THE PROPHET DANIEL, CHAP. IX. VERSE 25.

KNOW therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore (meaning the captivity) and to build Jerusalem to Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks, the streets shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.

Seven weeks and threescore and two weeks, is meant for a time of four hundred and eighty-three years: which commenced in the first year of Cyrus over Babylon, when he issued the pro­clamation to restore the captivity, and conclu­ded at the birth of Christ.

Two years after the Jews returned from Babylon to Jerusalem they laid the foundation of the second temple, but were so much inter­rupted in the building, as not to be able to complete it until the expiration of eighty-two years.

26 And after threescore and two weeks (which is four hundred and thirty-four years, meaning from the time the temple was finished to the death of Christ) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that comes (meaning the Romans) will destroy the city and the sanctuary: it will be done like the overflowing of a flood; and to the end of war their desolation is determined.

[Page 14]While war continues in the world, Jerusalem, the capital of the King of Peace is decreed to lie desolate: the restoration of the Jews will commence with the destruction of war, to fa­vour their return, and build the city; when all nations will rejoice with them, and once more receive from Jerusalem the commands of the living God.

THE PROPHET ISAIAH, CHAP. VII.

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

This was the Lord Jesus Christ, who was born of the blessed Virgin, called Mary.

CHAP. IX.

6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be on his shoulder: and his name shall be called Won­derful Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Ever­lasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

This was the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the Messiah and King of the Jews.

7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth, even for ever: the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this.

THE PROPHET ZECHARIAH, CHAP. XII.

[...] And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spi­rit [Page 15] of grace and of supplications: and they shall look to me that was pierced; and shall mourn, like him that mourns for his only son; and shall be in bitterness, like him that is in bitterness for his first born.

This verse will be fulfilled by the Jews after their return: it means the Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified at the age of thirty-three years and four months.—Told me by revela­tion.

CHAP. VIII.

11 Yea, he magnified himself, even to the [Page 16] Prince of the Host; by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.

12 And a host was [...]en him against the daily sacrifice, by reason of transgression: and it cast down the truth to the ground, and it practised and prospered.

13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and ano­ther saint said to that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desola­tion to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

One angel was asking another in the presence of Daniel, that he might hear and be informed to write down what was said.

The sanctuary meant the second temple, tho' not built when this vision was shewn to Daniel; the host, the multitude of the people, or the whole nation.

How long shall be the Vision, means, how long is it from this time or year of shewing the Vision to Daniel until it is fulfilled by the resto­ration of the Jews in the latter days of the world, when the curse for transgression, which made the city desolate, will be removed, and the ground of the sanctuary cleaned.

14 And he said unto me, to two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctu­ary be cleaned.

Days are mentioned by the angel instead of years to conceal the meaning of the prophecy until the proper time is fulfilled, and the ap­pointed person made known for it to be reveal­ed to: the present is the time that was then intended; I am the appointed person for it to [Page 17] be revealed to, and the prophet commanded to make it known.

DEUTERONOMY. CHAP. XXXII.

1 Give ear, O ye Heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

[Page 18]2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain: my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass.

3 Because I will publish the name of the Lords ascribe ye greatness to our God.

4 He is the rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth, and without iniquity: just and right is be.

Compare this part to the preaching of Christ, in the beginning of the fifth chapter of the Gospel by St. Matthew, and see how nearly they agree.

21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God: they have provoked me to anger with their vanities; and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn to the lowest [...]ll; and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 I will heap mischiefs upon them: I will spend my arrows upon them.

24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.

2 [...] The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin; the suckling also, with the man of grey hairs.

26 I said, I would scatter them into corners; I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men.

27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of [Page 19] the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the Lord hath not done all this.

28 For they are a nation void of counsel: neither is there any understanding in them.

Had God, in his great anger, destroyed the Jews entirely by the Romans, they would have ascribed it to their own power; and after na­tions would not believe there ever had been such a people on the face of the earth: for which he dispersed them over the world, to be travelling signs of warning to all nations, until the determined time of their punishment is ex­pired; when he will, to fulfil the Scripture, recal them with mercy and everlasting love.

29 O that they were wise, that they under­stood all this, that they would consider their latter end.

30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up.

36 For the Lord will judge his people, and repent himself of his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left.

3 [...] [...] he shall say, where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted.

38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offering [...] Let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.

39 See now, that I, even I am he, (meaning God as Christ, the Messiah,) and there is no God with me; I kill, and I make alive; I [Page 20] wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.

41 If I whet my glittering sword, and my hand take hold on judgment, I will render ven­geance to my enemies, and will reward them that hate me.

42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain, and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the en­emy.

43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful to his land, and to his people.

THE PROPHET ISAIAH. CHAP. II.

2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it.

3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the [...], and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

And he (this prophecy, as every man of under­standing in the Scripture must acknowledge, has ne­ver been fulfilled yet; for the time alluded to by the Prophet, is, according to his own words, in the 2d and 4th verses, in the latter days of the world: It [Page 21] is a man that is alluded to, composed of flesh and blood, of the tribe of Judah, of the family of David, and not the Lord Jesus Christ, as all Euro­pean nations suppose, that is to fulfil this very ex­alted character: going forth by command, and under the mighty power of God, as his Elijah, the last prophet and messenger, to warn all nations —to turn the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers— to prepare them, by uni­versal peace, to receive a second time Christ, their God and Creator) shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into reaping hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

All the nations of Europe acknowledge Christ for the Prince of peace, and that his doctrine prohibits war; yet to the shame of all nations, they refuse to obey his commands. For which, as he beseeched before, and no nation would o­bey, he will soon command, when all nations must obey, or be burnt with fire.

CHAP. XI.

1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch (meaning myself) shall grow out of his roots:

2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him; the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might; the spirit of knowledge and of t [...] fear of the Lord.

3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

[Page 22]4 But with righteousness, he will judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.

5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reigns.

6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the [...]id; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fat­ling together; and little child shall lead them.

7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den.

9 They shall not destroy nor hurt in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters co­ver the sea.

10. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse (meaning myself) which shall stand for a sign to the people (meaning the Jews) to it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest (meaning his government of Jerusalem) shall be glorious.

11. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which are left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from E­lam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

12 And he will set up an ensign for the nations [Page 24] and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth

The first captivity of the Jews was by Ne­buchadnezzar, and the second by the Romans; their residence in Egypt not being the conse­quence of conquest, is not accounted as a capti­vity, because they willingly entered into that country to be relieved from the distresses of fa­mine in their own. The hard bondage they were oppressed with proceeded from the Egyp­tians growing jealous of their quick multiplica­tion and great numbers: but that did not take place until the death of Joseph, and until such a considerable time after had elapsed, as to wear a­way all remembrance of his name and gratitude for his kindness.

13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the Adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.

14 But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines towards the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Moab and Edom; and the chil­dren of Ammon shall obey them.

15 And the Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian Sea: and with his migh­ty wind he will shake his hand over the river, and smite it in the seven streams that men may go over dry-shod.

16 And there shall be a highway from Assy­ria for the remnant of his people which are left▪ like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up from the land of Egypt.

CHAP. XII.

1 And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee; though thou was angry with me, thy anger is turned away, and thou com­fortest me.

2 Behold God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.

Therefore with joy ye shall draw water out of the wells of salvation.

And in that day ye shall say, praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, and make mention that his name be exalted. Sing unto the Lord, for he has done excellent things; this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

CHAP. LIV.

1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear: break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child; for more are the children of the desolate, than the children of the married wife, says the Lord.

The married wife means Jerusalem at a for­mer time when rich and full of inhabitants; the desolate wife means Jerusalem at present: al­though she is a heap of rubbish and levelled with the ground, the Jews will return in such great multitudes, that when rebuilt, her extent and number of people will be far greater than at any former period.

This is the true meaning of the prophecy, and not the [...] deliverance [...] is placed at the head of [...] in the [...]i [...]ble.

[Page 26]2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitation: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.

3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand, and on the left; and thy seed shall in­herit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded: for thou shalt not be put to shame; for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the re­proach of thy widowhood any more.

5 For thy maker is thy husband; the Lord of Hosts is his name: and thy redeemer the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he be called.

6 For the Lord has called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused.

7 For a small moment I have forsaken thee, but with great mercies I will gather thee.

8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee, for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on thee, says the Lord my Redeemer.

9 For this is as the waters of Noah to me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should not go over the earth any more, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.

10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not de­part from thee; neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says the Lord that has mercy on thee.

CHAP. LX.

1 Arise, shine: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord will rise upon thee, and his glory will be seen upon thee.

3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

8 Who are these that come as a cloud, and that fly as the doves to their windows?

9 Surely the isles shall wait on me; but the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from afar, their gold and silver with them, to the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified thee.

10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister to thee; for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour I will have mercy on thee.

11 Therefore thy gates shall be open contin­ually; they shall not be shut day or night; that men may bring to thee the forces of the Gen­tiles, and that their kings may be brought.

12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.

13 The glory of Lebanon shall come to thee, the fir-tree, the pine tree, and the box togeth­er, to beautify the place of my sanctuary: for I will make the place of my feet glorious.

14 The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending to thee, and all they that de­spised thee shall bow themselves down to the soles of thy feet: and they shall call thee—The city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

[Page 28]15 Whereas thou hast been forsaken and ha­ted, so that no man went through thee; I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

16 Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gen­tiles, and shalt suck the breasts of kings: and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

17 For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver; for wood brass, and for stones iron: I also will make thy officers peace, and thy exactors righteousness.

18 Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy bor­ders; but thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise.

19 The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness the moon by night; but the Lord will be to thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.

20 Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord will be thy everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.

21 Thy people also shall be all righteous, they shall inherit the land for ever; the branch of my planting, and the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.

22 A little one shall become a thousand, and a great one a strong nation. I the Lord will hasten it in due time.

CHAP. LXII.

For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burns.

[Page 29]4 Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah. For the Lord delights in thee, and thy land shall be married.

8 The Lord has sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength; surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thy ene­mies, and the sons of the stranger shall no more drink the wine for which thou hast laboured.

9 But they that gather it shall eat it, and praise the Lord; and they that bring it togeth­er, shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.

10 Go through, go through the gates; pre­pare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.

11 Behold the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold thy salvation comes: behold his reward is with him, and his work before him.

12 And they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord; and thou shalt be called Sought out, a city not forsaken.

CHAP. LXV.

17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remem­bered, nor come into mind.

18 But be ye glad, and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Je­rusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

19 And I will rejoice in [...]salem, and be joyful in my people; the [...] of weeping shall be no more heard in her; nor the voice of crying.

