WE must begin with this Song, Great and marvellous are thy Works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints, Rev. 15. And if he will breath in us the Life and Wisdom of his own holy Spi­rit, we will call to minde and Rehearse the Righteous Acts of the Lord, who has been doing by mean and despicable Instruments, a great and good work, full of wonder and astonishment, of late years in these utmost Isles of the world, (according to the Prophesies of the Scriptures) in order to the introducing the best Interest, which is the desire of all Nations, namely the Exaltation of the Throne and Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ among us. And this beginning of Reformation, and the honest Par­ty engaged in this Quarrel, (however by far the less number) God did abundantly own, and witness too from heaven, by opening his Salvation, and making bare his own Arm, against the late King, who was justly cut off as a Murtherer, (see Decl. of Parl. 11. Feb. 1647.) Tyrant, and Traytor, insomuch that Germany was not without a witness (that Learned and Judicious Author of Clavis Apocalyptica) to the Righteousnesse of that Sentence, who concludes by vertue of that clear Text, Rev. 16. 5, 7. Lord, thou art Righteous, because thou hast Judged thus, P 100.

Novertheless, God hath now taken away all our bancks, and permitted this old Ene­my, to come in upon us as a flood, Isa. 59. 19. And now C. S. the Son of that Mur­therer is Proclaimed King of England, whose 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 Nimrod their first Head and Original, the succession of the same cursed Seed, and Serpentine Off-spring, which by a continued Series runs through the Veins of the Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman Monarchies. So that now this common Enemy (the seed of Ham) is risen up in the spirit of that Murtherer Cain, in the spirit of Esau, Pharoah, Amaleck, Nebuchadnezzar, Haman; in the spirit of Herod, and of the old Heathen Romane Persecutors, such as Dioclesian, (against whom the Blood of the butcher'd and martyr'd Saints cryed under the fifth Seal) at the beginning of whose ten years most cruel savage Persecution, (as M. Mede hath observed) within thirty dayes about 17000. are reported to have been butcher'd: In Egypt alone (how small a part of the Empire of Rome?) there were butcher'd 144000. men; and all the world almost was stained with the precious blood of the Martyrs; in the spirit of the monstrous, cruell, unparallel'd Beast, Rev. 13. who hath all the cursed properties of a [Page 2] Leopard for fierceness, the feet of a Bear, to catch and hold, and the mouth of a Lion to tear and devour; in the spirit of that Scarlet filthy Whore, Rev. 17. the Mother of Harlots, (the Whorish Churches) who is drunk with the blood of Saints, and in her is found the blood of Prophets and Martyrs, and all that has been slain on the Earth; we say they are now Risen up in this spirit, against the Lord, against his Christ, and People. This is the spirit that put to death our Lord Jesus Christ, and that murthered all the Martyrs.

But when we seriously weigh with our selves the great and good designs God hath in this strange Providence, whereat most are confounded; to punish and spue out of his mouth a Lukewarm People, who had not a thorough spirit 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 rest by choice distinguishing Characters, as Gold from more impure Mettal, as Gideons three hundred from the thousands, to this great Work of following the Lamb: To fulfil the Word of God, and the Prophecies of these last dayes, among which those three in that blessed Book of the Revelations, [chap. 11. 10 11, 12, 13. chap. 18, 7, 8. & chap. 17. 17.] are not the least. And to get himself a great Name, which will be more glorious by much then that of Egypt, Jer. 23. 7, 8. For as he raised up Pharoah, so hath he them, to shew his Power in them, and that his Name may be declared throughout all the Earth, Rom. 9 17. They are brought as Foxes into the Snare, and as Birds into the Net. We say when we consider these things, we are so far from being dejected, that we cannot restrain from singing and praise, knowing that this will make much for Gods Honour, our good, and this Works advantage, and they shall not be able to touch one hair of our head; nay, we were very much confirmed in our hopes of the sudden appearance of this Work, by the coming in of their poor wretched King, at whom (as the Daughter of Zion did at that great boasting Assyrian) we laugh, and have them in derision.

And when we consider the great opinions of this year, the wonderfull effects it is like to produce, the sweet harmony and agreement of the Prophecies, the visibility of those things therein foretold to fall in the time of the Witnesses death, the great likelihood of the Witnesses Resurrection, the great New Covenant-Promise of the spirit made to this Work, the wonderfull undeniable signs of the times, and how miraculously we have been cut out, and preserved for this Work, of which we shall speak in a brief Treatise by it self: And also having our hearts broken with the Love of Christ, and boiling over, and having tasted through choice distinguishing grace, the Preciousness, Power and Love of a soul-endearing Jesus; we are mightily awakend and stirred up, and that Fire that has been hid under our Ashes will break out into Flames, and that Fountain of the Rivers of Living Waters into Streams, as the bubbling Springs that searcheth the ground, and finding entrance gusheth out. Our Lives, and every thing else that is dear unto us upon a worldly account, we despise as a mean thing in comparison of the glory of that Name, which is to us as precious Oyntment, and we lay all down at the feet of our Lord Jesus, resolving if we perish to perish there.

And first, we desire to lay our selves in the dust, to have soul-abasing thoughts of our selves, (for such is the nature and fruits both of the Grace and teachings of Christ) and freely to admire what we have freely received, that his preserving Grace has kept us from the defilements, soul-destroying Iniquities, and heart-entraping snares of these perillous times, the cheats and delusions of Satan, sin, the world, and an evil heart; that we have not worshipped the Beast, Rev. 13. 8. defiled our Garments, and gone a whoring after strange Interests; of which we may say as Solomon of the strange woman, Many strong [Page 3] men have been slain by her, Prov. 7. 26. And we may encourage the persevering Remnant, in the words of Moses, Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-Peor; for all the men that followed Baal-Peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you: but ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God, are alive every one of you this day, Deut. 4. 3, 3. Here is the faith and patience of the Saints.

And indeed, we cannot but admire the grace of God, and to his praise we would speak it; that we were preserved from the wicked Apostacy of O. C. against which we spared not to contend to the loss 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 up­on us, Psal. 81. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. And all those unfaithful servants that complyed with him, and his Interest, and continued in a sinful perseverance, as highly guilty of betraying the Righteous Interest, and Cause of Christ, and the Liberties of all the Saints; of sin against God, and the work of their Generation: whereby they have made themselves unmeet for any place of Power and Trust, and others must take their Crown; neither will they any more finde acceptance with the Lord, or his People, but upon unfeigned Repentance, which they may best testifie, by making themselves nothing, that Christ may be all, and serving him in the lowest and meanest capacity. For those that Christ will delight to honour in this work, are Virgins, Rev. 14. who never were espoused or marryed to a worldly, or defiling Interest: and except our names be found in those blessed, distinguishing Characters, as in the Kings muster Roll, we shall never follow the Lamb with another spirit, as Josbua and Caleb did. We con­clude with David, instead of thy Fathers, shall be thy Children (a second Generation) whom thou mayest make Princes in all the Earth, Psal. 45. 16.

