HAving made so Long, and Large Declarations of what I have drawn from the Sure Word of Prophecy, concerning this Present Year 1697. And particularly near the 23d of the Month we Call, [...]ugust; And that nothing of so Great an Appearance hath yet been vouchsafed by our Good and Gracious God; It may be looked upon as my Duty, to make either an Humble Acknowledgment of my mistake, and the Deception, that the Just and Holy Lord hath left me to therein, or to offer some Apology and Defence for my self.

Now in the first Place, I would make the lowest and most self-abasing Ac­knowledgment; That I am most unworthy of any such Gracious Communica­tion, or Manifestation from God in his Word; And most worthy, whom He should give up to Error and Mistake: And that therefore, It would be no won­der, nor any thing strange, If. He in just Wrath and Displeasure have so left me; All I have to say, or plead against its being so, is Infinite Riches of Grace, Mercy and Compassion in Christ to the Cheif of Sinners.

But this being first Acknowledged, there is yet the Great Honour I owe to the Word of Truth, and to the weighty Reasons and Arguments I have de­rived from it; and the obligations that Lye upon me, to make the most Low­ly and Thankful Declarations for any Communications of Light to me, and of what God hath been pleased to begin to do this Year, and so hath not left wholly exposed, what I have spoken with Relation to 97. I would render there­fore the best Accounts I could, in Points of so Great weight and concernment to the Churches of Christ, and even to the World in General, and to my self in Particular.

The General Proposal being then, to make a Review of this Year accordng to Prophecy; I would reduce the Discourse upon it to these four Heads.

1. To observe in a General way, and to Acknowledge Freely, what is most undeniably wanting in any thing, that hath yet come to pass, of the Great Ex­pectations according to Prophecy, as yet in this 97.

2. To press notwithstanding; That due Confession and Adoration be made of, and to Divine Providence in what hath Eminently been done this Year, and upon the very Time according to Prophecy; And to enquire diligently into its agreement with Prophecy.

3. To consider what is to be expected, as Imported to us in that of our Lords Oath; That the mystery of God shall be finished in the Days of the Seventh An­gel, when Rev. 10. 7. He shall Begin to sound, by observing the several Appli­cations of the Word Mystery to Things in the New Testament; And shew­ing, that every one of those things shall have their Complement, and Finishing from the Seventh Angel Beginning to sound, Till the very Kingdom of Christ, and In it.

4. To offer the best Conciliating Apprehensions, and Hopes with Relation to Time, according to Scripture, and Prophecy, between the Failure of Expe­ctation in 97; With what is to be Expected in 97 Ending, and 98 Beginning.

1. As to the first Head, I must Humbly and Freely Acknowledge, we do not yet behold the mighty effects of the Spirit of Life from God, upon the Witnes­ses in their sufferings under Anti-christian Powers; or the Universality of the Witnesses of Christ out of their Sackcloth-state, and Mournful Prophecy of the Kingdom of Christ in delay, and not yet being in its Illustrious Appearance: They have yet the Seale of Concealment on their Foreheads, and do not yet stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb, having his Fathers Name Conspicuously written on those very Foreheads, where the Seal was before. That is, there is not yet that Pouring out of the Spirit; They are not yet publickly justified, as the Witnesses of Christ along the 1260 Years.

2. That the Stone cut out of the Mountains, that is not in Humane Hands; That is; That doth his Great Works immediately by himself, in breaking the Image of the Four Monarchyes in the last of them, and himself becoming a Great Mountain filling the whole Earth, hath not yet thus appear'd; must also be confessed.

3. That therefore the Antichristian, and the Mahometan State joyn'd with it, tho as a woe upon it, are not so broken yet, as that the Kingdoms of this World should by the Ten Kings being overcome by the Lamb, be Proclaimed to be become the Kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Christ, and He himself Universally Ac­knowledged King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and his witnesses with Him, Called, Chosen, Faithful, and known to be so. All which I had Hoped and Expected, should have come to pass in this Year 97: and in the Prophetical Hour, Viz. In the latter part of the Month August: Herein therefore and thus far, I most willingly and humbly Acknowledge my Fault and Mistake: I come therefore to the Second Head, and that is to observe, how far God hath been pleased to own his unworthyest Servant this Year, and in the very time of the Year, in the Interpretation of Prophecy.

And there are two Things, which I would Remark upon, as very Eminent [...]isposes of Providence, wherein by Regarding the Operations of the Lord, and Searching out the more hidden Things in the Works of his Hand, as those who Take Pleasure therein; We may find a very wonderful agreement of Providence, with Prophecy in this very Year, and at that Noted time of the Year.

1. The First is, That so Illustrious Providential Revolution, of setting Peace in so many of the Kingdoms (into which the Western Roman Empire hath stood so long divided) after so long a War.

2. The strokes by the supreme ordination of Divine Government in the World, by the Hand of the Prince of Mascovy, as a Prince of the Christian Pro­fession (according to those we Call) the Grecian Churches; and by the Hand of the Imperial Power, that submits its self to the Roman Church (as it is also cal­led) and its Papacy upon the Turkish Empire.

And on each of these I would make their Particular, and Peculiar Remarks, and First on the First.

Rem. 1. The settling Peace in the Borders of any Nation, and of Nations together, after many Evils, and Harassings of War is a Great Mercy and Goodness of God to those Nations, wherever It is dis­play'd. This is very easily Intelligible, and as easily Acknowledged by the Rejoycings, and Hopeful Expectations from the present Peace, and the Tri­umphs wherewith it is Receiv'd: And War is Accounted one of the Four Great Judgments of God in the World.

If we then consider, what an unreformed Nation we our selves are, and how unreformed the Nations about us are; It is not according to the usual Method of Providence to Remove Judgments without much Greater Effects of Ruine, or Reformation; What then can we think, but that God bears with Patience the Great Provocations of the Nations of Europe? Because they are Kingdoms, that Peculiarly belong to the Kingdom of Christ; For the Lamb shall overcome the Ten Kings, into a Voluntary subjection to hisRev. 17. 14, 16. Kingdom; Which appears in that, They shall Hate the Whore, and burn her Flesh with Fire. I cannot but hope therefore, God spares them from Ruining one another, because he reserves them for that Time. Thus, because he would make the Israelites a Type of the Kingdom of Christ; Altho even at the Time of their deliverance from Egypt, They Lifted up their Eyes to the Idols of Egypt, and God lifted up his Hand to Destroy them, yet he wrought for his Name sake, and did not Destroy them; And so I hope he does now.