[Page 30]23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for nothing; for they are the seed which the Lord has blessed, and their offspring with them.

24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed togeth­er, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and, dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not destroy, nor hurt, in all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

This last verse is an allusion to the peace and great happiness that will be in the land of Israel when the Jews are restored.

CHAP. LXVI.

10 Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad all ye that love her, rejoice with joy all ye that have mourned for her.

11 [...] ye may suck and be satisfied from the [...] of her consolations; that ye may mil [...] [...] and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.

12 For thus says the Lord; Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream; then ye shall suck—ye shall be borne upon her sides, and dandled upon her knees.

13 As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

14 And when ye see this, your heart shall re­joice, and your [...] shall flourish like an herb; and the hand of the Lord shall be known to­ward his servants, but his indignation towards his enemies.

[Page 31]15 For, behold the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind; to ren­der his anger with fury, and his rebuke with a flame of [...]e.

16 For by his fire, and by his sword, will the Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord will be many.

20 And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the Lord out of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots; upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain, Jeru­salem, says the Lord; as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.

21 And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, says the Lord.

22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your feed and your name re­main.

23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, all people shall come to worship before me, says the Lord.

24 And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed a­gainst me; for their worm shall not die, nei­ther shall their fire be quenched, that they may be an abhorrence to all flesh.

The new heavens and the new earth, mean an entire regeneration of man through the pow­er and knowledge from the [...] of God. At present, all nations oppose [...] gospel of the kingdom of heaven in the two most essential commands for them to obey, which are, War and Swearing. Remember that form of prayer [...] [Page 32] called the Lord's prayer; which says, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. There is no war in heaven, neither is there any swearing: how is it then that the people of Europe, the most numerous professing Christianity, and cer­tainly the most enlightened with knowledge of any in the world, can seriously say to God, Thy will be done on earth, when they are instructed by their public laws and forms of worship to oppose it?

Although national laws are undesignedly made to oppose Christ, it is a duty incumbent on the people to take care that none of their prayers are: but that every supplication, and all their forms of worship are, as they should be, in strict obedience to his blessed Gospel of Peace.

THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, CHAP. XXIII.

3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries, whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.

4 And I will set shepherds over them, which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed; neither shall they be lacking, says the Lord.

5 Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will ra [...]e to David a righteous branch; and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judg [...] [...] justice in the earth.

6 In his [...] shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely [...]nd this is the name where­with he shall be called, The Lord's Righteous­ness, (but not the Lord our Righteousness)

[Page 33]7 Therefore, behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when they shall no more say, The Lord lives that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

8 But the Lord lives who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the North Country, and from all countries whither I have driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.

CHAP. XXXI.

1 At the same time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

2 Thus says the Lord, The people which were left from the sword, found grace in the wilderness, even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

3 The Lord has appeared to me of old, say­ing, Yes I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving kindness I have drawn thee.

4 Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O Virgin of Israel; thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shall go forth in the dances, like them that make merry.

5 Thou shalt yet plant vines on the moun­tains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and thou shalt eat them as common things.

6 For there shall be a day when the watch­men, on mount Ephraim, shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion to the Lord our God.

7 For thus says the Lord [...] [...]ith glad­ness for Jacob, and shout [...] the chief of the nations; publish, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.

[Page 34]8 Behold, I will bring them from the North country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth: the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travails with child to­gether: a great company shall return hither.

9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way, where they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first born.

10 Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it to the islands afar off; and say, he that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.

11 For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand that was stronger than he.

12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock, and of the herd; and their soul shall be as a watered-garden, and they shall not sorrow any more at all.

13 Then shall the Virgin rejoice in the dance, with young men and old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the Lord.

15 Thus [...] the Lord; A voice was heard in Rama [...], [...]ation and bitter weeping. Rachel, weeping for her children, refused to be comforted because they are not.

[Page 35]16 Thus says the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thy eyes from tears: for thy works shall be rewarded, says the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.

17 And there is hope in thy end, says the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.

21 Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thy heart toward the highway, even the way which thou went: turn again, O Vir­gin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.

22 How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter; For the Lord has crea­ted a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man. (It means Christ being born of the blessed Virgin.)

23 Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: as yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah, and in the cities thereof, when I bring again their captivity: the Lord bless thee, O Habitation of Justice, and Mountain of Holiness.

24 And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks.

25 For I will refresh the weary soul, and I will comfort every sorrowful soul.

31 Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel, and with the House of Judah.

32 Not according to the covenant I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says the Lord.

[Page 36]33. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, says the Lord, I will put my law in their in­ward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, say­ing, Know the Lord: for they all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

35 Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night; who divides the sea when the waves of it roar: the Lord of Hosts is his name.

36 If those ordinances depart from before me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me for ever.

37 Thus says the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, says the Lord.

38 Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananeel to the gate of the corner.

39 And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it on the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath.

40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook of Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate to­ward the East, shall be holy to the Lord: it [Page 37] shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more, for ever.

THE PROPHET EZEKIEL, CHAP. XVI.

59 For thus says the Lord God: I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which has despised the oath, by breaking the covenant.

60 Nevertheless I will remember my cove­nant with thee in the days of thy youth, but I will establish to thee an everlasting covenant.

61 Then thou shalt remember thy ways and be ashamed, when thou receive thy sisters, thy elder and thy your [...]r: and I will give them to thee for daughters; but not by thy former co­venant.

62 And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

63 That thou may remember and be con­founded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified to­ward thee for all that thou hast done, says the Lord God.

CHAP. XXXIV.

11 For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, will both search for my sheep, and find them out.

12 As a shepherd gathers his flock in the day that his sheep are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them from all pla­ces where they have been scattered, before the cloudy and dark day.

13 And I will bring them out from the peo­ple, and gather them from the [...], and [Page 38] will bring them to their own land, and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ri­vers, and make them inhabit the waste places of the country.

22 Therefore I will save my flock, and they shall be no more a prey; and I will judge be­tween cattle and cattle.

23 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David: he shall feed them, and he shall be their shep­herd.

92 And I the Lord (meaning Christ) will be their God, and my servant David (meaning his descendant) a Prince among them: I the Lord have spoken it.

CHAP. XXXVI.

6 Prophecy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, to the hills, to the rivers, and to the vallies, Thus says the Lord God; behold, I have spoken in my jea­lousy and fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen.

7 Therefore thus says the Lord God; I have lifted up my hand, surely the heathen that are about you shall bear their own shame.

8 But ye, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel: for they are at hand to come.

12 Yea, I will cause men to walk on you, e­ven my people Israel; and they shall possess thee; thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of men.

33 Thus says the Lord God; in the day that I clean you from all your iniquities, I will also [Page 39] cause you to dwell in the cities, and the waste places shall be built.

34 And the desolate land shall be tilled, which lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by:

35 And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, and desolate, and ruined cities are fenced, and are full of inhabitants.

36 Then the heathen that are left round a­bout you shall know, that I the Lord build the ruined places, and plant that which was deso­late: I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it.

37 Thus says the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them: I will increase them with men like a flock.

38 As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusa­lem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste ci­ties be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

CHAP. XXXVII.

20 And the sticks which thou write on shall be in thy hand before their eyes.

21 And say to them, Thus says the Lord God: behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land.

22 And I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel, and there shall be one king to them all: they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be di­vided into two kingdoms any more at all.

[Page 40]23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and clean them; so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.

24 And David my servant shall be king over them: and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes to do them.

25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell there­in, even they and their children, and their chil­dren's children forever; and my servant David (meaning his visible descendant) shall be their prince for ever.

The vision of Ezekiel, relative to Jerusalem, alludes to the grandeur and extent of it when rebuilt by the Jews, after their return, in the year of one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight: it will be the capital of the world, and from it will go once more, to all nations, the commands of the living God.

THE PROPHET HOSEA, CHAP. II.

18 And in that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the earth; and they shall lie down with safety.

19 And I will betroth thee to me forever; yea, I will betroth thee to me in righteous­ness, [Page 41] and in truth, in loving kindness, and in mercies.

20 I will even betroth thee to me with faithfulness; and thou s [...]lt know the Lord.

23 And I will sow her to me in the earth, and I will have mercy on her that had not ob­tained mercy; (meaning Jerusalem,) and I will say to them which were not my people, (meaning the Jews during their dispersion,) Ye are my people; and they shall say, Thou art our God.

CHAP. III.

4 For the children of Israel shall be many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, without an ephod, and without a teraphim.

5 Afterwards the children of Israel shall re­turn and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and they shall fear the Lord, and shall know his goodness in the latter days.

THE PROPHET JOEL, CHAP. III.

1 For behold, in those days, and in that time, when I bring again the captivity of Ju­dah to Jerusalem,

2 I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, to plead with them there for my people, for Israel my heritage, whom they have scattered among the nations, and for dividing my land.

9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: pre­pare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up.

[Page 42]10 Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your [...]eaping hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong.

11 Assemble yourselves and come, all ye heathen; gather yourselves together round a­bout; thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord.

12 Let the heathen be waked, to come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for it is there I will sit to judge all the heathen round about.

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

After the restoration of the Jews, the barba­rous nations will send great armies to invade their lands; God will permit them to advance, that he may destroy them with his fire from heaven.

15 The sun and moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

16. The Lord will roar out from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and the earth shall shake, but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

17 So ye shall know that I am the Lord God (directed to all nations) dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord, and water the valley of Shittim.

[Page 43]19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom a desolate wilderness, for their violence against the children of Judah, and for shedding their innocent blood in the land.

20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed; for the Lord dwells in Zion.

THE PROPHET AMOS. CHAP. IX.

8 Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom: and I will destroy it from the face of the earth; but I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the Lord.

9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel from among all nations, like corn sifted in a sieve, yet the least grain shall not fall upon the earth.

10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, the evil shall not over­take nor prevent us.

11 In that day, I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, (meaning the restoration of his descendant to the government of the children of Israel,) and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and build it as in the days of old.

12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen which are not called by my name, says the Lord, who does this.

13 Behold the days will come, says the Lord, that the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that sows the [Page 44] seed; the mountain shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with milk.

14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; they shall plant vine­yards, and drink the wine of them: they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

15 And I will plant them upon their own land; they shall no more be palled up out of their own land, which I have given them, says the Lord thy God.

THE PROPHET OBADIAH, CHAP. I.

8 Shall I not in that day, says the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and under­standing out of the mount of Esau.

9 And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed; to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.

10 For thy violence against thy brother Ja­cob, shame shall cover thee; and thou shalt be cut off for ever.

15 For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done to thee; thy reward shall return on thy own head.

16 For as ye have drunk on my holy moun­tain, (meaning the Turks,) so shall all the hea­then drink continually; yea, they shall drink and swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.