We therefore freely, of a ready minde, and with a most chearful heart (accounting it an honour too great for us, poor worms, who are the meanest of men, the greatest of sinners, and the least of Saints, to gird on a Sword for Christ.) Give up our Lives and Estates unto our Lord King Jesus, and to his People, to become Souldiers in the Lambs Army, abhorring Mercenary Principles, and Interests. And for this works sake we desire not to love our lives unto the death, neither will we ever (if we may speak so great a word with reverence in the fear of God) sheath our Swords again, untill Mount Zion become the joy of the whole Earth, a Mountain of holiness and a habitation of justice, untill Rome be in Ashes, and Babylon become a hissing and a curse, the border of wickedness, and the People against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever, there being left unto her neither Name, nor Remnant, Son, nor Nephew. For that we are not pur­posed, when the Lord shall have driven forth our Enemies here, in these Nations, and when we shall in a holy Triumph, have led our Captivity Captive, to sit down under our Vines and Figg-trees, but to go on to France, Spain, Germany, and Rome, to de­stroy the Beast and Whore, to burn her flesh with Fire, to throw her down with vio­lence as a Milstone into the Sea, that she may be found no more at all, Rev. 18. 21. Jer. 51. 35. to bring not onely these, but all the Nations to the subjection of Christ, that the Kingdome may be the Lords, and to perfect the deliverance of all the Saints, the Remnant of the Waldenses, and all the Children of the Free-woman, who are yet groaning and crying under the Tyranny and Persecutions of Antichrist, and to avenge the blood of all the Martyrs, which we earnestly remember, and which is an especial motive unto us, the cry of which is very loud in our ears, and much more in the ears of God, unto whom vengeance belangeth And this is much more then a National Quar­rel, that which is the Test now, being the Interest of Christ the blood of the Butcher'd, Murder'd, Martyr'd, and Massacred Saints, the interest of the good People, the Li­berties [Page 4] of all men, and the undoing of all the sinful oppressions and yoaks of the whole Creation.

The Controversie now therefore lies between Zion and Babylon, Christ and Anti­christ; and therefore we assert, That it is lawfull for the true spiritual Seed, the legi­timate Heirs of the promises and the World, Rom. 4. 13. To RISE ƲP against the carnal, serpentine, accursed seed, who are the destroyers of the Earth, Rev. 11. 18. To possess the GATE of their Enemies, to binde their Kings in Chains, and their Nobles in Fetters of Iron. And we being called of God, and cut out without hands, or humane contrivement, in whom is shewn forth his Power; RISE UP on Gods behalf (free from the guilt of the breach of Oaths and Covenants upon our Consciences) to conflict with this prophane persecuting Spirit of the Dragon, and the Worshippers of the Beast that dwell on the Earth. And we Call all that have a life to lay down for their King and Saviour, to come forth against them with the Sword, and execute upon them the Judgements written. Are you a poor despised Remnant? why, God has for­med you for himself: As Christ was a tender Plant, and a Root out of dry ground; so may his Kingdom arise out of a poor, obscure, illitterate, and (such as the world calls) Fana­tick People. And out of them shall come forth the Corner, the Nail, and the Battel-bow; we look for a righteous spiritual Magistracy out of the new sharp threshing Instrument.

And to the end we may not lay a stumbling-block to shut out any (for this good and wholesome Principle of Christs Government is so large, that it involves every honest Interest, and this bottom can onely secure our Cause as we could prove, but that we write not in an argumentary way) who are against the same abominations and enormities that we are, own at least the negative part of our Cause, and in the main are substan­tially and really for the same good things with us: we also declare, that whoso hath a heart to appear for God, for his Christ, for Reformation, Justice, and Righteousness, for the Cause of Truth, and for the good People of these Nations, under so much re­proach and sufferings, whose Lives, Estates, Liberties, and Posterities are ready to be made a Prey by the cruellest and worst of men (who in the Properties of their natures are beasts) against Popery, Prelacy, Common-prayer, Organs, Superstitions, false, pro­phane forms of Worship, Idolatrous, Ceremonial, Typical, Antichristian shadows and vanities, such as is Sirplices, Lawn Sleeves, Hoods, Tippets, and such whorish trash and Trinkery, Altars, Bowing, Kneeling, and Worshipping a piece of Wood and Bread, and a Wax Candle (a filthy base Idol) for the true God; against Idola­trous Pictures and Images (the seeds of Superstition and Ignorance) we say, whoso hath a heart to rise up for God against the Pope, his Bishops, and Hierarchy, and against these Cavaliers, whose wickedness 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.

And because we do not lay down things in the common road, but go a step above de­praved reason, and common understanding, in representing things under the notion of the Kingdom of Christ, some may be ready simply and ignorantly, and others wil­fully, to mistake, and misapprehend us; some to malicious ends, not knowing what we mean by the Kingdom of Christ, as if some strange thing contrary to the sound hope of the Gospel, and Doctrine of the true Primitive Church, and not in Scripture and rea­son, were intended, as that Christ should immediately appear to head an Army. We shall therefore throw that stone out of your way by Declaring, that by the Kingdom of Christ, or that part of it under the Kingdome of the Stone, which respects the Govern­ment of a well ordered Common-wealth, we mean, That we should have the best of men, of sound Principles, of known integrity, haters of Bribes and Covetousness, lo­vers [Page 5] of Mercy and Justice, that without Fees, and tedious vexatious delayes, should give you Justice, for our Magistrates and Governours: that we might have the word of God for our rule, and that judgement might proceed in all cases according to that wholesome Law, which not onely God himself, the great Law-giver, but experience, and sound reason doth approve the most excellent, Deut. 4. 6, 7, 8. That distributive justice might be equally administred between man and man, without respect to poor or rich, free or bond; for a Magistrate ought to know no man upon the Bench, but respect Justice, Truth, and Mercy: That judgement and righteousness might flow down our streets as mighty streams: That violence and oppression might be heard no more in our Land: That the widows heart might sing for joy, and the mournful complaints of widows and fatherless might be turned into songs, and their tears into joy: that all abuses and op­pressions in the cases of Creditors and Debtors might be duly reformed, with respect to Justice and Mercy: That a constant incorrupted course of Justice might freely run down to all: that theft might not be punished with death; but that restitution be made ac­cording to the Law, and the Malefactor sold, or made to work out his redemption in some house of Correction, which in few years would make us fewer Thieves then a thou­sand Gallowses; but that man-stealers be punished with death: That all the poor of the Land might be set to work, and we might have no beggars: That a due regulation be made with respect to the Natives, in the Manufacture and Trade of the Common­wealth: That there be no transporting of Leather unwrought, Fullers Earth, or other Commodities that may spoil the Manufacture of the Land, and impoverish the poor Tradesman: That Timber be preserved and increased: And whatsoever can be named of a common or publick good, we mean by the Kingdome of Christ, in the Go­vernment 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 sow Fetches and reap Wheat. And then also will our Land yield her increase, and our fruits will not be blasted, or hurt by wet or dry seasons, Psal. 67. 6.

