Strange and Remarkable Prophecies and Predictions 2, Text
Strange and Remarkable Propheſies and Predictions Of the Holy Learned, and Excellent IAMES VSHER Late L. Arch-Biſhop of Armagh. and Lord Primate of Ireland. Giving an Account of his foretelling
I. The Rebellion in Ireland Forty Years before it came to paſs.
II. The Confuſions and Miſeries of England in Church and State.
III. The Death of King Charles the firſt.
IIII. His own Poverty and want.
V. The Deviſions in England in matters of Religion:
Laſtly, Of a great and Terrible Perſecution which ſhall fall upon the Reformed Churches by the Papiſts, wherein the then Pope ſhould be chiefly concerned.
Written by the Perſon who heard it from this Excellent Perſons own Mouth, and now publiſhed earneſtly to perſwade us to that Repentance and Reformation which can only prevent our Ruin and Deſtruction.
And the Lord ſaid, ſhall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do
Gen. 18.17.
Licenced November the 16th
CORKE, Reprinted by William Smith, in the Year 1677.
Strange and Remarkable Predictions of that Holy, Learned, and excellent Biſhop, James Uſher, late Lord Primate of Ireland.
THe Author of the Life of this Excellent and Worthy Primate and Arch▪Biſhop, gives an Account, that among other extraordinary gifts and graces, which it pleaſed the Almighty to beſtow upon him, he was wonderfully endued with a Spirit of Prophecy, whereby he gave out ſeveral true Predictions and propheſies of things a great while before they came to paſs, whereof ſome we have ſeen fulfilled, and others remain yet to be accompliſhed. And though he was one that abhor'd Enthuſiaſtick Notions, being too Learned, Rational, and knowing, to admit of ſuch idle Freaks and Whimſies. Yet he proſeſt, That ſeveral times in his life he had many things impreſt upon his mind concerning future Events, with ſo much warmneſs and importunity, that he was not able to keep them ſecret, but lay under an unavoidable neceſſity to make them known.
From which Spirit he foretold the Iriſh Rebellion Forty years before it came to paſs, with the very time when it ſhould break forth, in a Sermon Preached in Dablin in 1601 where from Ezek. 4.6. diſcourſing concerning the Prophets bearing the Iniquity of Judah forty dayes, the Lord therein appointed a day for a year; he made this direct Application in Relation to the connivance at Popery at that time. From this year (ſayes he) will I reckon the ſin of Ireland, that thoſe whom you now imbrace, ſhall be your Ruin, and you ſhall bear this Iniquity. Which prediction proved exactly true, for from that time 1601, to the year 1641, was juſt Forty years, in which it is notoriovſly known, that the Rebellion and Deſtruction of Ireland happened, which was acted by thoſe Popiſh Prieſts and other Papiſts which were then connived at. And of this Sermon the Biſhop reſerved the Notes, and put a note thereof in the Margent of his Bible, and for 20 years before he ſtill lived in the expectation of the fulfilling thereof, & the nearer the time was, the more confident he was that it was near accompliſhment, though there was no viſible appearance of any ſuch thing; and (ſayes Dr. Barnard) the year before the Rebellion broke forth, the Biſhop taking his leave of me, being then going from Ireland to England, he adviſed me to a ſerious Preparation, for I ſhould ſee heavy ſorrows and miſeries before I ſaw him again; which he delivered with as great confidence, as if he had ſeen it with his eyes, which ſeems to verify that of the Prophet, Amos 3.7. Surely the Lord will do nothing but he will reveal it to his Servants the Prophets.
From this Spirit of Propheſie be foreſaw the Changes and Miſeries of England in Church and State, for having in one of his Books, (called De Prim. Eccl. Brit.) given a large account of the deſtruction of the Church and State of the Brittaines by the Saxons, about 550 years after Chriſt: He gives this among other Reaſons, why he inſiſted ſo largely upon it, that he foreſaw that a like Judgement was yet behind, if timely Repentance and Reformation did not prevent it: and he would often Mourn upon the foreſight of this long before it came.
From this Spirit he gave mournful intimations of the Death of our late Soveraign Charles the firſt, of whom he would be often ſpeaking with fear and trembling, even when the King had the greateſt ſucceſs, and would therefore conſtantly pray, and gave all advice poſſible to prevent any ſuch thing.
From this Spirit he foreſaw his own Poverty in worldly things and this he would often ſpeak of with admiration to the hearors, when he was in his greateſt Proſperity, which the event did muſt certainly verifie.
