They arç not Impenetrabic,

reserved to himself the knowledge of Futurity; Tis his Prerogative. Nevertheless, this is not to be taken in that strict and rigid sense, as if we were to reckon all the Prophecies to be unintelligible to allmen, and in every age to be so. As his providence hath presided in a peculiar nmanner, in composing the Prophecies; so'tis certain, it doth perticularly direct and govern, as to what concerns the interpretation of them. God will not that they should be understood in every age; But from age to age, from year to year, his Spirit discovers to Interpreters what he thinks fit; and leaves the reft under a vail of Ignorance, till the fixed time which his wifdom hath appointed shall come, for the full and perfect revelation of it.

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We are not therefore to be discouraged by reaof the difficulty; we are not to look upon the Prophecies absolutely impenetrable. We must Seek, that we may find; we must ask, that wemay receive; we must humbly and devoutly knock at the Gate of Heaven, that it may be open'd to us.. We are obliged to those Interpreters who have gone be, fore us for if they had discovered nothing, it may be, no entrance being made, we should never have attained the knowledge of these mysterious truths. But we are not to stop at their labours, and acquiesce in what they have done, as if they had fucceeded well in every thing. This is so far from being true, that the contrary is much more fo. For one Truth which they have hit upon, they have miss't several. The misforture of other Interpreters hath not disheartn'd me, hoping that I have discovered many things, which to them were concealed. But I may say, that I did not out of choice apply my self to the study of the Prophecies: I found my felf forced to it by a kind of violence, which could not refift.

Two

Two things led me to it. 1. The cruel and hor rible Perfecution, which at this day makes such terrible ravage and desolation in the Church: Endeavouring some confolation under the deepest for row I ever felt, by searching into the grounds, we may have to hope fora speedy deliverance of the Church, and not finding them other where, I inquired after them in the Prophecies, which foretell the deftiny of the Church, and the most remarkable changes through which she is to pass. 2. The next thing that made me resolve to dive into these facred Oracles, was the concurrence of fo many Prophecies, (obscure indeed, & of an uncertain and doubtfull original,) which fore-tell a speedy and perfect Deliverance of the Church. For Example, the fa- The cons mous Prophecy of Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh, currenderu who fore-tells a most terrible Persecution at hand, Prophecies the most dreadfull of any which the Church hath concerning the fall suffer'dhitherto; but withal, the shortest: after of Antiwhich shall come the fall ofthe Antichriftian Em-chrift. pire. The Prophecies of Cotterus, Christina Poniatouski, and those of Drabitius, and several other more obfcure ones, which I have heard and con fidered, without giving much credit to'em.

I compared these Prophecies so universally spread, and coming from so many several places, to the general rumours about the time of the birth of Chrift, that were every where divulged throughout the Roman Empire, of a Great King that should be born inthe East, to whom all the World should pay obeyfance. I did not find my felfmuch disposed to give credit to those modern Prophecies. Credulity being the ordinary source of much delufion, I always stood upon myguard in that perticular as much as poffible. Nevertheless, I could not but be toucht with a fecret opinion, that in all this there might be *4

something more then humane, something of an hand of Providence therein. As the Holy Virgin, I kept these sayings in my heart, without paffing a judgement, I waited till farther Time, (which is the only true Touch-ftone) would diftinguish foolish visionsfrom real Prophecies.

I found something furprizing and extraordinary, in the Prophecies of Cotterus, Christina, and Drabitius, which are publisht by Comenius. Cotterus, who is the first of the Three, is Great and magnifick; the images of his visions have so much majesty and grandeur, that those of the ancient Prophets have hardly more. They are also admi rably laid together, every thing supports it self, and one part doth not contradict another. I cannot conceive how afimple Artifan could have imagined fuch great things without Divine assistance. The two years of the Prophecy of Christina, are in my judgement a train of as great Miracles as have ever been fince the Apostles days, and even the Life of the Greatest Prophets hath nothing in it more miraculous, than what happened to that maid. Drabizius hath also his Heights and Excellencies, but for the most part he is obicure. These three Prophets. concur to fore-tell the Ruin of the Antichristian Empire, as a thing that shall shortly come to pass; but withal they have fo many things that offend, that no man can fatisfy himself to rely upon what they say. Therefore I resolved to look into the Fountain it felf of the Holy Oracles, to fee if the Holy Ghost would not teach me something more certain and more exact, concerning the approaching ruin of the Antichristian Empire, than what other Interpreters have disfcovered from thence.

I will freely acknowledge, that when I first lookt Into the Divine Oracles, my opinion was in favour

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of what I searcht for; being altogether inclined to believe, that we were near the end of the Kingdom and Empire of Antichrist. I was also fully perfwaded of this truth, that the Papacy is the Antichristian Empire; and that the principal Character of that Antichriftianism, is the superstition which for more than twelve hundred years hath disfigured the Church, and made her defolate. Many things, without reckoning the modern Prophecies, made me Hope, that we were near the end of that Period of 1260 years, at the close whereof Babylon must fall, the Heathen be converted, and the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Chrift be fully

fettled.

First, I reflected on the long duration of that Idolatry, which hath been establisht in the Christian Religion. I faw that it began about the end of. the fourth Century, that is, thirteen hundred years ago; it feem'd to me, that no instance could be given, where God fuffered fo great a Corruption, for so long a time, without giving some remedy and relief. I confidered farther, that in the lastage, God gave a terrible blow to the Antichriftian Empire and the Pagan Religion. The Kingdoms of England, Swede, Denmark, the Protestant States of Germany, the United Provinces, the Switzers, and a great part of France, broke from the Papacyall at once, appeared to me so confiderable a matter, that I could nor perfwade my self, but that God had made mention of it in the Revelations. And yet I found no fuch thing among the Expositors of that Book: or I found that they had lookt for it in those Places, where I saw plainly that it was not. Hereupon I fufpected, that that part of the Apocalypse, which defcribes the degrees and Circumstances of. the end of the Antichristian Empire, was not well unders

:

understood; and confequently, that it was much nearer than was commonly thought.

Confidering the Reformation of the last Age, as one half of the ruin of the Kingdom of Antichrift, I fupposed that the other half could not be far off, there being already near 200 years from the one to the other. When God makes great Empires fall, and not all at once; the distance is not commonly fo great between the first part of the Fall and the se

cond.

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After this, I confidered the present posture of the World, and it seem'd to me, as if all things were prepared for some great Revolution. 'Tis as easy with God to work in one moment, and without preceding dispositions, as to take time, and prepare the matter. Nevertheless, we fee that by secret methods, which men perceive not, he opens the way to his greatest works. For Example, the Fall of Paganism by the preaching of the Gospel, and the converfion of the Heathen World, was a great Revolution. God prepared all things for this great Event many ages before it came to pass, by admirable means, of which no man then knew the tendency and design. 1. He reduced the World to two Languages, which were almost universal, the Greek and Latine, that the knowledge of the Gospel might the more eafily be communicated; Difference of Languages being a great hinderance of fuch a communication. 'Tis true, the Apostles had the gift of Tongues, and could speak all Languages; but we are not to imagine, that all the Preachers of the Gospel had the same priviledge. 2. The world was almost wholly united under one Empire, viz. the Roman: which was another means to facilitate the Conversion of the Nations. For if the Earth had been divided into many little Principalities, un

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