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<HEAD>A Door of Hope: OR, A CALL and DECLARATION for the gathering together of the fir&s;t ripe Fruits unto the STANDARD of our Lord, KING JESUS.</HEAD>
<P>WE mu&s;t begin with this Song, <HI>Great and marvellous are thy Works, Lord God Almighty, ju&s;t and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints,</HI> Rev. 15. And if he will breath in us the Life and Wi&s;dom of his own holy Spi|rit, we will call to minde and Rehear&s;e the Righteous Acts of the Lord, who has been doing by mean and de&s;picable In&s;truments, a great and good work, full of wonder and a&s;toni&s;hment, of late years in the&s;e utmo&s;t I&s;les of the world, (according to the Prophe&s;ies of the Scriptures) in order to the introducing the be&s;t Intere&s;t, which is <HI>the de&s;ire of all Nations,</HI> namely the Exaltation of the Throne and Kingdom of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t among us. And this beginning of Reformation, and the hone&s;t Par|ty engaged in this Quarrel, (however by far the le&s;s number) God did abundantly own, and witne&s;s too from heaven, by opening his Salvation, and making bare his own Arm, again&s;t the late King, who was ju&s;tly cut off as a Murtherer, (&s;ee <HI>Decl. of Parl. 11. Feb.</HI> 1647.) Tyrant, and Traytor, in&s;omuch that <HI>Germany</HI> was not without a witne&s;s (that Learned and Judicious Author of <HI>Clavis Apocalyptica)</HI> to the Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of that Sentence, who concludes by vertue of that clear Text, Rev. 16. 5, 7. <HI>Lord, thou art Righteous, becau&s;e thou ha&s;t Judged thus,</HI> P 100.</P>
<P>Noverthele&s;s, God hath now taken away all our bancks, and permitted this old Ene|my, to come in upon us as a flood, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 59. 19. And now <HI>C. S.</HI> the Son of that Mur|therer is Proclaimed King of <HI>England,</HI> who&s;e Throne of Iniquity is built on the Blood of precious Saints, and Martyrs, and on the Blood of all our Brethren in the late Wars: In whom is continued from <HI>Nimrod</HI> their fir&s;t Head and Original, the &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of the &s;ame cur&s;ed Seed, and Serpentine Off-&s;pring, which by a continued <HI>Series</HI> runs through the Veins of the <HI>A&s;&s;yrian, Per&s;ian, Grecian,</HI> and <HI>Roman</HI> Monarchies. So that now this common Enemy (the &s;eed of <HI>Ham)</HI> is ri&s;en up in the &s;pirit of that Murtherer <HI>Cain,</HI> in the &s;pirit of <HI>E&s;au, Pharoah, Amaleck, Nebuchadnezzar, Haman;</HI> in the &s;pirit of <HI>Herod,</HI> and of the old Heathen Romane Per&s;ecutors, &s;uch as <HI>Diocle&s;ian,</HI> (again&s;t whom the Blood of the butcher'd and martyr'd Saints cryed under the <HI>fifth Seal)</HI> at the beginning of who&s;e ten years mo&s;t cruel &s;avage Per&s;ecution, (as <HI>M. Mede</HI> hath ob&s;erved) within thirty dayes about 17000. are reported to have been butcher'd: In <HI>Egypt</HI> alone (how &s;mall a part of the Empire of <HI>Rome?)</HI> there were butcher'd 144000. men; and all the world almo&s;t was &s;tained with the precious blood of the Martyrs; in the &s;pirit of the mon&s;trous, cruell, unparallel'd Bea&s;t, <HI>Rev.</HI> 13. who hath all the cur&s;ed properties of a
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Leopard for fiercene&s;s, the feet of a Bear, to catch and hold, and the mouth of a Lion to tear and devour; in the &s;pirit of that Scarlet filthy Whore, <HI>Rev.</HI> 17. the Mother of Harlots, (the Whori&s;h Churches) who is <HI>drunk with the blood of Saints, and in her is found the blood of Prophets and Martyrs, and all that has been &s;lain on the Earth;</HI> we &s;ay they are now Ri&s;en up in this &s;pirit, again&s;t the Lord, again&s;t his Chri&s;t, and People. This is the &s;pirit that put to death our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and that murthered all the Martyrs.</P>
<P>But when we &s;eriou&s;ly weigh with our &s;elves the great and good de&s;igns God hath in this &s;trange Providence, whereat mo&s;t are confounded; to puni&s;h and &s;pue out of his mouth a Lukewarm People, who had not a thorough &s;pirit for the Work; to try the Faith and Patience of his own People as pure Gold, to conform them to their Head, to Redeem and Separate them from all the re&s;t by choice di&s;tingui&s;hing Characters, as Gold from more impure Mettal, as <HI>Gideons</HI> three hundred from the thou&s;ands, to this great Work of following the Lamb: To fulfil the Word of God, and the Prophecies of the&s;e la&s;t dayes, among which tho&s;e three in that ble&s;&s;ed Book of the <HI>Revelations, [chap.</HI> 11. 10 11, 12, 13. <HI>chap.</HI> 18, 7, 8. <HI>&amp; chap.</HI> 17. 17.] are not the lea&s;t. And to get him&s;elf a great Name, which will be more glorious by much then that of <HI>Egypt,</HI> Jer. 23. 7, 8. For as he rai&s;ed up <HI>Pharoah,</HI> &s;o hath he them, to &s;hew his Power in them, and that his Name may be declared throughout all the Earth, <HI>Rom.</HI> 9 17. They are brought as Foxes into the Snare, and as Birds into the Net. We &s;ay when we con&s;ider the&s;e things, we are &s;o far from being dejected, that we cannot re&s;train from &s;inging and prai&s;e, knowing that this will make much for Gods Honour, our good, and this Works advantage, and they &s;hall not be able to touch one hair of our head; nay, we were very much confirmed in our hopes of the &s;udden appearance of this Work, by the coming in of their poor wretched King, at whom (as the Daughter of <HI>Zion</HI> did at that great boa&s;ting <HI>A&s;&s;yrian)</HI> we laugh, and have them in deri&s;ion.</P>
<P>And when we con&s;ider the great opinions of this year, the wonderfull effects it is like to produce, the &s;weet harmony and agreement of the Prophecies, the vi&s;ibility of tho&s;e things therein foretold to fall in the time of the Witne&s;&s;es death, the great likelihood of the Witne&s;&s;es Re&s;urrection, the great New Covenant-Promi&s;e of the &s;pirit made to this Work, the wonderfull undeniable &s;igns of the times, and how miraculou&s;ly we have been cut out, and pre&s;erved for this Work, of which we &s;hall &s;peak in a brief Treati&s;e by it &s;elf: And al&s;o having our hearts broken with the Love of Chri&s;t, and boiling over, and having ta&s;ted through choice di&s;tingui&s;hing grace, the Preciou&s;ne&s;s, Power and Love of a &s;oul-endearing Je&s;us; we are mightily awakend and &s;tirred up, and that Fire that has been hid under our A&s;hes will break out into Flames, and that Fountain of the Rivers of Living Waters into Streams, as the bubbling Springs that &s;earcheth the ground, and finding entrance gu&s;heth out. Our Lives, and every thing el&s;e that is dear unto us upon a worldly account, we de&s;pi&s;e as a mean thing in compari&s;on of the glory of that Name, which is to us as precious Oyntment, and we lay all down at the feet of our Lord Je&s;us, re&s;olving if we peri&s;h to peri&s;h there.</P>
<P>And fir&s;t, we de&s;ire to lay our &s;elves in the du&s;t, to have &s;oul-aba&s;ing thoughts of our &s;elves, (for &s;uch is the nature and fruits both of the Grace and teachings of Chri&s;t) and freely to admire what we have freely received, that his pre&s;erving Grace has kept us from the defilements, &s;oul-de&s;troying Iniquities, and heart-entraping &s;nares of the&s;e perillous times, the cheats and delu&s;ions of Satan, &s;in, the world, and an evil heart; that we have not wor&s;hipped the Bea&s;t, <HI>Rev.</HI> 13. 8. defiled our Garments, and gone a whoring after &s;trange Intere&s;ts; of which we may &s;ay as <HI>Solomon</HI> of the &s;trange woman, <HI>Many &s;trong
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men have been &s;lain by her,</HI> Prov. 7. 26. And we may encourage the per&s;evering Remnant, in the words of <HI>Mo&s;es, Your eyes have &s;een what the Lord did becau&s;e of Baal-Peor; for all the men that followed Baal-Peor, the Lord thy God hath de&s;troyed them from among you: but ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God, are alive every one of you this day,</HI> Deut. 4. 3, 3. <HI>Here is the faith and patience of the Saints.</HI></P>
<P>And indeed, we cannot but admire the grace of God, and to his prai&s;e we would &s;peak it; that we were pre&s;erved from the wicked Apo&s;tacy of <HI>O. C.</HI> again&s;t which we &s;pared not to contend to the lo&s;s of our Liberties, and to the hazard of our Lives: the which we cannot but look on, as the door and inlet to all this that is now come up|on us, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 81. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. And all tho&s;e unfaithful &s;ervants that complyed with him, and his Intere&s;t, and continued in a &s;inful per&s;everance, as highly guilty of betraying the Righteous Intere&s;t, and Cau&s;e of Chri&s;t, and the Liberties of all the Saints; of &s;in again&s;t God, and the work of their Generation: whereby they have made them&s;elves unmeet for any place of Power and Tru&s;t, and others mu&s;t take their Crown; neither will they any more finde acceptance with the Lord, or his People, but upon unfeigned Repentance, which they may be&s;t te&s;tifie, by making them&s;elves nothing, that Chri&s;t may be all, and &s;erving him in the lowe&s;t and meane&s;t capacity. For tho&s;e that Chri&s;t will delight to honour in this work, are Virgins, <HI>Rev.</HI> 14. who never were e&s;pou&s;ed or marryed to a worldly, or defiling Intere&s;t: and except our names be found in tho&s;e ble&s;&s;ed, di&s;tingui&s;hing Characters, as in the Kings <HI>mu&s;ter Roll,</HI> we &s;hall never follow the Lamb with another &s;pirit, as <HI>Jo&s;bua</HI> and <HI>Caleb</HI> did. We con|clude with <HI>David, in&s;tead of thy Fathers, &s;hall be thy Children</HI> (a &s;econd Generation) <HI>whom thou maye&s;t make Princes in all the Earth,</HI> P&s;al. 45. 16.</P>