From this Spirit he Predicted the Deviſions and Confuſions in England in matters of Religion, and the ſad conſequents thereof, ſome of which we have ſeen fulfill'd & I play God the reſt which he feared may not alſo be accompliſhed upon us.
Laſtly from this Spirit he foretold, That the greateſt ſtroake upon the Reformed Churches was yet to come; and that the time of the utter Ruine of the See of Rome ſhould be when ſhe thought her ſelf moſt ſecure: and as to this laſt, I ſhall add a brief acount from the Perſons own hand who was concerned therein, which followeth in theſe words.
The year before this Learned and holy Primate And Biſhop Vſher died, I went to him, and earneſtly deſired him, to give me in Writing his apprehenſions concerning Juſtification and Sanctifi: cation by Chriſt, becauſe I had formerly heard him Preach upon thoſe Points, wherein he ſeemed to make thoſe great Miſteries more intelligible to my mean capacity, then any thing which I had ever heard from any other; but becauſe I had but an imperfect and confuſed Remembrance of the particulars, I tooke the boldneſs to importune him, that he would pleaſe to give a brief account of them in Writing, whereby I might the better imprint them in my Memory, of which he would willingly excuſed himſelf, by declaring his intentions of not writing any more, adding that if he did write any thing it ſhould not exceed above a ſheet or two; but upon my continued importunity, I at laſt obtained his promiſe.
He coming to Town ſome time after, was pleaſed to give me a viſit at my own Houſe, where I failed not to challenge the benefit of the promiſe he had made me; He replyed, That he had not writ, and yet he could not charge himſelf with any breach of Promiſe; For (ſaid he) I did begin to write, but when I came to write of Sanctification, that is of the New Creature, which God formeth by his Spirit in every Soul which he doth truly Regenerate I found ſo little of it wrought in myſelf, that I could ſpeak of it only as Parrots by Rote, and without the knowledge and underſtanding of what I might have expreſt, and therefore I durſt not preſume to proceed any further upon it.
And when I ſeemed to ſtand amazed to hear ſuch an humble Confeſſion from ſo great and experienced a Chriſtian, He added I muſt tell you, we do not well underſtand what Sanctification and the New Creature are; It is no leſs then for a man to be brought to in an … …ſignation of his will to the will of God, and to live in the Offering up of his Soul continually in the flames of Love, as a whole burnt Offering to Chriſt and how little (ſays he) are many of thoſe who profeſs Chriſtianity experimentally acquainted with this work on their Souls.
By this Diſcourſe, I conceived he had very excellently and clearly diſcovered to me that part of Sanctification which he was unwilling to write.
I then preſumed to enquire of him what his preſent apprehenſions were concerning a very great Perſecution which ſhould fall upon the Church of God in theſe Nations of England, Scotland, and Ireland, of which this Reverend Primate had ſpoken with great confidence many years before, when we were in the higheſt and fulleſt ſtate of outward Peace and Settlement. I asked him whether he did believe thoſe ſad times to be paſt, or that they were yet to come, To which he anſwered, That they were yet to come and that he did as conſidently expect it, as ever be had done, adding, That this ſail Perſecution would ſall upon all the Proteſtant Churches of Europe; I replyed, That I did hope it might have been paſt as to theſe Nations of ours, ſince I thought, that though we, who are the People thereof, have been puniſhed much leſs than our ſins have deſerved, and that our late Wars had made far leſs devaſtations, then War commonly brings upon thoſe Countries where it pleaſeth God in Judgement to ſuffer it; yet we muſt needs acknowledge, that many great Houſes had been Burnt, Ruined, and left without Inhabitants, many great Families impoveriſhed and undone, and many thouſand Lives alſo had been loſt in that bloody War, and that Ireland and Scotland, as well as England, had drunk very deep of the Cup of Gods Anger, even to the overthrow of the Government, and the utter Deſolation almoſt of a very great part of thoſe Countries.
