—. ... nge and Rensarkal ? opKenes and Predictions. | , the Holy, Leaded, and exceSent 1 ames Late L Arch - Eithop Armagh.' and Lord Primate ol Ireland. -if; ;■ ■ b Giving an Account of his Foretelling i. The Rebellion in MUndForty- Years before « came ... to pafs. r " ! II. TheConfutions and Mileries of£/»£/*W,iRChurc!- State. • III. The Death of KingCharles the Fhrft ' IV. Hi? own Poverty -rtot. V. The Divifious in Engl v iet'he prokil, Thatfevenfi 'mes in.his Life he had nia- c ny things impreft upon his m id, eotifcefning future Events, with fo much warrOnefs and importunity, that he was not c able, to keep them fetret, but lay under an unavoidable * neceflity to make them known. From which Spirit he foretold the Irijb Rebellion Forty years before it came to pafs, with the very time when it fhould break forth; in a Sermon Preached in-Dublin in 160 1. whek from E&kz 4- 6. djfeoutfing concerning theProphcts bearing the in'icJOity offorty days, the Lord therein appointed a day for a year: he made this dired Application an Relation to the connivance at Popery at that time. From this year ( fays he) will I reckon the fin of Ireland, thai thofe whom you now imbrace, pall be your Ruin, and you pall bear this Iniquity. Which Predidioh proved exaftly true, for from that time 1601, to the year 1641) was juil Forty years, in "which it isnotbriou'ly known, that the Rebellion and De- fkttdion of Ireland happened, which was aded by thofe Popifh (3) V Tl Fopifli Priefts, and other Papifts, which were then connived at. And of this Sermon the Bilhop referved the Notes, and put a Note thereof in the Margent of his Bible; and for 20 Years before, heftjll lived in the Expectation of the Ful¬ filling thereof: And the nearer the Time was, the more con¬ fident he was, that it was near Accomplishment, though there was no vifible appearance of any fuch thing : And (fayes Dr. Bernard) the Year before the Rebellion broke forth, the Bi- fhop taking his leave of me, being then going from Ireland to England^ he advifed me to a ferious Preparation ; for 1 fhould. fee heavy Sorrows and Miferies, before I faw him again ; which he delivered with as great Confidence, as if he had fecn it with his Eyes : Which feems to verify that of the Prophet, Amos.7. Surely, the Lord will do nothing,, but he will reveal it to his Servants, the Prophets.v From this Spirit of Prophefie, he fore-faw the Changes and, Miferies of,England in Church and State ; for having in one of his Books, (called Be Prim. Eccl.Brit.) given a larg account of the Deilrucftion ofth - -ch and State of by thc Saxons, about 550 Years after Chriil: He gives this among other Reafons, why he infilled fo largely upon it; That he fore-faw, that a like Judgment was yet behind, if time¬ ly Repentance and Reformation did not prevent it: And he would often Mourn upon the Fore-fight of this, long before it came. From this Spirit he gave Mournful Intimations of the Death of our late Soveraign, Charles the Firft; of whom he would be often fpeaking with Fear and Trembling, even when the King had the greateft Succefs : And would therefore con- ftantly pray, and gave all advice pofiiblc, to prevent any fuch thing. From this Spirit he fore-faw his own Poverty in worldly things; and this he would often fpeak of, with admiration to the Hearers, when he was in his greateft Profperity ; which the Event did mod certainly verify. From this Spirit he Predicted the Divifions and. C'onfufi- ons in England in Matters of Religion ? and the fad confe- quences thereof; fome of which we have fcen fulfi 'di And A 2 I I m- Mr, ; n ImMt C4> Jpfay God, die reft which be feared, may not alfo be acconi- pliihed upon u£ Laftly, From this Spirit he fore-told, That the greater llroke upon the Reformed Churches was yet to come y and that the time of the utter Ruin of the See of Rome, fhould be when fhe thought her felf mod fecurc: And as to this Lad, I fhaii add a brief Account fro^n the Perfons own hand, who was concerned therein ; which followcth in thefe Words: The Year before this Learned and Holy Primate, A. Rifhop Vfher dyed^i went to him, and eainedly defired him, togiv^e me in Writing his Apprehenfj^ns concerning Juftificatidn, and SantRificatton by Chrift ; becaufe I had formerly heard him Preach upon thofe Points, wierein he feemed to make thofe