmering shall be cast  
Of what you may attain to at the last.  
For I will show you by what Pedigree  
That Government to you derived shall be,  
Which will at last the British Islands bless  
With Inward Peace and Outward Happiness:  
It was of late a brief Presage of his  
Who oft hath Truth foretold, and it is this.   

WHen here 
a M. Charles I. raised Money, viz. Ship-money and Loan-money, without a Parliament.  a Scot shall think his Throne to set  
Above the Circle of a British King,  
He shall a 
b The long Parliament, whom the K. granted to fit until they should put a Period to their own Sitting.  Dateless Parliament beget,  
From whence a 
c The Army.  Dreadful Armed Brood shall spring.  
This Offspring shall beget a wild Confusion;  
Confusion shall an 
d K. Charles' Death.  Anarchy beget:  
That Anarchy shall bring forth in Conclusion  
A 
e Ol. Cromwell L. Protector.  Creature that you have no Name for yet.  
This Creature shall conceive a sickly State,  
Which will an 
f When Rich. Cromwell was deposed,  Aristocracy produce:  
The many Headed Beast, not liking that,  
To raise Democracy shall rather choose.  
And then Democracy's Production shall  
A 
g The Committee of Safety, where happened so great a Confusion between Lambert, Fleetwood Hazelrig, Lenthal, Sir Hen. Vane, etc. that none knew who was uppermost, all aiming to be chief.  Mooncalf be, Which some a Mole do call;  
A false Conception of imperfect Nature,  
And of a shapeless and a brutish Feature.  
For these Descents shall live and reign together,  
So acting for a while, that few shall know  
Which of them has the Sovereignty, or whether  
There be among them a Supreme or no.  
When they with Jars and Janglings have defaced  
Your 
h Our Government of King, Lords, and Commons.  Triple Building, and themselves nigh worn  
Into Contempt, they of one Cup shall taste,  
And into their 
i All to private men again.  first Elements return.  
Five of them 
k Five Commissioners or Generals were appointed by the Army for the Government thereof▪ and Five by the Rump Parliament, of which last Monk was chief, who acting distinct from the other four, carried the matter, & brought in K. Charles the Second.  shall subdue the other Five;  
And then those Five shall, in a doubtful Strife  
Each others Death so happily contrive,  
That they shall die to live a better Life;  
And out of their Corruption rise there shall  
A 
l King Charles' the Second his Reign.  true Supreme, acknowledged by all:  
In whom the Power of all the Five shall be,  
With Unity, made visible in Three.  
Prince, People, Parliamen, with Priests and Peers,  
Shall be a while your emulous Grandees,  
Make a confused Pentarchy some Years,  
And leave off their distinct Claims by degrees.  
And then shall Righteousness ascend the Throne,  
Then Truth and Love and Peace re-enter shall,  
Then Faith and Reason shall agree in one,  
And all the Virtues to their Council call.  
And timely out of all these shall arise  
That Kingdom and that happy Government,  
Which is the Scope of all those Prophecies  
That future Truths obscurely represent.  
But how this done shall be, few Men shall see;  
For wrought in Clouds and Darkness it will be:  
And e'er it come to pass to public View,  
Most of 
m 10 Signs to forerun this happy State.  these following Signs must first ensue.   