17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and on it shall be holiness: for the house of Jacob shall po [...]eys all their possessions.

18 And the [...]o [...]se of Jacob shall be a fire, [Page 45] and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble: they shall kindle in them, and devour them; there shall not be any re­maining of the house of Esau: for the Lord has spoken it.

19 And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plains, the Philistines: they shall possess their fields, and Ephraim the fields of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

20 And the captivity of the host of the chil­dren of Israel shall possess that of the Canaan­ites, even to Zerapath, and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.

21 And saviors shall come up on mount Zion, to judge the mount of Esau; and then the king­dom shall be the Lord's.

The Turke are descended from Esau, the bro­ther of Jacob; but their Emperor, and his family, are descended from Jonathan, the son of Saul, king of Israel. Told me by revelation.

THE PROPHET MICAH, CHAP. IV.

1 But in the last days in shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established on the top of the mountains; it shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow to it.

6 In that day, says the Lord, I will assemble her that has halted, and I will gather her that was driven out, and her that I have afflicted.

7 And I will make the remnant that halted, and her that was cast far off, a strong nation; [Page 46] and the Lord will reign over them in mount Zion, from henceforth, even for ever.

THE PROPHET NAHUM, CHAP. I.

15 Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, and perform thy vows; for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; they are entirely cut off.

The beginning of this verse means Christ, preaching the Gospel of peace; the latter part, when the Jews are established at Jerusalem, after their next restoration.

THE PROPHET ZEPHANIA, CHAP. III.

13 The remnant of Israel shall not commit iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Is­rael; be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.

15 The Lord has taken away thy judgments, he has cast out thy enemy; the King of Israel, even the Lord is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more.

16 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not; and to Zion, Let not thy hands be slack.

17 The Lord thy God in the midst of thee, is mighty; he will save, and rejoice over thee [Page 47] with joy; he will rest in his love, and rejoice over thee with singing.

18 I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assemblies who are of thee, to whom the reproach of thee was a burthen.

19 Behold at that time I will undo all which afflicts thee; and I will save her that is stop­ped, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and renown in every land where they have been put to shame.

20 At the time that I bring you again, even the time that I gather you; for I will get you a name, and make you to be praised among all the people of the earth, when I turn away your captivity from before your eyes, says the Lord.

THE PROPHET HAGGAI, CHAP. II.

20 And again the word of the Lord came to Haggai, in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,

21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and say, I will shake the heavens and the earth;

22 And I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen: I will overthrow their chariots, and those that ride in them; their horses and riders shall come down, every one by the sword of the other.

The time alluded to by the prophet, is that which is immediately before the restoration of the Jews, in the latter days of the world;— the present is it.

23 In that day, says the Lord of Hosts, I will [Page 48] take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, and will make thee a signet; for I have chosen thee, says the Lord of Hosts.

The meaning of this verse is, that when the former part of this prophecy is fulfilling, Ze­rubbabel will be revived in his descendant, who will be, like himself, the visible prince and gover­nor of the Jews; the time is nearly come for this man to be openly revealed, and to have, in all other respects, this very gracious and very wonderful promise from God fulfilled.

THE PROPHET ZECHARIAH. CHAP. VIII.

7 Thus says the Lord of Hosts, Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country:

8 And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.

CHAP. X.

6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to replace them; for I will have mercy on them, and they shall be as if I had not cast them off; for I am the Lord their God, and I will hear them.

7 And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their hearts shall rejoice as through wine; yea, their children shall see it and be glad, their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord.

8 And I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them, and they shall in­crease as they have increased.

[Page 49]9 And I will sow them among the people; and they shall remember me in far countries, and they shall live with their children, and turn again.

10 I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead, and Lebanon, and place shall not be found for them.

CHAP. XII.

1 The burthen of the word of the Lord for Israel: says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, and lays the foundations of the earth, that forms the spirit of man within him:

2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling to all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege, both against Judah and against Jerusalem.

3 And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burthensome stone for all people; all that bur­then themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

4 In that day says the Lord I will finite eve­ry horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open my eyes upon the house of Judah, and I will strike every horse of the people with blindness.

5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be our strength in the Lord of Posts, our God.

6 In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among wood, like a torch of fire in a sheaf; they shall devour all [Page 50] the people round about, on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again, even Jerusalem in her own place.

7 The Lord also will save the tents of Judah first, to preserve the distinction of the house of David, that the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not exalt themselves against Judah.

8 In that day the Lord will defend the inha­bitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble a­mong them, in that day, shall be as David;— and the house of David shall be as God; as the angel of the Lord before them.

This prophecy means the same time, and the same invasion of Judah by the heathen, as that mentioned by the prophet Joel, in the third chapter; which is explained already.

9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will destroy the people of all the nations, which are come against Jerusalem.

10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spir­it of grace and of supplications; and they shall look to me that was pierced, and shall mourn like him that mourns for his only son; and they shall be in bitterness, like him that is in bitter­ness for his first born.

11 In that day, there shall be great mourn­ing in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadri­mon, in the valley of [...]g [...]on.

12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart: the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of Nathan a­part, and their wives apart.

13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart [...] the family of Shemei apart, and their wives apart.

[Page 51]14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

When the heathen armies invade the land of Israel, it will be with a resolution to seize on every moveable thing, and destroy the people; the Jews, then acknowledging the Messiah as God, will believe, under an excess of grief, that he was crucified. Sensible of their perilous con­dition, and knowing that it is he only can save them, they will, every man and family, implore him for compassion and deliverance.

The Hebrews will be delivered, and the hea­then entirely destroyed.

THE PROPHET MALACHI, CHAP. IV.

5 Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet, be­fore the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord;

6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

The great prophet, alluded to in this chap­ter, is the same that will be revealed to the Jews, to order their return to Jerusalem before the expiration of one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight; he will possess the spirit of God, and the power of fire, equal to Elijah; he will make known the judgments of God, that all na­tions may be benefitted, and may endeavour to survive them, when they are commanded to be fulfilled.

The alterations I have made in copying some of the prophecies, is by the direction and com­mand of the Lord God.

REVELATION TO ST. JOHN, CHAP. XVIII.

1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power: and the earth was lightened with his glory.

2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, (meaning the thunder) saying, Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen, &c.

3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people that ye be [Page 53] not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues.

5 For her sins have reached up to heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

6 Reward her, even as she rewarded you, and double to her double, according to her works; in the cup which she has filled, fill to her double.

7 How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her; for she says in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning, and famine, and she shall be utterly burnt with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judges her.

VERSE X [...]II.

And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, (meaning the thun­der,) saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, and gather yourselves together to the supper of the great God.

18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them; and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

The dead will increase so fast, and be in such prodigious numbers, when this judgment takes place, that the living will not be sufficient to bury them, but will leave the bodies exposed to the fowls of heaven for meat.

The flashes of lightning, which issued during [Page 62] the thunder, proceeded from the glory of the angel proclaiming the judgment of God, and re­sembled in colour the clear day light.

The second thunder, that gave notice of God's approaching judgment, was on Wednesday eve­ning, the 7th of August 1793, as is mentioned in the seventh of the Revelation, and was the voice of the angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God.

VERSE II.

2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice (the thunder) to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea;

3 Saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

The flashes of lightning, which issued during the time of this thunder, proceeded likewise from the glory of the angel, and resembled in colour fine amber.

The next and last thunder, (if the judgment had not been suspended for my sake) would be on the 11th of August following, and would have been, according to the sixteenth chapter of Re­velation, the fourth angel pouring out his vial on the sun.

VERSE VIII.

And the fourth angel poured out his vial on the sun, and power was given him to scorch men with fire.

9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, who has pow­er [Page 63] over these plagues; and they repented not to give him glory.

The flashes of lightning, during this thunder, which would continue many hours, would like­wise proceed from the glory of the angel, and would be, in strength and colour, like the burn­ing flame.

This thunder would be accompanied by a vi­olent storm of large hail stones, which, with the lightning, would kill multitudes of people, and destroy the harvest in many countries.

Soon after this thunder, the short time of four days only, the judgment of God on the world would begin to be fulfilled. The winds would be suspended in the firmament, according to the seventh chapter, that breathing might almost cease; the great body of heat, that would im­mediately after be poured down from heaven on the earth, would be so fierce and powerful as to move the world, and kill every living thing, both man and beast, exposed under it in the open air.

The trees, bushes in the hedges, grass in the meadows, and what corn was left from the hail, would be cut off and destroyed by this great and mighty heat. Most of the ships would be destroyed at sea, and all the fish near the sur­face killed. Millions of the human race would die in all nations from this burning heat, and the many plagues it would produce.

The Nineteenth, Seventh, Sixteenth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth chapters, mean the same time, the same things; and are as one chapter to fulfil the judgment of God.

The 15th of August 1793, was the time ap­pointed by the Lord God to fulfil the parts of the Revelation I have mentioned, and punish [Page 64] the world with desolation; but from his great mercy and regard for me, that I may be esteem­ed in this country, and by all others, when I am revealed, suspended his judgment for a time— it hangs however over all nations.

Look at the age of the world; read atten­tively the chapters I have mentioned, with what I have wrote besides; and you will discover in your own breast a light, to see and believe by.

That light, I mean which is often called a cer­tain something, an internal monitor, that applauds man for courting wisdom, for being just, and doing good; but that never fails to reproach him for embracing folly, and doing evil: it is indeed no other than the Spirit of the living God.

All the prophecies given in visions from God, are concealed from the knowledge of man by mysterious allusions, until the proper time, and the appointed person for them to be reveal­ed to. For it is not in the cunning of any one man, even assisted by the wisdom of all the rest on earth, to search out the deep secrets of God, or with truth to unfold the meaning of his vi­sions: they are wonderful; they cannot be disco­vered until God himself pleases to remove the co­vering of secrecy; and, through an appointed person, blesses the world with a knowledge of their true meaning.

The fulfilling of the judgments of God, how­ever destructively they may prove to the govern­ments and nations which they are directed a­gainst, are not allowed to affect my personal safety, nor operate in the least to my prejudice: for the certainty of my elevation, to the greatest principality that ever will be, in the world, can­not [Page 65] be prevented by the rise or fall of any hu­man power on earth; because it is the repeated covenant of God to my forefathers, and his sa­cred promise now by Revelation to myself.

