ful, couragious, affable to all Men, shewing a molt particular Refpect to the Nation of the (9) Jews; for they expect his Coming. In the midst of all these things he fhall fhow Signs and Wonders, and dreadful Sights with great Power. He fhall craftily endeavour to please all Men, that he may quickly get the Love of many. He fhall refufe Gifts, he fhall not speak with Anger, but fhall put on a Shew of great Modefty, and by this Appearance of Virtue and Regularity, he fhall deceive the World, till they make him their King. When therefore many People and Nations fhall fee thefe Virtues and Powers in him, They fhall all come together with one Confent, and proclaim him their King with great Joy, faying one to another, Can we any where find fuch a Man as this, fo good and fo juít? and immediately his Dominion fhall be established, and in his Wrath he fhall fmite down three mighty Kings. Then fhall this (7) Dra

gon

(9) That the Coming of Antichrift must be first to the Jews, was generally the Opinion of the Ancients: Or at least in whatever Part of the World his firft Appearance might be, they thought these should be the First to join him, and to offer to make him their King. Vid. Par. IV. p. 135.

() Notwithstanding that the Dragon be as diftin& from the Beast, who is Antichrift, as one Perfon can be from another, yet is he here and elsewhere pro

perly

gon lift up his Heart, and vomit out his Serpentine Poyfon. He fhall difturb the World, and put all the Ends of the Earth into Confufion, oppreffing their Bodies, and polluting their Souls. Then hall he lay afide his pretended Piety, and fhow himself fevere, cruel, wrathful, paffionate, unmerciful, unconftant, terrible, deformed, hateful, abominable, haughty, accurfed, blafphemous, endeavouring to precipitate all Mankind into the Depth of Iniquity. He fhall fhow (s) falfe Miracles in great Abundance. And when many People are ftanding by him, and magnifying him for the great Wonders which they fhall behold, he fhall proclaim aloud with a mighty Voice, which fhall (t) fbake

the

perly enough call'd the Dragon, or the Serpent, that is, the Devil; as having his Father's Name written upon him, and fubfifting in his Father's Nature, even more properly than in that which he Outwardly carries about him. Whence both the Dragon that has given Power to the Beaft, and the Beast that A&s in all Things by the Power of this Old Dragon, may very fitly be call'd by the fame Name, by reason of this moft ftri&t Union betwixt them, and Communication of Properties by the Inhabitation of this Serpentine Spirit in the Body of Antichrift.

(s) Confider Mat. xxiv. 24. compar'd with 2 Theff. ii. 9. and Jofeph. Antiq. Jud. Lib. XX. c. 6. and De Bello Judaice, Lib. II. c. 23. Lib. VII. c. 30.

(t) This fhaking of the Place where Antichrift is fuppos'd, in the prefence of a great Multitude met

together

the Place where they are gathered together, faying, Behold, all People, my power and my might. Then fhall he () seem to

re

together at the noife of his Wonderful Appearance, to make Proclamation of his pretended Univerfal Kingdom; is plainly nothing else but the Counterfeit of the Miraculous Defcent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles at Pentecoft, when by a rushing mighty Wind the Place wherein they were fitting did feem to move. For it is neither impoffible, nor impro bable, by the Miniftry of Spirits both Good and Evil, as well as by the Concurrence of Natural Caufes, for great and extraordinary Winds fometimes to be produc'd, yet ftill under the Conduct of the God of Nature. See and confider Gen. viii. 1. 1 King. xix. 11. 2 King. ii. 1. Job xxxviii. 1. Pfal. cxxxv. 7. Jer. x. 13. xxiii. 19. XXV. 32. Ezek. xxxvii. 9. Jon. i. 4. Nah. 1.3 and Rev. vii. 1.