And that our brethren and friends may want no motive to incite them to such an honourable work, of so great concernment, to common and publick good; let us lay to heart the loud crying abominations, and wickedness that every where abounds in the Land, the open profaneness that rages in our streets, their hellish blasphemy, drink­ing healths to the confusion of Zion, and her King (daring the most high to his face) and if he be her King, let him come and save her, their persecuting rage, which hath extended to persons in their Families and Callings, to others in their Meetings to wor­ship God, and others to the extream perils of their Lives, such is the iniquity of this day, and the implacable, biting, serpentine enmity, and rage of this Enemy, who is so both in Principle and Interest: we see what Interest it is that flourishes, what Sun it is that shines by its influence and effects in fostering and giving life to cursed Popish and destru­ctive Interests; we see the clusters of their Vine, the fruits of their Government in all the Land; how hath the greatest sins, Swearing, Drunkenness, Sabbath-breaking, Whoredome, Pride, Laciviousness, Stage-playes, Blasphemy, Popery, Susterstition, Idolatry been propagated and countenanced since their coming in, as a new life given to the slain Serpent. Do we not also consider the Diametrical opposition they stand in to King Jesus; that the K. is a profest Enemy, a Rebel and Traytor to Christ. And if the sense of the said sufferings and reproach of the precious Name of our dear Lord, and the considerations of the right he has by the Oath, Covenant, and Decree of the Fa­ther, and the Purchase 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 [Page 6] have already, or shall declare for, the sufferings and Imprisonment of our Friends, will not provoke and awaken us, yet surely the sense of our own dangers will touch us: shall we sit still, and have our throats cut, or dye like Fools, as Abner did? Or shall we qui­etly give up our Necks to the Yoke, and suffer the Common Prayer, Organs, &c. to be imposed on us? Is Israel a home-born Slave, that we should bore the ears of our souls and bodies to their Posts? What can we expect from them, if we will not take their wicked Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance, the which we cannot do though we should dye; because they are against both the Priestly and Kingly Offices of our Lord Jesus? Are not these already pressed and enforced in the Countreys? And are not some already in Prison? For every Malignant according to his temper and pleasure may make use of his power or strength against us, under the notion of Fanaticks. Doth not the Enemy come in as a Flood, and Popery as an Inundation of mighty Waters? Who sees 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 said to hate an English Protestant so, that she cannot endure the sight of them.

But there is sad symptoms of something worse then all this, and great ground is there to fear, (and so wise men judge) that the old cursed Popish Party (whose numerousness in England portends no good to us) hath already laid the design of a Butchery and Massacre of the honest Party in this Nation and Ireland, who love the Lord Jesus Christ. The which they will assuredly put in execution, their other Contrivements failing. For this grand design twists in the Interests of the Pope, the King of Spain, the German Empire, as well as those Serpents and Vipers that are in our own Bowels, who will suck out our very heart blood, if some Remedy be not sought. The Grand Conspiracy (which we con­ceive those two remarkable Scriptures doth discover, Rev. 12. 17. Psal. 83) now on foot amongst the Popish Parties in Europe, against a poor despised Remnant in England, ought to awaken every man from the sleep of security. For no doubt, the Devill and the Pope hath at this day a great Design upon England. And we are very much per­swaded, that there is now on foot amongst the Popish Parties and Jesuits a very great and bloody Design, to bring in Popery in England, to take the Gospel from us, to root out the Name and Interest of our Lord Jesus Christ, and all the gathered Churches in the Land: And Episcopacy and Common Prayer is but the door to someting worse. And it seems to us a thing very rational, that this cursed design of the Papists is already formed in England, hath life, moves strongly, and is even struggling for the Birth in the Womb of the Mistery of Iniquity; if we weigh but in the balance of Reason, the In­terest that they have in the Court, the great number of Popish Lords in the House, some of whom have suckt in more of the Venom of the Serpent beyond the Seas, that their Sting is the Poyson of Dragons, and the cruel Venom of Asps, to poison and destroy the precious despised Interest of our Lord; the multitudes of Papists about the City of West­minster, even of the bloody Irish Rebels, who cut the throats of the Protestants there, (many thousands of innocent souls) and are now said to be many thousands. If withall we consider the high favour those Irish Lords, who were chief Actors in the Rebel lion and Massacre, are in at Court; the enlisting of the Papists and old Cavaliers, whereby they are put into a capacity to act the greatest Villany, the Popish Queens coming over; the putting of Papists and old exasperated Malignants into all places of Power and Command; which are as so many symptoms of a generall and bloody Mas­sacre: for it is evident, that their design is not so much against Persons as Interests, nei­ther will the blood of a few particular Persons, such as the Kings Judges, satiate their cruel, inraged, blood thirsty mindes, which is set on fire by Hell; but they thirst for the [Page 7] Blood of us all, that they might drink Blood as the Desert doth Rain: And their De­sign (which hath a deeper Original then Rome) is to give so great and effectuall a Blow to the Interest of Christ, and the People of God in England, that it may never Revive again, which makes them prepare so great a Sacrifice, and drive all to one head, that they make a short and thorow work of it. And now will not this mighty confluence of the Papists and Popish Interests to England, as all the Rivers to the Sea, awaken us? How can we promise our selves any security whilest we see the most implacable, vene­mous, Serpentine Enemies, as Vipers creeping into our Bowels, who cannot merit grea­ter fame and praise from holy Church, (as they call it) then by spilling the blood of Pro­testants. We see what multitudes of the cruel bloody Spaniards, under the pretext of Attendants on the Prince and Ambassadour of Spain, is not onely come into our Land, but advantageously placed in the heart of the City of London. And what unwelcome guests to England, the old Queen, Prince Robert, the German Ambassadour will bring, may easily be imagined. Certainly the Popish Parties have some great design upon England. We fear the Poison and deadly Sting is in this Tail of the Dragon; and also the coming in of these forreign Princes and Ambassadors at this time, and with such Triumphs as some Ages past have been strangers to, we can look at as no less, then the fulfilling of that most wonderful Prophecy, Rev. 11. 10. We know the Papists Princi­ple; No faith is to be kept with Hereticks: Let us remember France and Ireland, and not forget Piedmont, whose wounds bleed yet fresh in our memories. They are making our Throats bare to the Knives of their Butchers; and they know well, and we shall feel, if we should longer sit still, what advantage an armed united Interest has of a na­ked dispersed one. And were there no more to be said then that the Law of Nature and Nations hath ordained to fly to means of preservation in threatning and emergent dan­gers, we are highly concerned at this time to take up Armes.