A 
n K. James the Second.  King shall willingly himself unking,  
And thereby 
o An Apology follows for this Expression.  Grow far greater than before.  
The 
p This is now acting.  Priests their Priesthood to Contempt shall bring,  
And Piety thereby shall thrive the more.  
A 
q The last Parliament at Oxford.  Parliament itself shall overthrow,  
And thereby shall a better Being gain.  
The 
r This is now, when the Peers decline the King's Interest, and join with the People.  Peers, by setting of themselves below,  
A more Ennobling Honour shall obtain.  
The 
s This has been under the late Governments.  People for a time shall be enslaved;  
But that shall make them for the future free.  
By 
t The King's Loss.  Private Loss the Public shall be saved.  
An 
v The King's Army.  Army shall, by yielding, Victor be.  
The 
x This happened upon the Chamber of London being broke, and the Charter seized, etc.  City's Wealth her Poverty shall cause.  
The Laws Corruption shall reform the Laws.  
And 
y Improvements by Clover Seed in the West of England, which was before very barren.  Bullocks of the largest Northern Breed  
Shall fatted be where now scarce Sheep can feed.  
You may perhaps deride what's here recited,  
As heretofore you other Truths have slighted;  
But some of my Presage you have beheld  
Already in obscurity fulfilled:  
The rest shall in its time appointed come,  
And sooner than will pleasing be to some.  
The 
a Priests, Parliaments, 〈◊〉, Peers, People, Army, etc.  last Nine Signs or Symptoms of the Ten,  
Which should precede them, shall appear to men  
Of all Conditions; but our Author saith,  
The 
b the King willingly to unking himself.  first is but in Hope, not yet in Faith,  
And may be, or not be; for so or so  
That 
c King James the Second.  King shall have his Lot as he shall do.  
If all his Sins he heartily repent,  
God will remit even all his Punishment,  
And him unto his People's Hearts restore,  
With greater Honour than he had before.  
If he remain impenitent, like Saul  
God from the Throne shall cast both him and all  
His whole Descent, and leave him not a Man  
To fill it, though he had a Jonathan▪  
If Ahab-like his Mourning has respects  
To temporary Losses or Effects,  
Like Ahab then it therewithal shall carry  
Some Benefit, which is but temporary.  
A real Penitence, though somewhat late,  
The Rigour of his Doom may much abate,  
By leaving him a part of what he had.  
When he a Forfeiture of all hath made;  
Or else by 
d Lord Chancellor, Judges, etc.  Rooting out those who in Sin  
With him have actually Partakers been;  
And placing in their steads a 
e (i. e.) of the King's.  Branch of his,  
Whose Innocency no way questioned is.    

This was Printed in the Year 1628.  

GOD hath a Controversy with our Land;  
And in an evil Plight Affairs do stand:  
And though we always smart for doing ill,  
Yet us the hand of God afflicteth still;  
And many see it not, as many be  
So wilful, that his Hand they will not see.  
Some plainly view the same, but nothing care.  
Some at the sight thereof amazed are,  
Like Belteshazar, have a trembling Heart,  
But will not from their Wickedness depart.  
Some dream that all things do by Chance succeed,  
And that I prate more of them than I need.  
But Heaven and Earth to Witness I invoke,  
That nothing causelessly I here have spoke.   

If this, O! sickly Island, thou believe,  
And for thy great Infirmities shalt grieve,  
And knowing of thy Follies, make Confessions,  
And then bewail thine infinite Transgressions,  
And then amend those Errors, God shall then  
Thy manifold Distempers cure again,  
Make all thy Scarlet Sins as white as Snow,  
And cast thy threatened Judgement on thy Foe.  
But if thou, fond thinking thou art well,  
Shalt slight this Message which my Muse doth tell,  
And scorn her Counsel; if thou shalt not rue  
Thy former ways, but frowardly pursue  
Thy wilful Course, then hark what I am bold  
(In spite of all thy madness) to unfold:  
For I will tell thy Fortune, which when they  
That are unborn shall read another day,  
They shall believe God's Mercy did infuse  
Thy Poet's Breast with a Prophetic Muse;  
And know that he This Author did prefer,  
To be, from him, this Isle's Remembrancer.   

— This Land shall breed 
a This is effected since the Restauration.  a nasty Generation,  
Unworthy either of the Reputation  
Or Name of Men; for they, as Lice, shall feed  
Even on the Body whence they did proceed.  
There shall moreover Swarms of divers Flies  
Engendered be in thy Prosperities,  
To be a Plague, and still are humming so,  
As if they meant some weighty Work to do;  
Whenas upon the common Stock they spend,  
And nought perform of what they do pretend.   