Rem. 2. It is certain according to Prophecy, Peace is a Great SignalEzek. 20. 9, 10. of the Kingdom of Christ. And such a Time there shall be, When Na­tions shall beat their Spears into Pruning Hooks, and their Swords in­to Esa. 2. Mic. 4. Ploughshares; Nation shall not Lift up Sword against Nation, Nor shall they Learn War any more; They shall sit every Man un­der his own Vine and Figtree; Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, shall be no End▪ and of the Increase of his Peace, even as of his Government there God will do that Astonishing Thing in the World; He will Psal. 46. 8. make Wars to cease to the Ends of the Earth; He will break the Bow [Page 4] and Cut the Spear in sunder, and burn the Chariots in the Fire; All the Instruments of Cruelty shall, as by Gods own Hand be brought to an utter End; He will Still All by his own Appearance, as God, when He in favour of his own People will be Exalted in the Earth; when He is with his People, as in that City, whose Name is Jehovah Shammah, The Lord is there.

Obr. I know it will be said, There have been many times Treaties of Peace, and that have been Consummated in an effective Peace, and yet no Kingdom of Christ hath succeeded; what Argument then can it be of such a Kingdom now, That there is such a Peace?

Answ. 1. Yet every Peace is an Olive Branch, and a memorial of that King­dom of Peace; Even as every Judgment is an assurance of the Last Judgment; and every War a Fore-runner of the Great Battel at Armageddon, That shall bring All Enemies under the Feet of Christ, and his Saints.

Answ. 2. The certain Argument of such a succeeding Kingdom of Christ does not Lye Singly in a Peace, but in a Pea [...]e at such a Time, when by the Line of Time, the Kingdom of Christ is so justly to be Expected; and so the Line of Time, and the Peace do mutually strengthen, and assure one another; In the wisdom of Divine Government of the World, There was an Universal Peace under Augustus, at the Time of that First Specimen of the Kingdom of Christ, His coming in the Flesh: It was not by it self a direct Argument of his coming at that Time; But the Fulness of Time for his Coming, and the Peace did mutu­ally Corroborate one another, and give the Expectation of the Messiah then to appear: And so I hope, it will appear at this Time; As some Years ago, In the Light of Prophecy, I predicted; The End of this War, whether by breaking the French or by Peace, would be speedily followed by the opening of the Kingdom of Christ.

Rem. 3. This Providential Revolution of the Peace, hath given a stop to the French Kings Aspirings to Ʋniversal Monarchy; Which as (most contrary to the Bo [...]nds and Measures Assigned Him by Prophecy, To be but one of Ten Kings and not the whole Ten, a part of the Iron and not the whole Iron; I have always with greatest confidence, in the very height of the War asserte [...]; He could never obtain; But He would find the same Disappointment, the House or Austria found in Charl [...] ▪ [...]ifth, Retreating into Solitude after the attempt; and in His Son Philip of Spain, from that defeat of the Armada 88 Sinking lower and lower to this Day.

Now in and by this Peace, an Eminent Hand of God hath caus'd that Haugh­ty Monarch to Acknowledge; That he had Coveted an Evil Coveteousness, and Increased That, which was not His; and therefore, tho He hath not been spoiled by the Force of War, or the Prevalency of Victory; Yet He is made to find; He hath in As [...]iring to set his Nest so High, and to stablish an Ʋniversal Monarchy by Blood, Laboured in the very Fire, and wearied himself for very Vanity; And oh, That that which follows in Prophecy, might now speedily follow in Time, brought to pass by the immediate Hand and Power of God; That the Knowledge of the Glory of the Lord might cover the Earth, as the Waters cover the Sea: And then, All that is within his Poor Ser­vants,Hab. 2. 14. should Bless his Holy Name: But it is not very Remark­able, [Page 5] that that Prince, who hath Arrogated to Himself in the common Lan­guage of his People; Our Monarch; as Preparatory to the Style of Ʋniversal Monarch; should so quietly Resign and Give up his pretensions; and I make no doubt, however Insensibly to himself and others, through the secret Force and Constitution of Prophecy; That the Western Roman Empire, that was under one Caesar as supreme, till It ceas'd in Augustulus; and then was to be Variegated in­to Ten Kingdoms as Ten Toes under One Papal Head, or Supremacy in an Image, as Prophecy styles it most Prophetically, (which it also styles the Beast) might so be, till his Time, Times and Hast a Time shall be Accomplished; When those very Ten Kings, who gave their Kingdom to him, shall together as Ten, Recall it, and hate the Whore; As therefore Prophecy hath been in this Peace just to its word, They shall be Ten till then; So I doubt not, It will be true in their speedy subjection to the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, whose Right Alone, It is, to be the truely Ʋniversal Monarch; And this shall be, when the Ten Kings shall be thus overcome; It is therefore so signally set at that Time, and on that overcoming; He is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

And it is much the more Remarkable, That the Great Lord, who hath Times, even as the Hearts of Men and Princes, in his own Hand, should order this Peace in the Year 1697. In which ending, I am bold yet to declare; The Times and Half Determin'd to the Papacy, Expire; So that this Year must be the Ending of Half Time; As then at the Beginning of Half Time, In the Wise and Holy dispose of God; There was by the Emperor Charles V. being King of Spain, and Chosen Emperor of Germany 1519. an offer made at Ʋniversal Monarchy, and was so Repressed, as hath been spoken, for the making Good of Prophecy; so in the lat [...]er End of Half Time, He hath permitted the same Attempt by the French King for some Yea [...]s past, and having wearied it all along by the opposition rais [...]d to it by the Confederacy, upon the very end of Half Time, this very 97, He hath by the Peace given this Boundary to it; That he may shew, He magnifies his Word, (and particularly of Prophecy) above All his Name;

Rem. 4. It des [...]rves just Reflection, That the Time of Negotiating, and Transacting this Peace, must in the nearest and most Conclusive Treaties of it, have run through the Prophetick Hour▪ Viz. From August 15th to the end of that Month, and so into the following Month; So the publick owning and signing of it, was on the very 10th of the Seventh Month, the Day of the Ancient Attonement and Jubilee; and that therein God hath in some measure pleased to own the Reference of his unworthyest Servant to that very Time; Oh, that it might be an earnest of the Acceptable Year of the Lord, as of the Ju­bilee of his Kingdom Approaching, though, as yet I must Acknowledge, much below my Hopes and Expectations; I cannot yet but add; The Proclamati­ons of Peace in England and France, in this Month of October, Answer in Time in this last Year of Half Time, to Gods Gracious Impulse upon the Spirit of Luther, to Proclaim an open Evangelic War on Antichristian Rome, in the same Month of the First Year of Half Time, Viz. 1517. And those, who Joyned to herein with him, were Called Evangelici, as in Allusion to the Word us'd in Prophecy, for the Finishing the mystery God hadRev. 10. 7. [Page 6] Evangelized his Servants the Prophets in, or made them Evangelics concerning, which gives great Ground of Hope, there shall be some Highly Evangelical Product of this Peace, and defyance of Antichristianism by it; Oh! Let us Humbly wait and pray for it.

