I Am most sensible, The great Events, I hoped this last Year, have not had their Complement; and that therefore, The Censures of many are very severe upon me, according to the great Rigor of Human Nature upon it self in this Degeneracy of it.

But upon the Review of the whole Year, and the Events of it, which must needs be ac­knowledged to be very Extraordinay Ones; and the particular Times, in which the Divine Providence did advance them, I find great Reason of Encouragement; For it pleased the great LORD of Time, through Grace in Jesus Christ, the Mediator of His Churches Times, the Great Palmoni, or Wonderful Numberer of Time; the Supreme Apocalyptes, to whom God gave that Illustr [...]o [...]s Prophecy of the New Testament; The Revelation; to direct me in a Paper published in the Fifth Month, called, July to the most particular. [...]se Times of the greatest of Events this Last Year, in both, Old, and New-Stile.

The times I fix'd upon, were, the Month of August from the 15th to the end of the Month; the 1st of September the Ancient Feast of Trumpets; the 10th of September, the Day of Jubilee; the Feast of Tabernacles from the 15th to the 22th of the same Month.

Accordingly on the 22th of August, Old-Stile, just on the Time of the Cessation of the Em­pire of Rome in the West, (as was more fully set out in that Paper) and in New-Stile, Sep­tember the 1st, the Feast of Trumpets; The French King comes forth, taking upon himself as a Caesar-Augustus, or Ʋniversal Monarch, to shut the Temple of Janus in an Ʋniversal Peace, or, as he spoke, Giving Repose to Eu­rope.

On the same 22th of August, Old-Style, and September the 1st New-Style, the Imperial Armies were in motion towards the Turkish Forces, and on the 31th Old-Style, That so extraordinary and monumental Victory was obtained over the Grand Signior and his Bashaws.

On the 10th of September, Old-Style, the 20. [Page 2]of September, New-Style; the Articles of Peace were Sign'd at Riswick.

These Things came to pass at the very times of this Year, that had been Foretold (as [...]ath been said) in that Paper; which, as it may be subject to Censure because Things have not risen to that h [...]i [...]h [...], yet ought to be con­sidered and justify'd, in what the Year hath at­tained in such Determinate Times for Events; That though not to the highest themselves, yet [...]ontain within themselves the Seeds, Begin­nings, and Principle, or these Highest, and are the Pledges, Earnest [...], and Assurances of them; As the Peace, which the French King takes upon himself to have given, imports (however he understand it not the Resignation of Ʋni­versal Monarch; and the Ʋniversal Peace of the [...]rce of Peace: The Mabo [...]etan Ottoman De­f [...]t ass [...]es the passing aw [...]y of the s [...]ond [...]o. viz. Of the Ottoman lyranny; and That [...]in [...] coming to an end, and none to help him; His Day. Hour, Month, Year, being expired, and the Kingdom of Christ immedi­ately ready to succeed; and therefore, the Pa­pacy, on which it is a Judgment, certainly to [...]ad with it.

And though I do not pretend to have affixt the following Events to their proper Points and Times; They are yet great Events of this Year, that ought to be Recorded as so. The Ar­ticles of Peace, with the Empire, after a time of Suspension, holding the Peace at some incer­tainly, were accepted by the Emperor, [...]lob. [...]. and Signed N [...]v. the 1st. New Style, and Remarkably so, as it Divine Providence would Note the Half [...]e, or an [...] Years past, since The Reformation by Luther more illustri­ously shew'd it self in the Empire; who affix'd his Antipapis [...]ed Positions to the Church-doors at Winemberg the same [...]bob. 31. for the s [...]re of the Popish high All-s [...]irts Day following, to be thereby made of the most Publick Noteri [...] ­ty in the Empire; and it gives great Hopes, some great Intentions of Providence, for the Glory of His Gospel in the Reformation, and [...] his [...]ngdom in the Empire, are laid up in [...] Peace.

