The Late Great Revolution in this Nation, Inferences
I now conclude this Argumentative part with theſe brief Inferences.
Infer. 1 Theſe Conſiderations of Prophecy deſigning ſo great Ends, ſhew the Vanity of ſuch Reaſonings; What is Prophecy to us, or the Ten Kings hating the Whore? If we have the Laws, and Liberties of our own Government, of which Proteſtant Religion is become ſo Eſſential a part, that we cannot have the one without the other; we have what we deſire, we meddle not with dark Propheſies beyond our Line; we conſider the Natural and Political Cauſes of theſe Things, which lye ſo plain before us, and meddle not beyond them.
But, be not deceived, God is not mocked, nor can be juſtled out of his Purpoſes by ſuch low Deſignments of ours; He hath a Wheel within every Wheel of ours, which being acted by his Supreme Spirit, ſhall move on to its Ends, and carry all our Wheeles thither with it ſelf; His Pleaſure muſt go on, however our private Intereſts are diſordered by it: In a common Flame particular Houſes muſt ſuffer blowing up, and leſſer Buildings give way, and make room for public princely Structures: ſometimes our Deſires, and Conveniencies are taken in, as of late; ſometimes left out; but the Myſtery of God in the Kingdom of Chriſt by the Oath of the Angel, muſt be finiſhed; there is but a ſhort Time, in compariſon now, till the Seventh Trumpet begin to finiſh it, and Time of the preſent date, of the preſent Style ſhall be no more; as He hath ſpoken by his Servants the Prophets. That Kingdom of Chriſt is, and ſhall ſuddenly appear to be the Grand Public, not only of our Nation but of the World.
And the Deſtruction of the Papacy, and the Hatred of the Whore by the Ten Kings muſt be to us, even to us, whoever we are, whether we will or no; both as to our National Intereſts, and as to our Eternal Concernments. Our National Intereſts ſhall be carried that way, if we are moved with that Spirit of God now about to ſhew it ſelf in the World, according to our deſires; if not beyond all our Deſires and Intendments. And as to Our Everlaſting Concernments, It is much to us, for It brings on that Day, that ſhall be either the day of our Redemption, or that ſhall burn as an Oven, and All the Wicked ſhall be conſumed in it.
Infer. 2 Let us earneſtly pray, and wait for that Philadelphian State of the Church, that is ſo near us, and that ſhall far exceed all our preſent Church ſtates, how excellent ſoever they may be; Then ſhall the Great Truths of Goſpel-Redemption, and particularly the Propheſies be Sung, as a New Song, as by a Choir of Angels, the Muſick of the Spheres, and all the Servants of Chriſt under the Lamb ſtanding on Mount Zion, with his Fathers Name on their Fore-heads, ſhall learn it. And then, as by a new Miſſion, ſpeedy, and Univerſal, like the Firſt Apoſtolical Preaching, and as from the Mid-Heaven ſhall the Everlaſting Goſpel be preached to All; The disbelieved Hour of Chriſts Judgment. viz. Of his Kingdom or Government, that begins with a Judiciary Proceſs, ſhall be Thunder'd out, as nigh, to All Nations.
The Fall of Babylon, and the Judgment on the Beaſts Worſhippers ſhall be declared with a New Majeſty and Power. The Firſt Reſurrection (Bleſſed are the Dead, &c.) ſhall be promulg'd; Prayers for the Converſion of the Fulneſs of the Gentiles, and ſo of the Jews ſhall be anſwered by Chriſt with the Crown on his Head, and the ſharp Sickle in his Hand, reaping the Harveſt of the Earth, as Ripe for the Salvation of all Iſrael; and then is the Vine of the Earth gathered, eſpecially the Cluſters of Spiritual Sodom, and thrown into the Wine-preſs of the Wrath of God, and from …hence the Vials are fill'd and pour'd out in Judgment.
Then the Opened Temple ſhall ſhew the Tabernacle of Teſtimony, and the Ark of the Teſtament, and be filled with Smoke, becauſe the Divine Glory is coming to dwell there; that is, Ezekiels Temple, and City, and the New Jeruſalem of the Apoſtle John ſhall be ſpiritual…z'd into one Divine Preſence of God, and of the Lamb, which is the Sanctuary cleans'd at the End of Daniels 2300 Ev. Morn.
Theſe Things God will be Enquir'd of for, by the Prayers of his Servants awakned thereunto. But they are by the demand of the Watchers, and by the Word of the Holy, however light they are made of; and therefore ſhall certainly be in their Seaſon.
Infer. 3 We are hereby made to underſtand, how to pray for the Powers, that are ſet over us by God, as in Relation to the moſt Supreme part of their Adminiſtration. As now for the King, the only Prayer, that can be made for him in Faith, with reſpect to the Regal Power, is, that He may be one of thoſe, that may hate the Whore; elſe in a Proteſtant Nation, reſcued from the Beaſt, and the Whore, Prophecy will not allow him at this Time, I do not ſay, of the Day, but of the Beaſts laſt Moon, though it be indeed alſo the Half day, ſince the Reformation; had it not been for this Prophecy, there had not been ſuch an eaſie Retirement of Him from Government. An Atheiſt may ſee, and the greateſt Infidel in Sacred Prophecy be convinc'd.