Rem. 5. It is very Greatly to be remarked, that God was pleas'd in the Last 1688. To have made an Extraordinary (Universally Acknowledged to be so) Revolution in these Protestant Nations, of England, Scotland, and Ireland in Bar of Popery (endeavouring to return upon them) and Universal Monarchy; That hath been owned, confederated, and allyed with by some of the Greatest Princes, that yet Give their Kingdom to the Beast; and hath been disputed by the French King, from the very Entrance of it, and in continuation, till this Peace; And with whom the Abdicated King, the Late King James hath had his Resi­dence ever since; Now that God hath been pleased to own the Protestant Prince, this Revolution brought in; to sustain him, and these Nations in so Long and Expensive a War, in the midst of many great Losses by Sea, in a mutual satis­faction, and confidence one in another; That he hath preserved him in so many Hazardous Passings, and Repassings the Sea, in so many Approaches of Dan­ger, and Jeopardyes of Life (as Scripture speaks) in the High Places of the Field, where his person was so constantly Adventur'd; That he hath been so se­cur'd from Private Conspiracys, and Assassinations; and now so Highly Ag­niz'd, so Publickly, so Solemnly and Augustly by the very French King, who made it his Glory to disown Him; and is Returned this very Year of 97. Safe with Publick Tryumphs and Rejoycings in the Peace, equal to the Try­umphs of a Victory, how Glorious soever; Oh, how many Grand Agreements hath all this with Prophecy! The attempts of Refunding Popery into these Na­tions, hath been a Design, as Ancient among the Depths of Satan, the Arca­na Imperii, or Counsels of Antichristianism, as the settlement of the Reformation here, and by all Imaginable Artifices of Policy and Power; And it seem'd the very Crisis for it in that last Reign; That the most High decided against it with so High a Hand, was very Glorious; That God hath given so Great Ad­vantages in Appearance for the Return of King James by such a War, so Te­dious, so Burdensome, in such an absence of the King; And that the whole should be thus resolv'd into so very an August Acknowledgment by the Grand opposer of Him; and that the Interest of the same King James should be, as it were hush'd into such a silence, and neglect, as now appears, and by his very so Great Allie, is a very Exalted Hand of Jehovah, for the Justification of the Reformation in these Nations; And that it should be reserv'd for this Year 97. Is an Honourable Character fixed upon this Year (as I hope) Immediately pre­ceeding the entrance of the Kingdom of Christ.

Rem. 6. That the War hath been Carryed on by such a Ballance of Equality, that, except we consider that Great Intention of Providence, to consine within his own Figure Allowed by Prophecy, the French King, (in which It Confederated so many Princes and States, however differing among Themselves) and the secu­ring Protestancy to these Nations; Except I say, we consider this; All hath been Labouring in the very Fire, and wearying the Nations for very Vanity; [Page 7] And yet God hath, as by an Immediate Hand of his own, Determined All in­to Peace; This is, I have Great Trust; Because the next Thing he will do, shall be, to Fill the Earth with the Knowledge of his Glory, as the Waters cover the Sea.

Rem. 7. I should Rejoyce to find this Peace Propagating an Universal Refor­mation of the open prophanesses, and wickednesses of the Nations; Which the Societyes for Reformation in this City give some Hopeful Appearances of; and it is much to be desired, The Power of the Magistrate would with it's own Au­thority and Influence, Encourage such Honourable undertakings: And if it be not so, as I doubt not It will, a Greater Magistracy will Take the matter into its own Hand: But the very Motions however unformed, or Abortive they would, or might prove of Themselves, are some Preliminary Motions to that Great Reformation, the Kingdom of Christ will bring in, when to the People shall be turned a Pure Language; And Men shall Fear the Lord, from the Rising of the Sun to the going down of the same.

Rem. 8. It is Greatly to be Lamented, if the suffering Witnesses of Christ, in any parts Comprehended within this Peace, have found no place of considerati­on in it and Relaxation by it; But if they have not, I am the more Assured; It is reserv'd for the Immediate Hand of the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, overcoming the Ten Kings, and moving them, as by an Impulse from himself with the Hatred of the Whore; and He will shew his Servants, as a Light Arising in the darkness of their sufferings yet continuing, the Morning Star in the first Dawns of his Kingdom; Till it shall come to the Bright Morning Star of his own Glorious Appearance in that Kingdom at the Highest Elevation of it.

Rem. 9. It is in the next Place of a most Hopeful Reflection to me, That this Peace Falls, as a Blow upon the League between the French King, and the Turkish Sultan, so as to dissolve it; For as I have heretofore argued, so I shall now more Fully, and yet very Breifly Represent it: The true Account of the Visi­onal order of Breaking the Image, Dan. 2. Is, That the Stone smote the Image on its Feet of Iron and Clay First, and so the whole was broken: This is most Precisely and Definitively set down, v. 34. The Stone Cut out, which is not in Hands, smote the Image upon his Feet, which were of Iron and Clay, and Brake Them to Peices: And again, v. 35. Then was the Iron and the Clay First) and All the Image Broken, so, that it became as the Chaff of the Summer-Threshing Floor: This therefore from compare of one part of this Prophetick Vision with another, and with the New Testament Prophecy of the Revelation, must be the Order The First part of the Image smitten is the Iron Feet of the Ten Kings Rev. 17. overcome by the Lamb, and the Called, Faithful, Chosen Witnesses with Him; Then these Ten Kings, who had with one Consent given their Kingdom and Power to the Beast, serve the Lamb by hating the Whore, and burning her Flesh with Fire; This shaking, as an Earthquake, the Great City, and its Decemprincipality, or Tenfold Principality Arising from the Ten Kings, so giving their Power to the Beast, that Carryed Her, Falls. Thus the Clay is Broken by the First Approach of the Kingdom of Christ, weilding the Iron, or the Ten Kings to his service: But then All is Threshed and Broken, as into Chaff, by the stone Becoming a Moun­tain [Page 8] fuling the whole Earth; So there remains no Power but Christ's, and his Saints with him, to whom the Dominion under the whole Heaven is given.