<P>We therefore freely, of a ready minde, and with a mo&s;t chearful heart (accounting it an honour too great for us, poor worms, who are the meane&s;t of men, the greate&s;t of &s;inners, and the lea&s;t of Saints, to gird on a Sword for Chri&s;t.) Give up our Lives and E&s;tates unto our Lord King Je&s;us, and to his People, to become Souldiers in the Lambs Army, abhorring Mercenary Principles, and Intere&s;ts. And for this works &s;ake we de&s;ire not to love our lives unto the death, neither will we ever (if we may &s;peak &s;o great a word with reverence in the fear of God) &s;heath our Swords again, untill <HI>Mount Zion become the joy of the whole Earth, a Mountain of holine&s;s and a habitation of ju&s;tice,</HI> untill <HI>Rome</HI> be in A&s;hes, and <HI>Babylon become a hi&s;&s;ing and a cur&s;e, the border of wickedne&s;s, and the People again&s;t whom the Lord hath indignation for ever, there being left unto her neither Name, nor Remnant, Son, nor Nephew.</HI> For that we are not pur|po&s;ed, when the Lord &s;hall have driven forth our Enemies here, in the&s;e Nations, and when we &s;hall in a holy Triumph, have led our Captivity Captive, to &s;it down under our Vines and Figg-trees, but to go on to <HI>France, Spain, Germany,</HI> and <HI>Rome,</HI> to de|&s;troy the Bea&s;t and Whore, to burn her fle&s;h with Fire, to throw her down with vio|lence as a Mil&s;tone into the Sea, that &s;he may be found no more at all, <HI>Rev.</HI> 18. 21. <HI>Jer.</HI> 51. 35. to bring not onely the&s;e, but all the Nations to the &s;ubjection of Chri&s;t, that the Kingdome may be the Lords, and to perfect the deliverance of all the Saints, the Remnant of the <HI>Walden&s;es,</HI> and all the Children of the Free-woman, who are yet groaning and crying under the Tyranny and Per&s;ecutions of Antichri&s;t, and to avenge the blood of all the Martyrs, which we earne&s;tly remember, and which is an e&s;pecial motive unto us, the cry of which is very loud in our ears, and much more in the ears of God, <HI>unto whom vengeance belangeth</HI> And this is much more then a National Quar|rel, that which is the Te&s;t now, being the Intere&s;t of Chri&s;t the blood of the Butcher'd, Murder'd, Martyr'd, and Ma&s;&s;acred Saints, the intere&s;t of the good People, the Li|berties
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of all men, and the undoing of all the &s;inful oppre&s;&s;ions and yoaks of the whole Creation.</P>
<P>The Controver&s;ie now therefore lies between <HI>Zion</HI> and <HI>Babylon,</HI> Chri&s;t and Anti|chri&s;t; and therefore we a&s;&s;ert, <HI>That it is lawfull for the true &s;piritual Seed, the legi|timate Heirs of the promi&s;es and the World,</HI> Rom. 4. 13. <HI>To RISE &V;P again&s;t the carnal, &s;erpentine, accur&s;ed &s;eed, who are the de&s;troyers of the Earth,</HI> Rev. 11. 18. <HI>To po&s;&s;e&s;s the GATE of their Enemies, to binde their Kings in Chains, and their Nobles in Fetters of Iron.</HI> And we being called of God, and <HI>cut out without hands,</HI> or humane contrivement, in whom is &s;hewn forth his Power; <HI>RISE UP</HI> on Gods behalf (free from the guilt of the breach of Oaths and Covenants upon our Con&s;ciences) to conflict with this prophane per&s;ecuting Spirit of the Dragon, and the Wor&s;hippers of the Bea&s;t that dwell on the Earth. And we <HI>Call</HI> all that have a life to lay down for their King and Saviour, to come forth again&s;t them with the Sword, and execute upon them the Judgements written. Are you a poor de&s;pi&s;ed Remnant? why, God has for|med you for him&s;elf: As Chri&s;t was a <HI>tender Plant, and a Root out of dry ground;</HI> &s;o may his Kingdom ari&s;e out of a poor, ob&s;cure, illitterate, and (&s;uch as the world calls) Fana|tick People. And <HI>out of them &s;hall come forth the Corner, the Nail, and the Battel-bow;</HI> we look for a righteous &s;piritual Magi&s;tracy out of the <HI>new &s;harp thre&s;hing In&s;trument.</HI></P>
<P>And to the end we may not lay a &s;tumbling-block to &s;hut out any (for this good and whole&s;ome Principle of Chri&s;ts Government is &s;o large, that it involves every hone&s;t Intere&s;t, and this bottom can onely &s;ecure our Cau&s;e as we could prove, but that we write not in an argumentary way) who are again&s;t the &s;ame abominations and enormities that we are, own at lea&s;t the negative part of our Cau&s;e, and in the main are &s;ub&s;tan|tially and really for the &s;ame good things with us: we al&s;o declare, that who&s;o hath a heart to appear for God, for his Chri&s;t, for Reformation, Ju&s;tice, and Righteou&s;ne&s;s, for the Cau&s;e of Truth, and for the good People of the&s;e Nations, under &s;o much re|proach and &s;ufferings, who&s;e Lives, E&s;tates, Liberties, and Po&s;terities are ready to be made a Prey by the cruelle&s;t and wor&s;t of men (who in the Properties of their natures are bea&s;ts) again&s;t Popery, Prelacy, Common-prayer, Organs, Super&s;titions, fal&s;e, pro|phane forms of Wor&s;hip, Idolatrous, Ceremonial, Typical, Antichri&s;tian &s;hadows and vanities, &s;uch as is Sirplices, Lawn Sleeves, Hoods, Tippets, and &s;uch whori&s;h tra&s;h and Trinkery, Altars, Bowing, Kneeling, and Wor&s;hipping a piece of Wood and Bread, and a Wax Candle (a filthy ba&s;e Idol) for the true God; again&s;t Idola|trous Pictures and Images (the &s;eeds of Super&s;tition and Ignorance) we &s;ay, who&s;o hath a heart to ri&s;e up for God again&s;t the Pope, his Bi&s;hops, and Hierarchy, and again&s;t the&s;e Cavaliers, who&s;e wickedne&s;s it is not fit to name, who have already polluted the Land as venemous and unclean Creatures; here is a call and opportunity for them.</P>
<P>And becau&s;e we do not lay down things in the common road, but go a &s;tep above de|praved rea&s;on, and common under&s;tanding, in repre&s;enting things under the notion of the Kingdom of Chri&s;t, &s;ome may be ready &s;imply and ignorantly, and others wil|fully, to mi&s;take, and mi&s;apprehend us; &s;ome to malicious ends, not knowing what we mean by the Kingdom of Chri&s;t, as if &s;ome &s;trange thing contrary to the &s;ound hope of the Go&s;pel, and Doctrine of the true Primitive Church, and not in Scripture and rea|&s;on, were intended, as that Chri&s;t &s;hould immediately appear to head an Army. We &s;hall therefore throw that &s;tone out of your way by Declaring, that by the Kingdom of Chri&s;t, or that part of it under the <HI>Kingdome of the Stone,</HI> which re&s;pects the Govern|ment of a well ordered Common-wealth, we mean, That we &s;hould have the be&s;t of men, of &s;ound Principles, of known integrity, haters of Bribes and Covetou&s;ne&s;s, lo|vers
<PB N="5" REF="3">
of Mercy and Ju&s;tice, that without Fees, and tedious vexatious delayes, &s;hould give you Ju&s;tice, for our Magi&s;trates and Governours: that we might have the word of God for our rule, and that judgement might proceed in all ca&s;es according to that whole&s;ome Law, which not onely God him&s;elf, the great Law-giver, but experience, and &s;ound rea&s;on doth approve the mo&s;t excellent, <HI>Deut.</HI> 4. 6, 7, 8. That di&s;tributive ju&s;tice might be equally admini&s;tred between man and man, without re&s;pect to poor or rich, free or bond; for a Magi&s;trate ought to know no man upon the Bench, but re&s;pect Ju&s;tice, Truth, and Mercy: <HI>That judgement and righteou&s;ne&s;s might flow down our &s;treets as mighty &s;treams:</HI> That <HI>violence and oppre&s;&s;ion might be heard no more in our Land:</HI> That <HI>the widows heart might &s;ing for joy,</HI> and the mournful complaints of widows and fatherle&s;s might be turned into &s;ongs, and their tears into joy: that all abu&s;es and op|pre&s;&s;ions in the ca&s;es of Creditors and Debtors might be duly reformed, with re&s;pect to Ju&s;tice and Mercy: That a con&s;tant incorrupted cour&s;e of Ju&s;tice might freely run down to all: that theft might not be puni&s;hed with death; but that re&s;titution be made ac|cording to the Law, and the Malefactor &s;old, or made to work out his redemption in &s;ome hou&s;e of Correction, which in few years would make us fewer Thieves then a thou|&s;and Gallow&s;es; but that man-&s;tealers be puni&s;hed with death: That all the poor of the Land might be &s;et to work, and we might have no beggars: That a due regulation be made with re&s;pect to the Natives, in the Manufacture and Trade of the Common|wealth: That there be no tran&s;porting of Leather unwrought, Fullers Earth, or other Commodities that may &s;poil the Manufacture of the Land, and impoveri&s;h the poor Trade&s;man: That Timber be pre&s;erved and increa&s;ed: And what&s;oever can be named of a common or publick good, we mean by the Kingdome of Chri&s;t, in the Go|vernment of the Common-wealth, and every good thing will be the fruit of it, the which we cannot have without it, no more then men &s;ow Fetches and reap Wheat. And then al&s;o <HI>will our Land yield her increa&s;e,</HI> and our fruits will not be bla&s;ted, or hurt by wet or dry &s;ea&s;ons, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 67. 6.</P>