The Great Prayer for the Proteſtant Prince, whom God hath ſtirred up to be a Deliverer, is, That He may be a poliſhed Shaft in Gods Quiver, and that God would fill his Bow with Him, and make Him as the Sword of a mighty man, that he may ride out proſperouſly and atchieve High in this Great work, that is to be done, that after the overthrow of the Throne of Kingdoms, and of the Rider, &c. He would make him a Signet, as having choſen Him; And for the aſſembled Councels of the Nation, that they may be with the Lamb, who is appearing King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, as His Called, Faithful, and choſen, now his Victory over the Ten Kings, who have, and who yet make War with Him, is ſo near.
For the Witneſſes of Chriſt in this Nation of all Kinds, our Prayer ſhould be, that they may ſo finiſh their Sack cloth Prophecy, that they may hear that Voice, Come up hither.
Infer. 4 Let us review this ſo freſh, wonderful doing of God in this Nation, with a Wiſdom and Conſideration guided and conducted by Prophecy; let us behold it in All the Circumſtances of it, eſpecially in this, that God hath fruſtrated the Tokens of the Babilonian Lyars, and made the Divinors at Loretto, and the Infallible Chair, Mad; but hath begun to perform the Counſel of his Meſſengers, ſaying to Babylon, It ſhall Fall, and to his New Jeruſalem, It ſhall be built; and to thoſe of the Ten Kings, who are now of the Reformation, You are my Shepherds, and ſhall perform my Pleaſure, till All the other of the Ten Kings alſo unite in Hating the Whore, when the words of God are fulfilled to the utmoſt.
As a Pattern hereof, He hath bowed the Hearts of the People of the Nation, as one Man; He hath brought the Notions of Loyalty, Non-Reſiſtance, and Paſſive Obedience, into Subjection to Prophecy.
Infer. 5 Let us ſeriouſly conſider, All who love the Kingdom of Chriſt, and ſincerely pray, Thy Kingdom Come, according to the Prayer of the Kingdom, whether we would chooſe, and deſire, that this late Revolution ſhould be (though ſet at the higheſt Elevation) a Mercy to the Nation, and to his Servants in it upon their very Prayers, but not in order to any further great End according to that admirable Prophecy of the New Teſtament, the Revelation; or whether we would chooſe and deſire; It ſhould be for the removal of that Great Remo…a and Eſtopple of the Kingdom of Chriſt, the Papacy, a Beginning of the Train of Things, that ſhall paſs according to Prophecy in this order. viz. Begin at this Prophecy of the Text, Chap. 17. v. 16, 17. and ſet it before c. 11. 11. to the End, and ſo paſs to c: 14. and carry a line through it, to c. 15. c. 16. c. 18. c. 19. c. 20. c. 21. c. 22. to v. For ſo I am aſſured, God hath begun in our Nation, ſo, as He will extend this Prophetical Line through the World, reaching to that Glorious Jeruſalem.
According to our deſire herein, let us ſearch that Prophecy, and ſet our Faces to the Lord our God by Prayer and Supplication, with Faſting, Sack cloth, and Aſhes:
Infer. 6 The Philadelphian State of the Church, that ſhall be at the End of the Apoſtaſie, is the Exemplar or Pattern, at which All the Proteſtant Churches ſhould aim, as being indeed the Reſt, orRev. 3. 2. foreign Remainders that are to fill up the Reformation, upon which the New Jeruſalem ſhall come down, in which the Sanctuary cleanſed appears. This we ſhould aim at in Brotherly Love, imported in its very Name, which is the Bands and the Beauty of that Church; In Holding faſt the Name of Chriſt in his Supreme Paſtoral and Epiſcopal Office, receiving nothing, but from his Voice, entring by the Door of his ſole Authority, and flying from the Voice of Strangers; in keeping the Word of his Patience, or ſtaying for the Ʋnfading Crown until his Glorious Kingdom; in looking for, and haſting to it. For in too great an Ignorance, and unbelief of it, the very wiſe Virgins of the Proteſtant Churches are ſlumbring and ſleeping at this Day.
In laying aſide all Auſtere Ceremonialneſs out of over-Reverence to Antiquity; and rather humbling our ſelves and acknowledging an Error in too near Approaches to that Synagogue of Sathan, that ſhew'd it ſelf before the laſt of thoſe Four firſt General Councels: Laſtly, in a Great Moderation of Cenſure towards thoſe Churches, and Proteſtants, who were ſo greatly miſtaken in that laſt point; not Reproaching them as Antichriſtian, or having ſo much as the number of that unhappy Name; however too near approaching the Ritual and High Juriſdictive Synagogue, that led to it at firſt. But now ſuch ſhall ſee their Fault by the Inſtruction of Chriſt Himſelf, who Receives, and owns them: and thus ſhould we All joyn in ſeeking the Beloved of the Church together, till He appear on the Mountain of Spices. Cantic. 6. 1. c. 8. laſt.
THE END.