THE SPIRIT OF GOD is now performing great wonders in all nations, in
order to bring about the great work of reformation; and that it is the
opinion of many good Christians, that the call of the Jews will be in
this age, and that too very suddenly; and that it is very probable, from
a numerous train of deductions, that in this very year, 1750, we may
expect some more than ordinary appearances and motions in most parts of
the world, especially in the Northern and Eastern parts thereof, tending
to the overthrow and destruction of Antichrist. “Tidings out of the East
and out of the North shall trouble him, (says Daniel, chap, xi.) yet he
shall come to his end, and none shall help him.”
That the time of the Jews’ restoration and commencement of the Millennium
is near at hand, is certain; whether so near as the time above mentioned,
is as yet uncertain. But this uncertainty arises from the many
historical, and chronological difficulties to be found among historians;
some authors making the time of the same event sooner, others later.
Archbishop Usher, and other chronologers since his time, place the birth
of CHRIST just four thousand years from the creation.—Scaliger, Petavius,
and some others, not so much; but the Septuagint and Josephus much more;
the like difference in accounts is to be found amongst them in many other
historical facts.
There is a tradition among the Jews, that the world shall continue six
thousand years; (viz.) two thousand years void, two thousand years under
the law, and two thousand years under the MESSIAS; and at the end of this
six thousand years will commence the Millennium, or one thousand years of
rest for the people of GOD, and particularly for his chosen people the
Jews.—Lactantius says wherefore,—because all the works of God were
completed in six days, it is necessary that the world continue in this
state six thousand years; which six thousand years, Cyprian says, are
already almost complete since the devil attacked mankind. Mr. Whiston
observes, that this notion of a Millennium is universal; and it is
derived from the earliest tradition, both among the old heathen
Philosophers, the ancient Jews, the Apostles, and the primitive Fathers
of the Church, and is an undeniable and most important portion of Divine
Revelation. In his Sacred History, lately published, Vol. II. p. 343, he
says, that by the exactest chronology, the first six thousand years from
the creation end about A.D. 1766; that is for certain supposed the
beginning of the Millennium, when the Jews will be restored to their own
country, and rebuild their temple, upon the sounding of the Seventh
Trumpet.
A trumpet is the symbol of war; and in the Revelations we find that all
the seven trumpets were to be attended with woes and lamentations; six of
which are already past; and the seventh, which is yet to come, denounceth
the third and last woe. Under it, the seven vials of GOD’S wrath are to
be poured out, both upon the Eastern and Western Antichrist; that is, the
Turk and Pope. It is said, Revelations, chap. viii. verse 13, “Woe to
the inhabitants of the earth, by reason of the trumpets that are yet to
sound;” and chap. xv. verse 8, it is said, “No man was able to enter into
the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled;”
which intimateth that the holy city and temple cannot be prepared to
receive the righteous part of mankind, till the power of the Turk and
Pope are both destroyed, or that the seven vials are poured out.
A famous French author, in his account of the non-effusion of the seven
vials, says, the first vial poured on the earth, intends the loss of
church revenues, and so falls upon the worldly interest of Antichristian
men; the second vial, poured upon the sea, which he says is the Papal
kingdom in its greatest extent, which will become as the blood of a dead
_man_; so that every soul which liveth in it shall die; for as fish
cannot live in water turned into blood, neither can mankind any longer
endure the yoke of Popish Priests and Governors; the third vial, which is
poured on the rivers, denotes the destruction of Popish doctrines. The
fourth vial, which is poured forth on the sun, threateneth the Ottoman
empire and religion. The fourth _trumpet_ raised that empire, and the
fourth _vial_ shall destroy it. The fifth vial is poured out on the seat
of the Beast, or the city of Rome, which predicts her destruction. The
angel represents the Pope’s kingdom as full of darkness, and his subjects
gnawing their tongues through despair. The sixth vial is poured on the
great river Euphrates; that is, on the great river of the Turks and their
religion; after which there will be nothing to hinder the princes and
people of the East, who shall be enlightened or converted, or the Jews,
who are there dispersed in great numbers, from marching into the West, to
help on the destruction of the Beast. The seventh and last vial is
poured into the air, and denotes the clearing of all places from the fog
and superstition, and Antichristianism, after which will be manifest the
mystery of God in reuniting all nations, and the kingdoms of this world
will become the kingdom of righteousness.
