down all rule, and all authority, and power. For be must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet; The last enemy that shall be deftroyed is death. And when all things fhall be fubdued unto him, then shall the Son alfo himself be fubject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Since then the corruptions of popery are fo particularly foretold in fcripture, and make so confiderable a part of the ancient prophecies, we have the less reason to be surprised and offended at them. While the papifts endevor to corrupt and adulterate the doctrins of the prophets and apostles, they still accomplish their predictions; while they labour to destroy Christianity in one part, they unwittingly confirm and establish it in another. And fince a time is certainly coming, wherein God will avenge himself on these idolaters, and require the blood of his fervants at their hands, let us wait with the faith and the patience of faints, till it be accomplished. We have seen the prophecies remarkably fulfilled in their fuccefs, and we shall see them as remarkably fulfilled too in their destruction. power of the pope is nothing near so great now as it was fome ages ago: It received its deathwound at the Reformation, of which it may languish for a time, but will never entirely recover, though

The

though its last struggles and efforts, like thofe of a dying monster, may be terrible and dangerous. In the end, the gofpel will prevail over all enemies and oppofers: (Matt. XXI. 44.) Whofoever shall fall on this ftone, fhall be broken; but on whomfoever it fhall fall, it will grind him to powder. We will conclude our discourse with the words of Ezra, fo very applicable to us of the reformed religion: (IX. 13, 14.) After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trefpafs, feeing that thou our God haft punished us less than our iniquities deferve, and haft given us fuch deliverance as this, a deliverance from the yoke and tyranny of the church of Rome; Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations, wouldeft thou not be angry with us till thou hadft confumed us, fo that there should be no remnant nor escaping?

CON

CONCLUSIO N.

F

'ROM these instances, which have been produced, of prophecies and their completions, it is hoped, this conclufion may fairly be drawn in the words of St. Peter, (2 Pet. I. 20, 21.) that no prophecy of the fcripture is of any private interpretation, or the fuggeftion of any man's own spirit or fancy; for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God fpake as they were moved by the holy Ghoft. Other inftances might have been alleged to the fame purpose: but those prophecies which received their full accomplishment in ancient times, and even those which were accomplished in the person and actions of our blessed Saviour, are not here confidered; fuch only as relate to these later ages, and either in the whole or in part are now fulfilling in the world, are made the fubjects of these differtations. This is proving our religion in some measure by ocular demonstration, is not walking by faith only, but alfo by fight. For you can have no reason to truth of prophecy, and con

doubt of the

fequently

4

sequently of the truth of revelation, when you fee inftances of things, which could no ways depend upon human conjecture, foretold with the greatest clearness, and fulfilled hundreds of years afterwards with the greatest exactness. Nay you fee prophecies, the latest whereof were delivered about 1700 years ago, and some of them above 3000 years ago, fulfilling at this very time, and cities, countries, and kingdoms in the very fame condition, and all brought about in the very fame manner, and with the very fame circumftances, as the prophets had foretold.

You fee the defcendents of Shem and Japheth ruling and inlarged in Afia and Europe, and perhaps in America, and the curfe of fervitude ftill attending the wretched defcendents of Ham in Africa. You fee the pofterity of Ifhmael multiplied exceedingly, and become a great nation in the Arabians; yet living like wild men, and shifting from place to place in the wilderness; their hand against every man, and every man's hand against them; and still dwelling an independent and free people, in the presence of all their brethren, and in the presence of all their enemies. You fee the family of Efau totally extinct, and that of Jacob fubfifting at this day; the Scepter departed from Judah, and the people

people living no where in authority, every where in fubjection; the Jews ftill dwelling alone among, the nations, while the remembrance of Amalek is utterly put out from under heaven. You fee the Jews feverely punished for their infidelity and difobedience to their great prophet like unto Mofes; plucked from off their own land, and removed into all the kingdoms of the earth; oppreffed and Spoiled evermore, and made a proverb and a by-word among all nations. You fee Ephraim fo broken as to be no more a people, while the whole nation is comprehended under the name of Judah; the Jews wonderfully preferved as a diftinct people, while their great conquerors are every where deftroyed; their land lying defolate,' and themselves cut off from being the people of God, while the Gentiles are advanced in their room. You fee Nineveh fo completely destroyed, that the place thereof is not, and cannot be known; Babylon made a defolation for ever, a poffeffion for the bittern, and pools of water ; Tyre become like the top of a rock, a place for fifhers to spread their nets upon; and Egypt a bofe kingdom, the bafest of the kingdoms, and still tributary and fubject to ftrangers. You fee of the four great empires of the world the fourth and last, which was greater and more powerful than of the former, divided in the western part VOL. III.

any

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thereof