(u) The Pretence of Removing of Mountains, and cafting them into the midft of the Sea, and of commanding New Ilands at aWords fpeaking to rife up fuddenly out of the Sea, may in the Perfon of Antichrift meet with Credit from the Multitude of his Followers, tho' nothing hereof be really done, by the Contagion of a Spiritual Fafcination in all them that shall have fitted themselves to receive his Mark, while he fhall by his Devilifh Art impofe upon the Spectators with Phantafms and lying Appearances, call'd TRY. TO feuds, by the Apostle, 2 Theff. ii. 9. that he may mock at them. Since for as much as all Power belongs only to God, and God has committed it all to Chrift for the Exercise thereof; there remains no Power, which is properly fuch, for the Devil, or for this his Son, to put forth: But all is barely a Semblance of Power, a falfe Appearance without any Reality, a Diabolical Dream, and an Hellifh Cheat. For the Dragon's Power infus'd into this deceitful Beaft, is nothing elfe at the utmost but the Prevarication and Abuse of the Powers of Nature, which are made fubject to Vanity till the Times of Reftitution. Wherefore nothing can be

more

remove Mountains, and make Iflands arife out of the Sea in the Sight of the People, not that he fhall really do fuch mighty Works, but shall impofe upon the Spectators by falfe Appearances. Thus fhall he deceive and delude the World, and many fhall believe in him, and glorifie him as the (w) mighty God. Then fhall every Soul mourn bitterly, and be afflicted. Then fhall all fee themselves in continual Affliction Day and Night with

more unreasonable and abfurd than to be afraid of his Power,which in Effect is none at all; neither is there a greater Infatuation than to rob God of his Power, or Glory, by allowing but the leaft Part thereof to the Devil, or to any of his Prime-Minifters.

(w) But by thefe and fuch like ftrong Delufions the Sealed Number of the Beast, or Antichrift, which is oppos'd to the Sealed Number of the Lamb, or Chrift, fhall be even fo far infatuated as to worship him not only for a Divine Perfon, or for one made Partaker of the Divine Nature in the moft eminent Degree, but even for the Mighty God, that is, for the Fa ther Almighty. And I know fome that have been let deeply into this Mystery of Iniquity, and that have been prepared for many Years to receive a Manifestation of this Nature, as having drawn up a certain Syftem concerning the Incarnation of the FATHER, as fomewhat much greater yet to be than the Incarnation of the SON was in the Perfon of Jefus Chrift. Innumerable are the Devices and Stratagems of Satan for the Subverting the Great Mystery of Chriftianity; but perhaps among all thefe, nothing is more cun ningly contriv'd and accommodated for the pleasing both of Jews and Chriftians, and even of Mahometans too, than the Scheme hereof which I have feen, and was communicated to me by a Learned Hand that had been himself infected with it for fome time.

without a Glimpfe of Comfort, not knowing where to find Bread to fatis fie their Hunger. For Mercilefs Governors fhall be fet over all Places; and if a Man bring with him the Mark of the Beast in his right Hand or on his Forehead, he fhall presently buy such Food as they can get. Then fhall the Children faint in the Mother's Bofom, and the Mother fhall die upon her Children, and the Father with his Wife and Children fhall perish in the Streets, and there fhall be none to bury them. From the Multitude of dead Carcafes lying in the Streets fhall a grievous Stink arife, that fhall be noifom and intolerable to the Living. In the Morning they fhall fay with Tears and bitter Lamentation, When will it be Evening, that we may take a little Reft? And when it is Evening, They fhall speak one to another with bitter Tears, When will it be Morning, that we may fly from this dreadful Affliction? And there fhall be no Place for them to fly unto for Protection, for all Things fhall be in Confufion, both the Sea, and the dry Land. Therefore thus faith the Lord, Watch, and pray Mat. xxiv always, that ye may escape this tribulation, Mark xiii.. There is a noifom Smell at Sea, and a dreadful Stink by Land, Famines, and Earthquakes, Confufion upon the Earth, Terrors at Sea, and Terrors at Land,

Luke xxi.

Their