Then shall 
b Popery in King James the Second Reign.  a Darkness follow, far more black  
Than when the Light Corporeal thou dost lack.  
For grossest Ignorance, oreshadowing all,  
Shall in so thick a darkness thee enthrall,  
That thou a blockish People shalt be made,  
Still wand'ring on in a deceiving Shade;  
Mistrusting those that safest Paths are showing,  
Most trusting them who Counsel thy undoing;  
And aye tormented be with doubts and Fears,  
As one who Outcries in dark places hears.  
Nor shall the Hand of God from thee return,  
Till he hath also smote thine Eldest Born;  
That is, till he hath taken from thee quite  
Even that whereon thou sett'st thine whole delight;  
And filled every House throughout the Nation  
With 
c Several put to death, both here and in the West, about the Duke of Monmouth's Plot.  Death's unlooked for and Lamentation.  
So great shall be thy Ruin and thy Shame,  
That when thy Neighbouring Kingdoms hear the same,  
Their Ears shall tingle; and when that day comes,  
In which thy Follies must receive their Dooms,  
A day of Clouds, a day of Gloominess,  
A day of black Despair and Heaviness  
It will appear; And than thy Vanities,  
Thy Gold and Silver, thy Confederacies,  
And all those Reeds, on which thou hast depended,  
Will fail thy Trust, and leave thee unbefriended.  
Thy 
d In time of the Popish Plot.  King, thy Priests, and Prophets than shall mourn,  
And peradventure feignedly return,  
To beg of God to succour them; but they  
Who will not hearken to his Voice to day  
Shall cry unheeded, and he will despise  
Their Vows, their Prayers, and their Sacrifice.  
A Sea of Troubles all thy Hopes shall swallow;  
As Wave on Wave, so Plague on Plague shall follow:  
And every thing that was a Blessing to thee  
Shall turn to be a Curse to help undo thee.  
And when thy Sin is fully ripe in thee,  
Thy 
e The Reign of these two last Kings.  Prince and People then alike shall be;  
Thou shalt have Babes to be thy Kings, or worse,  
Those Tyrants who by Cruelty and Force  
Shall take away the ancient Charters quite  
From all their Subjects, yea, themselves delight  
In their Vexation; and all those that are  
Made Slaves thereby shall murmur, yet not dare  
To stir against them. By degrees they shall  
Deprive thee of thy Patrimonials all;  
Compel thee, as in other Lands this day,  
For thine own Meat and thine own Drink to pay;  
And at the last begin to exercise  
Upon thy Sons all heathenish Tyrannies,  
As just Prerogatives: To these Intents  
Thy Nobles shall become their Instruments.  
For they who had their Births 
f As Oxford, Clarendon, Bedford, etc.  from noble Races  
Shall some and some be brought into Disgraces;  
From Offices they shall excluded stand,  
And all their virtuous Offspring from the Land  
Shall quite be worn: Instead of whom shall rise  
A 
g As Jefferies, etc.  Brood advanced by Impieties,  
That seek how they more great and strong may grow,  
By compassing the Public Overthrow.  
These shall abuse thy Kings with Tales and Lies,  
With seeming Love and servile Flatteries;  
They shall persuade them, they have Power to make  
Their Wills their Law, and as they please to take  
Their People's Goods, their Children and their Lives,  
Even by their just and due Prerogatives.  
When thus much they have made them to believe,  
Then they shall teach them Practices to grieve  
Their Subjects by, and Instruments become,  
To help the Screwing up by some and some  
Of Monarchies to Tyrannies: They shall  
Abuse Religion, Honesty, and all  
To compass their Designs they shall devise  