great Mylteries more intelligible to my mean Capacity, than any thing which I had ever heart! from any other: But be¬ caufe I had but an imperfect and confuted Remembrance of the Particulars, I took the boldnefs to importune him, that fag. would nleafc to give a brief account of them in Writing"; ,*reby Knight the better In,; them in my Memoryj. of which he would willingly have excufed himfelf, by declaring his intentions of not writing any more : Adding, That if he did write any thing, it fhould nor exceed above a Sheet or two: But upon my continued Importunity, I at lad obtained his Promife. He coming to Town fome time after, was pleafed to give me a Vifit at my own Houfe; where I failed not to challenge the Benefit of the Promife he had made rae: Hereplyed ; 'That be bad net writ, and yet bt could not charge himfelf with any fir each of Promife : For (faid he) I did begin to write ; but when J came to write cfSanttificationjhat is^of the NewCreaf ure^which- (j odfor meih by his Spirit in every Soufwbith he doth truly Regene¬ rate, I found fo little of it wrought in my felf, that la ,dd '/peak of it o?dy as Parrots by Rote > 0* without the knowledge & under funding of what J might have expreft ; & therefore, I durft not pre'fume to p, acred any further upon it. Arid when-1 feemed to d-ind amazed, to hear fnch an Hum- d.r GonfefTion from fo great and experienced a Chridian, kdded; Imit ft tell yon,We do not well under ft and what Sanl ttfeatim * patdl { 1 M V1 ^351 if * ' Words:" > .... 2i | hsiiu <3«taf| l Wklk Rife At ion and the New Creature are mrIt is no left then'for a man * to be brought to an entire Refignationofhis will to the will of God, and to line in the Offering Hp of his Soul continually in the fames of Lovey as a whole burnt Offering to Chriflr and how little (fays he) are many of thofe who prfefs Christianity experimentally ac¬ quainted with this work^ on their Souls. By this Diffourfe, I conceived he had very excellently and clearly discovered to me that part of Sanftification which he was unwilling to write. I then prefumed to enquire of him what his prefent ap^ prehenfions were concerning a very great Persecution which fhould fall upon the Church of God in thefe Nations of England, Scotland, and Ireland, of which this Reverend Pri¬ mate had fpoken v ith great confides many y ars before* when we were in the higheft and fullcft Hate of outward Peace and Settlement. I asked him whether he did be lieve thofe fad times to be pad, or that they were yet to come, To which he anfwer^d, That they were yet to come, and shut he did as confidently ex.-- as ever he had d*.e9 ado 1 hat this fadVerfecution wouldfall up o\ all theProtej *ntChurches of Europe ; I replyed, That I did hope it might have been paH as to thefe Nations of ours, fince 1 thought, thatthough we, who are the People thereof, have been punifhed much fefs than our fins have deferred, and that our late Wars had made hefs. devaluations, then War commonly brings upon thofe Countries where it pleafeth God in Judgement to fuffer it; yet we muft needs acknowledge, rhat many great Houfes had been Burnt, Ruined, and left without In¬ habitants, many great Families impovcrilhed and undone* and-many Thoufand Lives alfo ad ^een in that bloody War, and that Ireland and Scotland, as well as England, had drunk very deep of the Cupof Gods Anger, even to theo- verthrow of the Government, and the utter Defolation al- moft of a very great part of thofe Countries. But this Boly man, turning to me. and fixing his Eye? upon me with that ferious and ireful look wh^' v u ufually had when he fpakc Gods word and not hi$ hath been but the beginning of forrowJ to what is yet to come upon the Protedant Churches ofChriftywho will ere long fall under a Jharper Perf ccution than ever yet has upon them * and therefore (faid he to me) lool^ycu be not found in the Outward Courtybut a worfmpper in the Temple before the Altar, for Chrifi will meafure all thcfe that profefs his Name, & call them/elves his People ^ & the Outward worjhippers he will lefiiypout, to be trodden down by the Gentiles. The Outward Court (fays he) is the formal Chriftian, whofe Religion lies in performing the out fide duties of Chrifi tanity, without having an inward Life &■ Power of Faith and lovcjwitirig them to Chrijf and thefc God will