But now, v. 45. The Stone cut out of the Mountains without hands, brake in peices first the Iron, then nor the Clay, but the Brass. The True Order of the Final Stroke was set down before, which could not be changed; what therefore is given, v. 45. must be some previous and preparatory stroke, that Falls upon the Iron and the Brass in a Conjunction; and the Greatness, that Each▪ had by that Conjunction, comes to nothing: And by that change of the Order, this Previous Stroke is shaded under the Full and Final Breaking of the whole, and silently intimated by it. By the Iron I understand the French Power, in this Great Spread of it self against so many of the Ten Kingdoms confederated, as it hath been of late years, and its Aspirings to be the whole Iron it self; that is, to Ʋniversal Monarchy.

And this I look upon to be noted by the Iron in this place of Daniel; By the Brass I Apprehend the Grecian Power, as now in the Hand of the Turk; whose Port is the Grecian Constantinople: Now then this is a private Proph [...] ­tical Watch-word of the very Time, when the whole Image shall be Broken; It shall be, when that Unnatural Conjunction between Him, who would be the whole Iron of the Feet, and who will be called the most Christian King, and the now Belly of Brass, the Turkish Power, the Professed Enemy of Chri­stians, shall be Broken by the Stone, cut out of the Mountains, in his Su­preme Providence, and come to nothing: Now this Conjunction we see thus brought to nothing by this Peace; the French King not able to bear up his Former retensions by the Loss of Turkish Aids; nor the Turk against the Emperor, by the Loss of French Assistances. And in this very 97. why then should we not look for the whole Image to be soon after Broken in its own Just Order now First given? And the Strokes upon the Turk in the very Time of the Treaty are Justly to be looked upon as the Proclaiming his Coming to an End, and None to help Him: Now if this be a True Interpretati­on of this Prophetic Vision, (and I do not s [...]e what can be objected to it) what a Great Assurance is it, That in this 97. the Great Change that this Ʋision foretells must needs be very near to come into effect; and who can once imagine, that so Divine a Vision, so exactly in every Thing framed, could by Chance, and [...]ot without some Great Design, and Purpose, Tran­spose the Iron from the Feet of Iron and Clay, to the Belly and Thighs of Brass, and place the Clay of the Feet between the Brass of the Belly, and the Silver of the Breast. And I cannot but demand, what Fairer Exposition, or Interpretation of Providenttal Event, could be given to such a Prophecy? Now I must be bold to say, Whoso hath Wisdom, let him consider it; The Wise shall understand, but the Prejudiced and the Careless will not understand.

Rem. 10. All this is much the more Remarkable in that Prince, who hath been the severe Enemy, and the open Persecutor of the Reformation, and yet continues so; and therefore i [...] the Kingdom of Christ be so near, as these Com­pares of Prophecy give hopes; he must either be Removed suddenly by a stroke of Judgment, or by so eminent a Conversion, as Persecuting Paul was an [Page 9] Hypotyposis, or Pattern of; For he hath Raged even to Madness against the Re­formation, and been Breathing out Threatnings against the Witnesses of it, and so continues; And yet his Kingdom is one of the Te [...], whose Kings shall be o­vercome by the Lamb, and Hate the Whore. He must then either be a Great Instance of Converting Grace, as it were from Heaven, (or of Judgment)▪ and seeing the God of All Grace is most Glorious in the Former, and the Fruit of it might be much Greater in the World; I look upon it as our Duty, to pray for it, and desire it, if I may not say, to hope for it; That God, who hath bowed his Heart so far in the Acknowledgment of a Protestant Ki [...]g, so set up by himself, may please also to Bow his Soul to the Protestant Religion, and to a Zeal for it answerable to his former Persecutions, and to this very day.

Now thus far I have Remrak'd upon the First of the Providential Events of this Year, as it is preparatory to the Kingdom of Christ, according to the Interpretation of Prophecy, That Prophecyings may not be despised, but All awak­en'd Earnestly to Pray, and wait for that Kingdom; seeing there is so much to be observ'd in this Providential Revolution of the Peace, as to be a Door of hope, and a Day of small Things; and that in this very Year of 1697. And I dare not Assume it to be more, I humbly confess, as yet; As in the Following Observations upon the Great Strokes on the Turkish Potentacy, I shall further Acknowledge.

I come now to the Second Grand Providential Event of this Year 1697. The severe Strokes, The Great Governour of the World, and Lord of Hosts, hath caused by the Arms of the Czar of Muscovy, and of the Emperor of Ger­many, to fall upon the Mahometan [...]ttoman Signiory; and to adjust them by Pro­phecy to the near Approach of the Kingdom of Christ.

That I may present this in the Clearest and most Compendious Table, I shall First consider Mahometanism in the General, as common to the Saracens and Turks; and then peculiarly, as it is now seated in the Ottoman Turkish Emp [...]r [...], and each in several short Notes of Observation; and Argue from them the Great Hopes, that these Strokes upon that Mahometan Imposture and Tyranny, are Fore-Runners of the Final Dissolution of it, and of the Kingdom of Christ, succeeding.

1. The very Essential State of this Imposture and Tyranny, is design'd by God, as a Mock-Antichrist to the Grand Roman Papal Antichrist, a Paraselene, or Counterfeit Moon to his Moon, even as Antichrist is a mock-Christ, or in Despite to our True Lord Christ.

1. Mahomet acknowledges Christ a Great Prophet, even as Antichrist does; but robs Him of the Glory of his Divinity, and of being the onely Su­preme, True Prophet, wherein He is an Antichrist.

2. He Abhors Idols; Herein He mocks Antichristian Idolatry, but sets up the Idol-Prophet, Mahomet; Therein He is an Antichrist.

3. He pretends to an Ʋniversal Kingdom; Herein He mocks the Papal An­tichrist; One by the Spiritual, the other by the Temporal Sword, pretends to an Ʋniversal Kingdom, but both undermine Christ [...]s Kingdom, and Both are Anti­christs therein.

4. He offers a Fools Paradice, and Deliverance from Future Misery, but as Counterfeit as the Popes Deliverance from Purgatory, by his Key of the Bottom­less Pit; Herein are they both Antichrists, but Mahomet, as coming last, and upon the Papacy, is a Mock-Antichrist, an Antichrist in despite.

5. He pretends some Reverence to some of the Sacred Writings, but hath brought in a Nonsensic Alcoran, as vain as Papal Traditions, and Oral Laws.

2. The Time therefore of the Beginning of this Imposture and Tyranny was soon after the Papal Supremacy, the one at 606. the other at 622. The one the Antichristian, the other the Mahometan Hegire, when its Tyranny came forth; while the one lasts, the other lasts also; when the one ends, the other shall end also: If therefore Antichristian Times determine in 97. Mahometan Times shall determine with them; why them may we not hope, this Blow on Mahometanism is an Alarm-Blow upon Both Antichrists now ready to Expire?