This Year hath produced a very observable App [...]ance of the [...]zir of Mus [...]ovia. and in a Victoriousness over the Ottoman S [...]g [...]iory, as [...] B [...]in [...]n [...] of the C [...]iar (as we [...]tile [...]em) [...] out of their I [...]norance, Bar­ [...], Sla [...]ry, [...]ording to preph [...]; of which [...] Prince i [...] a i [...]st Fruits, and the m [...]re for his co [...] into so cle [...]r an Air of [...] in this Nation; and whene [...]r That doth come to pass, I am In [...]allibly cer­tain. the Great City Rome shall be ready to [...]

But That, which in the last place, but with a Primary Intention, I Record as a great Event of this Year 97. is, That, though It is much to be Lamented, The Protestant Interest could not be comprehended in the Peace; and that the Herodian Spirit hath appeared in a time of Universal Peace, which slaughtered the Infants at one time, and at another time streached forth its hand on the Christian Church to vex and to kill; So a Persecutory Spirit hath even, since the Peace, raged in the French Monarch: A great Remove from the Magnanimity of Christian or Princely Com­passion, that would overslow at such a time to­wards all. Oh that there were a due sense of it among Protestants, that are at ease; and that solemn Fasting and Prayer, without ceasing. were made for such Sufferers; For why should there be Wrath agairst Protestant Princes, Chur­ches and Nations! Who would not bewail, That Protestancy, our greatest Priviledge, Glo­ry, and Enjoyment, should be punish'd on them as their only Crime! But I cannot but hope that God hath been pleased to suffer it, that it might be made Evident, that the Suffering Protestant; beyond the Seas, who at this time, Keep the Commandments of God, and Hold the Faith of Jesus, are those Witnesses of God, in whom God is pleased at this time, as in an Epitome, or Summary, to draw up the suffer­ings of all the Confessors, and Martyrs under the Papacy, and Antichristian Apostacy for so ma­ny Hundreds of Years, before their Full, and Compleat Ri [...]ng, and the op [...]ning of his King­dom. There is therefore a perfect Sciagraphy, or plat-form of the Apocalyptick Vision, cap. 11. in their present Case and State.

They lye, at this time, in a Large Bredth of the Great City, the Roman Artichristian Church, viz. The Empire, In which the Refor­mation h [...]an; and more especially in France, whe [...]e so many Dread [...]l Scenes of their Massa­cres, and Persecutions have heretofore been pre [...]en [...]ed; and in Pi [...]mo [...]t and S [...]rcoy, where They have been (as many Faithful Historians witne [...] continued by an uninterrupted suc­cession of so many Hundred Years, as will make up the 1260. in the pure Profession of the Gospel; and However Persecuted, they have been preserved, as Moses his bush, burn­ing, [...] not confirmed; Now in this very Year, They [...] this Breadth lye dead, (but as was said especially in France) & under A [...]athemaes, Pro­scription, Edicts for D [...]at [...], and Banishment, Able [...]ion to the Gallies; their Testimony to Christianity, and their Sufferings, as it were Vying one with another.

T [...]ey of the Popish People, and Kindreds [Page 3]and Tongues, and Nations, have by their Ple­nipotentiaries looked upon their Dead Bodies to the purpose, and determined they should lye Dead: and the Protestant Plenipoteniaries have beheld them dead, and professed they could not help them.

They cannot yet be Buried, in Regard of God's Gracious Bearing up of their Spirits with Renewed Resolution, to keep up their Faith to Christ in the mid'st of so great Cru­eky upon them; and further, There are such great Kingdoms, and States, that standing up­on their feet; that is, subsisting upon their own Strength. Authority, Laws, and Govern­ment; Avow the same Profession publickly, in defiance of Papal Powers, whatever, and so are called Protestants, or open Avowed Wit­nesses.