leave to be trodden down, and fwept away by the Gentiles ; But the worjhippers within the Temple and before the Altar,are thofewho do indeed worjhip God in Spirit and in Truths hofe Souls are made his Temples^and he is honoured Th Tad ore (fan the mofi inward t\ ghtsof their hearts,* and they Sacrifice their LttSls and vile affections [yeay and their own wills to him J and thtfe God will hide in the hollow of his Handy and under the fhadow of his wings; and this fhall be one great difference be¬ tween tfpis lafiy and all the other preceding Perfections ; For in the former y he mofi eminent andfpiriiual Aiinifiers and Chriftians did generally fuffer mofiy and were mofi violently fallen upcny but in this lafi Perfection, thefe fit all bepreferved by God as a Seed to partake of that Glory which fitall immediately follow and come up• on the C hurchy as foon at ever this florm fhall be over rfor as it fhall be the jharpefiy fo it fhall be the jhorteft Perfection of them all; and fhall only take away the grofs Hypocrites and formal Profef forsy but the true Spiritual Believers jhallbe preferved till the Ca¬ lamity be over-paf). I then asked him by what means or fnftrumcnts thisgreat Tryal fhould be brought on. He anfwered, By the P apt [Is; I replycd, that it fcemed to me very improbable they ihouid be able to do it, fince they were now little countenan¬ ce i, and but few in thefc Natjons, and that the hearts of the People were more fet againft them then ever fihee the Refor¬ mation. \ to d\R:r _ * tomt;' ••Jjnutw* WfiljFW '' i'iilKrfk ftjwij'n; Jf'i* <*u I * »»#'. Jl IK m "MM i .TLf, v 5 mm \ ^%Sr 4i4iiiii' -x. «/«*? >' I'sriiitf■ ' hn v; E«#| MU e ( 7 ) rnation, He anfw.ered again, ' That it would be by the 4 hands of Papifh, and in the way oFa fuddain Ma.facree; c and that the then Pope fhoiild be the chieflnftrument of it. Ail this he Spake with fo great Aflurance, and with the fame ferious and concerned Countenance, which I have before obferved him to have, when 1 have hehrd him foretell fome things which in ali humane appearence were very un¬ likely to come to pafs, which yet 1 my fclfhave lived to.fee happen according to his prediction, and this made me give the moreearneft attention to what he then uttered. He then added, ' That the Papifts were in his Opinion the c Gentiles fpoken of in the i ith bf the Revelations, to whom 1 the outward Court fhould be left, that they might tread 1 it underfoot; They having received the Gentiles worfhip cin their adoring Images, and Saints departed, and in 'taking to themfelves many Mediators ; And this ' (Said ht) the Papifts are now defigning among them- ' felves, and therefore be fure you be ready. This wis the Subffynce, & \*hink (for the gre&eft part nfe very feme words which J* Holy m^TpaiTeT curie at the time beforcmentioned rrot long berore his death, and which I writ down, that fo great and notable a Prediction might not be loft and forgotten by my feif -nor others. This gracious Man repeated th : fame things in Subftancc to his only daughter the Lady Tyr. d} and that with many tears, and much about the fame time that he had expreft what is aforefaid to me, and which the Lady 7) m7 allured me of with her owri mouth, this purpofe." That opening thb Doo?T6f "his' Chamber,- She found him with his Eyes lift up to Heaven, an-d the tears running apace down his Cheeks, and that hefecmed to be in anExtafie, wherein he continued for about half an hour, not taking the leaft notice of her, thougb.lhe came into the Room, but at laft turning to her, he told her, That his thoughts had been takifi up about the Miferiesand Perfections that w ere coming upon the Churches of Chrift, which would be fharp and bitter, that the contemplation of them had fe thofe Tears from his Eyes., and tha^e hoped he fhoul fo (H) ||VC td fee ft, butpflffib!; (lie might, for it w&s even at the door^ Therefore take heed (toys he} fhat you be net found flteping. Jhe fame things he Repealed to the Lady Byjfe^ Wife to the prefent Lord Chief Baron of Ireland, hut with adding this cireumftance, That If they brought back the King, it might be delayed ? little longer, but (fayd fee} It ypill fureiy come, therefore be furc to jookjbat you be hot found unprepared for it. To conclude in the words cf Dr. Bernard, fpeaktng of thfe r.iWr •* ~ ■ ' . its? -