And if we look abroad (which is wonderful to ponder, that the whole state of the Christian Interest should be conformed to England) upon the face of things in all Europe, we can see nothing but the ruine and destruction of the Protestant Cause and Reformed Interest both in France, Savoy, Bohemia, Poland, &c. And it is very observable that every where the Popish Interest gets ground, and the design of the universal Peace, is even now perfecting, and the top-stone is laying, and things of late have wrought strangely (but providentially) in order thereunto, in the death of the late King of Swe­den, and Prince of Transilvania, as also in the coming in of Stuart into England, which can in humane probability produce nothing but bloody persecutions of the Refor­med Churches. But this consideration, that God turns a wheel within this wheel, and that the Churches of Christ, and poor despised People of God in other Nations, are but by this dispensation brought into a state of conformity to, and sympathy with the death of the Witnesses in England, is a supporting one.

And now to suffer all these things, and lose our Birth rights, and to entail Persecu­tion, Slavery, Popery, and Idolatry, to our Posterities for ever, which will leave our names for a curse and stink to them, is grievous; but to suffer them from the Cavaliers, an old beaten Enemy, and that without striking a blow, or bleeding in the Field for that which is much better then our Lives (for as a Romane could say, There is no neces­sity that I should live, but there is a necessity that Rome should be relieved) is the Aggra­vation. For how did this old Enemy come in? did he beat us in the Field? did he win it with his Sword? is our Cause lost? or is our God dead? no! how then? why, by lies (of which the Devil is father, and so (through divine permission) of their con­quest) by hellish plots and contrivement, clad in the robes of our dead cause, as Jacob [Page 8] in Esaus Garments. Well then, it is but an old conquered Enemy; he has been beat­en in the Field times often: of whom now shall we be afraid? of a broken serpent? of a spiritless Enemy?

We have not onely, considering what we have said, a sufficiend primary, original, special cause and call from the Covenant of God, Prophesies of the Scriptures, and time of the end; for an offensive war, to take the Kingdom, and bring these Nations into subjection to the right Scepter of Jesus Christ; but we are necessitated from secon­dary, providential, aggravating causes, to be defensive on behalf of Gods Name, liber­ties of Saints, common-safety, and preservation of our Families, Wives, Children, Lives, Liberties, and Estates. And whoso loveth God, his Countrey or his own Rights which Christ purchased for him by his Blood, and cannot sell his Body, Soul, and Con­science, to the Devil, to wicked men and their lusts, to commit sin with greediness, and run with them to the same excess of all manner of filthiness and wickedness, must now take up the Sword against this beastly crue, as the last remedy God has left us; for such is the unparallel'd iniquity of this day (we hope the Devil is playing his last game in England) that a man that hath but sobriety in his looks, can scarcely pass without the brand of Fanatick.

And these men themselves have set us free from the Bonds of Subjection; for we have no benefit by the Government of this bloody Family, neither are we comprehend­ed within the Verge of their Protection: Wherefore they cannot justly challenge any Obedience from us by the Law of Nature or Nations: For a man is not bound to pay him Subjection who seeks his Destruction.

But although, The Children are brought to the Birth, there is no strength to bring forth; the hour is now come, and we are travelling in pain to be delivered, for the Name of our God, the Noble and Precious Interest of his Christ, and the Deliverance of his Saints and People; and O how are we straitned till it be done! We have been with much fear and trembling in this work, and much wrestling have we had with the Lord: for so far as he has revealed our selves unto us, we had rather suffer all things, not onely to the loss of our Names, and Estates, but even our very Lives, for his sake, who since we believed is made precious to us, then dishonour his great and holy Name; and our souls are sweetly quieted in the Lord, and abundantly satisfied in the time; and certainly if we be deceived, God has deceived us. And now the Love of Christ has constrained us to ap­peare in the face of the greatest perills and dangers, none of which move us so we may finish our course with joy, and serve our Generation in the Work which God hath com­mitted to us, according to his will. And we profess we have nothing but the naked Arm of the Lord to trust in; and if we perish, we'l perish in believing his promises, in ser­ving and promoting his Cause, in contending for this Noble Truth of the Kingdom of his dear Son. And this is our joy, that our God has bound himself by his promises (in his fear we speak it, and with Reverence) to appear for his People: And if God should not appear for the poor Remnant of Jacob, but suffer them for whom his precious blood was shed to fall before Papists, and Cavaliers, and prophane, drunken, damning, swear­ing Idolatrous, Adulterous, wicked and ungodly men; and should suffer the Cause of the Papists, of the bloody Family of the Stuarts, of the old bloody, Popish, wicked Gentry of the Nation, of the drunken, dumb, Popish, scandalous Clergy, to get the up­per hand of his own Cause, and should suffer all our Reformation to be lost, then what would become of his great Name? It was because he could not bring them into the good Land (will the Enemy say) that he has destroyed them in the Wilderness: What will become of his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their Seed? How will the New Cove­nant [Page 9] sealed with the Blood of Christ, and the Oath that he sware unto David in his ho­liness, be verified.