I come now more particularly to consider the Ottoman Turkish Power, and to Remark on that, as more precisely before us in the Events of this Year; and so make these Remarks upon it.

1. The Ottoman Power Appear'd in the Greatest Extremity, and lowest Condition of the Witnesses after the Great Persecution upon Those we call the Vaudois; and the most cruel Slaughter of so many of Them: In Re­venge of which, God sent the Ottoman Power, to Remonstrate against the An­tichristian Salvagenesses.

2. They were designed by God to Raise the Mahometan Imposture and Tyranny, to the Imperial Throne of Eastern Rome, or Constantinople. C. 11. 45. This is expressed by Daniel, as the planting the Tabernacle of his Pallace between the Seas, in the Glorious Holy Mountain, so Honourably styled, because it was the City of Constantinople, that First Christian Emperor, and Great Type of the Kingdom of Christ; This was in the Year 1453.

3. The Ottoman Emperor, Selymus, in, or upon the First Year of the Refor­mation, 1517. seized upon Judea and Jerusalem, styled by Daniel, Ch. 11. 41. the Glorious Land.

4 There is an Absolute Determination of God; This Mahometan Otto­man Prince shall come to his End, C. 11. 45.

Seeing this is so determined, we have Reason to look upon this very Year as the Year of his Approaching end, on these Reasons.

1. The Mahometan Ottoman Emperor, Coming in as a Judgment upon Papal, Antichristian Cruelty, and Advanced to the Throne of the Eastern Roman Em­pire, That he might be a Mock Antichrist to the Grand Antichrist in the West; He must in all the Reason and Sense of Prophecy, be Limited to the Times of the First Antichrist; Because, when the Sin is Removed, The Judgment shall be Re­moved also; And when the True Lord and Christ shall Consume the Great Anti­christ by the Breath of his Mouth, He will Consume All other Antichrists with Him: If then the Times of the Papal Antichrist, shall End in this 1697. The Mahometan shall End in it also.

2. Accordingly we find; The Time Assigned to the Ottoman Power standing prepared to obtain, and to hold in possession that Roman Eastern Empire, will exactly agree from the Time of His Rising with the End of Antichristian Times; For let us with the best and most of Chronologers, Date his Rising to the Year 1300. And Prophecy Assigns to him for the obtaining, and holding the Grecian Empire under his Power, an Hour, a Day, a Month, a Year; Which by Fair Prophetical Computation make up 397 Years, and so must end 1697.

3. The seizing on Jerusalem just at the Reformation, when the last 180 Years, or Half Time of Antichristianism entered, is a very Hopeful Argument to me, That this Ottoman Term of Power is this Year to End; For there is a Con­currence of Three Great Periods, according to that very seizure of Jerusalem by the Ottoman Power in the Year 1517. Which Fall on this very Year 1697.

The Period of the Antichristian Times, in the last Half Time being Remar­ked as by the Reformation, so by the Particular stroke of God on the Papal An­tichrist, in the seizure of such a Place, to which so High a Devotion is preten­ded by the Grand Antichrist into the Hand of the Mock Antichrist, and who Himself, to shew Himself a Mock-Antichrist, made the same pretence of Devo­tion to, and at it; As History Reports of Selymus, that Turkish Saltan▪ who seized it: And it is worthy observation, That the Enlargement of the Ottoman Empire at that Time, and in those Parts, and Particularly on the [...]oly City and Land, Gave the Fair and Plausible pretension to the Papal Raising Money by Indulgences to withstand and resist it; Which odious Cheat of Indulgences gave the Great Advantage to the Reformation, as is well known; And it gives much Encouragement to Hope; So Eminent a Consiguration against Antichristianism, as of the taking Jerusalem, and the Reformation, and the latter so Derived from the Former, upon the Year 1517. Gives it an undoubted Title to be the Begin­ning of Half Time, or the Last 180 Years of Antichristianism, and so to be at an End this 1697.

2. The Period of the Jewish Captivity, and Jerusalems being Trodden under Foot of All Nations; For seeing those Times upon Judea and Jerusalem, are Bounded by the Gentiles Times Fulfilled, and that the Time of the Antichristian Apostacy, are peculiarly by Prophecy Branded, as Gentiles Times of Treading un­der Foot the Holy City: If the Antichristian Half Time (which is its last) Began 1517, and Ends 1697. Consequently the last 180 Years of [...]ewish Captivity, and Conculcating, or Trampling under foot-Times must end, and Consequentially also, Mahometan Times, that hold Jerusalem and Judea under that Conculcation, must end at the same time too.

3. The Period of Mahometan Times Themselves, must be found in this very 1697. For then the Time of Turkish planting the [...]abernacl [...] of his Palace, in the Glo­rious Holy Mountain, Ceases; And Constantinople shall Return to its Former Glory under Constantine, and be a Grand City in the Kingdom of Christ; The taking therefore of Constantinople, drew so near to the Time of the Reformation at the last Half Time of Antichrist, to Foreshew, Both those Antichrists of East and West, shall be consumed together in 1697 Ending.

4. That Complication of Power, that seems at this Time to be Gathering a­gainst the Ottoman Empire, looks like a Hopeful Symptom, Their End is now Approaching: For so Daniel describing his End, says, Tydings out of the East and North shall Trouble Him, and then theDan. 11. ult. Conclusion of All is, He shall come to his End, and none shall help Him. Now, how very exactly does this agree with the present Juncture, Viz. The Combination of the Muscovian Forces on one side with the Imperial on the other side, in the same Design of bringing Him down: And what may come upon Him from Poland, He is not Insensible of; Now All these Trouble Him; And that unnatural Aid He had from France is deserting Him; So that Things make up the very Aspect of that Prophetic Vision of Daniel upon Him.

5. If we consider the Muscovian Prince; He is of that Profession of Christia­nity found among those we Call the Greek Churches, who, though they are the other Wing of the Roman Eagle, or Empire, thatRev. 12. c. 13. Carryed the Church into the Antichristian Wilderness, and the other Horn of that Lam [...], that spake as a Dragon, yet the Antichrist it self settled, in what is Called the Western, or Latin Rome, and the other are not under the Black Brand of that: These two parts of the Roman Empire are styled in Relation to one ano­ther, The Rest of Men; And it is said of the Antichristian Rest of Men, Notwithstanding the Judgment on the Eastern Rome, Rev. 9. ult. c. 11. 13. They Repented not; But of the Rest of Men of the Eastern Part, when they saw the Judgment on the Western Babylon, or Rome, they were Affrighted, and Gave Glory to the God of Heaven by Repentance, which speaks to me in short Prophetical Language, the Restitution of the Grecian Churches; And it imme­diately follows; The Second, that is, The Mahometan woe is past; I Rejoyce there­fore, That God hath made use of a Prince of the Grecian Profession, so Victo­riously over the Mahometans, by whom they are now held in slavery.