They that dwell upon the Earth; The Popish Princes, and States, The Ecclesiasti [...]k Head, which the Scripture calls The Beast, as the I­mage of Ancient Empire, have sent their Compliments of Congratulation and Joy, and their Gifts, and Presents, one to another, upon the suppressed State of Protest [...]ncy so far, as they have attained; and what Alliances they are forming further, if the Stone cut out of the Mo [...]ontains should not surprise them, Time would Dis [...]over: And that they may think themselves more secure, & That they are still to continue. Providence hath given them the re­turns into that Adulterous B [...]so [...]t, of one of the German El [...]lors, in the Cou [...]t and Territories of whose Predecessors, Protestancy had its first Protection; that babylon may say, I sit a Queen, [...]d [...]a [...] no Widow, and shall see to sorrow, and that so, Her Plagues may come in one hour. For therefore I Record these as signal Events of this Year, because I look upon all these as signs at the Time, God hath ordained, when the spi­rit of Life f [...]o [...] God small enter unto the Witnesses; their whole tim [...] of 126 [...] Years of Sa [...]k [...]loth Prophecy being expired; and their present po­ [...]are, such as Prophecy hath described it at their Ri [...]ing and Deliverance.

But it is y [...] a most Remarkable Event of this Year. That God hath been pleased, this Year, by the Peace, to place it, as an Honour, upon the King, as Prince of Orange, to provide [...]at His Principality, as a Sanctuary; that his Witnesses there may not only not be buried, but not so much as lye Dead; but their Profession [...] born up there, when in Regard of the Seve­ [...]ty of the Pe [...]se [...]tion they lye Dead in other [...]rts of that Nation. And in Regard, it is a [...]toration of the Kingdoms of Protestancy, [...] [...]he [...] before the Peace, had e­ [...] of the Kingdom of France; It bears the face of a Resurrection; and the Return of their Four Fastors thither in so solemn a manner, out of their Imprisonment at Lyons, as is related in their LetterMont [...] Accou [...] the Mont [...] led Fe [...] ­ary. to the Pastor of the Walloon Congregation at Rotterdam, (I hope most Authentick) carries the very Type of a Spirit of Life from God, entring into them, set­ting them on their Feet, and A Voice from Hea­ven, saying, Come up hither, Their Enemies be­holding them; and many Papists so moved, as to give Glory to the God of Heaven by Conversi­on to Protestancy. All which, is both an Ear­nest, and pledge, and Assurance of the Re­surrection of the Witnesses in general, speedily to go on; And one may even say, They have begun to Rise; and I cannot but hope, hereby God hath made the King, whom the Enemies have called in contempt, Prince of Orange, The Prince of Orange le Grand! and on this very Account, as on others, A Signet in God's own Right Hand.

But it ought not to be omitted, that God hath been pleased by a Spirit from himself, now in the Close of the Year, to set a further mark of Honour upon it; the Unanimous Ad­dress of the Honourable House of Commons for the Honour of Jehovah, in a Reformed Nation and accepted with such a Zealous Chearfulness by the King in so great a Proclamation: This is, I hope, laid up, as Scripture expresses it, as a Memorial before the Lord in his Temple, for the Glory of the King, and Parliament, in his approaching Kingdom; It being a Testimony for God unparallel'd, since what is stiled, The Restoration; and looks as if those earnest Motions for Reformation, that have been at any time before, since the Reformation from Popery, were Reviving by joint Supreme Authority, near to The Restitution of all things.

Now, by way of Reflection upon all these Imp [...], of Divine Providence, upon this Year [...] which being so many, and all clear Matter of Fact, cannot be supposed to be by chance. I cannot but Remonstrate; That tho' Thing are not Ascended to the H [...]h [...]hs I had hoped and expected, yet, it [...]not be denied, God hath not left this Year [...]stitute, Naked, or without Witness from Himself, and that He hath, in an Eminency, Graced those very particular Times in this Year, I had singled out, as designed, by Prophecy, for En­gravings upon with Effects of Divine Power, and Goodnese.

Now, whatever hath come to pass this Year, of so great Remark, and so ag [...]able to Prophecy, deserves some of that Ast [...]ri [...]k upon [Page 4]and Resurrection, and of the Mission of the Holy Spirit, Remarking it That Year, and That same Year, on occasion of that so Memorable Prophecy of Caiaphas, their High-Priest that Year, as Productive of it, and Impelling it: In like manner these things have come to pass, this Great Prophetick Year 97. b [...]cause This same Year.

