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28, 29, 30. by a People that shall come with speed upon the Church, none shall be weary nor ftumble amongst them, none shall flumber nor fleep, their Arrows are sharp and all their Bows bent, their Horfes Hoofs fhall be counted as Flint, and their Wheels as a Whirlwind, that because of them the Land fhall be full of Darkness and Sorrow, and the Light fhall be darkned in the Heavens thereof. Is it not of the Times of his Reign that we are to understand the Temptation that the Church fhall be under, Chap. 8. v. 19. to have recourse to Familiar Spirits and Wizzards, which they are warned against, and advised to feek unto their God, at a Time when the Antichriftian Company shall be hardly beftead and Hungry, and when they shall be hungry they shall fret themselves and curfe their God and their King, and look upwards, and they fhall look unto the Earth, and behold Trouble and Darkness, Dimnefs of Anguish, and they Shall be driven to Darkness. Doe not the Prophecies against the King of Babylon, If. 14. refer ultimately to Antichrift? Is not he that Leviathan the piercing Serpent, even Leviathan that crooked Serpent, (who is a King over all the Children of Pride. Job. 41. 34.) that for the fake of his Vineyard (or Church) God will punish with his fore and great and ferong Sword. If. 27. Is not this that Time to which we muft refer If. 65. 13. My Servants shall eat, but ye (viz. the Antichriftian Company) Shall be hungry; behold my Servants hall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: My Servants shall rejoyce, but ye shall be ashamed. 14. My Servants fhall fing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for for

rew

row of Heart, and shall bowl for vexation of Spirit. This I understand to be that day of trouble which Habakkuk mentions Chap. 3. and which he prays to be delivered from, v. 16. which he calls being at Reft in the Day of Trouble; the Contemplation of which draws from him this generous and Heroick Refolution, that though the Fig-tree fhould not bloffom, nor the Fruit fhould be in the Vines (as at that time it will not) though the labour of the Olive fhould fail, and the Fields fhall yield no Meat, though the Flocks fhould be cut off from the Folds, and there fhould be no Herd in the Stalls, that he will nevertheless rejoyce in the Lord, and joy in the God of his Salvation. It would be endless to refer to the many Paffages concerning him in the Prophets, but particularly in the Pfalms, in which Senfe Dr. Allix explains many of them, though meaning indeed nothing elfe by Antichrist, but the Pope of Rome. Lastly, (to mention no more) to him I apply that Prophecy of Jeremiah Chap. 49. 19. that he shall come up like a Lion from the fwellings of Jordan, and the fame Chap. 5o. 44. to which he alfo alludes, Chap. 12. 5. where after he had talked of the miferable Effects of the Apoftacy of the Church in that dreadful Day, he expoftulates with them, If thou haft run with the Footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canft thou contend with Horfes? if in the Land of Peace wherein thou trusted' ft they have wearied thee, or as the Original feems rather to exprefs it, if thou trufted'ft in the Land of Peace, i. e. been fecure in the Prosperity

Prosperity of thy Land) bow wilt thou do in the Swellings of Jordan? i. e. how wilt thou be prepared to bear the laft and great Conflict of the Church? For the better understanding of which we will obferve, I. That Lactantius afferts, p. 645, and 646. that the laft Deliverance of the Church or Children of God out of the Antichriftian Earth, was typified by the Deliverance of the Children of Ifrael out of Egypt, as were the Plagues that fhall be fent upon the Antichriftian Company, by the Judgments fent upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians. II. That the Scriptures themselves call their taking Poffeffion of the Land of Canaan their entering into Reft, Pfal. 95. 11. Heb. 3. 18. and accordingly the Author to the Hebrews makes that Reft to be a Figure and Type of that great Sabbatifm, that the Church fhall enjoy in the latter Times after the Destruction of Antichrift, Heb. 4. 19. So that, III. by confequence the laft and great Affliction of the Church, may be aptly represented by the Overflowings of Jordan, which does conftantly overflow its Banks in Harvest or Autumn, (at which Seafon of the Year Antichrift fhall alfo come, as we before obferved out of the Prophet Foel) and that does feem to be the compleating Act of the Suffering Oeconomy of the Jews. For as foon as they were got over, Circumcifion was commanded anew for those who had escaped it during their Forty Years travel in the Wildernefs, which is called the removing the Reproach from

Ifrael,

The De

Ifrael, i. e. the Reproach of the Cross or Suffering Period, upon which the Passover was obferved in Commemoration of their compleat Deliverance out of Egypt; as may be feen at large, Jofbua. 3. 4,5.

$25. Now when this Man of Sin fhall ftruction of have finished his Time, and the Number Antichrift of his Days fhall be accomplished, then by the Ef- fhall God vifit upon him the Afflictions of fufion of the his People, He shall break the Staff of the SevenVials Wicked, and the Scepter of the Rulers.; be that Smote the People in Wrath with a continual Stroke, be that ruled the Nation in anger, shall be perfecuted, and none shall binder. Ifa. 14. 5, 6. So be that faid in his Heart I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my Throne above the Stars. of God, I will fit also upon the Mount of the Congregation, in the fides of the North. I will afcend above the Heigths of the Clouds, I will be like the most High. He that made the Earth to tremble and deftroyed Kingdoms, that made the World a Wilderness, and deftroyed the Cities thereof, Shall be brought down to Hell to the fides of the Pit, V. 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. This God will accomplish by various and gradual Steps, firft, to magnifie the Greatnefs of his Power, and that every Act and Inftance of Vengeance may have time to produce its defigned Effect; i. e. reclaim thofe who are within the Poffibility of Mercy. The grand Pomp of this Deftruction is largely defcribed to us by the Author of the Apocalypfe; who having defcribed to us, Chap. 15. the Joy and Triumph of those who had gotten the Victory over the Beaft, &c.

tells

tells us, v. 6. of that Chapter, that he faw Seven Angels coming out of the Temple having the Seven Plagues, cloathed in Pure and White Linnen, and their Breafts girded with Golden Girdles. By the Seven Angels may poffibly be meant, either literally Seven Spirits, or Seven Men of those who had been fhut up during the Beaft's Reign, or perhaps the. Souls of Righteous Men departed commiffioned by God to execute his Vengeance, of which more hereafter. They came forth cloathed in the Habits of Priests and Kings, to fhew the Royal Priesthood of Chrift's Kingdom and Heavenly Temple or Tabernacle, out of which thefe Judgments proceed, v.7. and one of the four Beafts, (or living Creatures) that were the Representatives of the Apoftolical Church, gave unto the Seven Angels Seven Vials (or Bowls, 2 Chron. 4. 22. Rev. 5.8.) full of the Wrath of God who liveth for ever and ever. v. 8. And the Temple was filled with Smoak from the Glory of God and from his Power, and no Man was able to enter into the Temple till the Seven Plagues of the Seven Angels were fulfilled. The filling of the Temple with God's Glory is a Phrafe expreffing his dwelling in the midft of his People, Ezek. 43. 5, 7, 9. whereby is fignified the Approach of the New Jerufalem Sabbatifm. The Smoak appearing with it does intimate to us the Glory of God, who dwells in thick Darknefs, or Light inacceffible, Ifa. 6. 4. And 2dly, By the Impoffibility of entring into the Temple till the Vials are poured out,

may

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