<P>And that our brethren and friends may want no motive to incite them to &s;uch an honourable work, of &s;o great concernment, to common and publick good; let us lay to heart the loud crying abominations, and wickedne&s;s that every where abounds in the Land, the open profanene&s;s that rages in our &s;treets, their helli&s;h bla&s;phemy, drink|ing healths to the confu&s;ion of <HI>Zion,</HI> and her King (daring the mo&s;t high to his face) and if he be her King, let him come and &s;ave her, their per&s;ecuting rage, which hath extended to per&s;ons in their Families and Callings, to others in their Meetings to wor|&s;hip God, and others to the extream perils of their Lives, &s;uch is the iniquity of this day, and the implacable, biting, &s;erpentine enmity, and rage of this Enemy, who is &s;o both in Principle and Intere&s;t: we &s;ee what Intere&s;t it is that flouri&s;hes, what Sun it is that &s;hines by its influence and effects in fo&s;tering and giving life to cur&s;ed Popi&s;h and de&s;tru|ctive Intere&s;ts; we &s;ee the clu&s;ters of their Vine, the fruits of their Government in all the Land; how hath the greate&s;t &s;ins, Swearing, Drunkenne&s;s, Sabbath-breaking, Whoredome, Pride, Laciviou&s;ne&s;s, Stage-playes, Bla&s;phemy, Popery, Su&s;ter&s;tition, Idolatry been propagated and countenanced &s;ince their coming in, as a new life given to the &s;lain Serpent. Do we not al&s;o con&s;ider the Diametrical oppo&s;ition they &s;tand in to King Je&s;us; that the K. is a profe&s;t Enemy, a Rebel and Traytor to Chri&s;t. And if the &s;en&s;e of the &s;aid &s;ufferings and reproach of the precious Name of our dear Lord, and the con&s;iderations of the right he has by the <HI>Oath, Covenant,</HI> and <HI>Decree</HI> of the Fa|ther, and the <HI>Purcha&s;e</HI> of his own Heart Blood, to the Kingdom, the expiring date of Worldly Powers, this price that is put into our hands to obtain all the good things we
<PB N="6" REF="4">
have already, or &s;hall declare for, the &s;ufferings and Impri&s;onment of our Friends, will not provoke and awaken us, yet &s;urely the &s;en&s;e of our own dangers will touch us: &s;hall we &s;it &s;till, and have our throats cut, or dye like Fools, as <HI>Abner</HI> did? Or &s;hall we qui|etly give up our Necks to the Yoke, and &s;uffer the Common Prayer, Organs, &amp;c. to be impo&s;ed on us? Is <HI>I&s;rael</HI> a home-born Slave, that we &s;hould bore the ears of our &s;ouls and bodies to their Po&s;ts? What can we expect from them, if we will not take their wicked Oaths of <HI>Supremacy</HI> and <HI>Allegiance,</HI> the which we cannot do though we &s;hould dye; becau&s;e they are again&s;t both the Prie&s;tly and Kingly Offices of our Lord Je&s;us? Are not the&s;e already pre&s;&s;ed and enforced in the Countreys? And are not &s;ome already in Pri&s;on? For every Malignant according to his temper and plea&s;ure may make u&s;e of his power or &s;trength again&s;t us, under the notion of Fanaticks. Doth not <HI>the Enemy come in as a Flood,</HI> and Popery as an Inundation of mighty Waters? Who &s;ees not that it is coming in amain, and is like to over-run the whole? What can we expect when the Queen comes in, who is &s;aid to hate an Engli&s;h Prote&s;tant &s;o, that &s;he cannot endure the &s;ight of them.</P>
<P>But there is &s;ad &s;ymptoms of &s;omething wor&s;e then all this, and great ground is there to fear, (and &s;o wi&s;e men judge) that the old cur&s;ed Popi&s;h Party (who&s;e numerou&s;ne&s;s in <HI>England</HI> portends no good to us) hath already laid the de&s;ign of a Butchery and Ma&s;&s;acre of the hone&s;t Party in this Nation and <HI>Ireland,</HI> who love the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t. The which they will a&s;&s;uredly put in execution, their other Contrivements failing. For this grand de&s;ign twi&s;ts in the Intere&s;ts of the <HI>Pope,</HI> the King of <HI>Spain,</HI> the <HI>German Empire,</HI> as well as tho&s;e Serpents and Vipers that are in our own Bowels, who will &s;uck out our very heart blood, if &s;ome Remedy be not &s;ought. The Grand Con&s;piracy (which we con|ceive tho&s;e two remarkable Scriptures doth di&s;cover, <HI>Rev.</HI> 12. 17. <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 83) now on foot among&s;t the Popi&s;h Parties in <HI>Europe,</HI> again&s;t a poor de&s;pi&s;ed Remnant in <HI>England,</HI> ought to awaken every man from the &s;leep of &s;ecurity. For no doubt, the Devill and the Pope hath at this day a great De&s;ign upon <HI>England.</HI> And we are very much per|&s;waded, that there is now on foot among&s;t the Popi&s;h Parties and Je&s;uits a very great and bloody De&s;ign, to bring in Popery in <HI>England,</HI> to take the Go&s;pel from us, to root out the Name and Intere&s;t of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and all the gathered Churches in the Land: And Epi&s;copacy and Common Prayer is but the door to &s;ometing wor&s;e. And it &s;eems to us a thing very rational, that this cur&s;ed de&s;ign of the Papi&s;ts is already formed in <HI>England,</HI> hath life, moves &s;trongly, and is even &s;truggling for the Birth in the Womb of the Mi&s;tery of Iniquity; if we weigh but in the balance of Rea&s;on, the In|tere&s;t that they have in the Court, the great number of Popi&s;h Lords in the Hou&s;e, &s;ome of whom have &s;uckt in more of the Venom of the Serpent beyond the Seas, that <HI>their Sting is the Poy&s;on of Dragons, and the cruel Venom of A&s;ps,</HI> to poi&s;on and de&s;troy the precious de&s;pi&s;ed Intere&s;t of our Lord; the multitudes of Papi&s;ts about the City of <HI>We&s;t|min&s;ter,</HI> even of the bloody Iri&s;h Rebels, who cut the throats of the Prote&s;tants there, (many thou&s;ands of innocent &s;ouls) and are now &s;aid to be many thou&s;ands. If withall we con&s;ider the high favour tho&s;e Iri&s;h Lords, who were chief Actors in the Rebel lion and Ma&s;&s;acre, are in at Court; the enli&s;ting of the Papi&s;ts and old Cavaliers, whereby they are put into a capacity to act the greate&s;t Villany, the Popi&s;h Queens coming over; the putting of Papi&s;ts and old exa&s;perated Malignants into all places of Power and Command; which are as &s;o many &s;ymptoms of a generall and bloody Ma&s;|&s;acre: for it is evident, that their de&s;ign is not &s;o much again&s;t Per&s;ons as Intere&s;ts, nei|ther will the blood of a few particular Per&s;ons, &s;uch as the Kings Judges, &s;atiate their cruel, inraged, blood thir&s;ty mindes, which is &s;et on fire by Hell; but they thir&s;t for the
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Blood of us all, that they might drink Blood as the De&s;ert doth Rain: And their De|&s;ign (which hath a deeper Original then <HI>Rome)</HI> is to give &s;o great and effectuall a Blow to the Intere&s;t of Chri&s;t, and the People of God in <HI>England,</HI> that it may never Revive again, which makes them prepare &s;o great a Sacrifice, and drive all to one head, that they make a &s;hort and thorow work of it. And now will not this mighty confluence of the Papi&s;ts and Popi&s;h Intere&s;ts to <HI>England,</HI> as all the Rivers to the Sea, awaken us? How can we promi&s;e our &s;elves any &s;ecurity while&s;t we &s;ee the mo&s;t implacable, vene|mous, Serpentine Enemies, as Vipers creeping into our Bowels, who cannot merit grea|ter fame and prai&s;e from holy Church, (as they call it) then by &s;pilling the blood of Pro|te&s;tants. We &s;ee what multitudes of the cruel bloody <HI>Spaniards,</HI> under the pretext of Attendants on the Prince and Amba&s;&s;adour of <HI>Spain,</HI> is not onely come into our Land, but advantageou&s;ly placed in the heart of the City of <HI>London.</HI> And what unwelcome gue&s;ts to <HI>England,</HI> the old Queen, Prince <HI>Robert,</HI> the German Amba&s;&s;adour will bring, may ea&s;ily be imagined. Certainly the Popi&s;h Parties have &s;ome great de&s;ign upon <HI>England.</HI> We fear the Poi&s;on and deadly Sting is in this <HI>Tail</HI> of the <HI>Dragon;</HI> and al&s;o the coming in of the&s;e forreign Princes and Amba&s;&s;adors at this time, and with &s;uch Triumphs as &s;ome Ages pa&s;t have been &s;trangers to, we can look at as no le&s;s, then the fulfilling of that mo&s;t wonderful Prophecy, <HI>Rev.</HI> 11. 10. We know the Papi&s;ts Princi|ple; <HI>No faith is to be kept with Hereticks:</HI> Let us remember <HI>France</HI> and <HI>Ireland,</HI> and not forget <HI>Piedmont,</HI> who&s;e wounds bleed yet fre&s;h in our memories. They are making our Throats bare to the Knives of their Butchers; and they know well, and we &s;hall feel, if we &s;hould longer &s;it &s;till, what advantage an armed united Intere&s;t has of a na|ked di&s;per&s;ed one. And were there no more to be &s;aid then that the Law of <HI>Nature</HI> and <HI>Nations</HI> hath ordained to fly to means of pre&s;ervation in threatning and emergent dan|gers, we are highly concerned at this time to take up Armes.</P>