The obscurity of David was no objection, with a discerning God, to make him the mo­narch of Israel, and afterwards promise the succession to his family forever; neither is mine now to his fulfilling that promise, and holding me up to the world, as the visible governor of the Jews. For all the works of God are won­derful, and very far exceed the capacity of man to know where they begin, how they are direc­ted, on whom, or which way they will end:— I that have more knowledge of them, and of fu­turity, revealed to me, than any other under the whole heaven, observe the operation of ev­ery new one with more amazement than the former.

Therefore my present poverty is no obstacle to my future elevation, neither is it of much concern to myself; for the time of my being re­vealed, with power from heaven, is nigh; when God, to manifest his regard, will give me favor with many, and influence all the people of Lon­don to help me.

I am the prophet that will be revealed to the Jews, to order their departure from all nations, to go to the land of Israel, their own country, in a similar manner to Moses in Egypt, but with additional power.

I was an officer in the English navy, and ne­cessarily so, although I did not know it, that the judgment of God on David, king of Israel might be fulfilled, which was, that the sword should never depart from his house.

[Page 66]It is fifteen hundred years since my family was separated from the Jews, and lost all knowledge of its origin; the last on record, in the Scripture, is James: xiii. chap. 55 ver. of St. Matthew. Told me by revelation.

The government of the Jewish nation will, under the Lord God, be committed to me, that the everlasting covenant from him to David may be manifested in the visible Prince and Go­vernor of the Jews.

SECOND OF SAMUEL, CHAP. VII.

16 And thy house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee; thy throne shall be established for ever.

17 According to all these words, and accord­ing to all this vision, did Nathan speak to David.

JEREMIAH, CHAP. XXXIII.

17 For thus says the Lord: David shall ne­ver want a man to sit on the throne of the House of Israel.

19 And the word of the Lord came to Jere­miah, saying,

20 Thus says the Lord, If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season,

21 Then may also my covenant be broke with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites, the priests, my ministers.

22 As the host of heaven cannot be number­ed, neither the sand of the sea measured; so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister to me.

[Page 67]23 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying,

24 Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord has chosen, he has even cast them off. Thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.

25 Thus says the Lord, If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appoint­ed the ordinances of heaven and earth,

26 Then I will cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant; so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of A­braham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.

A knowledge of the Scripture, the prophecies I have mentioned, and all that I have wrote be­sides, have been communicated to me through visions and revelations from the Lord God: the prophet Daniel, and St. John the Apostle, were instructed, in the same manner, to write what they have.

It is by the saving of multitudes; by reveal­ing, not only a true interpretation of the pro­phecies, but also a knowledge of the times, and those secret parts of the Scripture which are not made known to any other man under heaven, that the Lord God begins with announcing to the world a knowledge of his mighty judg­ments, the return of his former mercy to the He­brews, their speedy restoration to Jerusalem, and the rise of a favorite family.

REVELATION TO ST. JOHN, CHAP. XVII. OF ROME.

1 AND there came one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying to me, Come hither, and I will shew thee the judgment of the great whore, (meaning Rome) that sits upon many waters, (meaning her government over many nations.)

2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, (meaning, they have been seduced to imitate her evil practices,) and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication, (mean­ing, they are likewise deluded to drink deep to a state of insensibility from her vain doctrines.)

A remarkable instance of this was very late­ly practised, and really fulfilled at Naples;— which, although governed by a king, is not­withstanding in the see of Rome, and about sixty miles distant. In consequence of a vio­lent irruption of fire out of mount Vesuvius, which is but a few miles from Naples, the simi­litude of a human head, called St. Janarius's, was carried in procession, lifted up, and held out, fully believing, that by honoring the saint, through even this small part of his image, he himself in heaven, would be influenced to inter­cede with God, to stop the great rivers of fire which issued from the burning mountain.

For a people, calling themselves Christians, which have had the Revelation so long to warn, and the blessed Gospel so long to instruct them, to embrace at this late hour of the world, such [Page 69] an act of superstition and delusion, is indeed as­tonishing. But it is a part of that great chain of errors, still continued, which the Roman go­vernment, at a former period, most wickedly bound its people in all nations, but clergy in particular with; and which is plainly foretold by St. Paul, in the fourth chapter of his First Epistle to Timothy, verse 1. Now the Spirit (which is the Holy Ghost) speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doc­trines of devils:

2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their consciences seared with a hot iron:

3 Forbidden to marry, &c.

The papal authority does not allow its cler­gy to marry, from a belief that a man, by liv­ing in a state of separation from a woman, is better qualified to fulfil the duties of a priest, more acceptable to God, than a man that is a husband and father. Such doctrine is an evi­dent proof to every discerning person, that there is a great departure, or falling away, from the true faith; to continue then in the practice, after it is explained and made public by Divine command, is preferring darkness to light, the doctrines of devils to the good words of God: it is giving a willing heed to the se­ducing spirits that St. Paul alludes to. Christ, the Savior of the world, who left his gospel of the kingdom of peace for the direction of all men, never made any such distinction; for some of his apostles were married, and some were not: and be, as God the Father, in the begin­ning of the creation, blessed Adam and Eve, saying to them, Be fruitful, and multiply and [Page 70] replenish the earth, &c. repeating the same after the flood, to Noah and his sons: he never or­dered, nor never intended, the cruel imposition of celibacy on his immediate servants, or any other description of men.

It is also an abomination to him, because in­consistent with the design of his creation, that any description of women, under the vain pre­tence of what is falsely called religion and pi­ety, of leading a more holy life, of serving God better, should be shut up forever in monasteries, inhumanly deprived of becoming wives and mothers.

I am commanded to say, it is grievous and sorrowful to the Lord God to see nations, which acknowledge him, and which have the whole Scripture to inform them of his will, paying a blind, an idolatrous obedience to human ordi­nances, supported by bad oaths, and sinful vows, in direct opposition to what he designs, and what in the beginning, the covenant of his blessing prescribes.

CHAP. XVII. CONTINUED.

3 So he carried me away in the Spirit [...] the Wilderness, (meaning into the country, as if far inland from the sea) where I saw a woman (meaning Rome) sit upon a scarlet colored beast, (meaning the Pope) full of names of blasphemy, (his t [...]es) having seven heads (alluding to the seven hi [...]s on wh [...] the city stands) and ten horns, (meaning the Cardinals.)

4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decided in gold and pre­cious stones, and pearls, having a golden [...]p [Page 71] in her hand full of abominations, and filthiness of her fornication.

5 And upon her forehead was a name writ­ten, Mystery—Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots (meaning that she as a mother stood exposed for corrupting with her evil doctrines many cities to the condition of harlots) and abominations of the earth.

6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the Saints, and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus; and when I saw her, I wondered, greatly astonished.

This Babylon the Great, this mother of har­lots, means Rome; but is spiritually called by those names as an allusion to her excess of guilt as a Babylon, and corruption of doctrine as a mother.

St. John mentions in the third verse, that he was carried away into the Wilderness to see Rome; meaning by the words into the Wilder­ness, that Rome the city he goes to look at is sit­uated inland: this description is given to make a distinction between it and London, the mari­time Babylon, full of ships, seamen, and com­merce, mentioned in the eighteenth chapter.

The scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, with seven heads and ten horns, means the Pope—in this chapter only, and not in any other part of the Revelation, is the Pope alluded to under any name—or under any signi­fication whatever: neither is Rome but in one part, which is in the sixteenth chapter and mid­dle of the nineteenth verse.

The Pope, in addition to his many names of blasphemy, likewise assumes the powers and prerogatives of God, calling himself▪ Instead of [Page 72] his blessed Savior, the Supreme Head of the Church: as such he pretends, for it is only pretention to deceive the ignorant, to be in­fallible, and to pardon the commission of sin in others: again, as if sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and commanded immediately from God to impart freely his mighty blessing and his mighty spirit to whom he pleases, he ordains as it is called, Bishops, laying hands on them, and saying at the same time, receive the Holy Ghost; he likewise claims the pre-eminence of holiness in his person, and obedience to Christ in his actions, above all the rest of mankind.

There is no man spiritual that is not sancti­fied by the Holy Ghost, and no man is sanctified that teaches by his doctrines—or recommends by his prayers opposition to Christ the Saviour, and disobedience to his Gospel of Peace; for it is through and by Christ the blessed spirit, is given that sanctifies, which every man that believes in him, and obeys his commands, may have— may partake of its blessing and sweets; some more, some less, in all things, and for all oc­casions, as the Lord himself judges proper; but it will be given to every man in such suffi­ciency as to make him abundant in knowledge, and teaching him clearly the ways of Salvation.

Man may give to man a title, but it is God only that can make man spiritual; it is he and none else that can give the Holy Ghost, the Di­vine Spirit of Truth; all other givers among mankind, who say, "by the imposition of our hands receive the Holy Ghost, whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven, and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained;" are but as [Page 73] so many false Christs—vain pretenders—blas­phemously endeavouring to imitate the true One.

For a man to attempt to do what the true Christ only can, is attempting an imposition, and justly constitutes a false Christ. For a man to kneel down to a man to receive the Holy Ghost and then going forth by the authority of this false Christ; teaching and preaching under the name of the true Christ, but in opposition to his commands; deluded by an opinion that he is Spiritual because his human maker imposed on him to believe so, when in reality he is not, constitutes a false Prophet.

Those are the kind of people that the Lord Jesus Christ alludes to in the 24th chapter of St. Matthew, and warns the world to beware of.

There are many that preach and write under the name of Christ, without being influenced by his Spirit, or commanded by his word: for which, observe all you that love him, that read this book, that he will not give his blessed Spi­rit, which is indeed the Holy Ghost, to any man exalted in pride and living under names of blasphemy; praying for the success and ag­grandizement of particular men in war, at the expence of ruin, and destruction to others.— And yet, the Pope, to impress the multitude round him with reverence and awe, is entitled Holiness, the Vicar of Christ, Successor to St. Peter, and is accounted infallible; all such names are an evident demonstration of pride and falsehood; and as such, he has neither ho­liness from Christ in his person, nor obedience to the Gospel of Truth in his actions.

[Page 74]It is for blasphemy, idolatry, deceit, teaching rebellion against Christ, and for being a shedder of blood by war, that the Pope is called in the Revelation from God, a scarlet colored beast; under that dreadful name, though knelt to as divine, and exalted to the height of Heaven by titles, he s [...]nks down into perdition; he is a fallen man, and is adjudged by that already testimony of St. John, to suffer the punishment of ever­lasting fire.

7 And the Angel said to me, wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her (meaning that governs her) which has the seven heads and ten horns.

8 The beast that thou saw, was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life, from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

War, oaths, violence, and bloodshed, in op­position to the commands of Christ in his gospel of the kingdom of peace, they belong to Satan and his government of darkness.