h Ecclesiastical Commission.  Strange Projects, and with Impudence and Lies  
Proceed in settling them; they shall forget  
Those reverend Usages which do befit  
The Majesty of State, and rail and storm,  
When they pretend Disorders to reform  
In their 
i The Privy Council.  High Councils; and where Men should have  
Kind Admonitions, and Reprovings grave,  
When they offend, they shall be threatened there,  
And scoffed and taunted, though no Cause appear.  
Whatever from thy People they can tear,  
Or borrow, they shall keep, as if it were  
A Prize which had been taken from the Foe,  
And they shall make no Conscience what they do  
To prejudice Posterity; for They,  
To gain their Lusts but for the present day,  
Shall with such Love unto themselves endeavour,  
That though they know it will undo for ever  
Their own Posterity, it shall not make  
These Monsters any better Course to take.  
Nay, God shall give them up, for their Offences,  
To such uncomely reprobated Senses,  
And blind them so, that when the Axe they see  
Even hewing at the Root of their own Tree,  
By their own handy Strokes, They shall not grieve  
For their approaching Fall; no; nor believe  
Their Fall approacheth, nor assume that heed,  
Which might prevent it, till they fall indeed.   

Mark well, O! Britain, what I now shall say,  
And do not slightly pass these Words away;  
But be assured, That when God begins  
To bring this Vengeance on thee for thy Sins,  
Which hazard will thy total Overthrow,  
Thy Prophets and thy Priests shall slily sow  
The Seeds of that Dissension and Sedition,  
Which Time will ripen for thy said Perdition;  
But not unless the Priests thereto consent:  
For in those days shall few Men innocent  
Be grieved through any Quarter of the Land,  
In which thy 
k Oxford, Chester, Durham, etc.  Clergy shall not have some hand.  
Thy 
l 〈◊〉 Fire of 〈◊〉 City of ●●●don.  Cities and thy Palaces, wherein  
Most Neatness and Magnificence hath been,  
Shall heaps of Rubbish be.—  
Instead of Lion's 
m Mayors and ●●●riffs and ●●●tices in the ●●●ntry.  Tyrants thou shalt breed,  
Who nor of Law nor Conscience shall take heed;  
But on the weak Man's Portion lay their Paw▪  
And make their Pleasures to become their Law.  
Thy 
n ●udges.  Judges wilfully shall wrest the Laws,  
And, to the Ruin of the common Cause,  
Shall misinterpret them, in hope of Grace  
From those who might despoil them of their place.  
Yea, that whereto they are obliged both  
By Conscience, by their Calling, and their Oath,  
To put in Execution, they shall fear,  
And leave them helpless who oppressed are.    

This was Dedicated to the City of LONDON, in the Year 1647.  

THough I have Written heretofore in vain,  
And may do now, yet I will write again,  
In hope that what, by Reason and by Rhyme,  
Was not effected, may be done in time;  
And that although my Pains be lost to some,  
It may not fruitless unto all become.   

Behold that which was coming long ago  
Draws now so near, that none shall need foreshow  
What at the last will thereupon ensue;  
For we without a Glass may plainly view  
Such things in Kenning, that unless our God  
To them shall please to put a Period;  
Or make some such Diversion as no Man  
Conjecture of by any Symptom can,  
An universal Plague will on us seize,  
Instead of Remedies for our Disease.  
Have you not yet discovered, who be they  
That cheat you, and for whom this Game you play,  
By your Divisions; and when others find  
Their Falsehood for you, will you still be blind?  
Or wink, as careless of the things you heed,  
Till by long winking you grow blind indeed?  
Cannot you yet discover, through the Mist,  
These Juggle which the 
o Popish Priests.  Spawn of Antichrist,  
False Priests and lying Prophets practise now,  
To raise themselves and work your Overthrow;  
Nor with what Impudence they publish Lies,  
Their bitter Swagger, and their Blasphemies,  
To make new Breaches, or to widen those  
Which Love and Prudency began to close;  
And which ere this time closed up had been,  
Had they not cast intempered Dirt between?   

Have you concluded never to retire,  
In your Career, till 
p 〈…〉 of London.  all is on a Fire;  
And you and yours lie sprawling in the Plashes  
Of your own Blood, and in your City Ashes;  
And till you see this goodly stately Frame,  
The Work of many Ages, in a Flame?    

Withers's Prophesy OF THE DOWNFALL OF ANTICHRIST. Published Anno 1644.  

