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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 fharp 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 recourfe to Familiar Spirits and Wizzards, which they are warned againft, 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 fhall 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 strong Sword. If. 27. Is not this that Time to which we muft refer If. 65. 13. My Servants fhall eat, but ye (viz. the Antichriftian Company Shall be hungry; behold my Servants Shall drink, but ye Jhall be thirfty: My Servants shall rejoyce, but ye shall be ashamed. 14. My Servants fhall fing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for for

rows

row of Heart, and shall bowl for vexation of Spirit. This I understand to be that day of trou ble 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 should 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 Antichrift, 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 fordan, 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 bow 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

W

Prosperity

་

Profperity 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 Con-
flict of the Church? For the better under-
standing 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 Pof-
feffion of the Land of Canaan their entering
into Reft, Pfal. 95. 11. Heb. 3. 18. and ac-
cordingly the Author to the Hebrews makes
that Reft to be a Figure and Type of that
great Sabbatifm, that the Church fhall en-
joy in the latter Times after the Destructi-
on of Antichrift, Heb. 4. 19.
So that,
III. by confequence the laft and great
Affliction of the Church, may be aptly re-
prefented by the Overflowings of Jordan,
which does conftantly overflow its Banks in
Harvest or Autumn, (at which Seafon
of the Year Antichrift fhall also come, as
we before obferved out of the Prophet
Foel) and that does feem to be the com-
pleating Act of the Suffering Oeconomy of
the Jews. For as foon as they were got
over, Circumcifion was commanded anew
for those who had efcaped it during their
Forty Years travel in the Wilderness, which
is called the removing the Reproach from

Ifrael

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

The De

$25. Now when this Man of Sin shall 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; he 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 afcend 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 Powand 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 Apoca lypfe; who having defcribed to us, Chap. 15. the Joy and Triumph of thofe who had gotten the Victory over the Beast, &c.

tells

er,

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tells us, v. 6. of that Chapter, that he saw 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 Reprefentatives 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,

1

may

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