ST. MATTHEW, CHAP. IV.

8 Again the devil [...]akes him up to an exceed­ing high mountain, and shews him all the king­doms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 And says to him, all these things I will give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10 Then says Jesus to him, get thee hence, [Page 75] Satan: For it is written, thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and him only shall thou serve.

The Popes having rose to what they are, and established their power by the sword, is the reason that God mentions in this part of the revelation to St. John, the beast; or papal au­thority, to ascend from the bottomless pit: in the beginning they were great military princes, and governed with large armies; but latterly their power became weak, and their conse­quence small; yet notwithstanding, the vain titles, pageantry, and military parade, are still preserved and closely embraced by the present.

CHAP. XVII. CONTINUED.

9 And here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.

The woman means Rome; and the seven mountains or hills on which the city is built, are meant by St. John as the seven heads of the Pope.

10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he comes he must continue a short space.

These seven kings mean seven powerful mili­tary Popes: they are denominated kings be­cause they were warlike men, and in other re­spects governed with the sword like them.

11 And the beast, that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, is the same as the seven, and goes into perdition.

This means the last military Pope of Rome; for as the Popedom has rose by the sword, by the sword also it will fall; and the last Pope [Page 76] alluded to in this verse, as well as the first mili­tary one alluded to in the eighth verse; goes into perdition.

12 And the ten horns which thou saw, are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

13. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength to the beast.

These two verses mean the cardinals, who are compared to kings in name; but not in power: they are great, but not independent; they have a great name, but not independent sovereignty: they are called, like the German electors to the Emperor, as is mentioned in the seventh chapter of Daniel, the horns of the beast; because they assist the Pope with their counsel and authority.

14 These shall make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb shall conquer them; for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they that are with him, are called, and chosen, and faithful.

The pope and cardinals, by their teaching, practice, and government, are in a state of op­position to Christ; that is, they practise and encourage, to support their form of govern­ment, Swearing and War; the two principal things which Christ, above all others, prohibits in the most positive terms. It is for this oppo­sition to his commands in the Gospel, that they are represented as making war against him;— they are permitted, through the patient suffer­ing of God, to do so, until he can bear no longer with their rebellion; when, to fulfil this prophecy and his decreed judgment, they [Page 77] will be entirely cut off. Christ, as supreme head of the church, acknowledges no religion but what he has taught by his Gospel, which is Christianity; for there is no kind of church but one, and that is visible man: it consists of one person, as well as a whole congregation; of one just man in a room, as well as a million any where else; he came into the world to save sinners, and redeem them from the chains of eternal death: the blessed Gospel is the great bond of his promises, now put into the hands of all men that will receive it for their instruc­tion; for which, all that read or hear it, ought to remember their solemn covenant in baptism, and take care that on their part, the terms of his salvation are complied with. To do which, man must, to fulfil the design of his creation, endeavor to live long, and live happy; to do that, he must abolish War, and live in constant peace; he must likewise abolish swearing of every kind, because it leads to falsehood and perjury: and make the innocent words of Yes or No, the solemn bond of his public truth.

The men that are called preachers of Christi­anity, instead of assuming vain titles and lofty political names; instead of assisting in any way at councils of state, they ought to stand between princes and war, between men and strife, be­tween nations and bloodshed: they should be true teachers of the Gospel, and, like the im­mediate disciples of their blessed Savior, always the Ministers of Peace.

THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW, CHAP. V.

9 Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God.

CHAP. VI.

7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking;

8 Be not ye therefore like to them; for your Father knows what things ye have need of be­fore ye ask him.

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father, who art in heaven; hallowed be thy name;

10 Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, &c.

The kingdom of God, which is asked for every time this form of prayer is said, is to live in peace and righteousness: the government of God, in heaven, is peace: and his will is, that man on earth should have the same. It is prayed for every Sunday throughout Europe: and yet, to the blushing shame of man, in a minute after he forgets it, forsakes the kingdom of peace, and fervently prays to the same com­passionate God to go forth with fleets and armies.

ST. PAUL TO THE GALATIANS, CHAP. I.

2 Grace be to you, and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

3 But though we, or an angel from heaven, [Page 79] preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

To prevent the destruction of man by war and falsehood, Christ, who shed his blood for the redemption of man, prohibits, in the most plain, clear, and positive words, all kind of strife, that it should not increase to war; and all kind of swearing, that it should not multi­ply into falsehood. These two evils, enforced by law, and encouraged by religion, under the time of Christianity, and in contradiction to the blessed Gospel of truth, are the two principal fountains that deluge the world with sin, and deprive heaven of many.

ST. MATTHEW, CHAP. V.

19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

33 Again, ye have heard that it has been said by them of old time, (meaning the teachers formerly under the law,) Thou shalt not for­swear thyself, but shall perform to the Lord thy oath.

34 But I say to you, Swear not at all; nei­ther by heaven, for it is God's throne;

35 Nor by the earth, for it is his foot stool; neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.

36 Neither must thou swear by thy head, be­cause thou cannot make one hair of it white or black.

[Page 80]37 But let your communication be Yea, yea; and Nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these comes of evil.

38 Ye have heard that it has been said, (meaning under the law by Moses) an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

39 But I say to you, that ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

43 Ye have heard that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy:

44 But I say to you, love your enemies; bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.

45 That ye may be the children of your Fa­ther, which is in heaven.

ST. JAMES THE APOSTLE, CHAP. V.

2 But above all things, my brethren, Swear not; neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath; but let your Yea, be yea; and your Nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN, CHAP. XII.

43 He that rejects me, and receives not my words, as one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, (which is the Gospel) tho fame shall judge him in the last day.

ST. PAUL, SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS, CHAP. I.

7 And to you, who are troubled, rest with as; when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.

8 In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As circumcision to the Jews was the seal of their covenant with God, and promise of obe­dience to his law, so is baptism with Christians the seal of their covenant with Christ, and pro­mise of obedience to his commands.

When teachers, professing Christianity, have their maintenance and elevation in the world, dependent on great political warlike govern­ments, and want to do, from interested motives, what the blessed Gospel prohibits, to add plau­sibility to their delusive reasons, as in the legal and religious case of swearing oaths: they go back to the law of Moses for a precedent, to justify their apostacy and conduct. The law was for the Jews alone, under the appointed administration of the Levites and elders, in their own country; nevertheless, when stran­gers acknowledged God, and submitted to its rites, they were also allowed the freedom of its benefit; but when Christ came into the world, for the redemption of man, he abolished the law, which was temporary, and in its place gave the Gospel; which is everlasting. That is, he removed the form of worshipping God by sacrifice; the form of coming at the truth by [Page 82] swearing; and that of obtaining justice for injury, by reprisal and violence.

We all admire the Lord Jesus Christ for his humility and affection, the goodness and wisdom that breathes throughout his Gospel, and the sacrifice of himself for our salvation; yet the generality of the world, as if unmind­ful of this wonderful instance of Divine love, not only refuse what they promised in baptism to obey, but likewise seek, by opposition and war, to destroy his salvation and happy govern­ment of peace. What does a man require from his wife in marriage, but to love and be faith­ful to him only? Would he not be jealous, and very angry, if she obeyed any commands in opposition to his, and honored another with the endearing name of husband? By the same rule, all that are baptized, are, by covenant, comparatively married to Christ; for the name of Christian implies a belief in him, and an obe­dience to his words. Is it wise or just then, to obey a doctrine contrary to the commands of thy blessed Lord and acknowledged Savior? And is it not unkind in thee, O man, to honor thy equal with his sacred name?

As a man cannot, in justice, be considered as a servant, any longer than while he obeys the commands of his master, so neither can a man, in truth, be regarded as a Christian, any longer than while he obeys the commands of Christ.

Hear therefore, all nations, what the Lord God commands me to write, and be warned by it; that, as a master is compelled to withdraw his allowance of food, and discharge from his house a servant that will not obey him, so will he withdraw his loving kindness of peace, and [Page 83] in anger remove from the face of the earth, that man or family, city or nation, that will only acknowledge Christ in word, but in prac­tice refuse to obey his commands.

REVELATION XVII. CONTINUED.

15 And he says to me, the waters which thou saw, where the Whore sits, are people, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

16 And the ten horns (meaning the cardi­nals) which thou saw upon the beast, (meaning the Pope;) these shall hate the whore, (mean­ing Rome,) and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

The cardinals will disagree and quarrel;— then Rome will be convulsed by parties: and plundered alternately by each; (which means eating her flesh;) in doing this they will set the city on fire, and almost destroy it. In due time after this the latter part of the nineteenth verse, in the sixteenth chapter, will be fulfilled on Rome, spiritually Babylon, the capital of Italy; when, by a mighty earthquake, the city, with the ground it stands on, will be lifted up, shook violently to pieces, and utterly over­thrown.

17 For God has put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom to the [...]st, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

The cardinals will continue in subjection to the Pope, and agree in their measures of gov­ernment, assisting him also with their advice [Page 84] and power until the time already determined is expired, which is nearly so now; that done, the minds of the people will be changed, and another spirit will be given to them, to fulfil the judgment of God, according to this prophecy.

I was not permitted to join this addition to this Book, when first printed, which is the reason that it was passed over; but now I am commanded by the Lord my God, to print and join it to the former part, therefore I do.

DEUTERONOMY, CHAP. XVIII.

15 The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet, from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.

16 According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb, in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God; neither let me see this great fire any more that I die not.

The time of the world, alluded to by Moses, though not expressly mentioned in this chapter, when a prophet would be raised up, to order the restoration of the children of Israel in the latter days, (for he was fully informed of all the calamities that would befal them, afterwards their deliverance and return, to be dispersed no more, as the thirty-second chapter sufficiently testifies, is the present; and myself the man— the designed prophet, as leader of the Jews, to ful­fil [Page 165] a similar character, according to his own words, like unto me.

For Christ is the head of all prophecy; from him flows the Divine Spirit of truth: he is Lord and God; he is all that Isaiah says of him—the Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Moses was but a man, and to a man like him­self he alludes; as the Lord himself likewise declares in the three following verses.

17 And the Lord said to me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken;

18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken to my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

The Testimony given by ST. MATTHEW the Apostle, of who CHRIST was. CHAP. I.

22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord, by the prophet saying.

23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel; which, being interpreted, is God with us.

The Testimony of ST. JOHN the Apostle. CHAP. I.

1 In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.

[Page 166]2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and with­out him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shone in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 The same came for a witness, to bear wit­ness of the light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which lighteth every man that comes into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

11 He came to his own, and his own recei­ved him not; but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, &c.

The Testimony given by ST. PAUL, I. Timothy. CHAP. III.