THat Year in which Rome's long-lived Empery  
Shall, from the Day in which it was at height,  
Sum up MDCLXV and I,  
In Order as these Letters do incite,  
That Year, that Day, that Hour, will put a Date  
To her usurped Power, reserving neither  
Top, Root, or Branch, of that accursed State,  
Nor Hand or Body, Limb, Horn, Claw or Feather;  
For here are all the Numerals of Rome,  
And cannot make a less or greater Sum,  
Without Disorder, Want, or Iteration.  
Nor shall it longer stand, or sooner fall,  
If I mistake not him, who Governs all.   

Two famous Numbers are in them contained;  
The first declares the length of time, wherein  
The 
q The Devil bound a thousand Years in the Revelations.  Devil was by Providence restrained  
From setting up that Mystery of Sin.  
The Later is the Number of the Beast,  
Which, when the Let was taken quite away,  
Whereby he was a Thousand Years suppressed,  
Doth number out his Kingdom to a Day.  
It is the Number of the Name or Power  
Even of a Man, of that mysterious Man,  
By whom that Mystery is to this hour  
Continued, and by whom it first began.  
And he that can begin the Thousandth Year,  
Shall find the Ruin of both Beasts are near.  
To search that out, it seems not hard to me,  
Who do believe that when of her chief Sin.  
Rome to be Guilty did appear to be,  
Her Declination did even then begin.  
And sure of all her Sins the greatest Crime  
Was Crucifying of the Lord of Life;  
And her unjustly persecuting them  
Who tendered saving Grace to their Belief.  
Then I presume she first to fall began,  
And that God measured, weighed, and numbered out,  
How many backward Rounds her Wheel should Run,  
Before it should the last time run about.  
Thus in those Numerals which are her own,  
Joined altogether was her Fate writ down.  
To bring to pass that Work there was a Let  
To be removed, of no mean Consequence,  
Which was removed at the time foreset;  
And her new 
r This Beast to Reign 666 Years.  Offspring hath Reigned ever since.  
But with exceeding Infamy and Scorns,  
The Beast which now so powerful seems to some,  
Shall lose his Head, and moult away his Horns,  
And to the World a Laughingstock become.   

Then many Juggle hitherto concealed,  
And which, to blind the heedless Christian's Eye,  
In seven dark Mysteries have long been sealed,  
Shall to the faithful Soul uncovered lie.  
That Kingdom which the Jew did long ago  
Mould out according to his erring Brain,  
And whereof many zealous Christians too  
Unwarrantable Fancies entertain.  
That Kingdom, whereof now in Types we hear,  
Shall to the World essentially appear.   

Be patient therefore, ye that are oppressed;  
This Generation shall not pass away,  
Till some behold the Downfall of that Beast  
Which yet among us with his Tail doth play.  
Then will the Lamb of God begin to take  
The Kingdom to himself, and every King,  
That of his Right shall Usurpation make,  
To Judgement and Destruction he shall bring.  
No Kingling then assume the boldness shall,  
Blasphemously (for know it is no less)  
To style himself the King Catholical,  
As if Earth's universal Globe were his.  
For though another hath usurped thereon,  
That Title doth belong to Christ alone.   

And 'tis no wonder, if the Potentates,  
Kings, and the Rulers of the World combine  
By Policy to strengthen their Estates,  
And with the Beast, with Gog and Magog join.  
No Marvel, if enraged they appear,  
Through Jealousies and Fears of losing that  
By which their Pride and lust maintained were,  
And which base Fear and Flattery first begat.  
For all those Kingdoms, and those Emperies,  
Throughout the World, which their beginnings took  
By human Wit, Fraud, Force, and Tyrannies,  
Shall pass away, and vanish into Smoke.   

An 
s Prince of Orange's Army.  Army, whereof yet there's little hope,  
Shall wrest the Sceptre both from Turk and Pope.   