<P>And if we look abroad (which is wonderful to ponder, that the whole &s;tate of the <HI>Chri&s;tian Intere&s;t</HI> &s;hould be conformed to <HI>England)</HI> upon the face of things in all <HI>Europe,</HI> we can &s;ee nothing but the ruine and de&s;truction of the Prote&s;tant Cau&s;e and Reformed Intere&s;t both in <HI>France, Savoy, Bohemia, Poland,</HI> &amp;c. And it is very ob&s;ervable that every where the Popi&s;h Intere&s;t gets ground, and the de&s;ign of the univer&s;al Peace, is even now perfecting, and the top-&s;tone is laying, and things of late have wrought &s;trangely (but providentially) in order thereunto, in the death of the late King of <HI>Swe|den,</HI> and Prince of <HI>Tran&s;ilvania,</HI> as al&s;o in the coming in of <HI>Stuart</HI> into <HI>England,</HI> which can in humane probability produce nothing but bloody per&s;ecutions of the Refor|med Churches. But this con&s;ideration, that God turns a wheel within this wheel, and that the Churches of Chri&s;t, and poor de&s;pi&s;ed People of God in other Nations, are but by this di&s;pen&s;ation brought into a &s;tate of conformity to, and &s;ympathy with the death of the Witne&s;&s;es in <HI>England,</HI> is a &s;upporting one.</P>
<P>And now to &s;uffer all the&s;e things, and lo&s;e our Birth rights, and to entail Per&s;ecu|tion, Slavery, Popery, and Idolatry, to our Po&s;terities for ever, which will leave our names for a cur&s;e and &s;tink to them, is grievous; but to &s;uffer them from the Cavaliers, an old beaten Enemy, and that without &s;triking a blow, or bleeding in the Field for that which is much better then our Lives (for as a Romane could &s;ay, <HI>There is no nece&s;|&s;ity that I &s;hould live, but there is a nece&s;&s;ity that</HI> Rome <HI>&s;hould be relieved)</HI> is the Aggra|vation. For how did this old Enemy come in? did he beat us in the Field? did he win it with his Sword? is our Cau&s;e lo&s;t? or is our God dead? no! how then? why, by lies (of which the Devil is father, and &s;o (through divine permi&s;&s;ion) of their con|que&s;t) by helli&s;h plots and contrivement, clad in the robes of our dead cau&s;e, as <HI>Jacob</HI>
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in <HI>E&s;aus</HI> Garments. Well then, it is but an old conquered Enemy; he has been beat|en in the Field times often: of whom now &s;hall we be afraid? of a broken &s;erpent? of a &s;piritle&s;s Enemy?</P>
<P>We have not onely, con&s;idering what we have &s;aid, a &s;ufficiend primary, original, &s;pecial cau&s;e and call from the Covenant of God, Prophe&s;ies of the Scriptures, and time of the end; for an offen&s;ive war, to take the Kingdom, and bring the&s;e Nations into &s;ubjection to the right Scepter of Je&s;us Chri&s;t; but we are nece&s;&s;itated from &s;econ|dary, providential, aggravating cau&s;es, to be defen&s;ive on behalf of Gods Name, liber|ties of Saints, common-&s;afety, and pre&s;ervation of our Families, Wives, Children, Lives, Liberties, and E&s;tates. And who&s;o loveth God, his Countrey or his own Rights which Chri&s;t purcha&s;ed for him by his Blood, and cannot &s;ell his Body, Soul, and Con|&s;cience, to the Devil, to wicked men and their lu&s;ts, to <HI>commit &s;in with greedine&s;s, and run with them to the &s;ame exce&s;s of all manner of filthine&s;s and wickedne&s;s,</HI> mu&s;t now take up the Sword again&s;t this bea&s;tly crue, as the la&s;t remedy God has left us; for &s;uch is the unparallel'd iniquity of this day (we hope the Devil is playing his la&s;t game in <HI>England)</HI> that a man that hath but &s;obriety in his looks, can &s;carcely pa&s;s without the brand of Fanatick.</P>
<P>And the&s;e men them&s;elves have &s;et us free from the Bonds of Subjection; for we have no benefit by the Government of this bloody Family, neither are we comprehend|ed within the <HI>Verge</HI> of their Protection: Wherefore they cannot ju&s;tly challenge any Obedience from us by the Law of Nature or Nations: <HI>For a man is not bound to pay him Subjection who &s;eeks his De&s;truction.</HI></P>
<P>But although, <HI>The Children are brought to the Birth, there is no &s;trength to bring forth;</HI> the hour is now come, and we are travelling in pain to be delivered, for the Name of our God, the Noble and Precious Intere&s;t of his Chri&s;t, and the Deliverance of his Saints and People; and O how are we &s;traitned till it be done! We have been with much fear and trembling in this work, and much wre&s;tling have we had with the Lord: for &s;o far as he has revealed our &s;elves unto us, we had rather &s;uffer all things, not onely to the lo&s;s of our Names, and E&s;tates, but even our very Lives, for his &s;ake, who &s;ince we believed is made precious to us, then di&s;honour his great and holy Name; and our &s;ouls are &s;weetly quieted in the Lord, and abundantly &s;atisfied in the time; and certainly <HI>if we be deceived, God has deceived us.</HI> And now <HI>the Love of Chri&s;t has con&s;trained us</HI> to ap|peare in the face of the greate&s;t perills and dangers, <HI>none of which move us &s;o we may fini&s;h our cour&s;e with joy,</HI> and &s;erve our Generation in the Work which God hath com|mitted to us, according to his will. And we profe&s;s we have nothing but the <HI>naked Arm</HI> of the Lord to tru&s;t in; and if we peri&s;h, we'l peri&s;h in believing his promi&s;es, in &s;er|ving and promoting his Cau&s;e, in contending for this Noble Truth of the Kingdom of his dear Son. And this is our joy, that our God has bound him&s;elf by his promi&s;es (in his fear we &s;peak it, and with Reverence) to appear for his People: And if God &s;hould not appear for the poor <HI>Remnant of Jacob,</HI> but &s;uffer them for whom his precious blood was &s;hed to fall before Papi&s;ts, and Cavaliers, and prophane, drunken, damning, &s;wear|ing Idolatrous, Adulterous, wicked and ungodly men; and &s;hould &s;uffer the Cau&s;e of the Papi&s;ts, of the bloody Family of the <HI>Stuarts,</HI> of the old bloody, Popi&s;h, wicked Gentry of the Nation, of the drunken, dumb, Popi&s;h, &s;candalous Clergy, to get the up|per hand of his own Cau&s;e, and &s;hould &s;uffer all our Reformation to be lo&s;t, then <HI>what would become of his great Name? It was becau&s;e he could not bring them into the good Land</HI> (will the Enemy &s;ay) <HI>that he has de&s;troyed them in the Wilderne&s;s:</HI> What will become of his promi&s;e to <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac,</HI> and <HI>Jacob,</HI> and their Seed? How will the New Cove|nant
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&s;ealed with the Blood of Chri&s;t, and the Oath that he &s;ware unto <HI>David</HI> in his ho|line&s;s, be verified.</P>
<P><HI>Now therefore,</HI> to come to the matter of our Declaration, that we may lay the <HI>Ground-work</HI> of &s;o great a Building, and &s;tir up and provoke our Brethren in all the Countries, as al&s;o in the City of <HI>London,</HI> to &s;hare with us in this honour, and be parta|kers in this work, and now to prepare them&s;elves, and in all points to be ready, in order to a general rende&s;vouzing on <HI>Mount Zions bottom.</HI> We Declare,</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>That we will not have one &s;tone of Babylon for a Corner, or for a Foundation, Jer.</HI> 51. 26. We will not have any thing to do with the Antichri&s;tian Magi&s;tracy, Mini&s;try, Tythes, &amp;c. which are none of our Lords appointments, but the cheats and counter|&s;eits of the man of &s;in and my&s;tery of iniquity. We will not make any league, or joyn any affinity with them, <HI>Rev.</HI> 14. 9, 10, 11. But we Declare for, and exhort unto a final and &s;trict &s;eparation from the National Parochial Church, Wor&s;hip, Mini&s;try, way, and Idolatrous high places, as none of Chri&s;ts but Antichri&s;ts, as fal&s;e and Babyloni&s;h, <HI>Rev.</HI> 18. 4. And we cannot but look upon the National Mini&s;try, even in its greate&s;t reformation and purity, in the time of the late <HI>O. C.