16 And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory.

The meaning of this Chapter having been always misunderstood by expounders of the Scripture, I am commanded to insert and explain it for the benefit of all men. ACTS,—CHAP. VII.

29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he be­gat two sons.

30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him, in the wilderness of mount Sina, an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

31, 32 Saying I am the God of thy fa­thers, &c.

37 This is that Moses, which said to the children of Israel, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto me.

This is he (meaning Moses still, and not the prophet alluded to in the preceding verse; who was not Christ neither, as has always been erroneously supposed) that was in the church, (meaning the tabernacle) in the wilderness with the angel which spoke to him in mount Sinai.

39 To whom our fathers would not obey— (meaning Moses) but thrust him from them, (meaning Moses: often did he fast, and pray, that God might not destroy the congregation,) and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt.

Who was the conspicuous person that the an­gel constantly accompanied, manifested himself to, and talked with during forty years in the wilderness, according to the 38th verse, but [Page 168] Moses? Who did the angel speak to in mount Sinai from a flame of fire in a bush? St. Stephen meant no other here than Moses.

40 Saying to Aaron, make us Gods to go be­fore us; for, as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.

Expounders of the Scriptures have always supposed that St. Stephen, by repeating in this chapter the verses I have inserted from Deuter­onomy, meant Christ to be the prophet alluded to by Moses, which is, like himself, to collect and lead home the Jews; but he does not; he re­peats it as in historical account, to remind the council, before which he stood for judgment, that as their fathers had before rejected Moses in the wilderness, so did they their children re­ject Christ at Jerusalem. But in no one part does he, or St. Peter in the 3d chapter, mean that Christ is the prophet alluded to by Moses in the eighteenth chapter of Deuteronomy,— as the fortieth verse even sufficiently testifies.

REVELATION TO ST. JOHN, CHAP. XII.

St. John the Apostle in this chapter describes a woman as cloathed with the sun, the moon under her feet, (meaning darkness, or the Turk­ish empire in Asia,) and a crown of twelve stars on her head. The sun alluded to is not the sun in the firmament, neither is that sun the Lord Jesus Christ, as has been always errone­ously supposed. The woman is not the church, nor yet the Blessed Virgin, the mother of Christ, as has always been likewise erroneously suppo­sed; [Page 169] but that sun, means an entire man com­posed of flesh and blood like any other [...] and that woman, the princess of Israel. The prince is represented as a sun, because that through him God will enlighten the world with more know­ledge than ever it had yet, and give a fresh manifestation of his mercy to prolong its dura­tion. The woman, as his consort, is represented as clothed with him, and also as wearing a crown of twelve stars; because he, as her hus­band, is prince of the twelve tribes.

The child, who will govern all nations immedi­ately under and next to God, being caught up to God and to his throne, means no more than the child going up to Jerusalem, where the throne of God will be on earth. The woman's going into the wilderness, means going up to Jerusa­lem also: the words into the wilderness are mentioned because the city is situated far inland from the sea. The dragon means a European prince now alive, who will pour out proclama­tions and manifestoes after me, as a flood would issue from the mouth of a dragon: for Satan will be in him.

At the time God was explaining this chapter to me, be said, when I give you power to de­stroy that man from the face of the earth, you will melt into pity and spare his life; for which all my people will universally blame you, be­cause he is their enemy and oppressor. Those strange names are given, and those difficult al­lusions to be understood, are made by St. John on purpose to seal the true meaning of the pro­phecies and revelation an entire secret, according to the 5th chapter; until the full time is accom­plished, [Page 170] and the appointed person made known to publish them to the world.

The prophet Ezekiel in the visions of God to him, describes the great extent, and grandeur of Jerusalem at a future time; and likewise of its being governed by a human prince.

This is the very man, the appointed of God that is now abused, and publicly reproached in London— the capital of the spiritual Egypt, as is mentioned by St. John in the 11th chapter, with being a hypocrite, and a fanatic impostor.

Remember those things, O my God; and as thy thunder on the 7th of this month—August —was to shew thy full determination to throw down cities, and dash in pieces the council of evil men, if they committed any violence against me, for otherways I should now be lying in the common prison—So, O my God, execute; for they have no faith to believe thy just judgments, nor charity to be civil to thy messenger that declares thy great offers of mercy.

First published August the 10th, 1794.

SECOND OF SAMUEL, CHAP. XXII.

44 Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, (meaning the then chil­dren of Israel, over whom David was king.) Thou hast kept me to be head of the Heathen: a people which I know not shall serve me.

This promise to king David then, meant that it should be fulfilled to him in his descendent at a future time; a man, a human being, like any other that is composed of flesh and blood; but not the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God: who always was, and always will be, the head of the Heathen, and all nations. The promise was made from God to David, to be fully accom­plished in that man's descendant; which de­scendant, is myself; I shall, under God, rule all nations under the government of the Gospel to fulfil that covenant to David, and the promise of it by revelation to myself.

45 Strangers shall submit themselves to me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient to me.— (Meaning to be fulfilled in his descendent, as soon as they hear of his revelation.)

46 Strangers shall fade away, and they s [...]all be afraid to come out of their close places.

47 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock: and exalted be the God—the rock of my sal­vation.

48 It is God that avengeth me, and that brings down the people under me; and that brings me forth from my enemies.

49 Thou also be lifted me up on high, above them that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.

[Page 172]50. Therefore I will give thanks to thee, O Lord, among the Heathen, and I will sing praises to thy name.

Here, David, who was not himself among the Heathen, was praising God for his descend­ant that should have this promise fulfilled to him, and who should be among the Heathen.

51 He (meaning the Lord) is a Tower of Salvation for his king: (meaning the descendant of David as king, ruling over all nations under the covenant and constant direction of God,) and sheweth mercy to his Anointed, under David, and to his seed for evermore.

That Christ, the Saviour of the world, should be born of a Virgin, and that he should be cal­led the Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace, Isaiah the prophet sufficiently testifies: that Christ was so born, St. Matthew the Apostle witnesses in the first chapter of that part of the Gospel wrote by him. And Christ himself says in the 22d chapter, when speaking to the Pha­risees,—"What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They say to him, The son of David. He says to them, How then does David in Spirit call him Lord, saying, the Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, till I make thy enemies thy footstool? if David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word; neither durst any man, from that day forth, all him any more ques­tions."

The words are, "Unto David and to his seed for ever more."

It means, to continue in succession from father [Page 173] to son, from the one as a man, to the other as a man, while the world lasts.

The Blessed Virgin Mary, through whom Christ the Redeemer, who was God, came into the world, was descended from king David: it is for this that Christ, though he was the Everlasting Fa­ther and Creator of all things, is alluded to as the son of David.

Mary was first cousin to that Joseph, who was promised to be her husband when found with child by the Holy Ghost. St. Matthew, chapter 1st. Both Mary and Joseph were des­cended from one grandfather, who was Mat­than; she the daughter of one brother, and Joseph the son of the other. Told me by reve­lation from the Lord God.

ZACHARIAH, CHAP. VIII.

20 Thus says the Lord of Hosts. It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabi­tants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of Hosts; I will go also.

22 Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusa­lem, and to pray before the Lord.

23 Thus says the Lord of Hosts, In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that [...] Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you.

The time of the world, meant by the pro­phet, [Page 174] when this would be fulfilled, is at the re­storation of the Jews, in the latter days; and myself the conspicuous particular Jew, as lea­der of the Jews, alluded to. I shall be impor­tuned by many out of all nations, when reveal­ed, comparatively taking hold of my skirt, en­treating to go with me to Jerusalem; because God, the mighty power of his Spirit, and fire, will be with me.

In the same manner that the Lord God spoke to the prophet Samuel, and revealed a knowledge of his designs, in the same manner also he speaks to me, and reveals a knowledge of his will. FIRST OF SAMUEL, CHAP. III.

1 And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli; and the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision.

2 And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see, and ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep,

4 That the Lord called, Samuel; and he [Page 177] answered, Here am I. And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.

6 And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose, and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.

7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.

8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose, and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child.

9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, Go, lie down; and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 And the Lord came and stood, and called, as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Sam­uel answered, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. And the Lord said to Samuel; Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.

12 In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also ma [...]e an end.

1794. The 25th of the month called June, the Lord God said to me in a vision of the night, on my bed, In seven days more the judgment will be on this nation.

After this I was in a vision, and the Lord God brought close to me, that I might hear the report of a gun that was fired, and see a man privately shoot at another, to kill him: it was [Page 178] so near, that I saw the flash, and smelt the pow­der. Before the death of the king of Sweden I was shewn, in a vision, similar to this, that he would be delivered over from the protection of God, to be shot.

I know, because the Lord God has explained it to me by revelation, that this vision means, the man fired at to be the present king of En­gland. He will be shot, but not killed; he will be wounded, but not mortally.

He has not believed me at any time, although I fully informed him in 1792, and since, that it would be so: neither will he, until the very evil is visited on him: and visited on him, to increase his distress, at a time when he is sur­rounded with danger, and loaded with trouble; it most certainly will. Then the king of En­gland will be convinced by woeful and feeling proofs, but it will be very late;— comparative­ly, when Death knocks at the door, that he de­spised the offered mercy of God in 1792, and constantly since his best friend, among mankind, as false.

In the month called March, 1794, I was in a vision, and the Lord God shewed me a large and very tall oak tree it stood alone; it was en­tirely withered, and all its branches were cut off. While I was considering the tree, its lonely condition and nakedness, I heard a very loud voice call out of heaven, [...]ew down that tree. Immediately, the tree was covered with a thick cloud of darkness, and an angel descended from God, who struck the tree with so violent a blow that it fell to the ground, and in its fall it made a great noise.

1794. First of the month called July, the [Page 179] Lord God said to me, among other things, in [...] vision, early in the morning, for I had been ear­nestly praying to him the evening before to hasten my revelation to the Jews, and inform me how long it would be until it took place; because I was daily abused as an impostor, for publishing his commands, by wicked men; ev­ery one of them led on under the influence of an evil spirit—You must be at Constantinople, in your way to Jerusalem, by this time the next year.

The 2d of the same month, the Lord God said to me, in a vision on my bed, early in the morn­ing, in breaking bread you must not any longer say, to any person, Peace and friendship, but salvation only to the spiritual.

I know, by revelation, that Christopher Love, a clergyman, who was unjustly tried, condemn­ed, and put to death in London, in the year of 1651, had the divine Spirit of the living God, and prophecied from it. He testified of me at that time under different names, though all of them meant one and the same person; that of a Bright Star, as a Sound of Thunder in the Ears of the Wicked, a Lantern to the Jews, and a Great Man.