Now therefore, to come to the matter of our Declaration, that we may lay the Ground-work of so great a Building, and stir up and provoke our Brethren in all the Countries, as also in the City of London, to share with us in this honour, and be parta­kers in this work, and now to prepare themselves, and in all points to be ready, in order to a general rendesvouzing on Mount Zions bottom. We Declare,

1. That we will not have one stone of Babylon for a Corner, or for a Foundation, Jer. 51. 26. We will not have any thing to do with the Antichristian Magistracy, Ministry, Tythes, &c. which are none of our Lords appointments, but the cheats and counter­seits of the man of sin and mystery of iniquity. We will not make any league, or joyn any affinity with them, Rev. 14. 9, 10, 11. But we Declare for, and exhort unto a final and strict separation from the National Parochial Church, Worship, Ministry, way, and Idolatrous high places, as none of Christs but Antichrists, as false and Babylonish, Rev. 18. 4. And we cannot but look upon the National Ministry, even in its greatest reformation and purity, in the time of the late O. C. and his Tryers, as Antichristian, and that which ought to be disowned and separated from by all the true Churches of Je­sus Christ, in their Foundation Call, standing in the Parish Assemblies and Maintainance. And we contend for a righteous Magistracy, that may be a terrour to evil doors and a praise to them that do well, and for a true Gospel Ministery with their Maintainance: And we own and declare our Lord Jesus Christ (unto whom and whose Laws we will alone submit, as unto him who is the Fountain and Original of all just and lawful Power) to be the Supreame Head and Law giver of these Nations, the alone LEGISLATOR, who has right to make and give Laws for the governing of the Common-wealth, and who is King of Saints and Nations, whose royal Laws and Precepts must be submitted unto in Church and State, and Tyranny, Monarchy, and Antichristianisme destroyed and rooted up in both; his Laws and Statutes contained in the Holy Scriptures, and remaining in force since his death, to be the Law by which these Nations shall be go­verned and judged; and his Saints (without respect had to any particular from or judge­ment) on whom shall rest the spirit of councel and wisdome, shall be the Administrators thereof, or shall have the executive Power. So shall we have Magistrates like Job, that will be 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 spoil out of his teeth, Job 29. And we shall be the bles­sed of the Lord, whose habitations shall be full of the blessings of heaven and earth, and full of Peace on the foundation of Truth, and we shall be the happiest people in the world, having the best Laws and the best Governours, Deut. 4 6, 7, 8.

And as Babylon will be destroyed, and the false Antichristian Church will be no more; so the true Church and Spouse of Christ will be brought out of the wilderness, from all her dispersions, darkness, and confusions, and will be purged and purified from all her corruptions both in matter and form; and from the rise of the Witnesses, the preaching of the everlasting Gospel, the begining of the down-fall of Antichrist, and the set­ting up the Kingdome of Christ, the Churches of Christ, and sincere professours of the Gospel, with the addition of new converts, will begin to appear with the Lamb on Mount-Zion, in all the Primitive Glory and Purity of the New Testament-Churches for Matter, Doctrine, and Order. But so far as the Churches are in Babylon, and by sin­ful compliance with Antichristian worship, and the evils and Apostacy of the times, have not kept, but defiled their Garments; and so far as they have left their first Love, own­ed and stood by them that held the Doctrine of Balaam, suffered that woman Jezebel [Page 10] to teach and seduce, had a name to live and are dead, have not kept the word of Christs patience, and have been luke-warm, and lost their favour, their Candlestick shall be removed; and the true mortified, quickened, spiritual Members, that are in the flower of their virginity, or have kept their simplicity, will be gathered as the precious from the vile, and with all the poor scattered stones and dust of Zion, the living spiritual stones, be built up the second time, the great New Testament-Temple, when also our Lord will appear in his Glory, Psal. 102. 13, 14, 16. For God we are perswaded has a great Controversie with the Churches, who ought to be the ground and pillar of Truth, for their corruption and Apostacy, and because they have not received and contended for the great New Covenant-Truth of the Kingdome of our Lord Jesus.

2. That all Civill Liberty, and Rights of men, (which with every mans Propertie we assert) shall rise alone upon the Foundation, and grow upon the Root of the Visible Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we hope, and greatly desire, may from hence­forth take place among us according to the Prophecies of the Scriptures, and become a great Mountain filling the whole Earth.

3. That the chief of the Spoil which shall be taken in Battell, and all the Estates which shall be forfeited through Treason and Rebellion, shall be brought into one com­mon Treasury, according to the Word of the Lord, Their Gain shall be consecrate to the Lord, and their Substance to the Lord of the whole Earth, Micah 4. 13. That it may not feed the Fowls of Prey, or enrich and corrupt particular persons as of late, but carry on the Work of God with the Army of the Lamb, in which every Souldier shall be suffici­ently provided for, by a certain honourable constant Revenue, issuing out of the said Treasury, according to his Place, Degree, Services, and Family.

And for accomplishing and attaining these great and weighty ends, we Declare also for the Razing, Destroying, and perpetuall Rooting out of the whole Constitutions and Foundations of the Antichristian Laws and Government of these Nations; for the Remo­ving of Taxes, Tythes, Excise, and Customes also, so far as Oppressive and unlawfull; slavish tenures of Land, Oppressions of Landlords, Monarthy and Lordship as well in Church as State; so also in Cities, Societies, and Families, wherein the Rights of younger Brethren will be vindicated according to Law, (the nature whereof is Justice, Mercy, and Equity, wherein is no footing for such sictions as this wicked Law teacheth to distinguish between Courts of Justice and Equity) and the Nimrod spirit and Mono­polies 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 Interest of Monarchy) pulled down, whose Interest nevertheless, by right of Primogeniture, is asserted accord­ing to the Kings Law, to wit, two-fold: For the ballance of Lands must be adaequate to the Government of the Commonwealth.

And as our great desire is to take off all yoaks and oppressions both of a civil and spi­ritual nature from the necks of the poor people; so shall we endeavour to cast the wing of protection over them, their Persons, Families, and Interests, to preserve them from Free-quarter, Plunder, and all other injuries, and violences whatsoever, being resolved first to offer up our own proper Estates for our necessary maintainance. For it shall be our great and indefatigable care to preserve an excellent and strict Discipline in our Army, that not the least wrong of how small value soever may be done, alwayes re­specting Propriety; so that all persons (other then such as shall oppose and rebell against this righteous Interest) may expect the fruition thereof in their peaceable demeanours of themselves, in their lawful occasions, and Family concerns.