</HI> and his Tryers, as Antichri&s;tian, and that which ought to be di&s;owned and &s;eparated from by all the true Churches of Je|&s;us Chri&s;t, in their Foundation Call, &s;tanding in the Pari&s;h A&s;&s;emblies and Maintainance. And we contend for a righteous Magi&s;tracy, that may be <HI>a terrour to evil doors and a prai&s;e to them that do well,</HI> and for a true Go&s;pel Mini&s;tery with their Maintainance: And we own and declare our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t (unto whom and who&s;e Laws we will alone &s;ubmit, as unto him who is the Fountain and Original of all ju&s;t and lawful Power) to be the Supreame Head and Law giver of the&s;e Nations, the alone <HI>LEGISLATOR,</HI> who has right to make and give Laws for the governing of the Common-wealth, and who is <HI>King of Saints and Nations,</HI> who&s;e royal Laws and Precepts mu&s;t be &s;ubmitted unto in Church and State, and Tyranny, Monarchy, and Antichri&s;tiani&s;me de&s;troyed and rooted up in both; his <HI>Laws</HI> and <HI>Statutes</HI> contained in the Holy Scriptures, and remaining in force &s;ince his death, to be the <HI>Law</HI> by which the&s;e Nations &s;hall be go|verned and judged; and his Saints (without re&s;pect had to any particular from or judge|ment) on whom &s;hall re&s;t <HI>the &s;pirit of councel and wi&s;dome,</HI> &s;hall be the <HI>Admini&s;trators</HI> thereof, or &s;hall have the <HI>executive Power.</HI> So &s;hall we have Magi&s;trates like <HI>Job,</HI> that will be <HI>eyes to the blinde, and feet to the lame, and Fathers to the poor, that will break the jaws of the wicked, and pluck the &s;poil out of his teeth,</HI> Job 29. And we &s;hall be <HI>the ble&s;|&s;ed of the Lord,</HI> who&s;e habitations &s;hall be full of the ble&s;&s;ings of heaven and earth, and full of <HI>Peace</HI> on the foundation of <HI>Truth,</HI> and we &s;hall be the happie&s;t people in the world, having the be&s;t Laws and the be&s;t Governours, <HI>Deut.</HI> 4 6, 7, 8.</P>
<P>And as <HI>Babylon</HI> will be de&s;troyed, and the fal&s;e Antichri&s;tian Church will be no more; &s;o the true Church and Spou&s;e of Chri&s;t will be brought out of the wilderne&s;s, from all her di&s;per&s;ions, darkne&s;s, and confu&s;ions, and will be purged and purified from all her corruptions both in matter and form; and from the ri&s;e of the Witne&s;&s;es, the preaching of the everla&s;ting Go&s;pel, the begining of the down-fall of Antichri&s;t, and the &s;et|ting up the Kingdome of Chri&s;t, the Churches of Chri&s;t, and &s;incere profe&s;&s;ours of the Go&s;pel, with the addition of new converts, will begin to appear with the Lamb on <HI>Mount-Zion,</HI> in all the Primitive Glory and Purity of the New Te&s;tament-Churches for Matter, Doctrine, and Order. But &s;o far as the Churches are in <HI>Babylon,</HI> and by &s;in|ful compliance with Antichri&s;tian wor&s;hip, and the evils and Apo&s;tacy of the times, have not kept, but defiled their Garments; and &s;o far as they have left their <HI>fir&s;t Love,</HI> own|ed and &s;tood by them that held the Doctrine of <HI>Balaam,</HI> &s;uffered that woman <HI>Jezebel</HI>
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to teach and &s;educe, had a name to live and are dead, have not kept the word of Chri&s;ts patience, and have been luke-warm, and lo&s;t their favour, their <HI>Candle&s;tick</HI> &s;hall be removed; and the true mortified, quickened, &s;piritual Members, that are in the flower of their virginity, or have kept their &s;implicity, will be gathered as the precious from the vile, and with all the poor &s;cattered <HI>&s;tones and du&s;t</HI> of <HI>Zion,</HI> the living &s;piritual &s;tones, be built up the &s;econd time, the great <HI>New Te&s;tament-Temple,</HI> when al&s;o our Lord will appear in his Glory, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 102. 13, 14, 16. For God we are per&s;waded has a great Controver&s;ie with the Churches, who ought to be <HI>the ground and pillar of Truth,</HI> for their corruption and Apo&s;tacy, and becau&s;e they have not received and contended for the great <HI>New Covenant-Truth</HI> of the Kingdome of our Lord Je&s;us.</P>
<P N="2">2. That all <HI>Civill Liberty,</HI> and Rights of men, (which with every mans <HI>Propertie</HI> we a&s;&s;ert) &s;hall ri&s;e alone upon the <HI>Foundation,</HI> and grow upon the <HI>Root</HI> of the Vi&s;ible Kingdom of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, which we hope, and greatly de&s;ire, may from hence|forth take place among us according to the Prophecies of the Scriptures, and <HI>become a great Mountain filling the whole Earth.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. That the chief of the Spoil which &s;hall be taken in Battell, and all the E&s;tates which &s;hall be forfeited through Trea&s;on and Rebellion, &s;hall be brought into one com|mon Trea&s;ury, according to the Word of the Lord, <HI>Their Gain &s;hall be con&s;ecrate to the Lord, and their Sub&s;tance to the Lord of the whole Earth,</HI> Micah 4. 13. That it may not feed the Fowls of Prey, or enrich and corrupt particular per&s;ons as of late, but carry on the Work of God with the Army of the Lamb, in which every Souldier &s;hall be &s;uffici|ently provided for, by a certain honourable con&s;tant Revenue, i&s;&s;uing out of the &s;aid Trea&s;ury, according to his Place, Degree, Services, and Family.</P>
<P>And for accompli&s;hing and attaining the&s;e great and weighty ends, we Declare al&s;o for the Razing, De&s;troying, and perpetuall Rooting out of the whole <HI>Con&s;titutions</HI> and <HI>Foundations</HI> of the <HI>Antichri&s;tian Laws</HI> and <HI>Government</HI> of the&s;e Nations; for the Remo|ving of <HI>Taxes, Tythes, Exci&s;e,</HI> and <HI>Cu&s;tomes</HI> al&s;o, &s;o far as Oppre&s;&s;ive and unlawfull; &s;lavi&s;h tenures of Land, Oppre&s;&s;ions of Landlords, Monarthy and Lord&s;hip as well in Church as State; &s;o al&s;o in Cities, Societies, and Families, wherein the Rights of younger Brethren will be vindicated according to Law, (the nature whereof is Ju&s;tice, Mercy, and Equity, wherein is no footing for &s;uch &s;ictions as this wicked Law teacheth to di&s;tingui&s;h between Courts of Ju&s;tice and Equity) and the <HI>Nimrod</HI> &s;pirit and Mono|polies of elder Brethren (unto whom as Kings in the Family, the younger Brethren are Slaves and Subjects, which is one grand branch of Tyranny, and Intere&s;t of Monarchy) pulled down, who&s;e Intere&s;t neverthele&s;s, by right of Primogeniture, is a&s;&s;erted accord|ing to the Kings Law, to wit, two-fold: <HI>For the ballance of Lands mu&s;t be adaequate to the Government of the Commonwealth.</HI></P>
<P>And as our great de&s;ire is to take off all yoaks and oppre&s;&s;ions both of a civil and &s;pi|ritual nature from the necks of the poor people; &s;o &s;hall we endeavour to ca&s;t the <HI>wing</HI> of protection over them, their Per&s;ons, Families, and Intere&s;ts, to pre&s;erve them from Free-quarter, Plunder, and all other injuries, and violences what&s;oever, being re&s;olved fir&s;t to offer up our own proper E&s;tates for our nece&s;&s;ary maintainance. For it &s;hall be our great and indefatigable care to pre&s;erve an excellent and &s;trict <HI>Di&s;cipline</HI> in our Army, that not the lea&s;t wrong of how &s;mall value &s;oever may be done, alwayes re|&s;pecting <HI>Propriety;</HI> &s;o that all per&s;ons (other then &s;uch as &s;hall oppo&s;e and rebell again&s;t this righteous Intere&s;t) may expect the fruition thereof in their peaceable demeanours of them&s;elves, in their lawful occa&s;ions, and Family concerns.</P>
<P>And it is not the lea&s;t thing to be looked at, that hereby the Go&s;pel will have free
<PB N="11" REF="6">
acce&s;s (which &s;eems to be one of the fir&s;t fruits of the Saints rende&s;vouze, <HI>Revel.</HI> 14. 6, 7.) and poor &s;inners will be converted unto Chri&s;t, and be enlightened with the glo|rious light of his &s;alvation. And indeed that great and general conver&s;ion both of <HI>Jews</HI> and <HI>Gentiles,</HI> which the Prophecies &s;peaks of, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 60. 5, will be one of the greate&s;t ble&s;&s;ings (the &s;oul-ble&s;&s;ing) that the Kingdom of Chri&s;t will bring with it, under which both &s;in and Satan will receive &s;o fatall a blow, that his Kingdom will be de&s;troyed; the which doth commend the Excellency and Nature of this ble&s;&s;ed Kingdom, above the barren, and &s;oul-de&s;troying Intere&s;ts of <HI>Antichri&s;t,</HI> Rev. 18. 13. under who&s;e Govern|ment poor ignorant &s;ouls are hardened and lo&s;t. And it has been for &s;ome years pa&s;t a rare thing to hear of the reall Conver&s;ion of one &s;oul through the Mini&s;try of the Natio|nal Pari&s;h Mini&s;ters, &s;o dead, dry, dark, and barren has their Mini&s;try been, &s;o much have they de&s;iled their Garments, &s;tumbled, hardened, and offended &s;inners, kept out the Truth of the Kingdom from their Churches and A&s;&s;emblies, &s;o lo&s;ing abundance of the Power and Riches of the Go&s;pel, (which neverthele&s;s by the mouths of Babes and Suck|lings has been conveyed to poor vile &s;inners, &s;o effectual has it been unto Conver&s;ion) &s;o little has the Go&s;pel been powerfully and effectually preached by them, who&s;e hired Labours can never countervail the many Families they have wickedly de&s;troyed for Tythes: But <HI>the Remnant of Jacob &s;hall be as a dew from the Lord,</HI> when Magi&s;trates and Soldiers &s;hall preach the Go&s;pel, and <HI>teach the people knowledge,</HI> as well as tho&s;e appointed unto the Word and Doctrine; for this Cheat of the Whore of <HI>Rome,</HI> and Innovation of <HI>Antichri&s;t,</HI> Monopolizing the Work of the Mini&s;try, (to make a Trade of the Go&s;|pel, and <HI>Slaves and Souls of men)</HI> into their own hands, limiting and appropriating it unto Per&s;ons in Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Offices, &s;hall be taken away.</P>