The Lord God commands me to give this testimony, and also to say, that he will soon send, in anger, the visitation of his judgment on Lon­don, and call her to a strict account for shedding not only the blood of this righteous man, but likewise all his other faithful witnesses.

I know likewise, by revelation from the Lord God, and am commanded to write it down that John Maximilian Da [...] was sanctified by the di­vine Spirit of Truth, and prophecied, under its [Page 180] sacred direction, in the year of 1709. He has also testified of me under different names.

The Lord God commands me to inform you, John Wright, that you are of the Hebrews, of the tribe of Levi, descended from Aaron the high priest, by Phinchas, Zadok, and Ezra; for which the covenant to your forefather, Phinchas, of an everlasting priesthood, is renewed, given to you, to be manifested in you.

NUMBERS, CHAP. XXV.

10 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying.

11 Phinchas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zea­lous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.

12 Wherefore say, Behold I give to him my covenant of peace:

13 And he shall have it, and his seed after him; even the covenant of an everlasting priest­hood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.

This is the recorded testimony which the Lord my God commands me to give; and to say to you likewise, You are sanctified by the Holy Ghost, the divine Spirit of Truth.

The Lord God commands me to say to all you, professing Christianity, whom I have, by his sa­cred direction, acknowledged to be of the He­brews, descended from Israel; for you, and your children after you, are some of his chosen peo­ple; not to take up, in obedience to any law or any human power whatever, warlike arms, to [Page 181] shed blood, or commit violence, in consequence of the approaching calamities which he will most surely bring on this Egyptian land.

Neither mind the people that blaspheme God, and revile you for believing in his testimonies: the wicked have always rose against the righte­ous, and this land, like Egypt of old, has many task-masters to abuse and oppress in it. There­fore comfort yourselves in the knowledge of the promises of God to his servants: For I declare, by his sacred command, that the visible Jews are but few in number, compared to the great multitude prosessing Christianity, but all de­scended from the former Jews in the land of Israel, the forefathers of the present visible ones; which were, at different times, led cap­tives into all nations: your lives are long, theirs but short; you are the holy seed, the people and saints of the Most High; to whom, and your children for ever, belongs the pos­session and government of his kingdom.

The Lord God, who was the Lord Jesus Christ, commands me now, and not until now, to insert the following testimonies, as a warning to all blasphemers, and as a reason to all men, that do not know, why he said to me, in the preceding part of this book. You may inform the king of England that I call you my nephew.

THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW, CHAP. XII.

46 While he (meaning Christ) yet talked to the people, behold his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.

CHAP. XIII.

36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house; and his disciples came to him, saying, Declare to us the parable of the tares of the field.

37 He answered, and said to them, He that soweth the good seed is the son of man.

38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be also in the end of this world.

41 The son of man shall send forth his an­gels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do ini­quity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like to a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and fever the wicked from among the just. And shall cast them down into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

51 Jesus says to them, Have ye understood all these things? They say to him, Yea Lord.

[Page 183]53 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.— And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue; insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence has this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?

55 Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brethren (mean­ing his brothers) James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?

56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then has this man all these things?— And they were offended at him. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honour save in his own country, and in his own house.

After the Lord Jesus Christ was born of the blessed Virgin Mary, she was married to Jo­seph; by whom she had sons and daughters;— they were supposed, as the unquestionable tes­timony of the Gospel demonstrates, to be his brothers and sisters.

St. Paul, the apostle, and likewise St. Mark, has left on record similar testimonies, which corroborate the preceding one.

Being, myself, descended from that James, the eldest son of Mary, by Joseph, whom St. Paul calls the Lord [...]s brother, is the reason that the Lord God, who was the Lord Jesus Christ, said to me, as an expression of fondness, and to manifest his regard, You may inform the king of England that I all you my nephew.

ST. PAUL, GALATIANS, CHAP. I.

19 But other of the apostles saw I none, save James, the Lord's brother.

ST. MARK, CHAP. VI.

2 And when the sabbath day was come, He (meaning Christ) began to teach in the syna­gogue; and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence has this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given to him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?

3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses, and of Juda and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

The Lord God commands me to say, for the information and warning of all men, That between this day the 25th of the present month called October, and the beginning of the month called June, 1795, without mention­ing to any person at what particular time in that interval, my revelation to the Jews, with a sign the same as Moses in Egypt—and to the people of London, will take place: to the for­mer, to receive the commands of God through me, and to collect all their property and depart [Page 185] in great haste from all nations to their own land: the ships of England, France, Spain, and all Europe, will be obedient to the com­mands of God to carry home their wealth, and all the people that chuse to go by sea: to the lat­ter, to convince them the destruction of London in 1791, according to the eighteenth chapter of the Revelation, would have been fulfilled, but for my entreaty. To fulfil the 4th chapter and the 5th verse of the prophet Malachi, which is, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. I, myself, am the appointed prophet to fulfil that chapter and character. Therefore I warn all people in all nations— that the terrible day of the Lord alluded to, is nigh; it is not the day of universal judgment, but the day which is to burn like an oven, and which is to consume the wicked from the face of the earth—like the stubble of the field.— Then, according to the prophet Daniel in the seventh chapter, the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, will be given for an everlasting possession to the people and saints of the Most High. Being to be revealed the same as Moses, but in the same Spirit and power as Elijah, when he destroyed the soldiers and priests of Ahab, I am to re-pronounce his judgments, to execute them on all false Christs and false pro­phets; and afterwards, to call down fire from heaven to consume the enemies of God.

The Lord God commands me to say to you, William Bryan, that you are of the Hebrews, and of the tribe of Judah; and that you, with [Page 186] John Wright, are appointed, and will be com­manded by him, to testify publicly to the world who I now am, and what my future designa­tion is.

The Lord God will influence and command numbers of his people, both men and women, to give the same public testimony. He will al­so give them, to fulfil the prophecy of Joel in the 2d chapter, in wonderful visions, dreams, and open signs in the heaven, a knowledge of the approaching times.

28 And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy; your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.

29 And also upon the servants and upon the hand-maids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit.

30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth; blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and ter­rible day of the Lord come.

32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoe­ver shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, And in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.

THE REVELATION TO ST. JOHN, CHAP. VI. Which relates to the present war—its progress— and consequences; and its destruction by the woeful but just judgment of an offended God.

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard as it were the sound of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.— And I saw, and behold a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow: and a crown was given to him; and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.— And there went out another horse that was red; and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given to him a great sword.

5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo, a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.— And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with him: and power was [Page 188] given to them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimo­ny which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying. How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth. And white robes were given to every one of them; and it was said to them, That they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

The fifth seal is now opened, and the secret pro­phecy contained under it is published for the infor­mation and benefit of all men.

The opening of the next seal, while it brings woe to the wicked, will manifest to the Jews the great power and name of their prince with God, as re­corded by Daniel, for their deliverance and resto­ration.

THE PROPHET DANIEL, CHAP. XII.

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trou­ble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

The time of the world alluded to, when the [Page 189] woeful calamities mentioned here will take place, is just now come: Myself, who will be the revealed prince of Israel, is the Michael and the great prince alluded to here by the angel speaking to Daniel: but not the Lord Jesus Christ visibly, who is God, and king over all; neither is it the angel that is mentioned under the name of Michael in the 10th chapter and 13th verse.

2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting con­tempt.

3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever.

4 But, thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

8 And I heard, but understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?

9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

At this time, which is the time alluded to by the angel informing Daniel, the earth will quake, and be rent in many places: the heaven will be convulsed, opening and shutting, and [Page 190] shewing many fearful signs;—there will be storms of wind, hail, and showers of rain, with violent thundering and lightning;—the very beasts of the field, birds of the air, and fishes of the sea, will be frightened: all the inhabi­tants of the earth will tremble for their lives, dreading that it is the hour of their dissolution, and day of universal judgment; so fierce and terrible will the great anger of God be mani­fested against a wicked world, professing Christ with their lips, but teaching rebellion against his blessed Gospel in their public laws and forms of prayer.

Swearing oaths; the Lord's supper, or taking the sacrament to remember him and commemo­rate the awful moment when he gave it to his disciples, is made a qualification, even to the most unthinking, abandoned, and wicked, to serve in any public office or employment whatever.

Of the public prayers. Our Father, which art in heaven; hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; which is the kingdom of peace; is very good: but the next form of prayer is beseeching God to go forth with fleets and ar­mies: this is very bad, because it is in direct opposition to the former; it encourages strife, hatred, war, and bloodshed; it is calling on God to keep back his kingdom, and to over­throw his own gospel of peace. The worship of christians ought to be pure, humble, and peaceable without any mixture of politics or [...]tional constraints from human law.

The bishops are called Lords Spiritual.—To [...]rdain a clergyman, he must kneel down before a bishop, while he says, "Receive the Holy [Page 191] Ghost for the office and work of a priest in the church of God, now committed unto thee by the imposition of our hands. Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained."

Likewise, at the consecration of a bishop, it is said, "Receive the Holy Ghost, for the office and work of a bishop in the church of God, now committed unto thee by the imposition of our hands; in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. And remember that thou stir up the grace of God, which is given thee by this imposition of our hands."

As there is in truth no Lord but God, no man ought to assume his sacred name. No man is Spiritual that has not the Holy Ghost, the divine Spirit of Truth; it is by Christ that it is given, and he will not give it to any that promotes the evil of war and disobedience to his gospel. A prince may give to a man a title, but it is God only that can make him Spiritual: he cannot give that mighty Spirit which he has not the power to command, and which he never recei­ved the gift of himself. To pursue then any longer such a false form of ordination and con­secration, is not only dishonorable to the king, parliament, and people of England, but also a reproach to the bishops to attempt to give, and to the clergy to kneel down to receive.

Turn from such deceitful unmanly ways, and endeavor to live long; for it is the word of God through a man that points at the crime, and warns you to forsake, what must, if you do not, lead to certain death: for believe me, the [Page 192] day of destruction to punish disobedience to the gospel is so very nigh, that it will take place before the commencement of eight months from this day.

Look at your wives, your children, and all that is dear to you on earth; then consider how great the blessing to have them, to live with, and possess them; but how terrible the evil to separate, to be burnt with fire—to die, and lose them for ever.

Remember, God created man in his own image and likeness, and created the earth for his use; that man might believe in him, and obey his commands.

He brought the children of Israel out of Egypt to conduct them to the promised land,— but when they disobeyed him in the wilderness, he destroyed thousands of them. He burnt So­dom and Gomorrah, because the people were wicked; but he saved Nineveh, which was also denounced, because the people repented.