And it is not the least thing to be looked at, that hereby the Gospel will have free [Page 11] access (which seems to be one of the first fruits of the Saints rendesvouze, Revel. 14. 6, 7.) and poor sinners will be converted unto Christ, and be enlightened with the glo­rious light of his salvation. And indeed that great and general conversion both of Jews and Gentiles, which the Prophecies speaks of, Isa. 60. 5, will be one of the greatest blessings (the soul-blessing) that the Kingdom of Christ will bring with it, under which both sin and Satan will receive so fatall a blow, that his Kingdom will be destroyed; the which doth commend the Excellency and Nature of this blessed Kingdom, above the barren, and soul-destroying Interests of Antichrist, Rev. 18. 13. under whose Govern­ment poor ignorant souls are hardened and lost. And it has been for some years past a rare thing to hear of the reall Conversion of one soul through the Ministry of the Natio­nal Parish Ministers, so dead, dry, dark, and barren has their Ministry been, so much have they desiled their Garments, stumbled, hardened, and offended sinners, kept out the Truth of the Kingdom from their Churches and Assemblies, so losing abundance of the Power and Riches of the Gospel, (which nevertheless by the mouths of Babes and Suck­lings has been conveyed to poor vile sinners, so effectual has it been unto Conversion) so little has the Gospel been powerfully and effectually preached by them, whose hired Labours can never countervail the many Families they have wickedly destroyed for Tythes: But the Remnant of Jacob shall be as a dew from the Lord, when Magistrates and Soldiers shall preach the Gospel, and teach the people knowledge, as well as those appointed unto the Word and Doctrine; for this Cheat of the Whore of Rome, and Innovation of Antichrist, Monopolizing the Work of the Ministry, (to make a Trade of the Gos­pel, and Slaves and Souls of men) into their own hands, limiting and appropriating it unto Persons in Ecclesiasticall Offices, shall be taken away.

And finally, We most earnestly desire, and call all that love our Lord Jesus Christ, and wait for his Kingdom, to offer themselves willingly with us in this Work, that as in that Renowned History, Judges 5. 9 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 23. ‘Out of Ephraim there may be a Root of us against Amaleek, after thee Benjamin among thy People; out of Machir shall come down Governours, and out of Zebulun they that handle the Pen of the Writer: The Princes of Issachar with Deborah and Barak on foot in the Valley. And if Reuben will continue in his divisions, and abide among the Sheepfolds to hear the bleatings of the Flocks; Gilead abide beyond Jordan, Dan remain in Ships, and Asher continue on the Sea-shore, and abide in his breaches; yet Zebulun and Napthali will be a People that will jeopard their lives unto the death in the high places of the field; and Meroz shall be accursed, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.’ And our heart being towards you that among all the People offer your selves willingly to the Work, we beseech you set all things in order prepare your selves, and let the Rich help the Poor, that with one mouth we may all say, Thine are we David, and on thy side thou son of Jesse; Peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee, 1 Chron. 12. 18. And if any of the old Army which God hath laid aside, whose hearts he hath touched, do quit their Interests, and come to us on this alone lasting Foundation, they shall be willingly received.

We have but one word more, and that is unto young Converts, who (together with those who have separated from Antichrist, in his purest Forms and Dresses, and have been kept through rich Grace from the defilements of the Times, and the late Apostacy) are like to be the choicest instruments in this Work. Precious honest heart, let neither thy sins, past miscarriages, want of faith, nor any other imperfection discourage thee from flying unto Christs Standard but as thou art with thy soul all broken in pieces, throw thy self down at the feet of our Lord Jesus, and come dye for him, who spared not his own precious heart-blood for thee, and thy life, he saith and all things pertaining thereunto shall be given thee.

IN this three Years and half (of which Elijahs Time of the three years and six months was a very great type) of the Witnesses death, God has been dealing with us, as he did with that his worthy servant: we have never been without the Bread of the Promises, and the Waters of Spiritual comfort; and this Prophecy, since we had the Light of it, has been as a Fountatin to us, for new strength, to corroborate us, to con­firme us, and in the Promise of the spirit of Life, we have had a salve for every sore, and strength against every Temptation. So that altho our Brooks are dryed, and Ravens gone, (publick Ordinances and worldly helps) yet have we still a handfull of meal, and a little oyl, with the Widow of Zareptah, (an invisible Fountain, a living store) which will last us till the Rain comes.

We cannot but take notice of the soul-melting goodnesse of our God, that he has given us this valley of Achor for a door of Hope; that he has shewed us a right way in the Wilderness, insomuch that we can say of many choice Teachings and signall Hints, which through free Grace we have been made partakers of, under which we have cause 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 also of the manifold Grace of God, we trust we shall talk at the Rendezvouz on Mount Zion, among the Virgins to his Praise. And now we cannot but admire the wonderful Providences of God; that he has called us into our secret Chambers, Isa. 26. 20. wherein he hath brought us to a state of near conformity and resemblance to himself, and the first-fruits of the Pri­mitive Saints, who (when the Shepheard was smitten and lay in the Grave, and the cloud was so black, that of all the thousands 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 toge­ther in an Upper Room for fear of the Jews, waiting for the great New Testament-Pro­mise. And surely now God has some great thing for his People that he calls them so near unto himself.

Now we shall shew our Opinion of these things, and with submission give our judge­ment of the present state of Affairs. In the doing whereof we shall omit many things, and but name the rest.

• 1. That the two Witnesses are that precious, select, separated Remnant of Christ in the Churches, who in every Age and Generation, are witnessing too, and to the death contending for the great truth of their Age, ver. 3, 4.
• 2. That these two Witnesses are at this day slain, and lie dead. Proved,

1. From the great probability there is, and ground we have to judge from what those worthy and famous men, German Author and Tillinghast, and other Authors of no small authority have writ; That the 1290 dayes, Dan. 12. 11. which of necessity must be hea­ded (according to the Character of the Vision) with that remarkable Act of Julian, A. D. 366. And the 42. moneths (or the Dominion of the Power of darknesse and of the night, which is not measured by dayes according to the motion of the Sun, as the Wit­nesses [Page 13] Prophecy is, but by moneths, after the motion of the Moon which ruleth the night, so Mede) of the Beasts Tyranny and Persecution, (which is headed by his rise, A. D. 396. for thirty years must pass between the heads of these two Numbers, because they expire at one and the same time, so Tilling.) Rev. 13. 5. (in which it is observable that the utmost continuance of the Beast is not measured out, but onely the time of his Commission unto blood, limited) ended with that remarkable year, 1656. according to their computions of the mysticall Numbers.

But some will dislike this opinion, and disallow these heads of account, (the which nevertheless if we let go, we shall be quite lost in our Enquiry) because the time then must be expired, and yet the fruit doth not appear. And how (say they) will you bring the mysticall Numbers and their computations to a harmony and agreement?

To such we thus answer,

That the time, times, and an half, Dan. 12. 7. which are not the whole time of the Vision, (for that is particularly expressed 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, ver. 11. but are a time distinct, and to be added thereunto.

That the three dayes and an half of the Witnesses lying dead, Rev. 11. 9. are not to be taken for any part of the forty two moneths, ver. 2. or the 1260. dayes, ver. 3. for they are to Prophesie so long, but we must put a difference, because the Scriptures doth so, between their Prophesying time, and the time of their lying dead. But the three years and an half are to be added into the thousand, two hundred, and threescore, to compleat the time of the whole Captivity.