<P>And finally, We mo&s;t earne&s;tly de&s;ire, and call all that love our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and wait for his Kingdom, to <HI>offer them&s;elves willingly with us in this Work,</HI> that as in that Renowned Hi&s;tory, <HI>Judges</HI> 5. 9 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 23. <Q>Out of <HI>Ephraim</HI> there may be a Root of us again&s;t <HI>Amaleek,</HI> after thee <HI>Benjamin</HI> among thy People; out of <HI>Machir</HI> &s;hall come down Governours, and out of <HI>Zebulun</HI> they that handle the Pen of the Writer: The Princes of <HI>I&s;&s;achar</HI> with <HI>Deborah</HI> and <HI>Barak</HI> on foot in the Valley. And if <HI>Reuben</HI> will continue in his divi&s;ions, and abide among the Sheepfolds to hear the bleatings of the Flocks; <HI>Gilead</HI> abide beyond <HI>Jordan, Dan</HI> remain in Ships, and <HI>A&s;her</HI> continue on the Sea-&s;hore, and abide in his breaches; yet <HI>Zebulun</HI> and <HI>Napthali</HI> will be a People that will jeopard their lives unto the death in the high places of the field; and <HI>Meroz</HI> &s;hall be accur&s;ed, becau&s;e they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord again&s;t the mighty.</Q> And <HI>our heart being towards you that among all the People offer your &s;elves willingly to the Work,</HI> we be&s;eech you &s;et all things in order prepare your &s;elves, and let the Rich help the Poor, that with one mouth we may all &s;ay, <HI>Thine are we David, and on thy &s;ide thou &s;on of Je&s;&s;e; Peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee,</HI> 1 Chron. 12. 18. And if any of the old Army which God hath laid a&s;ide, who&s;e hearts he hath touched, do quit their Intere&s;ts, and come to us on this alone la&s;ting Foundation, they &s;hall be willingly received.</P>
<P>We have but one word more, and that is unto young Converts, who (together with tho&s;e who have &s;eparated from Antichri&s;t, in his pure&s;t Forms and Dre&s;&s;es, and have been kept through rich Grace from the defilements of the Times, and the late Apo&s;tacy) are like to be the choice&s;t in&s;truments in this Work. Precious hone&s;t heart, let neither thy &s;ins, pa&s;t mi&s;carriages, want of faith, nor any other imperfection di&s;courage thee from flying unto Chri&s;ts <HI>Standard</HI> but as thou art with thy &s;oul all broken in pieces, throw thy &s;elf down at the feet of our Lord Je&s;us, and come dye for him, who &s;pared not his own precious heart-blood for thee, and thy life, he &s;aith and all things pertaining thereunto &s;hall be given thee.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="12" REF="7">
<HEAD>Some choice Teachings and Hints of a poor de&s;pi&s;ed <HI>Remnant,</HI> from that great Prophecy of the VVITNESSES, <HI>Rev.</HI> II. Humbly &s;ubmitted to Saints Con&s;ideration.</HEAD>
<P>IN this three Years and half (of which <HI>Elijahs</HI> Time of the three years and &s;ix months was a very great type) of the Witne&s;&s;es death, God has been dealing with us, as he did with that his worthy &s;ervant: we have never been without the Bread of the Promi&s;es, and the Waters of Spiritual comfort; and this Prophecy, &s;ince we had the Light of it, has been as a Fountatin to us, for new &s;trength, to corroborate us, to con|firme us, and in the Promi&s;e of the &s;pirit of Life, we have had a &s;alve for every &s;ore, and &s;trength again&s;t every Temptation. So that altho our Brooks are dryed, and Ravens gone, (publick Ordinances and worldly helps) yet have we &s;till a handfull of meal, and a little oyl, with the Widow of <HI>Zareptah,</HI> (an invi&s;ible Fountain, a living &s;tore) which will la&s;t us till the Rain comes.</P>
<P>We cannot but take notice of the &s;oul-melting goodne&s;&s;e of our God, that he has given us this valley of <HI>Achor</HI> for a door of Hope; that he has &s;hewed us a right way in the Wilderne&s;s, in&s;omuch that we can &s;ay of many choice Teachings and &s;ignall Hints, which through free Grace we have been made partakers of, under which we have cau&s;e to be mightily humbled, this was the Spirit of God, and this was the place of Loves. Of all which in particular, if the Spirit bring them to our Remembrance, as al&s;o of the manifold Grace of God, we tru&s;t we &s;hall talk at the Rendezvouz on Mount Zion, among the Virgins to his Prai&s;e. And now we cannot but admire the wonderful Providences of God; that he has called us into our &s;ecret Chambers, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 26. 20. wherein he hath brought us to a &s;tate of near conformity and re&s;emblance to him&s;elf, and the fir&s;t-fruits of the Pri|mitive Saints, who (when the Shepheard was &s;mitten and lay in the Grave, and the cloud was &s;o black, that of all the thou&s;ands that were wont to hear him and follow him, were left but 120 Names, as the fruits of all his Preaching and Miracles) were privately toge|ther in an Upper Room for fear of the Jews, waiting for the great <HI>New Te&s;tament-Pro|mi&s;e.</HI> And &s;urely now God has &s;ome great thing for his People that he calls them &s;o near unto him&s;elf.</P>
<P>Now we &s;hall &s;hew our Opinion of the&s;e things, and with &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion give our judge|ment of the pre&s;ent &s;tate of Affairs. In the doing whereof we &s;hall omit many things, and but name the re&s;t.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>That the two Witne&s;&s;es are that precious, &s;elect, &s;eparated Remnant of Chri&s;t in the Churches, who in every Age and Generation, are witne&s;&s;ing too, and to the death contending for the great truth of their Age,</HI> ver. 3, 4.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>That the&s;e two Witne&s;&s;es are at this day &s;lain, and lie dead.</HI> Proved,</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P N="1">1. From the great probability there is, and ground we have to judge from what tho&s;e worthy and famous men, <HI>German Author</HI> and <HI>Tillingha&s;t,</HI> and other Authors of no &s;mall authority have writ; That the 1290 dayes, <HI>Dan.</HI> 12. 11. which of nece&s;&s;ity mu&s;t be hea|ded (according to the Character of the Vi&s;ion) with that remarkable Act of <HI>Julian, A. D.</HI> 366. And the 42. moneths (or the Dominion of the Power of darkne&s;&s;e and of the night, which is not mea&s;ured by dayes according to the motion of the Sun, as the Wit|ne&s;&s;es
<PB N="13" REF="7">
Prophecy is, but by moneths, after the motion of the Moon which ruleth the night, &s;o <HI>Mede)</HI> of the Bea&s;ts Tyranny and Per&s;ecution, (which is headed by his ri&s;e, <HI>A. D.</HI> 396. for thirty years mu&s;t pa&s;s between the heads of the&s;e two Numbers, becau&s;e they expire at one and the &s;ame time, &s;o <HI>Tilling.) Rev.</HI> 13. 5. (in which it is ob&s;ervable that the utmo&s;t continuance of the Bea&s;t is not mea&s;ured out, but onely the time of his Commi&s;&s;ion unto blood, limited) ended with that remarkable year, 1656. according to their computions of the my&s;ticall Numbers.</P>
<P>But &s;ome will di&s;like this opinion, and di&s;allow the&s;e heads of account, (the which neverthele&s;s if we let go, we &s;hall be quite lo&s;t in our Enquiry) becau&s;e the time then mu&s;t be expired, and yet the fruit doth not appear. And how (&s;ay they) will you bring the my&s;ticall Numbers and their computations to a harmony and agreement?</P>
<P>To &s;uch we thus an&s;wer,</P>
<P>That the time, times, and an half, <HI>Dan.</HI> 12. 7. which are not the whole time of the Vi&s;ion, (for that is particularly expre&s;&s;ed afterward) but are laid down as a Mark and Character of the end of wonders, are not to be reckoned for a part of the 1290. dayes, <HI>ver.</HI> 11. but are a time di&s;tinct, and to be added thereunto.</P>
<P>That the three dayes and an half of the Witne&s;&s;es lying dead, <HI>Rev.</HI> 11. 9. are not to be taken for any part of the forty two moneths, <HI>ver.</HI> 2. or the 1260. dayes, <HI>ver.</HI> 3. for they are to Prophe&s;ie &s;o long, but we mu&s;t put a difference, becau&s;e the Scriptures doth &s;o, between their Prophe&s;ying time, and the time of their lying dead. But the three years and an half are to be added into the thou&s;and, two hundred, and three&s;core, to compleat the time of the whole Captivity.</P>
