It shall be done unto antichrist as he hath done to the church of
God. As he hath made women childless, so shall he be made childless;
as he has made Zion sit upon the ground, so now must this wicked one
come down to sit in the dust; yea, as he has made many churches
desolations, so now shall he lie also made a desolation. Wherefore,
whoso will find his body, must look for it in the side of the pit's
mouth; and whoso will find his friends and companions, must look for
them there likewise.
Now then Babylon is gone down, when all these things shall be
fulfilled. And what remains now but to talk of her as folk use to do
of them that are dead; for the day will come, that the church of God
shall have no more of antichrist, Babylon, or the mother of harlots,
than only the remembrance of her; that there was such an enemy of
God in the world; that there was such a superstitious, idolatrous,
bloody people in the world. Wherefore, the people, that shall be
born, that shall live to serve God in these happy days, shall see
antichrist only in its ruins; they shall, like the sparrows, the
little robins, and the wren, sit and sing, and chirp one to another,
while their eyes behold this dead hawk. Here, shall they say, did
once the lion dwell; and there once a dragon inhabited: here did
they live that were the murderers of the saints; and there another
that did use to set his throat against the heavens: but now in the
places where these ravenous creatures lay, grows grass, with reeds
and rushes; now their habitation is cursed; nettles grow, and so do
thorns and brambles, where their palaces were wont to be.
A day is coming when antichrist shall be unknown; not seen nor felt
by the church of God. There are men to be born who shall not know
antichrist, but as they read in the word that such a thing has been.
These shall talk of her as Israel's children's children were to talk
of Pharaoh--of his cruelty, of his tasks, of his pride, of the Red
sea, and how he was drowned there. They shall talk of them as of
those that have been long dead; as of those who, for their horrible
wickedness, are laid in the pit's mouth. This will be some of that
sweet chat that the saints shall at their spare hours have, in time
to come.
There will he a strange alteration when antichrist is dead; and that
both in the church and in the world. The church and the members of
it then shall wear the name of their God in their foreheads; that
is, they shall be bold in the profession of their King and God, yea,
it shall be their glory to be godly, and carnal men shall praise
them for it; the praise of the whole earth shall the church of God
be in those days. Now the world shall return and discern, between
the righteous and the wicked; yea, they shall cleave to and
countenance the people of God, being persuaded, as Laban was of
Jacob, that the Lord will bless them for his people's sake.
Now will he broken up those prophecies and promises that to this day
lie as under lock and key, and that cannot be opened until they be
fulfilled. Now the church of God shall read with great plainness the
depths of providence, and the turnings and windings of all God's
dark and intricate dispensations, through which she hath waded in
the cloudy and dark day: now, I say, they shall see there was a
harmony in them, and that, if one of them had been wanting, the work
and way of her deliverance could not have been so full of the wisdom
and justice and goodness of God. Wherefore now will that song be
sung with clearer notes than ever: "Great and marvellous are thy
works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of
saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for
thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before
thee; for thy judgments are made manifest;"