they shall hear, but not understand, nor lay the word to heart, to practise it in their lives, and walk by it. O England! thou shalt wax old in wickedness; and thy sins abound like those of Sodom; thy voluptuousness shall cry aloud for vengeance; and the Lord shall ⟨p. 5⟩threaten and chastise thee; *yet in mercy and love will he look upon those who fear him, and call upon his name; he will spare and save them alive in the day of his anger, when the wicked shall be sifted from amongst you, as the chaff is sifted from amongst the wheat. Out of thee, O England! shall a bright Star arise, †whose light and voice shall make the heathen to quake, and bow with submission to the Gospel of Jesus. He shall be as a sound of thunder in the ears of the wicked, and as a lantern to the Jews. to lead them to the knowledge of Jesus, the only Son of God, and the true Messiah, whom they so long mistrusted; for the short work spoken of by the Apostle, which the Lord is to make upon the earth, in the latter age of the world, cannot be far off. Observe, my dear friends, while you live, my calculation of the dates in the book of the Revelations, and in Daniel, which the Spirit of the Lord led me into; for the Lord will ⟨p. 6⟩reveal it to some of his own, ere that time come; for the nearer the time is, the seals shall be taken away, and more and more shall be revealed to God's People; for the Lord doth nothing without he reveal it, by his Spirit, to his Servants the Prophets. He destroyed not the old world without the knowledge of Noah.—He did not overthrow Sodom and Gomorrah without the knowledge of Abraham. I do not mean now, that any new Prophet shall arise: But the Lord by his Spirit shall cause knowledge to abound among his people, whereby the old prophecies shall be clearly and perfectly understood. And I die in that thought, and really believe that my calculation will be found true, on the Revelation by St. John, and the prophecy which St. Jerome copied off, and translated out of the Hebrew Language, as it is written on Seth's Pillar in Damascus; which pillar is said to have stood since and before the flood, and was built by Seth, Adam's son, and written by Enoch the Prophet; as likewise the holy precepts, whereby the Patriarchs walked, before the law was given to Moses, which were also engraven on the said Pillar;
they shall hear, but not understand, nor lay the word to heart, to practise it in their lives, and walk by it. O England! thou shalt wax old in wickedness; and thy sins abound like those of Sodom; thy voluptuousness shall cry aloud for vengeance; and the Lord shall ⟨p. 5⟩threaten and chastife thee; *yet in mercy and love will he look upon those who fear him, and call upon his name; he will spare and save them alive in the day of his anger, when the wicked shall be sifted from amongst you, as the chaff is sifted from amongst the wheat. Out of thee, O England! shall a bright Star arise, †whose light and voice shall make the heathen to quake, and bow with submission to the Gospel of Jesus. He shall be as a sound of thunder in the ears of the wicked, and as a lantern to the Jews. to lead them to the knowledge of Jesus, the only Son of God, and the true Messiah, whom they so long mistrusted; for the short work spoken of by the Apostle, which the Lord is to make upon the earth, in the latter age of the world, cannot be far off. Observe, my dear friends, while you live, my calculation of the dates in the book of the Revelations, and in Daniel, which the Spirit of the Lord led me into; for the Lord will ⟨p. 6⟩reveal it to some of his own, e'er that time come; for the nearer the time is, the seals shall be taken away, and more and more shall be revealed to God's People; for the Lord doth nothing without he reveal it, by his Spirit, to his Servants the Prophets. He destroyed not the old world without the knowledge of Noah.—He did not overthrow Sodom and Gomorrah without the knowledge of Abraham. I do not mean now, that any new Prophet shall arise: But the Lord by his Spirit shall canse knowledge to abound among his people, whereby the old prophecies shall be clearly and perfectly understood. And I die in that thought, and really believe that my calculation will be found true, on the Revelation by St. John, and the prophecy which St. Jerome copied off, and translated out of the Hebrew Language, as it is written on Seth's Pillar in Damascus; which pillar is said to have stood since and before the flood, and was built by Seth, Adam's son, and written by Enoch the Prophet; as likewise the holy precepts, whereby the Patriarchs walked, before the law was given to Moses, which were also engraven on the said Pillar;
- *In 1665 the Plague raged in London, and carried off 87,000 persons. This was followed, the next year, with the great Fire, 1666, which raged for three days, and burnt 13,000 houses, and destroyed 700 streets.
- †Uncertain; some say Whitefield; some the Society in Scotland for propagating the Gospel; others that the time of its accomplishment hath not come.