<P>That the time, times and half of the womans flight into the Wilderne&s;s, <HI>Rev.</HI> 12 14. is no part of the 1260. years v. 6. For the holy Gho&s;t hath put a manife&s;t di&s;tinction For 1. Between the&s;e two flights of the woman into the Wilderne&s;&s;e, there is a great War, wherein the Dragons Cau&s;e &s;uffers much detriment, <HI>v.</HI> 7. 8, 9. 2. There is a wonderfull Triumph among the Saints, the woman begins to put off her mourning weeds, and to come out of the Wilderne&s;s, and the Witne&s;&s;es begin to lay their Sack|cloth a&s;ide, &s;uppo&s;ing now all the Winter Storms to be gone, and a glorious &s;pring of Salvation to be come, <HI>v.</HI> 10, 11, 12. But 3. the black Cloud of the Witne&s;&s;es &s;laugh|ter, over-&s;preads the beautiful face of all their hopes, and that &s;un-&s;hine &s;ummer day is turned into blackne&s;&s;e, threatening no le&s;&s;e then a &s;torm of blood, <HI>v.</HI> 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. 4. The different phra&s;e or manner of &s;peaking notes a great change in the Vi&s;ion; in the fir&s;t &s;tation in the Wilderne&s;&s;e, during the 1260. dayes, they (to wit the Witne&s;&s;es) feed her there, <HI>v.</HI> 6. <HI>i. e.</HI> &s;he hath more &s;en&s;ible helps, as <HI>Elijah</HI> had from his Ravens, and Brook, the beginning of his three years and an half, (in which he was a Type of this 12. of the <HI>Rev.)</HI> But in her &s;econd &s;tation, during the time, times and half, (the &s;ame with the three years and a half of the Witne&s;&s;es death) &s;he is nouri&s;hed, <HI>i. e.</HI> but ju&s;t kept alive as <HI>Elijah</HI> was afterwards when the Famine grew &s;ore, with the widow of <HI>Za|reptab,</HI> and after that again in the wilderne&s;s: It will be a time of great dearth and bar|renne&s;s; a cold winter &s;ea&s;on with Grace, a time of Autumn with publick Ordinances and holy Duties; yet a Principle of Grace will be kept alive, and that's all, <HI>v.</HI> 14.</P>
<P>And without this di&s;tinction in the times, we &s;hall confound and de&s;troy the Harmony of the My&s;ticall Numbers, and make &s;uch a jar, that it will be hard to reconcile things.</P>
<P>This Seal was never opened until of late, being re&s;erved for this very time, <HI>Dan.</HI> 12. 4. It is a <HI>Door</HI> into the inner mo&s;t Clo&s;et of the my&s;ticall Numbers; a <HI>Key</HI> to unlock the great Trea&s;ures of the time.</P>
<P>And indeed we have &s;ometimes thought, that &s;ome great my&s;tery was in this number:
<PB N="14" REF="8">
For 1. It is the <HI>ending-time, Dan.</HI> 12. 7. the <HI>great Character</HI> which Chri&s;t him&s;elf lays down of the end of Wonders. 2. God hath in all tho&s;e three famous Prophecies made it a di&s;tinct Period. 3. It is mo&s;t famous for the dealth of the Witne&s;&s;es, and other wonderful things. It is a time of all other times remarkable, wherein the lea&s;t time is allowed the greate&s;t things: a time of the greate&s;t &s;ufferings and dangers, yet without Blood.</P>
<P>Now let us make a plain Application, by adding this number of years unto the 1290. and 1260. dayes, which ended (according to the be&s;t Judgement we can make) with 1656. and it brings us to this very year 1660. In which if the Work begin, what tho&s;e holy men have writ will be verified.</P>
<P N="2">2. From the Vi&s;ibility of tho&s;e very things, the Prophecies foretold &s;hould occurre within the three years and a half of the Witne&s;&s;es lying dead. Thus al&s;o <HI>Tilling ha&s;t, Know l. Times, pag.</HI> 90, 91, 92. We &s;hall in&s;tance in a few things, which are as plain &s;igns of the time of the end, as <HI>Herods</HI> Reigning in <HI>Judah</HI> was that the <HI>Me&s;&s;ias</HI> was come, or as tho&s;e that went before the de&s;truction of <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> by the <HI>Romans.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. In the time of the Witne&s;&s;es death, in the place or Nation where their dead Bodies lye, there &s;hall be a People that &s;hall favour the Witne&s;&s;es, and withal be &s;o potent as to awe the Bea&s;t, and keep him from open per&s;ecution, that he &s;hall not be able to come to blood, neither at the beginning, nor at the end of the three years and a half; who yet &s;etting them&s;elves (to u&s;e M. <HI>Tilling ha&s;ts</HI> very words) upon a worldly Intere&s;t as their highe&s;t aim, &s;hall neither openly declare for the Witne&s;&s;es Cau&s;e, nor again&s;t the Bea&s;t, <HI>ver.</HI> 9.</P>
<P N="2">2. This people who are a moderate civil kinde of People, pretending to Reformation in matters of <HI>State,</HI> will have a Principal hand in the Government of that Nation for the mo&s;t part of the three years and a half, until about the la&s;t half year as it &s;eemeth to us. At what time not being able longer to &s;ecure their own Cau&s;e through the deficiency of their bottom, they unwillingly give way unto another Party in the next ver&s;e, whom they had once Conquered, and now long kept out.</P>
<P>And this Party is called <HI>the dwellers on the Earth, v.</HI> 10. A Character that de&s;cribes them to the life, and what their very nature is; They are the old carnall, Cavalier, Popi&s;h Party, who as the Earth is the gro&s;&s;e&s;t part of all the Elements, &s;o are they of all others, that ever had a hand in the Government during all that Reformation that had been made through the Witne&s;&s;es Prophe&s;ying. And the&s;e &s;hall come in upon the Witne&s;&s;es and their Cau&s;e as a Flood, to over-flow all our Reformation again with Popery, Prelacy, and Super&s;tition, as the Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> hath it <HI>Chap.</HI> 59 19. Our Banks that we had by means of that Commonwealth Party, being all broken down, through the impetuous Violence and Potency of the waves of that party, who&s;e threatnings, great boa&s;ts, and Bla&s;phemies are like the raging of the &s;ea, but come to very little: For it &s;eems to us, that the Cava|liers from their fir&s;t coming in, have but about &s;ix moneths time.</P>
<P>So that in the Nation where the Witne&s;&s;es lye dead there will be towards the very end of the three years and a half a very great and a&s;toni&s;hing change in the Government of that Nation, and a &s;trange returning, and bringing of things about to the old Center, where yet they will &s;tand but few moneths.</P>
<P N="3">3. In this time there will be laid and driven on the de&s;ign of a <HI>General and Univer&s;all Peace,</HI> and ju&s;t about the very end of it, will it be accompli&s;hed; &s;o that when they &s;hall think the day is their own, the blacke&s;t &s;torm, and greate&s;t woe will &s;uddenly come upon them, 1 <HI>The&s;&s;.</HI> 5. 3. And one of the main ends of the coming in of this Party, is to effect this thing, and bring that Nation to a Conformity and Agreement with the
<PB N="15" REF="8">
re&s;t which otherwayes would &s;tand out, by rea&s;on of the &s;eed of Reformation which the Witne&s;&s;es had &s;own in it. There is three Prophecies poynt at this thing, and are now fulfilled very wonderfully upon us, this of <HI>Rev.</HI> 11. 10, and <HI>chap.</HI> 18. 7, 8, with <HI>ch.</HI> 17. 17. which is the plaine&s;t of all.</P>
<P N="4">4. There &s;hall be among <HI>the Dwellers on the Earth</HI> a wonderful Triumph over the dead and &s;ur|pre&s;&s;ed Witne&s;&s;es, &s;uppo&s;ing them and their Cau&s;e to be now dead and &s;unck for ever, and them&s;elves &s;o fa&s;t and &s;ecure, that they &s;hall not be moved for ever, <HI>ver.</HI> 10. Neverthele&s;s, it &s;eems to us they &s;hall not effect, or accompli&s;h any great or weighty matters; but the greate&s;t part of their little time, will be &s;pent in <HI>Rejoycing, Fea&s;ting, taking plea&s;ure, making merry, and &s;ending gifts one to another</HI> for their &s;uppo&s;ed new and great Victory, and that until the fatall day come upon them.</P>
<P N="5">5. Towards the end of this time (which the Lord hath every where &s;et a mark upon, as that which &s;hall period the Sufferings and Captivity of the Gentile Churches) &s;ome bloody and cruell de&s;ign will be laid by the <HI>Dragon</HI> again&s;t <HI>the Remnant of the Womans Seed,</HI> who appear for Chri&s;t and the Truth, in the time their Brethren the Witne&s;&s;es lye dead, either of a Ma&s;&s;acre, Bani&s;hment, or fiery Per&s;ecuti|on, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 83. which ju&s;t upon the point of the three years and a halfs expiring, he will attempt to put in execution, <HI>Rev.</HI> 12. 17. but &s;hall never accompli&s;h it, <HI>chap.</HI> 14. 1.</P>
<P>The&s;e &s;igns mo&s;t of them are al&s;o in <HI>M. Till. Knowl. of Times,</HI> who&s;e Method we have in part followed.</P>
<P>Now &s;ome for want of light in the&s;e Prophecies may think, that in the&s;e things there is a great like|ne&s;s of the Witne&s;&s;es Slaughter; and that they do not (as indeed they do, as will be found of him who diligently &s;earcheth) immediately go before their Ri&s;e, but is rather the &s;laughter of them, or &s;omething in order to it. But that cannot be for this Rea&s;on, becau&s;e then mu&s;t we come to per&s;ecution, and their death would be a corporall Death; for it is not the Bea&s;ts clemency or mildne&s;s, but want of time that cuts him &s;hort in this point. But that their death will not be a corporall death, but civill and &s;pirituall we could prove by many &s;ound and unan&s;werable Rea&s;ons. And that we are not to expect any more per&s;ecu|tion unto blood, or &s;uffering for Go&s;pel Truths after the Witne&s;&s;es death, is as plain. The pre&s;ent di|&s;tre&s;s being rather a Nationall Quarrel then any thing el&s;e.</P>
