Accept of all our Endeavours to glorify thee, in the Fires that are upon us; and among the rest, Let these my poor and weak essays, composed with what Tears, what Cares, what Prayers, thou only knowest, not want the Acceptance of the Lord.
A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World
UTTERED (IN PART) ON AUG. 4, 1692.
Ecclesiastical History has Reported it unto us, That a Renowned Martyr at the Stake, seeing the Book of the Revelation thrown by his no less Profane than Bloody Persecutors, to be Burn'd in the same Fire with himself, he cryed out, O Beata Apocalypsis; quam bene mecum agitur, qui tecum Comburar! Blessed Revelation! said he, How Blessed am I in this Fire, while I have Thee to bear me Company. As for our selves this Day, 'tis a Fire of sore Affliction and Confusion, wherein we are Embroiled; but it is no inconsiderable Advantage unto us, that we have the Company of this Glorious and Sacred Book the Revelation to assist us in our Exercises. From that Book there is one Text, which I would single out at this time to lay before you; 'tis that in
Revel. XII. 12.
Wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth, and of the Sea; for the Devil is come down unto you, having great Wrath; because he knoweth, that he hath but a short time.
'The Text is Like the Cloudy and Fiery Pillar, vouchsafed unto Israel, in the Wilderness of old; there is a very dark side of it in the Intimation, that, The Devil is come down having great Wrath; but it has also a bright side, when it assures us, that, He has but a short time; Unto the Contemplation of both, I do this Day Invite you.
We have in our Hands a Letter from our Ascended Lord in Heaven, to Advise us of his being still alive, and of his Purpose e're long, to give us a Visit, wherein we shall see our Living Redeemer, stand at the latter day upon the Earth. 'Tis the last Advice that we have had from Heaven, for now sixteen Hundred years; and the scope of it, is, to represent how the Lord Jesus Christ having begun to set up his Kingdom in the World, by the preaching of the Gospel, he would from time to time utterly break to pieces all Powers that should make Head against it, until, The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdomes of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall Reign for ever and ever. 'Tis a Commentary on what had been written by Daniel, about, The fourth Monarchy; with some Touches upon, The Fifth; wherein, The greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven, shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High: And altho' it have, as 'tis expressed by one of the Ancients, Tot Sacramenta quot verba, a Mystery in every Syllable, yet it is not altogether to be neglected with such a Despair, as that, I cannot Read, for the Book is Sealed. It is a Revelation, and a singular, and notable Blessing is pronounc'd upon them that humbly study it.
The Divine Oracles, have with a most admirable Artifice and Carefulness, drawn, as the very pious Beverley, has laboriously Evinced, an exact Line of Time, from the first Sabbath at the Creation of the World, unto the great Sabbatism at the Restitution of all Things. In that famous Line of Time, from the Decree for the Restoring of Jerusalem, after the Babylonish Captivity, there seem to remain a matter of Two Thousand and Three Hundred Years, unto that New Jerusalem, whereto the Church is to be advanced, when the Mystical Babylon shall be fallen. At the Resurrection of our Lord, there were seventeen or eighteen Hundred of those Years, yet upon the Line, to run unto, The rest which remains for the People of God; and this Remnant in the Line of Time, is here in our Apocalypse, variously Embossed, Adorned, and Signalized with such Distinguishing Events, if we mind them, will help us escape that Censure, Can ye not Discern the Signs of the Times?
The Apostle John, for the View of these Things, had laid before him, as I conceive, a Book, with leaves, or folds; which Volumn was written both on the Backside, and on the Inside, and Roll'd up in a Cylindriacal Form, under seven Labels, fastned with so many Seals. The first Seal being opened, and the first Label removed, under the first Label the Apostle saw what he saw, of a first Rider Pourtray'd, and so on, till the last Seal was broken up; each of the Sculptures being enlarged with agreeable Visions and Voices, to illustrate it. The Book being now Unrolled, there were Trumpets, with wonderful Concomitants, Exhibited successively on the Expanding Backside of it. Whereupon the Book was Eaten, as it were to be Hidden, from Interpretations; till afterwards, in the Inside of it, the Kingdom of Anti-christ came to be Exposed. Thus, the Judgments of God on the Roman Empire, first unto the Downfal of Paganism, and then, unto the Downfal of Popery, which is but Revived Paganism, are in these Displayes, with Lively Colours and Features made sensible unto us.
Accordingly, in the Twelfth Chapter of this Book, we have an August Preface, to the Description of that Horrid Kingdom, which our Lord Christ refused, but Antichrist accepted, from the Devils Hands; a Kingdom, which for Twelve Hundred and Sixty Years together, was to be a continual oppression upon the People of God, and opposition unto his Interests; until the Arrival of that Illustrious Day, wherein, The Kingdom shall be the Lords, and he shall be Governour among the Nations. The Chapter is (as an Excellent Person calls it) an Extravasated Account of the Circumstances, which befell the Primitive Church, during the first Four or Five Hundred Years of Christianity: It shows us the Face of the Church, first in Rome Heathenish, and then in Rome Converted, before the Man of Sin was yet come to Mans Estate. Our Text contains the Acclamations made upon the most Glorious Revolution that ever yet happened upon the Roman Empire; namely, That wherein the Travailing Church brought forth a Christian Emperour. This was a most Eminent Victory over the Devil, and Resemblance of the State, wherein the World, ere long shall see, The Kingdom of our God, and the Power of his Christ. It is here noted,
First, As a matter of Triumph. 'Tis said, Rejoyce, ye Heavens, and ye that dwell in them. The Saints in both Worlds, took the Comfort of this Revolution; the Devout Ones that had outlived the late Persecutions, were filled with Transporting Joys, when they saw the Christian become the Imperial Religion, and when they saw Good Men come to give Law unto the rest of Mankind; the Deceased Ones also, whose Blood had been Sacrificed in the Ten Persecutions, doubtless made the Light Regions to ring with Hallelujahs unto God, when there were brought unto them, the Tidings of the Advances now given to the Christian Religion, for which they had suffered Martyrdom.
Secondly, As a matter of Horror. 'Tis said, Wo to the Inhabiters of the Earth and of the Sea. The Earth still means the False Church, the Sea means the Wide World, in Prophetical Phrasæology. There was yet left a vast party of Men that were Enemies to the Christian Religion, in the power of it; a vast party left for the Devil to work upon: Unto these is a Wo denounced; and why so? 'Tis added, For the Devil is come down unto you, having great Wrath, because he knows, that he has but a short time. These were, it seems, to have some desperate and peculiar Attempts of the Devil made upon them. In the mean time, we may Entertain this for our Doctrine,
Great Wo proceeds from the Great Wrath, with which the Devil, towards the end of his Time, will make a Descent upon a miserable World.
I have now Published a most awful and solemn Warning for our selves at this day; which has four Propositions, comprehended in it.
Proposition I. That there is a Devil, is a thing Doubted by none but such as are under the Influences of the Devil. For any to deny the Being of a Devil must be from an Ignorance or Profaneness, worse than Diabolical. A Devil. What is that? We have a Definition
