part fhall be weakned, and the Church of Chrift fhall be Strengthened, Something in every viall may afflict the.Church, but incurably wounds the Beast As the Seven Trumpets were fo many degrees of the destruction of the Heathen Empire, fo the feven vialls are fo many degrees of the deftruction and ruin of the Antichriftian Empire, and it is worth your observing, that all the time, the whole twelve hundred and threefcore years of Antichrifts reign, Chrift always had an army of Saints, to warre against the Beast, a competent number of witneffes, who loved not their lives unto the death; But all the while of Antichrifts rifing, and triumphant reigning, the event of every Conflict, or fcuffle was, that the Beast grew higher, and the Church fell lower, the Papacy prevailed over all that rofe up against it, fo that the Church in the end was hardly to be found vifible upon the face of the earth; But it is far otherwife in his declining time, the time when the vials are pouring out,every one of the plucks part of his fleece; one of them ftrips him of this Kingdom, another of that; one of them weakens his Temporall, another his Spirituall Jurifdiction; He is under the vials, as Haman before Morde- Efter 6.13. cai, having once begun to fall, he can never more prevail against them, untill in the end (the feventh viall being poured out upon the whole power of darkneffe) the whole Church triumphantly fhouts with a loud voice, It is done, there is an utter end of this enemy. So that I dare fpeak it as confidently as I beleeve the Revelation to be divine Scripture, and the meaning of it thus farre made known to the Churches, that what viall foever is now powring out, the iffue will be, That Antichrift fhall lofe, and Chrift shall gain:

G 3

And

And there is but one objection against it, which I confeffe to be a great one, and that which troubles many, viz. Whether the two witneffes be yet flain: their story ye shall read in the eleventh of the Revelation. These two witneffes, are the fmall, yet competent number of pure worshippers, who follow the Lamb, and conflict against the Beast all the time of his reign, now it is there faid, that during this whole space of time, they prophecy in fackcloth and afhes, in a low and mournfull condition, and the Beast makes warre against them, and prevails against them; but quando finituri funt teftimonium, a little before the end of theirmournfull prophefie, which is a little before the Beasts finall deftruction; the Beast shall not onely keep them low,in fackcloth and afhes, and prevail by degrees against them as heretofore,but fhall kill them, and their dead bodies fhall lie unburied in the streets of that great City, that is, in all the Territories of fpirituall Babylon, and the Beaft and his followers fhall be more jolly;and glorious, then ever they have been: Now many learned Divines fufpect this killing of the Witneffes is not yet paft, and if it be not, the Church muft go lower then ever it hath been,and how then is the Antichriftian State weakned by every viall? To all this I anfwer, that although I am notable to fay, This bitter Cup is yet paft, Father, if it be paßable, let this Cup paffe away) yet I can fay, this is true I have delivered, that every viall fhall weaken the Beast, and ftrengthen the Church, and whether they be killed, or not killed, when ever their killing comes, it lafts but three propheticall dayes and a half,that is, but three years and a half, and then prefently come in the glorious times, which Chrift hath promifed, and

the

the Church long lookt for, fo that what that Father faid of the Arian perfecution, Nubecula eft, cito tranfibit, it is but a fhort, though terrible ftorm, and will quickly have an end, and that end will be comforta ble to the witneffes, who fhall after three dayes and a half, arife from their death, and afcend up to heaven in a cloud, their enemies beholding it, and the great City immediately deftroyed with a terrible earthquake: And is not this comfortable: You fee, I go not about to determine what the event of thefe troubles will be to England, as England is a Civill, or Politicall State, or, Common-wealth; Chrift breaks and moulds Common-wealths at his pleasure, He hath not spoke much in his word, how long they fhall laft, or what he intends to do with them, onely this,that all Kings and Kingdoms, that make warre against the Church, fhall be broken a pieces, and that in the end, all the Dan.2.24. Kingdoms of the World fhall be the Kingdoms of Dan.7.22. our Lord, and his Saints, and they fhall reign over them: But it is the caufe of the Church, the blessed event of these things to the Church of Chrift, which I fpeak of, the welfare and good fucceffe of Religion, in which Cause you are properly engaged and intereffed, and which I hope is dearer to you, then ten thousand Englands.

Revel,11,15.

Therefore Beloved, Be ye stedfaft and unmoveable, alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord, fear not your enemies, because they are blafphemous and wicked, because they are fet on fire, with the rage, cruelty, and treachery of Hell, fear them the leffe for that; Let my enemy be as the wicked, and he that rifeth up against me, be as the ungodly: Their wickedneffe is your advantage, it is their weakneffe, and makes you strong;

3

ftrong; Let not the huge ftature of the Anakims and Zamzummims terrifie you, our state for the prefent is low, it may be we fhall be lower, but lower we cannot be then lob was upon the dunghill, from whence God raised him up, not lower then Jonah, in the Whales belly, from whence the Lord delivered him, not lower then the Ifraelites at the Red-fea, thorow which the Lord made a way for them: Go on with your work, and fear nothing, this King of Saints hath depths anfwerable to all our depths; depths of mercy, answerable to our depths of mifery, depths of power, anfwerable to our depths of weakneffe, He can give a

Coble Outgate out of all

our ftraits, and my Text fayes, he will do it, and with my Text I conclude, Great and wonderfull are the works of our God: And he delights to work won ders, both in ruining his adverfaries, to uphold, com•fort, and deliver his people engaged in his Caufe, and to bring others in fubjection to him, who yet are ftrangers from him. The Nations fhall come and worship before thee, because thy judg

ments are made manifeft.