6. The Imperial Power, though yet given according to Prophecy to the Beast, is yet made use of in the Sense, It is said; The Earth helped the Woman in Drinking up the Mahometan Flood; The Judgment falls especially on the Civil, and Ecclesiastic Antichristian State, and therefore it doth its utmost to resist it; and particularly God hath made use of the German Emperor, as a Bullwark of the Western Roman Empire against the Mahometane and I hope The Empire shall yet become an eminent part of the Kingdom of Christ.

7. That Great turn God hath pleased to make in the Spirit, and Victorious­ness of the Ottoman Power, from so High a Tyde to so low an Ebb; And un­der this very present Prince, who seemed to recollect All its former prowess and magnanimity, but it hath proved like a last effort, or as they speak, like a Lightning before Death.

8. The weight and severity of the stroke in so great a slaughter, and as by an immediate Hand of Gods own, as in Times of old on his Enemies; Terror upon them, Castingthem Headlong into the River, Does I hope Intimate a near approaching Final Destruction; And that All this is come to pass in this Year 1697. According to the Line of Time, and in those Remarkable [Page] Months we Call August, and September, and in the very prophetic Hour of Au­gust. I have so Remarked upon; and so upon the Time of the Scripture Ju­bilee; In All which I cannot but hope, God hath been pleased to take off much of the Scandal of my mistake; And this is the Consummating Reason of my Hope.

I have now dispatched the Second Head of this Apology, and come to the Third; Or what, It is I expect, when Time shall be no more, but for the Finish­ing of the mystery of God; Which I shall but just represent in the several uses, the Spirit of God makes of the Word Mystery in the New Testament; And shew, That the Mystery of God in every of those Things, shall be Finished in the Kingdom of Christ, Beginning and Going on to open it self into its Fullest Glory.

1. The Gospel, the Comprehensive Mystery, the Mystery of Faith, of Godly­ness; The Mystery of God, of the Father, of Christ; With All its Divine and Glorious Truths, The Mysterys of the Kingdom of Heaven; shall be Finished, by the Full Revelation of it in the Everlasting Gospel, Preached to every Nation un­der Heaven; And particularly in that Branch, Christ Received up into, or rather for Glory, Viz. The Glorious manifestation of Himself, upon which the Apostacy hath so long layn as an Eclipse, and Delay.

2. The Mystery of the Union betwixt Christ and Believers, in the Spiritual Marriage, shall be Finished in the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, making her self Ready, and the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb.

3. The Mystery of the Gentiles, Universally brought in, and illustriously uni­ted as a [...], or One Body with the Israel of God.

And further, The Eclipse taken off, that is yet upon the Gentile Churches, and their return to a Full orb'd Light, according to the Promises made to the Churches in the Glorious Kingdom of Christ.

4. The Mystery of Reconciliation, Reception, Salvation, and Fulness of All Is­rael, when that Full Glory of the Gentiles is; Then shall be a Great Ap­pearance of the Fulfilling All the Great promises, and Prophecys we find in both the Old and New Testament to that People; when the Gentiles Times are Fulfil­led, as was Noted; a Summary Assurance of which is the very Name of that City, The New Jerusalem.

5. The Mystery of the Seven Churches, as Seven Golden Candlesticks, in the midst of which The Son of Man walks, and the Seven Stars of the Evangelick Ministry, seen in his Right Hand, in all the Glory of each; The Seven Churches, as Types of the Churches, of the New Testament successively with their Angels; And comprehending under them Those Grecian Churches of Asia, All brought into the Glory and Purity of the Philadelphian Church; and the New Jerusalem, the City of our God coming down into it, shall then be fully Finished.

6. The Mystery of the Antichristian Church, City, and the whole Hierarchy of it, with All its Abominations, shall be laid open, understood of All, and come to an utter end by the mighty Spirit of Christs Mouth, by the Brightness of his Ap­pearance, and by the Judgments, He will execute according to Rev. 17. and C. 18. On the Womans Forehead was written Mystery; The Mystery of the Woman, and the Beast that Carryed Her, and the Judgment of the Great Whore, were made known [Page 14] to John by the Angel, and it shall be a Mystery Finished, that is, Laid open and brought to an utter End.

7. The Mystery of the Divine will in Recapitulating, and Recollecting All Things in Heaven, and Earth in Christ, even in Him, as the Head; in the fullness of Times, of All Times (that is) in the Glorious Thousand Years-Kingdom of Christ, Eph. 1. 10.

8. The Mystery of the Living Saints changed, who shall Inherit the New Earth, during the 1000 Years, and walk in the Light of the New Heavens, or Jerusalem above, in the sight of Christ, and of his Saints of the First Resurrection, and in Bodys every way Proportioned to that Blessed State, and Healed with the Leaves of the Tree of Life; This the Apostle shews, as a Great Mystery, 1 Cor. 15.

Now other then these eight Great uses of the word Mystery, or what is most clearly referring to Them, I do not find in Scripture; and seeing the Spirit of Prophecy hath so comprehensively used the word Mystery concerning its Finishing, and that each of these things is Styled Mystery in the Gospel, and shall have so certain a Consummation, and Complement in the Kingdom of Christ, We may very well Expound the one by the other, and be sure of their coming into their Finishing, when Time of a former sort, that is, of the Time, Times, and Half Time shall be no more; And because there are such direct assurances of the Finish­ing of each of these in the Prophecy of the Revelation, How clear is it!

And now I come to the Fourth and Last Head; To give the duest and justest Apology concerning no more Appearance of the Finishing of the mystery of God, in All these Great mentions of it, already in this Year 1697; And to adjust be­tween the Humblest Acknowledgment of my own mis-understanding in what Hath fallen so much below; and yet with equal Acknowledgment of what hath been already reflected upon to have passed, as an Earnest and Pledge; And wherein yet I have sure Grounds (as I most Humbly conceive and believe) in the sure word of Prophecy concerning 97. And hereof I will give Account in this short, but yet full Declaration of my self, and of my Sense herein.

The Year 1697. I must still look upon, as I have all along Remonstrated to be the very Year, in which the Time, Times, and Half Time of the Antichristi­an Apostacy, and of the 1260 Years of the Witnesses in Sackcloth, and of the Church in the Wilderness are to Expire and End.