I have already observed that the precise time when all these mighty
revolutions will happen is doubtful; however, there is no doubt but we
are arrived near to the time of their manifestation, and when the scene
of affairs, both in Asia and Europe, will be very much changed: of this
we are assured from computation of Scripture Prophecy, and the concurrent
testimonies of the Sybils and other heathen oracles, the signs whereby
you may know when will be the end of all these things that shall happen
on the earth; (viz.) when (the likeness of) swords shall be seen in the
heavens towards sun-rising or sun-setting; and the prophet Joel says
(chap. ii. verse 30,) “The LORD will shew wonders in the heavens, blood,
and fire, and pillars of smoke.” Every body knows that upon the first
appearance of the Northern Lights, {7} they were by all sorts of people
compared to swords, lances, and other military weapons, or else to blood,
fire, and pillars of smoke, in the very expressions of the prophet Joel;
and indeed they do greatly resemble all these things; and in fact are
fires and pillars of smoke, or vapour, which do frequently in their
colour represent blood, and by their form and motion, swords, lances, and
other military ensigns; but these appearances, (as also Comets) you will
say, may be accounted for, from natural causes—Allowed, they may so; yet
as their appearances are so universal, and uncommon (except of late
years) and are exactly such as we see were to happen some short time
before the commencement of these extraordinary revolutions, preparatory
to the Millennium, we may and ought to look upon them as ominous, and
sent in a peculiar and wonderful manner, to presage the approach of those
wonderful and tremendous times. Let us then not be ignorant of the signs
of the times, but look suddenly for that great and fearful earthquake
mentioned in the Revelations; for it will come, and cannot be far off;
but I fear it is with us as with the Jews when our Saviour came into the
world, or with the Christians when Antichrist stept upon the stage.
Christ was both come and gone before the Jews knew that he was the
Messias; and Antichrist was grown old in the world before the world took
any notice of him; so it may be, that Antichrist is going apace to
perdition, before the people of God begin to discern it.
There seems to be such a concurrence of causes and predictions centring
in this time, that it looks very much like the approach of those days
before spoken of, out of divine writ. To those before mentioned, I will
add part of a prophecy, as it is given us by the author of the Turkish
Spy, who says that he met with a person at Astracan, called the
Travelling Jew, who positively asserted in the open streets, that after
the year 1700, the Turks shall overflow Christendom like a mighty
torrent, when there will be a great desolation in Hungary, Germany,
France, and other regions in the West; but above all others, Italy will
be made a perfect wilderness; that England shall become the refuge of all
that escape the calamities overwhelming the adjacent countries; and there
(he says) they will be shewn a new pattern of the Law of JESUS, or rather
the old and true one, freed from the corruptions and errors which have
been superinduced for many ages, when the Jews will be convinced of their
infidelity, and chase away darkness and superstition from the earth. In
those days (says this Jew) foreign princes shall send their ambassadors
to the king of Great Britain for holy and pious teachers to instruct
them. Mighty armies shall be raised in the North, which shall be joined
by a prodigious army, collected in other parts of Christendom, which
shall drive out the Turks, recover from them the Holy Land, and
gloriously rebuild the city of Jerusalem, and make a worthy and excellent
Englishman Patriarch of the same. Then shall the eyes of us Jews (says
he) be opened; and we shall all acknowledge JESUS to be the true MESSIAS.
MOORE in his observations says, that these times look something like a
preparation for the destruction of Antichrist. We know his destiny is
near at hand; and it is with good reason expected, that great advances
will be made towards that good work this very year (viz.) 1750.
The Turks have a traditionary prophecy among them which says that they
are at last to be destroyed by a Northern nation, which have a white and
yellow hair.
The pious Archbishop Usher was of opinion, that the last persecution
would fall upon all the Protestant churches in Europe, but with this
difference: in the former, the most eminent Ministers and Christians did
generally suffer; but in this last persecution, these shall be preserved
by God; which shall immediately follow as soon as the storm is over,
which shall take away the hypocrites and formal professors of
Christianity.