But this Holy man, turning to me, and fixing his Eyes upon me with that ſerious and ireful look which he uſually had when he ſpake Gods word and not his own; and when the power of God ſeamed to be upon him and to conſtrain him to ſpeak, … could eaſily diſcern much to differ from the countenance wherewith he uſually ſpake to me; He ſaid thus,
Fool not your ſelf with ſuch hopes, for I tell you, all you have yet ſeen, hath been but the beginning of ſorrows to what is yet to come upon the Proteſtant Churches of Chriſt, who will ere long fall under a ſharper Perſ…cution then ever yet has upon them; and therefore (ſaid he to me) look you he not found in the Outward Court, but a worſhipper in the Temple before the Altar, for Chriſt will meaſure all theſe that profeſs his Name & call themſelves his People and the Outward worſhippers he will leave out, to be…rodden down by the Gentils. The Outward Court (ſayes he) is the formal Chriſtian, whoſe Religion lies in performing the outſide duties of Chriſt ſtianity, without having on inward Life and Power of Faith, and Love uniting them to Chriſt, and theſe God will leave to be trodden down, and ſwept away by the Gentiles; But the worſhippers within the Temple and before the Altar, are thoſe who do indeed worſhip God in ſpirit and Truth, whoſe Souls are made his Temple, and he is Honoured and Adored in the moſt inward thou his of their hearts, and they Sacrifice their Luſts and vile affections, yea and their own wills to him; and theſe God will hide in the hollow of his Hand, and under the ſhadow of his wings, and this ſhall be one great difference between this laſt, and all the other preceding perſ…cutions; For in the former, the moſt eminent and ſpiritual. Miniſters and Chriſtians did generally ſuffer moſt, and were moſt violently fallen upon, but in this fast Perſecution, theſe ſhall he preſerved by God as a Se…d to partake of that Glory which ſhall immediately follow and come upon the Church, as ſ…on as ever this ſtorm ſhall be over; for as it ſhall be the ſharpest, ſo it ſhall be the ſhortest Perſecution of them all; and ſhall only take away the th… groſs Hypocrites and …ormal Profeſſors, but the true Spiritual Believers ſhall be preſer…d …ill the Calamity be over past.
I then asked him by what means or Inſtruments this great Tryal ſhould be brought on, He anſwered B… the Papists, I replyed, that it ſeemed to me very improbable they ſhould be able to do it, ſince they were now little countenanced, and but few in theſe Nations, and that the hearts of … People were more …et againſt them then ever ſince the Reformation. He anſwered again, That it would be by the hands of Papists, and in the way of a ſudden Maſſacree; 'and that the then Pope ſhould be the chief Inſtrument of of it.
All this he Spake with ſo great Aſſurance, and with the ſame ſerious and concerned Countenance, which I have before obſerved him to have, when I have heard him foretell ſome things which in all humane appearance were very unlikely to come to paſs, which yet my ſell have lived to ſee happen according to his Prediction, and this made me give the more earneſt attention to what he then uttered.
He then added, That the Papiſts were in his Opinion the Gentiles ſpoken of in the 11th of the Revelations, to whom the Outward Court ſhould be left, that they might tread it underfoot; They having received the Gentiles worſhip in their adoreing Images, and Saints departed, & in taking to themſelves many Mediators; And this (Said he) the Papists are now deſigning among themſelves, and therefore be ſure you be ready.
This was the Subſtance, and I think (for the greateſt part) the very ſame words which this Holy man ſpake to me at the time before mentioned not long before his death, and which I writ down, that ſo great and noble a Prediction might not be loſt and forgotten by my ſelf nor others.
This gratious Man repeated the ſame things in Subſtance to his only daughter the Lady … and that with many tears, and much about the ſame time that he had expreſt what is aforeſaid to me, & which the Lady Tyrril aſſured me of with her own mouth, to this purpoſe.
That opening the Dore of his Chamber, She found him with his Eyes lift up to Heaven, and the tears running a pace down his Checks, and that he ſ…emed to be in an Ex…aſie, wherein he continued for about half an hour, not taking the leaſt notice of her, though ſhe came into the Room, but at laſt turning to her, he told her, That his thoughts had been taken up about the Miſeries and Perſecutions that were coming upon the Churches of Chriſt, which would be ſo ſharp and bitter, that the contemplation of them had fetched thoſe Tears from his Eyes, and that he hoped he ſhould not live to ſee it but poſſibly ſhe might, for it was even at the door, Therefore take head (ſayes he) that you he not found ſleeping.
The ſame things he alſo Repeated to the Lady Baſſe, Wife to the preſent Lord Chief Baron of Ireland, but with adding this circumſtance, That if they brought back the King, it might be delayed a little longer, but (ſaid he) It will ſurely come; therefore be ſure to look that you he not found unprepared for it.
To conclude in the words of Dr. Barnard, ſpeaking of this Excellēt Perſon, Now howſoever I am as far from heeding of Propheſies this way as any, yet with me it is not Improbable, tha… ſo great a Prophet, ſo ſanctified from his youth, ſo knowing and eminent throughout the Univerſal Church, might have at ſome ſpecial times more then Ordinary Motions and Impulſes in doing the watch-mans part, of giving warnining of Judgements approaching.
FINI…
End of the text · James Ussher, Strange and Remarkable Prophecies and Predictions 2 (1679)