But now, whether in the Beginning of the Year 97. as I first Hoped, or towards the Middle of the Year, on the Twenty Third of the Month, we call August, Answering to the Twenty Third of the same Month, 476. on which the Roman Western Empire ceased in Augustulus, as I had Entertained Hopes, when I found no such Appearances in the Beginning of the Year; or that in, and with the very Ending of the present 1697. the aforenamed Terms Expire▪ Solomon says, The Desire of a Man is his Kind­ness. I desire with all Sense of Unworthyness to speak it; The earnest desire of my Soul in Love to the Kingdom of Christ, and the Hope of it deferred, making my Heart even sick, excited my Zeal to prefer the Times, that I had any Reason to pitch upon, that were nearest: And this, as I now find, produced the mistake, which I desire with All Self-Humiliation to confess before God, his People, [Page] and to own it as a Rebuke from Him; Though I trust, in Love, that I might not trust in my own understanding, or be any way Exalted in any Communica­tions from his Word, but Lye low before Him; and that his Truth, and Wis­dom may be seen in my Folly and Weakness; and in this regard I take pleasure in it; That his Power may Graciously yet Tabernacle over me, and His strength be perfected in my weakness, and his Grace sufficient for me; Under this Correction, I have come to consider; That this Year 97, must perfectly run out, Ere the Time, Times and Half a Time, the 1260 Days, and the 42 Months End; And that, as God appointed the Beginning of the Sacred Israelitish Year, to be in the Month Nisan, or about the Vernal Equinox; And that this was the Time of the Children of Israel, Going out of the Bondage of Literal Egypt; So that the Sla­very under Spiritual Egypt should end with the Year, and Deliverance begin in 98. beginning.

2. I always Accounted; The Apocalyptical Epoch, or the Beginning of Times Given in the Prophecy of the Revelation, take Their Commencement from the Day of the Lords Resurrection; which falls in, as is well known with the Be­ginning of the aforenamed Israelitish Year; and consequently, the Begin­ning of the 1260 Years must be at the same time of the Year; and conse­quently also, They must there end; when therefore they are ended, In the beginning of the Following Year 98. shall the Passeover from Spiritual Egypt be Celebrated by the Spirit of Life on the Witnesses; Proportionably shall Follow the Pentecost of the Spirit poured out; Proportionably also shall follow the Fall of the Greai City in the Month call'd August, at the Cessation of the Beasts Months.

3. Herein shall be seen the Exactness of Divine Truth, and of the Just­ness of Christ to his Oath, That there should be Time, Times, andDan. 12. Half a Time to the utmost Hour; The Antichristian State then Ending with the End of 97. In the very Beginning of 98. The Sun of Righteousness shall come from under the Eclipse by the Moon of Anti­christ, and shine out with Healing in his Wings; and so Things go forward to the Kingdom of Christ. And then comes in the other Oath Indented with it; Time of such sorts shall be no more, Rev. 10.

If any should say, How if you are mistaken in the Beginning of 98, as you was in 97. The Answer I must make, is, I should then lay my Hand up­on my Mouth, and say with Job, I am vile; Once, yea, Twic [...] have I spoken; But I will do so no more: I would, through Grace, Repent, and abhor my self in Dust and Ashes before God, as having provoked Him so Justly to Deny his Presence and Powerful Attestation, to what I have declared out of his word; Because He was not pleased to Lead me to the true Interpretation of it; And yet I can no more be perswaded, the Appearance of that Kingdom of Christ, I have so much spoken of, can be far off, then I can be perswaded, The Prophecy of Daniel and the Revelation are not true; Because I find so Great Assurance, the whole Scope and Tendency, and the order of the Visions, and so many and great Events Recorded in undoubted History and Chronology, do so set it beyond all doubt, That this Kingdom must be near Approaching; But if [Page] the Humble hopes, I have in the End of this, and the Beginning of the Follow­ing Year, and Prayers for it be not Answered; I shall look upon my self oblig­ed, to Acknowledge; The very particular Year, when it shall be, God hath hidden from the most Humble and Industrious search, and Enquiry into the Pro­phecy of Scripture concerning it, which I have the Testimony of Conscience, I have waited upon Him in.

Obj. If it be said, why will you then having been confessedly in an Error con­cerning the Former parts of the Year 97. Presume on the End of it, and so of the Beginning of 98.

Answ. 1. Because I find all the Great Reasons, I have Founded my Determinati­on for 97 upon, stand as Good and as Firm for the End of it, and for the En­trance of the Kingdom of Christ in the Beginning of 98; as in any other part of 97. And in this Regard more Firm, that hereby the Computation of Years from the Resurrection of our Lord, whith is the Apocalyptick Epoch is more As­certained; It is more certainly known where to Begin and where to End: Hereby it is known, the 2300 Eves, Morns of Years, Dan. 8. Begin in the Vernal Beginning of each Year, and so End, where the following Year Begins. That the 1260 Years of the Witnesses Sackcloth-Prophecy, and of the Churches Wilder­ness-State must Begin, and End so; And that the Fourty two Moons of the Gentiles and of the Beast, must be Correspondently Governed; and so the mi­stake of August the 23 was only in a Circumstance; as if the Lunar Years of the Beast, might have begun there and so end there. But if the Beginning of all Account of Apolyptical Time, and so of the End, be the Beginning of each Year in the Spring; Then must the Event Answering the 23d of August, when the Roman Western Empire ceased, Fall into the Year, not of the last of the 1260, Because the Time of the Months will not be run out, while the Last is Current; but The first Year of the New Era of Time, for Finishing the My­stery, and when the Seventh Angel shall begin to Sound, must produce that Great Event in that Month, we Call August; and follow the Rising of the Wit­nesses in the Beginning of that Year, Answerable to our Lords Resurrection; and the Powring out of the Spirit, Answerable to the Apostolic Pentecost; and so the Fall of the Beastian-Power, and his Months quite darkened, Answerable to that 23d of August when they began.

But if there had been the Change of the very Year it self, and so the Loss of it. The very Frame of my Scripture Line it self must have been altered; If the Year 97 Must end it self, that that whole-Course of Time may end and a new one begin in the Spring of the following Year, and the Finish [...]ng, our Lord in that Vision, Rev. 10. speaks of, Begin with it; All stands clear and firm in the main; And for this therefore I wait and pray.