Religion, and mere Shows of Piety,  
Have been so long the Mask of base Designs;  
The great 
t Kings.  Vicegerents of their Deity  
Have made such Politicians of Divines,  
And these together have so fooled and cheated  
The Consciences of Persons well inclined,  
That of all Freedoms men are nigh defeated,  
Belonging to the Body or the Mind.  
Yea, they have so mocked God, and on his Throne  
And his Prerogative so far encroach,  
That of his Honour being jealous grown,  
Much longer bear he will not such Reproach;  
But to the Saints their Liberties restore,  
And give those Kings their Portions with the Whore.  
D'ye startle at it, as if I had spoke  
High Treason, or as if what I now say,  
Without a Warrant I had undertaken  
To Publish, as perhaps you think I may.    

George Withers HIS PROPHECY, OF THE Downfall of ANTICHRIST. Published Anno 1660.  

AND if, by Storm, they take my Life away,  
Which I as little do regard as they;  
It in their Souls may leave a Sting behind it,  
Which will, with Torment, make them sometimes mind it.   

But here I yet remain, and, for a Close,  
In reference to our Antichristian Foes,  
I'll add this Corollary by the way,  
Whilst, on his Horns, the Beast is tossing Hay:  
For if deceived I am not, our Disease  
Chiefly proceedeth underhand from these.  
And though a further-off removed Cause,  
Pretending they bescratch us with the Paws  
Of other Beasts, it plainly may be seen.  
By whom our Troubles have contrived been.  
I therefore make but a defensive War,  
With such as mine own Adversaries are.  
And to his Captains, as th' Assyrian King,  
Once gave Command, intent no Dart to fling,  
To be Destructive to Men, Great or Small,  
Whose Hate to me is only Personal;  
But as those only, whose Hate doth extend  
To him, and his, on whom I do depend.   


At the Restauration, Popery came in.  To act their last Scene, which precedes their Doom,  
They now, new vampt, upon the Stage are come.  
And though, that with the King, as if his Friends,  
They seem to side, they come to other Ends;  
Which he, not yet discerning, in his Grace  
Vouchsafes them a considerable place:  
And of prevailing, they already boast,  
As if they saw the Lamb, and all his Host  
Quite overthrown, which me as confident  
Hath made, that God their proud Hope will prevent,  
And overthrow that Tyranny outright,  
By what they think shall raise it to its height.  
But many Trials must the Saints abide,  
And very much their Patience will be tried,  
Here and elsewhere, before that Act is done,  
Which with an Antimask is now begun.  
Our Friends inhabiting beyond the Waters,  
And who were of our Tragedies Spectators  
Now twenty Years, though they perceive it not,  
Or seem not to perceive it, in that Lot,  
Which these have cast for us, designed are,  
Or in what follows next to have a share:  
For Haman's Purs on foot, not only here,  
But likewise almost every other where;  
And these think, that to take them by his Gin  
With some speed, is with us first to begin.   

But there's a Countermine which will be sprung,  
Will blow up them, and all their Mines, e'er long.  
Six hundred sixty six draws on apace,  
And not one day beyond that shall they pass.  
It is the Number of that Man of Sin,  
Whereto his Kingdom hath confined been  
By him that cannot lie; and long ago  
To many that Epocha I did show,  
From whence his Reign begins, and by a Light,  
As I believe, which shines without Deceit,  
It numbers out his Reign, as certainly  
As Women reckon the Nativity  
Of Children in their Wombs, which hath Success  
Within a very few days, more or less.  
And of that Mystery what heretofore  
I have expressed, I'll here express once more,  
Because those Notions which may much be needed,  
Cannot be too oft told, nor too well heeded.   

To former times this Mystery was dark,  
And lay a long while covered, like a Spark  
In Ashes, lest perhaps what at this time  
Will comfort us, might have discouraged them,  
Who lived then; For Men rejoice to hear  
The day of their Deliverance is near.  
But nothing, save Discomfort, could they gain▪  
By knowing Tyranny so long should Reign.  
Herein I circumstantially perchance  
May somewhat Err, through human Ignorance;  
But as to that which was essentially  
To us intended by this Mystery,  
I shall not fail of, which is to presage,  
That Babylon shall fall in this our Age.  
Seven Numerals the Roman Empire had,  
By which of old they Computations made;  
And in them was their Destiny foreshewn,  
Tho' to themselves perhaps it was unknown.  
These placed singly, as they valued are,  
Do truly, though mysteriously, declare,  
How long that Empire, with what sprung therefrom,  
Should last, when to the full height it was come.   