The Lord God is great, merciful, and com­passionate to forgive all that do entreat and obey his commands; but be assured, he is also great, mighty, and powerful, jealous of his sa­cred name and honor when given to men: and he can do now what he did of old, they are re­corded for our example and warning, that is, overthrow cities,—and destroy multitudes in an instant.

Life, blessing, and peace, is the inheritance of the servants, the saints, and people of the Most High.

REVELATION, CHAP. VI. CONTINUED.

12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood: and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs when she is shaken by a mighty wind: and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

15 And the kings of the earth, and the great man, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondsman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains: and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be a­ble to stand?

SECOND BOOK OF ESDRAS, CHAP. II.

42 I. Esdras, saw upon the mount Zion a great multitude of people, whom I could not number, and they all praised the Lord with songs.

43 And in the midst of them there was a young man of a high stature, taller than all [Page 194] the rest, and upon every one of their heads he set crowns, and was more exalted; which I marvelled at greatly.

44 So I asked the angel, and said, Sir, what are these? He answered and said to me, These be they that have put off the mortal cloathing, and put on the immortal: (It means the Jews, who, when I am revealed, will acknowledge that the Lord Christ is the Lord God: then they will put off the mortal cloathing of unbe­lief and error, and put on the immortal cloath­ing of faith and righteousness,) and have con­fessed the name of God: now are they crowned, and receive palms.

46 Then said I to the angel, What young person is that which crowns them, and gives them palms in their hands. So he answered and said to me, It is the Son of God, whom they have confessed in the world. Then I began greatly to commend them that stood so st [...]ly for the name of the Lord.

THE PROPHET ISAIAH, CHAP. XLI.

25 I HAVE raised up one from the north, (meaning the revealed Prince of the Hebrews at this time,) and he shall come; (meaning to Je­rusalem, from that northern part of the world alluded to: England lies in the north, and it is indeed the country meant:) from the rising of the sun he shall call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon mortar, and as the potter treads clay.

Isaiah stood at Jerusalem when this prophecy was given, writing and recording it by the di­rection of God, he looked to the northern p [...]t of the world, where this distinguished person, which he so clearly mentions, is first to rise, and then come to Jerusalem, calling on the name of the Lord, from the rising to the setting of the sun; as zealous for an obedience to the Gospel, [Page 199] as David, his father, was for the law: travel­ling in the mighty strength of the Spirit, and armed with the divine power of fire, like Eli­jah, ^* he will subject nations, remove thrones, and burn all rebel princes.

26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know; and before the time, (meaning before the prophecy is fulfilled; it being 2461 years from its declaration then to its accomplishment, now this present year of 1795,) that we may say, He is righteous! yea there is none that sheweth; yea, there is none that declareth; yea, there is none that heareth your words.

The king of England, and the members of his government, the parliament, bishops, judges, and all the ambassadors from foreign nations, in London, have received the information of their fall and destruction; but they all refuse to be­lieve, and by so doing fulfil exactly what the prophet means, when he says, Yea, there is none that heareth your words.

27 The first shall say to Zion, Behold, be­hold them; (meaning the Jews crouding home to Jerusalem in great multitudes,) and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good ti­dings. (It means the revealed prince, return­ing home with the people to rebuild the deso­late city, and make her rejoice.)

28 For I behold, and there was no man;— even among them there was no counsellor that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.

Here the Holy Ghost, the spirit of God, [Page 200] spoke by Isaiah, as if speaking by myself [...] for I have sent books of the judg­ments of God to the king of England, and the members of his government, his parliament, his bishops, his judges, and all the foreign am­bassadors in London, for their respective coun­tries: but to accomplish what is so faithfully re­corded by the prophet, where he speaks spiri­tually as myself—Even among them there was no counsellor that, when I sent to them, could answer a word.

29 Behold, they are all vanity: their works are nothing; their molten images are wind and confusion.

Other Parts of the Revelation to St. John which are to be fulfilled, and which the Lord God commands me now to publish. CHAP. XIII.

1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns; and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of Blas­phemy.

This beast means the English Monarchy; and it is by ships and commerce that it has rose from the sea to such astonishing grandeur and magnitude. The heads, horns, and crowns, allude to the many departments of Government, and their splendid distinctions. The Blasphemy means the titles given to, and assumed by the King of England; such as, Our Most Gracious [Page 201] Sovereign Lord, Sacred Person, Majesty, De­fender of the Faith, and Supreme Head of the Church; all which names belong to God, he only can be what they express, and when they are applied to any other, the sin is Blasphemy in his sight.

2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power and his seat, and great authority.

The English Monarchy, for being Supreme Head of the Church, and over the many reli­gious sects tolerated in the country, is the reason that it is, for their great number, com­pared to a leopard full of spots.

As a bear is very strong on his feet, so is the English Monarchy: and as a lion roars with his mouth the loudest of any beast, so does the English Monarchy proclaim its greatness more than any other.

3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

The beginning of this verse means the death of Charles the First King of England: and the deadly wound being healed, means the recovery of Monarchy by the restoration of Charles the Second. During the interval of time between the death and succession, all the world won­dered if the English Monarchy would ever be restored again.

9 If any man have an ear let him hear. He that leads into captivity, shall go into captivity: be that kills with the sword must be killed with [Page 202] the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

The leading into captivity means imprison­ment and slavery: and killing with the sword, means violence and war. The patience of the saints is, to bear quietly with those evils, and to resist the temptations of wealth to do them: All that have faith in God will not do such things, from a belief that they are offensive, because he commands them not.

11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

This verse means the Elector of Hanover.— Coming up out of the earth, is to signify that his country or government is situated inland. The horns of a lamb, and the voice of a dragon, mean, that although he is weak in power like a lamb, yet by his voice he can threaten in great and mighty words like a dragon.

12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, &c.

It means the Elector of Hanover's succession to the crown, place, and power of the former King of England. To fulfil this part of the prophecy given by Revelation to St. John, the utter expulsion of the Stuart family must against all human opposition have taken place to admit the Elector of Hanover.

A great part of this chapter is taken up in describing the king and parliament. I am com­manded to inform both of the recorded judg­ments of God,—the dangers which threaten them, and their certainty of taking place, un­less they implore him for mercy, and obtain it.

They have individually promised, by their [Page 203] godfathers and godmothers, in the sacred cove­nant of baptism, and acknowledge a confirma­tion of it by receiving the sacrament, (for both were instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ,) to believe in him and obey his commands; yet, notwithstanding this heaviest of all obligations which a human being can enter into, (for it is with his God,) and on the performance of which his salvation depends, the laws they make, a part of the Thirty-nine Articles, and some of the forms of prayer, used in public worship, goes more to break the covenant of baptism, to dishonor God, and oppose an obedience to his blessed Gospel, than was ever authorised in any other nation.

Without submitting to the forms of law pre­scribed by act of parliament, which are in direct opposition to the commands of Christ, and very sinful to do, no man can hold any place of profit or trust, enjoy the privilege of freedom, and comparatively to buy or sell.

17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him that has un­derstanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.

This verse means the English parliament;— and although it exceeds the number mentioned here, yet, notwithstanding, it is the real and very assembly of men alluded to in the Reve­lation, by the number of 666.

Because the Parliament acknowledge and ad­dress the king by the divine names which belong only to God; such as, Our Most Gracious Sov­ereign [Page 204] Lord, Sire, Majesty, and honor him with equal humility in supplication, when they re­quire any thing, as if he really was the Lord of heaven and earth; such as, Humbly praying that your Majesty would be most graciously pleased, &c. Therefore God, in his great an­ger, being jealous of his name and honor, calls the king a beast, and the parliament his image and number.

CHAP. XIV.

1 And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having his father's name written in their foreheads.

The lamb, mentioned here, means myself, as Prince of the Hebrews; and mount Sion, Jeru­salem: The hundred and forty-four thousand with me, having the name of my father wrote in their foreheads, mean not only the visible Jews of the twelve tribes, but likewise the in­visible:—it comprehends all of Hebrew extrac­tion that will believe in the testimony of God by me.

6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel, to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people; saying, with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judg­ment is come: and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the foun­tains of waters.

8 And there followed another angel, saving, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; that great city! [Page 205] because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

9 And the third angel followed them, saying, with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast, and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name.

12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the saith of Jesus.

CHAP. XVI.

1 And I heard a great voice out of the tem­ple, saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore on the men which had the mark of the beast, and on them which worshipped his image. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, and it became as the blood of a dead man; and every living soul died in the sea.

4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of [Page 206] the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and was, and shalt be; because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues for pain; and blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains and their sores, and re­pented not of their deeds.

CHAP. XXI.

6 And he said to me. It is done, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end: I will give to him that is a-thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

8 But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone; which is the second death.

The Lord God commands me to say to you, George the Third, king of England, that im­mediately on my being revealed, in London, to the Hebrews as their Prince, and to all nations as their Governor, your crown must be deliver­ed up to me, that all your power and authority may instantly cease. On my being revealed, the invisible power of the angels of God, which guards me now, will then become visible as a flame of fire; the very same that accompanied Moses and the children of Israel out of Egypt. [Page 207] I must not acknowledge any superior but the Lord Christ, who is the Lord God: and as a man raised up, like David, by him to be a Prince, he commands me to allow no equal, but instant­ly to burn out of his kingdom the rebellious and disobedient. Read the xli. chap. and verse 25, of Isaiah.

Be advised by this, for evil is going to be let loose; when it is, the king of England will no more believe the signs of God by me th [...]n the king of Egypt would by Moses; therefore, de­sire your servants to deliver directly to you all letters and messages from me; for, it is for your contempt to me that your country is ordered to be invaded, and your power to be destroyed. The tall oak, with all its branches cut off, men­tioned in one of the visions of God, in the pre­ceding part of this book, means yourself and family.

The Lord God commands me to say to you, Nathaniel Brassey Halhed, that as you are re­viled and considered, by your former acquain­tances, as ruined and lost, for speaking the truth as he manifested it to you, for publishing your testimony of me, his servant, you shall, by the expiration of three months, from this day, have your choice of being either Governor General of India, or President of the Board of Control in England; that all men may be convinced, that he that rules in heaven is able to exalt or to a­base; that he is still able, even at this late hour of a wicked w [...]d, to reward the obedient to his blessed Spirit, and give the most eminent places on earth to whomsoever he pleases.

The Lord God commands me to inform all men, as a prevention, in future, to their asking [Page 208] unnecessary questions, that all that is proper and allowable for me to relate from him, is published in this book.

[Page 209]The king, and duke of Portland, as secretary of state, were wrote to at the same time.

REVELATION, CHP. XI.

15 And the seventh angel founded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The king­doms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.