That the time, times and half of the womans flight into the Wilderness, Rev. 12 14. is no part of the 1260. years v. 6. For the holy Ghost hath put a manifest distinction For 1. Between these two flights of the woman into the Wildernesse, there is a great War, wherein the Dragons Cause suffers much detriment, v. 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 Wilderness, and the Witnesses begin to lay their Sack­cloth aside, supposing now all the Winter Storms to be gone, and a glorious spring of Salvation to be come, v. 10, 11, 12. But 3. the black Cloud of the Witnesses slaugh­ter, over-spreads the beautiful face of all their hopes, and that sun-shine summer day is turned into blacknesse, threatening no lesse then a storm of blood, v. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. 4. The different phrase or manner of speaking notes a great change in the Vision; in the first station in the Wildernesse, during the 1260. dayes, they (to wit the Witnesses) feed her there, v. 6. i. e. she hath more sensible helps, as Elijah 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 Rev.) But in her second station, during the time, times and half, (the same with the three years and a half of the Witnesses death) she is nourished, i. e. but just kept alive as Elijah was afterwards when the Famine grew sore, with the widow of Za­reptab, and after that again in the wilderness: It will be a time of great dearth and bar­renness; a cold winter season 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, v. 14.

And without this distinction in the times, we shall confound and destroy the Harmony of the Mysticall Numbers, and make such a jar, that it will be hard to reconcile things.

This Seal was never opened until of late, being reserved for this very time, Dan. 12. 4. It is a Door into the inner most Closet of the mysticall Numbers; a Key to unlock the great Treasures of the time.

And indeed we have sometimes thought, that some great mystery was in this number: [Page 14] For 1. It is the ending-time, Dan. 12. 7. the great Character which Christ himself lays down of the end of Wonders. 2. God hath in all those three famous Prophecies made it a distinct Period. 3. It is most famous for the dealth of the Witnesses, and other wonderful things. It is a time of all other times remarkable, wherein the least time is allowed the greatest things: a time of the greatest sufferings and dangers, yet without Blood.

Now let us make a plain Application, by adding this number of years unto the 1290. and 1260. dayes, which ended (according to the best Judgement we can make) with 1656. and it brings us to this very year 1660. In which if the Work begin, what those holy men have writ will be verified.

2. From the Visibility of those very things, the Prophecies foretold should occurre within the three years and a half of the Witnesses lying dead. Thus also Tilling hast, Know l. Times, pag. 90, 91, 92. We shall instance in a few things, which are as plain signs of the time of the end, as Herods Reigning in Judah was that the Messias was come, or as those that went before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.

1. In the time of the Witnesses death, in the place or Nation where their dead Bodies lye, there shall be a People that shall favour the Witnesses, and withal be so potent as to awe the Beast, and keep him from open persecution, that he shall not be able to come to blood, neither at the beginning, nor at the end of the three years and a half; who yet setting themselves (to use M. Tilling hasts very words) upon a worldly Interest as their highest aim, shall neither openly declare for the Witnesses Cause, nor against the Beast, ver. 9.

2. This people who are a moderate civil kinde of People, pretending to Reformation in matters of State, will have a Principal hand in the Government of that Nation for the most part of the three years and a half, until about the last half year as it seemeth to us. At what time not being able longer to secure their own Cause through the deficiency of their bottom, they unwillingly give way unto another Party in the next verse, whom they had once Conquered, and now long kept out.

And this Party is called the dwellers on the Earth, v. 10. A Character that describes them to the life, and what their very nature is; They are the old carnall, Cavalier, Popish Party, who as the Earth is the grossest part of all the Elements, so are they of all others, that ever had a hand in the Government during all that Reformation that had been made through the Witnesses Prophesying. And these shall come in upon the Witnesses and their Cause as a Flood, to over-flow all our Reformation again with Popery, Prelacy, and Superstition, as the Prophet Isaiah hath it Chap. 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, whose threatnings, great boasts, and Blasphemies are like the raging of the sea, but come to very little: For it seems to us, that the Cava­liers from their first coming in, have but about six moneths time.

So that in the Nation where the Witnesses lye dead there will be towards the very end of the three years and a half a very great and astonishing change in the Government of that Nation, and a strange returning, and bringing of things about to the old Center, where yet they will stand but few moneths.

3. In this time there will be laid and driven on the design of a General and Universall Peace, and just about the very end of it, will it be accomplished; so that when they shall think the day is their own, the blackest storm, and greatest woe will suddenly come upon them, 1 Thess. 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 [Page 15] rest which otherwayes would stand out, by reason of the seed of Reformation which the Witnesses had sown in it. There is three Prophecies poynt at this thing, and are now fulfilled very wonderfully upon us, this of Rev. 11. 10, and chap. 18. 7, 8, with ch. 17. 17. which is the plainest of all.

4. There shall be among the Dwellers on the Earth a wonderful Triumph over the dead and sur­pressed Witnesses, supposing them and their Cause to be now dead and sunck for ever, and themselves so fast and secure, that they shall not be moved for ever, ver. 10. Nevertheless, it seems to us they shall not effect, or accomplish any great or weighty matters; but the greatest part of their little time, will be spent in Rejoycing, Feasting, taking pleasure, making merry, and sending gifts one to another for their supposed new and great Victory, and that until the fatall day come upon them.

5. Towards the end of this time (which the Lord hath every where set a mark upon, as that which shall period the Sufferings and Captivity of the Gentile Churches) some bloody and cruell design will be laid by the Dragon against the Remnant of the Womans Seed, who appear for Christ and the Truth, in the time their Brethren the Witnesses lye dead, either of a Massacre, Banishment, or fiery Persecuti­on, Psal. 83. which just upon the point of the three years and a halfs expiring, he will attempt to put in execution, Rev. 12. 17. but shall never accomplish it, chap. 14. 1.

These signs most of them are also in M. Till. Knowl. of Times, whose Method we have in part followed.

Now some for want of light in these Prophecies may think, that in these things there is a great like­ness of the Witnesses Slaughter; and that they do not (as indeed they do, as will be found of him who diligently searcheth) immediately go before their Rise, but is rather the slaughter of them, or something in order to it. But that cannot be for this Reason, because then must we come to persecution, and their death would be a corporall Death; for it is not the Beasts clemency or mildness, but want of time that cuts him short in this point. But that their death will not be a corporall death, but civill and spirituall we could prove by many sound and unanswerable Reasons. And that we are not to expect any more persecu­tion unto blood, or suffering for Gospel Truths after the Witnesses death, is as plain. The present di­stress being rather a Nationall Quarrel then any thing else.