For MDCLX, with V and I,  
Do number up, in Chronogrammistry,  
Years sixteen hundred sixty six, and that  
Will be of Roman Tyrannies the Date.  
No other Number, either more or less,  
If none of these you double or displace,  
Can be by them expressed: If you ask, when  
This Number did begin, I say even then  
When Rome declined first from her height of Pride,  
Which was when Jesus Christ was Crucifi'd.  
For at that Time her Glory did abate;  
This Number therefore you must Calculate  
From, or about, the known time of Christ's Passion,  
Not from the first day of his Incarnation:  
A Silence (as it were) seemed to have been  
In Heaven, during th' Interval between  
His Death and his Ascension, as if caused,  
By seeing that done, which had much amazed  
The whole Creation, when that they did see  
The Lord of Life hang dead upon a Tree.  
The Devil probably, at that time too,  
Was at a stand, and knew not what to do;  
But soon perceiving, That the Snare he wrought  
Was broke, to make another strait he sought:  
Which to prevent▪ an Angel, in a Chain,  
His other Powers him suffering to retain,  
Did, for a Thousand Years, restrain the Devil  
From setting up the Mystery of Evil,  
Which in Paul's time he was at work upon;  
But when those Thousand Years were fully gone,  
He raised it up, and God permitted him.  
To manage his own Engine for a time;  
That Truth and Error might here for a space  
Make Trials of their Strength, and that each Grace  
And Virtue of the Saints, by Exercise,  
Improved might be to fit them for the Prize,  
Prepared for those who shall engage with Christ,  
To overcome the Dragon and the Beast.   

A Thousand Years sharp Trials they withstood;  
Yet than they struggled but with Flesh and Blood:  
And for the most part all their Combats than  
Were like St Pawles at Ephesus, with Men  
Resembling Beasts: But since Iniquity  
Was set up, vailed with a Mystery,  
As in these later times, with greater Evils  
The Saints do grasp, for they contend with Devils  
In shape of Men, in Temporal Confusion,  
Made terrible by Spiritual Delusion.  
And therefore God allotted unto him,  
Who Tyrannizeth now, a shorter time;  
And to a certain day his Reign did six,  
Which is Six hundred sixty Years and six:  
And he who knows on what day it begun,  
May know the day on which it will be done;  
Which I believe will visibly appear,  
In or about the Seventeen-hundredth Year.  
And thus much therefore only to foreknow,  
With how nigh to an end it seemeth now,  
May make us hopeful, and our Faith uphold,  
As well as if Day, Year, and Hour were told:  
Yea, and it better serves to exercise  
Our Constancy, than if 'twere otherwise,  
And, if well heeded, peradventure may  
Keep some upright, who else might fall away,  
In these back-sliding days, wherein they see  
The 
a The Wound given by Luther and Calvin, etc.  Beast's late deadly Wound nigh cured to be.  
They on a sudden are become as Jolly,  
As if they thought it to be cured wholly;  
And, to impose their Mark, will now begin  
To be more strict than ever they have been;  
So that ere long few Men shall live in Peace,  
Bear Office, or a free Estate possess,  
Where they have Power, unless they 
b The mark of the Forehead is by open Profession; the mark in the hand is those who mercenarily will be bribed to be their Drudges.  marked are  
In Hand or Forehead with their Character.  
But if that, whereof some imperfect Views  
Far off appears, accordingly ensues,  
There will, to thwart their hopes, a 
c The blazing Star in the Year 1680, which is the only Star that ever appeared in the West.  new Star blaze  
Within the West, which will the World amaze,  
And Influences, through the Universe,  
So quickly and prodigiously disperse,  
That, aided by concurring Constellations,  
It will have some effect upon most Nations,  
And cause such Changes which will make a Stand  
In those Attempts, which they have now in hand.   
FINIS.