<P>And now unto the&s;e things that are tran&s;acted on the Stage, let us adde the&s;e two.</P>
<P N="1">1. That the&s;e things are of great u&s;e unto the people of God that have kept their Garments in any mea&s;ure. For by the&s;e Trialls God is <HI>taking the Precious from the Vile,</HI> blowing the chaffe from the wheat, rai&s;ing up a new Generation, and making of them <HI>a new &s;harp thre&s;hing In&s;trument with teeth,</HI> and &s;eparating &s;ome for his own &s;ervice by the marks of Non-conformity; all which look very like that Prophecy, <HI>Rev.</HI> 14. 3, 4. Chri&s;t is gathering his <HI>fir&s;t ripe Fruits,</HI> redeeming a precious Remnant from the Earth, and &s;evering them from among all men, that they may follow him with another &s;pirit, as <HI>Jo&s;hua</HI> and <HI>Caleb</HI> did, and not come &s;hort of their work through temptations of Honour, Profit, and worldly Vanities, as &s;ome have done to their &s;hame.</P>
<P N="2">2. That this ble&s;&s;ed, &s;trong, lively, &s;upplicating, wre&s;tling, pulling, groaning, travelling, praying Spi|rit among the <HI>poor dry Bones,</HI> the &s;cattered de&s;pi&s;ed <HI>Stones and Du&s;t of Zion,</HI> which takes hold of Gods Arm, <HI>i. e.</HI> Chri&s;t, Covenant, Oath, Promi&s;e, Faithfulne&s;&s;e, and Word, is a great token, and Symptome of Deliverance, <HI>Zech.</HI> 10. 1.</P>
<P>Thus much to the &s;econd Point.</P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>That</HI> O. C. <HI>kill'd the Witne&s;&s;es, and that the place of their lying dead is</HI> England.</P>
<P N="1">1. That <HI>O. C.</HI> kill'd them, proved by two Arguments.</P>
<P N="1">1. This la&s;t War of the Bea&s;t again&s;t the Witne&s;&s;es is altogether different from that which hitherto he had waged continually again&s;t the company of the Saints, <HI>Rev.</HI> 13. 7.</P>
<P N="1">1. It is not of the &s;ame kinde: the former was alwayes with &s;word, fire and fagot; this a certain kinde of &s;pirituall War: in that they dy'd corporally, in this civilly and &s;piritually, (and in the latter &s;en&s;e lies the blackne&s;&s;e of the day, as <HI>Tillingha&s;t</HI> well ob&s;erves.) In the former War the Bea&s;t could never get the Victory in a &s;piritual &s;en&s;e; for they alwayes dy'd Conquerours, and triumphed over him in the mid&s;t of Flames maugre all his rage, which bred in him a certain kinde of torment; but now being more old and cunning, and withall &s;uch a <HI>Day-&s;tar</HI> of Reformation being Ri&s;en through the Witne&s;&s;es pro|phe&s;ying, as made him that the dur&s;t now appeare in the day, in his old bloody, bla&s;phemous hue; and finding him&s;elf al&s;o much weakned, through the continuall War that now had been all along between him and the Witne&s;&s;es, and being ju&s;t upon the expiring of his 42. moneths, or Reign of darkne&s;&s;e; and finding that he is not able to come unto blood, he takes unto him weapons of another Nature, which proves more effectuall and advantageous to his Cau&s;e: For this Quarrel between him and the Witne&s;&s;es, being about the <HI>Fini&s;hing-Te&s;timony,</HI> and the Cau&s;e of Reformation, he is now enforced, unle&s;&s;e he will lo&s;e all, to u&s;e his utmo&s;t policy and craft.</P>
<P N="2">2. This War is declared as peculiar unto the la&s;t time of the Bea&s;t, and a &s;peciall Note &s;et upon it, to di&s;tingui&s;h it from that which had been familiar to him in the times of his 42. moneths.</P>
<PB N="16" REF="9">
<P N="3">3. It is one kinde of War which the Bea&s;t waged univer&s;ally again&s;t the Saints; another which in his la&s;t declining e&s;tate, he &s;hall wage with the Prophets, which had begun now to put off their &s;ack-cloth, and to end their Propheticall mourning. An&s;werable to this is that of the Woman in the 12. of the <HI>Rev.</HI> (touched before) where at the end of the 42. moneths, there is a &s;hew of coming out of the wil|derne&s;&s;e, <HI>ver.</HI> 10. But this &s;ad and &s;udden, and indeed unexpected news, of the lo&s;&s;e of the Field, and Witne&s;&s;es &s;laughter coming, &s;he is forced &s;uddenly to flie to her old place again, her Champions being gone, for three years and an half longer, <HI>ver.</HI> 13, 14.</P>
<P N="4">4. This la&s;t War is not univer&s;ally over all the Bea&s;ts Kingdom; but is peculiar to &s;ome one place or Nation, where the Witne&s;&s;es had gained upon him, which in the Text is called <HI>the &s;treet of the City, i. e.</HI> one &s;treet or dominion of the 10. <HI>ver.</HI> 8.</P>
<P N="5">5. The event of this War, however the Cau&s;e may &s;eem at fir&s;t to go on his &s;ide, and he may think the field won, and the day his own, is very lamentable: In his former Wars <HI>Power was given him over all Kindreds, Tongues, and Nations, Rev.</HI> 1. where he procures to him&s;elf a &s;udden and fatall ruine, and he will never be able to rally, or make head again in that Nation, &s;o notably is it levened with the Witne&s;&s;e Doctrine.</P>
<P>Mo&s;t of the&s;e di&s;tinctions are found in <HI>Mede.</HI></P>
<P>Now this la&s;t War again&s;t the Witne&s;&s;es, and their Death and Slaughter being of another kinde from what was common to the Bea&s;ts Reign; it mu&s;t needs follow, that it be managed by a &s;ubtill hand, and one that can handle a &s;pirituall weapon well, and do it with a notable profe&s;&s;ion of Religion, and &s;eem to differ from the Witne&s;&s;es in nothing but time. And certainly, if we depart not from the plain &s;en&s;e and meaning of the Text, we mu&s;t needs conclude, that <HI>O. C.</HI> was the man; for the whole limits of the Bea&s;ts Kingdom could not parallell him.</P>
<P N="2">2. The main ground of this Quarrel is about the <HI>Fini&s;hing-Te&s;timony.</HI> By the <HI>Fini&s;hing-Te&s;timony</HI> we cannot more fitly under&s;tand any thing, then the great Truth of the Kingdom of Chri&s;t. Now that which doth enrage the Bea&s;t, and again&s;t wich he makes this War, is again&s;t this precious Truth of the Vi&s;ible Kingdom of Chri&s;t, as it is the Truth of the Generation, and that which the Witne&s;&s;es in their <HI>Fini&s;hing-Te&s;timony,</HI> was going about to cau&s;e to take place in that Nation. The which neverthele&s;&s;e they &s;hall not do; for it is &s;aid, <HI>When they &s;hall be about to fini&s;h their Te&s;timony,</HI> (&s;o <HI>Mede</HI> renders the word) <HI>the Bea&s;t &s;hall make War against them, and overcome them, and kill them,</HI> which Victory of the Bea&s;t, makes the Witne&s;&s;es Cau&s;e never a whit the wor&s;e.</P>
<P>But <HI>O. C.</HI> per&s;ecuted no Truth but this Truth of the Kingdom of Chri&s;t; and he per&s;ecuted not that neither, but as it was the Truth of the Generation, and that which the Witne&s;&s;es would immediately have to take place; &s;o that they going about to fini&s;h their Te&s;timony, he was nece&s;&s;itated to make this lamentable War, unle&s;s he would have his Government over-tun.</P>
<P>And two things of him are very con&s;iderable.</P>
<P N="1">1. That about a year and a half before his death, this Prophecy of the Witne&s;&s;es &s;eemed to trouble him very much; and he was very earne&s;t with two of us, to know what we thought of the Witne&s;&s;es, the which he &s;eemed to &s;peak with a convinced guilty minde, and &s;ome kinde of regret.</P>
<P N="2">2. We have &s;ometimes thought from the la&s;t clau&s;e of the fifth vei&s;e, <HI>And if any man will hurt them, he mu&s;t in this manner be killed,</HI> that this <HI>Fini&s;hing-Te&s;timony</HI> of the Witne&s;&s;es, however he &s;eemed to have the better, was the death of him; gave him the wound he could never claw off.</P>
<P>But 2. That <HI>England</HI> is the place, is yet to be proved; for which we &s;hall name two Arguments, and leave it.</P>
<P N="1">1. This War and Slaughter mu&s;t be, where a notable Work of Reformation has been on foot, where the pure Doctrine of the Reign of Chri&s;t is powerfully and effectually preached, where there is a people that are the choice&s;t and forwarde&s;t of all others, and may be &s;aid to be <HI>the fir&s;t fruits of all the An|tichri&s;tian World.</HI> But if <HI>Germany</HI> it &s;elf, or all <HI>Europe</HI> can parallell <HI>England</HI> in this, which is as a <HI>Garden of choice Plants,</HI> then will we con&s;ider further.</P>
<P N="2">2. It is called in the Text, <HI>the Street of the City,</HI> that which is the very <HI>Stage of Action,</HI> or <HI>Market place of the world;</HI> and whether <HI>England</HI> has not been &s;o for the&s;e twenty years, even in the account of other Nations, as witne&s;s what that <HI>German</HI> writes in his <HI>Clavis,</HI> p. 100. and <HI>Mana&s;&s;eh Ben I&s;rael</HI> the Jew, in his Epi&s;tle of his <HI>Hope of I&s;rael,</HI> to the <HI>Parliament of England,</HI> we leave to &s;ober and judici|ous men to judge.</P>
<P>Thus much to the third Point.</P>
<P N="4">4. And la&s;tly, In all probability, the great Day of the Witne&s;&s;es Ri&s;e, will be in this pre&s;ent Year, 1660. AMEN.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
