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Sects, has been always greater or leffer, according to his Obfervation, as the Violence of their Per cutions of the Faithful has been either more or le "For because the Perfecution of Antichrift (S "be) fhall be the greatest and sharpest, therefor fhall it also be the fhorteft, according to that "Mark xiii. And except that the Lord fh ten those days, no flefh fhall be faved And for the very fame reafon, because the M "hometan Perfecution has been milder than t GC others, as from the aforemention'd Differend evidently appears, therefore fhall its Duration "much longer than of all the reft; and likew because the Perfecution by the Idolaters bas b as it were betwixt thefe, thence alfo bas Duration of them been proportionably mea out by the most wife Providence of God, whi difpofeth all Things wonderfully and fweetly cording to Weight and Measure. How just t Obfervation is, as to the former Part of it, w by the Calculation of the Monarchies foretold Daniel, compar'd with the Hegira of the Mah metans, be presently feen; and as to the latt Part of it, if the Words of Christ be not fuffici to decide this Matter, Time only will. Howe if this Affair fhall not be made in the Fourth Pa of this Treatife fo very plain, as to put it beje doubt; yet at least it will be feen not to be a pre rious Hypothefis fondly taken up to amufe the R der with, but fomething not undeferving the C fideration of fober Chriftians and Lovers of Trus

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XI. AND after all, fuppofing this Opinie the Ancients should be but a Mistake, at the worft there can be no Manner of Hurt in it; f it will but the more excite us to be prepar'd aga

the fecond Coming of Chrift, and against thofe evil Times which may be thought to haften bis Coming, ut contra fummam perfecutorem (as the fame Burgenfis fays) fummus infurgeret liberator: But of the commonly receiv'd Notion amonft us the fame cannot be faid; for not to mention those evil Confequences which Grotius, Hammond, Thorndyke, and other Great Men have wifely already remark'd, it may not be altogether improper or unfeasonable, here to infert an Observation a worthy Friend, who is truly an Ornament to the Univerfity and Society whereof he is at prefent a Member, and than whom perhaps none alfo is bet ter acquainted with the Merits of this Caufe, as the fame was lately communicated by Letter to a third Perfon, who has given his Leave the fame may be mention'd, for a Caution to all that are taken up with Apocalyptical Theories and Modern Schemes, only fuppreffing the Names- I should "be glad, fays he, to know what Advances 66 Mr. Whifton makes in the Arian Contro verfie. It is my Opinion that he fell into this Miftake in ftudying the Revelations, and that finding from the modern Calculation of 1260, "that there must have been a Falling-away in "the Church about the Fourth or Fifth Century, " and not contented with the common Account of it, concerning the Encroachments and Innovations of the Papacy, might apply it to the Arrian Controverfie, and fix the Beginning of it in eftablishing the Doctrine which is now Orthodox. Thus far be, and if Mr. Whifton be appeal'd to, I fuppofe be will hardly deny that this is the Truth. Not a few Obfervations there are befides which even thefe prefent Times may afford us of the ill Influence which this Novel Antipapiftical Notion

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about

about Antichrift bath had, and still bath, not only upon the Church but upon the State alfo, in feveral Countries both Proteftant and Roman Catholick. France, Switzerland, Germany, and Thefe Kingdoms are Witneffes hereof. To this is mainly owing the Extirpation of the Reform'd Religion in one Kingdom, and of the Epifcopal Conftitution of it in another: To this for certain we owe the Fighting Prophets of the Cevennes, and their wild Off-Spring here among us. Had it not been for this, the Society of George Fox bad farely ne ver made the tenth Part of that Progrefs which it bas done in little more than Half a Century of Years: Nor had there been probably near fo many Atheists, Deifts and Scoffers found in a Proteftant Nation; if we had not hereby exceeded the Bounds of Reformation: and instead of Reforming the Church, as it needed, had not been for bringing in a New Church tho' to the Tripping up of our own Heels by it, to make Laughter for Infidels. And what Ufe the Politicians have ever made of this Notion both in South and North Britain, is too well known; fo that if it were only to prevent the Dangers thereof to the State alone, fhould the Spirit of Forty One be conjur'd up here again, and Lambeth made the See of Antichrift as much as Rome, and both our Civil and Ecclefiaftical Conftitution damn'd for Antichriftian, it is humbly hop'd, fuch a Difcourfe as this cannot be altogether unacceptable to those who fincerely ftudy the Peace and Intereft of the Realm, with the Good of the Church; whatever their Opinion poffibly otherwife may be as to the Performance it felf, and the Grounds whereupon it is built. + This is too true: witnof the enture subjection of XII. WHAT the present Establishment to the Civil State, without whose

XII. WHAT the Success of this Treatife may be in the World, I can pretty well guefs from the prevailing Genius of the Times, and therefore shall not be concerned at the Cavils and Oppofitions of any that shall think fit to attack either the Book or its Author. If I am in the Wrong I am willing to be convinced, defiring nothing but the Propagation of Truth; having this Comfort ftill, that if I am miftaken, I am in good Company. The only Fa vour I fhall beg of my Adverfary is this, that he will be fo generous as not to carp at any one or more exceptionable Paffages, of which fort I cannot expect but be may find many; but that he will fet himself to demonftrate, that the Foundations and Principles of this Difcourfe are wrong, and I shall thank him for fetting me right. But if the judicious Reader upon mature Confideration fhall think I am in the right, as to the main, I hope it will not be without fome good Effects upon fober and unprejudiced Understandings; fuch as thefe I earnestly entreat, that they will put the Author into their Litany, as I do the Reader, That it will pleafe Almighty God to keep us from that Hour of Temptation, which fhall come upon all the World, to try them that dwell on the Earth. Amen.

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flat, not an Reclesiastical Convocation can be held, nor the Chiscopal order granted to the Americans, the humbly petitioning for it: Bat there is a & fremmets_of the ancient British entirely free from the Eres of Popery & Calvinism too, which is refor to the standard of the work or4 fr

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POSTSCRIPT

INCE this was written, and just going to the

S Prefs, this was and just food

Edition of Ephraim Syrus printed from the Greek Bodleian MSS. a Thing fo much defired, and fo long wifh'd for by feveral Learned Men, (particularly by our Learned Countryman Dr.Cave, that Great Affertor of Primitive Antiquity) for which the Church and Learned World are indebted to Dr. Milles, a late eminent Ornament of tha University; whom for his Noble Work upon the New Teftament, Pofterity will know how to ho nour: By whofe Copy left behind him after his Death, which he at his own Charge had caus'd to be tranfcrib'd with all Exactness from the faid Manufcripts, this Impreffion is made. In which there is a Pathetick Homily or Difcourfe of the End of the World and the Coming of Antichrift, which I am encouraged by fame Learned Friends who had the Revifal of these Papers, to tranflate into our own Language, and add to this Difcourfe as a most folemn and Authentick Teftimony of the Oriental Church, (which we are told had fo high Veneration for the Writings of this Holy Father, as even to read the fame together with the Scriptures in their facred Affemblies) in Confirmation of the Doctrines advanced, or rather reviv'd, in this Essay,