And now unto these things that are transacted on the Stage, let us adde these two.

1. That these things are of great use unto the people of God that have kept their Garments in any measure. For by these Trialls God is taking the Precious from the Vile, blowing the chaffe from the wheat, raising up a new Generation, and making of them a new sharp threshing Instrument with teeth, and separating some for his own service by the marks of Non-conformity; all which look very like that Prophecy, Rev. 14. 3, 4. Christ is gathering his first ripe Fruits, redeeming a precious Remnant from the Earth, and severing them from among all men, that they may follow him with another spirit, as Joshua and Caleb did, and not come short of their work through temptations of Honour, Profit, and worldly Vanities, as some have done to their shame.

2. That this blessed, strong, lively, supplicating, wrestling, pulling, groaning, travelling, praying Spi­rit among the poor dry Bones, the scattered despised Stones and Dust of Zion, which takes hold of Gods Arm, i. e. Christ, Covenant, Oath, Promise, Faithfulnesse, and Word, is a great token, and Symptome of Deliverance, Zech. 10. 1.

Thus much to the second Point.

3. That O. C. kill'd the Witnesses, and that the place of their lying dead is England.

1. That O. C. kill'd them, proved by two Arguments.

1. This last War of the Beast against the Witnesses is altogether different from that which hitherto he had waged continually against the company of the Saints, Rev. 13. 7.

1. It is not of the same kinde: the former was alwayes with sword, fire and fagot; this a certain kinde of spirituall War: in that they dy'd corporally, in this civilly and spiritually, (and in the latter sense lies the blacknesse of the day, as Tillinghast well observes.) In the former War the Beast could never get the Victory in a spiritual sense; for they alwayes dy'd Conquerours, and triumphed over him in the midst of Flames maugre all his rage, which bred in him a certain kinde of torment; but now being more old and cunning, and withall such a Day-star of Reformation being Risen through the Witnesses pro­phesying, as made him that the durst now appeare in the day, in his old bloody, blasphemous hue; and finding himself also much weakned, through the continuall War that now had been all along between him and the Witnesses, and being just upon the expiring of his 42. moneths, or Reign of darknesse; 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 Cause: For this Quarrel between him and the Witnesses, being about the Finishing-Testimony, and the Cause of Reformation, he is now enforced, unlesse he will lose all, to use his utmost policy and craft.

2. This War is declared as peculiar unto the last time of the Beast, and a speciall Note set upon it, to distinguish it from that which had been familiar to him in the times of his 42. moneths.

3. It is one kinde of War which the Beast waged universally against the Saints; another which in his last declining estate, he shall wage with the Prophets, which had begun now to put off their sack-cloth, and to end their Propheticall mourning. Answerable to this is that of the Woman in the 12. of the Rev. (touched before) where at the end of the 42. moneths, there is a shew of coming out of the wil­dernesse, ver. 10. But this sad and sudden, and indeed unexpected news, of the losse of the Field, and Witnesses slaughter coming, she is forced suddenly to flie to her old place again, her Champions being gone, for three years and an half longer, ver. 13, 14.

4. This last War is not universally over all the Beasts Kingdom; but is peculiar to some one place or Nation, where the Witnesses had gained upon him, which in the Text is called the street of the City, i. e. one street or dominion of the 10. ver. 8.

5. The event of this War, however the Cause may seem at first to go on his side, and he may think the field won, and the day his own, is very lamentable: In his former Wars Power was given him over all Kindreds, Tongues, and Nations, Rev. 1. where he procures to himself a sudden and fatall ruine, and he will never be able to rally, or make head again in that Nation, so notably is it levened with the Witnesse Doctrine.

Most of these distinctions are found in Mede.

Now this last War against the Witnesses, and their Death and Slaughter being of another kinde from what was common to the Beasts Reign; it must needs follow, that it be managed by a subtill hand, and one that can handle a spirituall weapon well, and do it with a notable profession of Religion, and seem to differ from the Witnesses in nothing but time. And certainly, if we depart not from the plain sense and meaning of the Text, we must needs conclude, that O. C. was the man; for the whole limits of the Beasts Kingdom could not parallell him.

2. The main ground of this Quarrel is about the Finishing-Testimony. By the Finishing-Testimony we cannot more fitly understand any thing, then the great Truth of the Kingdom of Christ. Now that which doth enrage the Beast, and against wich he makes this War, is against this precious Truth of the Visible Kingdom of Christ, as it is the Truth of the Generation, and that which the Witnesses in their Finishing-Testimony, was going about to cause to take place in that Nation. The which neverthelesse they shall not do; for it is said, When they shall be about to finish their Testimony, (so Mede renders the word) the Beast shall make War against them, and overcome them, and kill them, which Victory of the Beast, makes the Witnesses Cause never a whit the worse.

But O. C. persecuted no Truth but this Truth of the Kingdom of Christ; and he persecuted not that neither, but as it was the Truth of the Generation, and that which the Witnesses would immediately have to take place; so that they going about to finish their Testimony, he was necessitated to make this lamentable War, unless he would have his Government over-tun.

And two things of him are very considerable.

1. That about a year and a half before his death, this Prophecy of the Witnesses seemed to trouble him very much; and he was very earnest with two of us, to know what we thought of the Witnesses, the which he seemed to speak with a convinced guilty minde, and some kinde of regret.

2. We have sometimes thought from the last clause of the fifth veise, And if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed, that this Finishing-Testimony of the Witnesses, however he seemed to have the better, was the death of him; gave him the wound he could never claw off.

But 2. That England is the place, is yet to be proved; for which we shall name two Arguments, and leave it.

1. This War and Slaughter must be, where a notable Work of Reformation has been on foot, where the pure Doctrine of the Reign of Christ is powerfully and effectually preached, where there is a people that are the choicest and forwardest of all others, and may be said to be the first fruits of all the An­tichristian World. But if Germany it self, or all Europe can parallell England in this, which is as a Garden of choice Plants, then will we consider further.

2. It is called in the Text, the Street of the City, that which is the very Stage of Action, or Market place of the world; and whether England has not been so for these twenty years, even in the account of other Nations, as witness what that German writes in his Clavis, p. 100. and Manasseh Ben Israel the Jew, in his Epistle of his Hope of Israel, to the Parliament of England, we leave to sober and judici­ous men to judge.

Thus much to the third Point.

4. And lastly, In all probability, the great Day of the Witnesses Rise, will be in this present Year, 1660. AMEN.