And as In a Wonderful Resemblance of Caiaphas, and his Prophecy, I cannot but look upon that Oracular Acknowledgment of the French King, as what he was Impell'd to, on the Account of his being permitted, and so far upheld by Providence, to take upon him­self, as an Ʋniversal Monarch in the Peace, This same Year. He Writing to the Arch-Bi­shop of Paris, in desire of the Popish le Deum, as a Thanksgiving for the Peace with the Em­peror: Thus begins: COƲSIN, THE TIME, WHICH HEAVEN HAD ORDAIN'D, FOR THE RECONCILIATION OF THE NATIONS IS COME. I hope This is Prophetical of the Reconciliation of all Nations by the Kingdo [...] of the Prince of Peace.

How, therefore, God will please to promote these Beginnings, thro' this following Year 1698. (Being very positive the 1260 Years of the Delay of the Kingdom of Christ there ex­pired) viz. Beginning at the Apocalyptick Epoch, the time of our Lord's Resurrection, Ascension, and Mission of his Spirit; Down to the time of the Cessation of the Roman Empire; Month the 6th; Then on the Feast of Trumpets, Ju­bilee, and Feast of Tabernacles in the 7th Month; I will not Pronounce, but Humbly Wait with greatest Hope, and Expectation from Him, who Magnisies his Word a [...]ove All his Name.

For I am humbly Conscious to my self, whatever Thoughts Any may have, I have not Rashly, or Rudely, seiz'd on the Time of the Last, and of this Year, as the Time of the Great Revolution I expect for the King­dom of Christ; but I have, through the Grace of the Wonderful Numberer, and through His Redemption, extending it self to every Th [...] of His Kingdom, that is the Kingdom of Re­demption; drawn a Line of Time. according to the Scriptures, made Illustrious with the greatest Events that have been known in the World; coming down to this very Time from Solo [...]. Death, the very Time where Pro­phetical [...]e begins, and goes in a strait Line [...] or expresly, for the space of seven 390's, or 2730. Years, viz. the Changes made upon the Ancient People of God, the Ten Tribes of [...] and the Kingdom of Judah, in their so [...] Desolation; the Babylonian, Persian and Gre [...] Monarchies; the Roman Empire, and the Gre [...] Changes, and Revolution of it; which in re­gard of the coming of the Messiah, His De [...] Resurection, and Ascension the Mission of the Spirit, and the Preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles falling within it; is of all other the most Remarkable (next to that of Israel) Subject of Prophecy in the Old, and New Testament; and hath dependent upon it be Great Revolution of so great a part of the World coming under the Name of Jesus Christ But imediately attended with the Black and Dark Eclips of Antichristianism, Styled very justly Romanism; The time of which Pro­phecy is so Intent upon, as to have given ten times the exact measure of, and in all kinds of Characters: On which Follow the Dreadful Judgments of God in Revenge of such a Traterous Undermine of his Kingdom; In letting out the Barbarous Nations to Ra­vage upon Rome, and to Break in peices [...] Empire into Ten (or a variety of) King­doms, Intoxicated into Papal Subjection; Then came Mahometarism with it Two W [...]e [...] the Saracens and the Turkish Ottoman Power, which hath seated it self in the Room of the Grecian Empire, and in it's very Atr [...] ­lis, or at Constantinople; All which is become a very great part of the History of the L [...] ­ter Times; And since that, The Reform [...] by Luther which hath made so great a Change in the Papal State, and the Kingdomes of E [...] ­rope in General. Now all these, I have so Adjusted to their most Lively Types in Pro­phecy, and to their most exact Scituation, in what I look upon to be the Express Prophetic Line of Time, or Prophetic Chronology; And with such Attestation; of General History, and Chro­nology, (especially in some most Eminent Joynts of Time) so undoubted as thereby to assure in what may seem more Dark and Doubtful; and all to this day, That I am sure, The most Learn­ed and Sagatious cannot draw such another Line, so Justly s [...]ved, and so supported.

But however, or whenever These things shall appear, I will not Fail Incessantly to Cry out with the Spirit and the Bride, and to provoke him that heareth to say, Come Lord Jesus, Come quickly in thy Kingdom.