Answ. 2. When I duly consider the Imperial Victory, not only as I have al­ready spoken of it, but as I have kept in Reserve till now; That it is to be compar'd, as with the Time of the Cessation of the Western Empire of Rome in Augustu [...]us, so with the Determination of Prophecy upon, and with Relation to that Cessation, and what it Intended, and Designed upon it; I [Page] cannot but Acknowledge a very Extraordinary Hand of God in it; and such as owns a peculiar Regard to it, and gives a Pledge of Future Expectation upon it; so that I cannot with Just Estimation of, and Acknowledgment due to that, lay down either my Hopes, or publick Testimony concerning this Year Ending, and the Following Beginning.

First then, I consider the Time of this Imperial Victory, I have so far, and I hope not without Great Weight Remark'd upon▪ and I find the Imperial Army so in motion and preparation for i [...], by the most Certain and Va­luable Intelligences we have Receiv'd of it from our 23d of August: and the very Victory it self upon the 31st of that Month, according to our Old Style Account, within the Virge of the Prophetical Hour, that I cannot but stand in Humble Admiration at it: For every [...]ove of the Armies to that very Day of Victory it self, is to be enfolded with, and united to it; So that herein is in undeniable Matter of Fact, an Agreement thus far in Time.

Obj. I know the difference of New and Old Style may be objected; and that the New Style, as being the Reformation of the Calendar is most Exact: And that from this the Prophetical Hour in the Sixth Month, and so the Imperial Victory Flyes further off by the Ten Days difference; and the Peace in the Seventh Month from the Day of Attonement and Jubilee.

Answ. 1. But in Answer to this, It is nothing strange, If God is pleased to neglect that Papal Reformation of the Calendar, as coming within that usurpati­on of his Changing Times, Dan. 7. 25, Who would not Reform his Changing of Laws, even those Eternal ones of the Word of God; Although he must needs see a Divine Hand had gone some considerable Number of Years before Him in such a Reformation, by Luther, and other eminent Servants of his, Churches and States, viz. from 1517. to 1582. But He, who by his Great Works of Provi­dence, changes Times and Seasons with Supreme Right, Justice and Authority, or Retains them, pleases to Honour the Old Style with peculiar Respect to this Protestant Nation, that still uses it.

Answ. 2. Although some Times God in his Great Works observes Time to the self same Day; yet at other Times, He may, as he pleases▪ make some Variation; as Solomon's Beginning to Build the Temple, is dated 2 Chron. 3. 2. On the second Day of the second Month from the Going of the Children of Israel out of Egypt, which was on the Self-same day of the Fourteenth of the First Month: This shews God sometimes is pleased to Allo [...] a Latitude: I cannot therefore but most Humbly Adore Divine Goodness, in Approaching so near with so Em [...]nent a Providence, as so compleat a Victory over the Power of the Eastern Antichrist, so Acknowledged an Enemy to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, upon the Time Remarked by the Unworthiest Mi­nister of his Kingdom.

Answ. [...] But it is much more considerable, That the Gracious God hath, by Striking that M [...]ck-Antichrist so near that very Day of the Cessation of the West [...]rn E [...], in the Year 476; yielding Rist to the 42 Moons of the Beast, and the Ten Kings; given Warning, that according to the True Adjustment [Page] of Lunar Time to Solar, Their Space of Reign then, strictly speaking, ended, and that was their last August of Power; and before the Coming of that Month, in the following Year, They shall be in Subjection to the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

Answ. 4. It is most Remarkable, That the Effective Treaties of the Peace at Reswick, and the Victory over the Turks by the Imperial Forces were very hear together, by which our Wise and Holy God was pleased to show; That He would dissolve that Union between the French King, that would have been the whole Iron, or an Ʋniversal Monarch, as hath been said, and the Brass of the Graco-Turkish Potentacy, and Bring that Potentacy Low at the same time; and that by both He would preserve, as hath been before Argued, the Ten Kingdoms of the We [...]ern Empire, till They shall as [...]en be Overcome by the Lamb at the Expiration of their Term with the Beast now so near Expiring.

And it is indeed very observable That as in the disposes of our True God, the Power of the Eastern Empire was Thrown early after the settlement of the Ten Kingdoms in the West, out of the [...]estern Empire, and the Exarchate of Ravenna made to cease for many Great Services, and Ends according to Proph [...]cy; So al­though in a way of Iudgment, God hath suff [...]red Mahometan, parti [...]ularly Tur­kish Eruptions into it, especially in Hungary, and Transy [...]vania; Yet he hath still Reprima [...]ded the [...], and the Attempts of the Greatest Princes among them, as of their Magnificent Solyman upon [...]enna, was shamefully disgraced; and from the Last Bes [...]iging of it in the Year 80 That Empire hath been Tottering and Shaking: Be [...]ause t [...]erein it hath dared to pass the Bounds set it by Pro­ph [...]cy; Although it hath entered into the Holy Land, Egypt hath not escaped, Ethiopia hath been at its steps; Yet it never could stretch its Hands, as over other Countreys, Or overnow to Vienna, m [...]ch less to Rome carried Alought by the P [...]pal [...]east. This Stroke therefore hath so overtaken and surrounded the Turkish Armies in [...]ungary, as if God would give Testi­mony; That at the same time He preserved the Ten Kingdoms from the Aspi­rings of an Ʋniversal French Mon [...]chy by the Peace▪ He would also Vindicate Th [...]m from the Overspread of a Mahometan Turkish Overfl [...]w. In all which the wonder [...]ul Doings of our Great, and Holy God, ought to be Triumph'd in by Al [...] His Servants; and most especially by the Un [...]orthiest of his Servants in the Sure Word of Prophecy, as happy Forebodes of his Kingdom at the End of 97. and the [...]eginning and Going on of 98

And now upon All that hath been spoken, I cannot but Rejoyce, in Recalling that Proph [...]cy I have [...]ome Years ago in a former [...]reatise enlarged upon; Found in the Study of [...]ustus L [...]psi [...]s, Ann 1606. and that hath been near Fifty Years Extant in the Exposition of D [...] M [...]yer on those Books of Scripture, called, The small Prophets; which I will again here Transcribe, for more universal Notice, because I Know It to be [...]ounded on Greatest Rea­son of Scripture, and Assured by the Chrono [...]ogy of Prop [...]etic Events, and there­fore I cannot but Think the Composer Assisted by a Prophetic Spirit.

I would now conelude all, with earnest desires of the constant Fervent Pray­ers of the Servants of God, for the speedye [...] Answer of that Petition; Thy Kingdom Come; Come Lord Jesus Come quickly; and [...]ith my Humblest request in some Variation from the Apostles Words; Let no M [...]n trouble me; For I bear upon my Mind and Condition, the Stigmata, or marks of the Kingdom of Christ yet in Delay: Upon the Account of which I can in some measure say; The pre­sent State of this World is Crucified to me, and I to it.