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expect to be fo, till fuch and such things were accomplished, < -Though he then delivered the world of the child of fin, the • after-burthen was left behind; and as a woman in travail is ⚫ feldom eafy till that is removed, so it is with the world.—It was the pleasure of God it fhould be fo; but, notwithstanding the prefent fituation of things, God will manifeft himself to be a God of justice, mercy, and everlasting truth; and, before long, his glory will be revealed to all flesh, and all the • ends of the earth will fee his falvation.'

What follows, in this whimsical performance, concerning a future ftate, our readers will perhaps think one of the most ridiculous conjectures that ever the foolish imagination of man fuggefted.

The divine being (fays our enthufiaft) who acts with regularity and order in all his wife difpenfations, will properly prepare us for entering into thofe joys which eye hath not feen, ear heard, neither hath it enter'd into the heart of man ;-and • all that are and have been upon this earth, will, by a righteous judgment and repentance, be made worthy partakers of the paradise which will be gradually reftor'd to this earth, after judgment of the living, and which will prepare us for that blifs before-mention'd; but those will enter paradise first who best have deserved it, and they last that least have; for there ⚫ will be three fucceffive ftates of felicity: The firft, paradifial, (if I may use the expreffion;) this will continue a confidera⚫ble number of years, as may be gathered from scripture; and will be a heaven on earth.

The fecond, or angelick, will, it is reasonable to suppose, continue a much longer time than the first: In this we shall be as the angels at prefent in heaven are, where our Bleffed Redeemer reigns, as king, under his Divine Father.

The third, or fupreme beatifick, will continue to all eternity; in this we shall be one with God, and God one with

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*For fo bountifully has God order'd it, that the fin not to be forgiven, neither in this world, nor that to come, has not yet been committed by any man; but when the hidden things are clearly made known, and religion no longer depends on faith, if we then difobey the divine commands, we muft neither expect nor shall we deferve any indulgence.

All who have acted righteously will be entitled to the first, let their nation, or religious form of worship have been what it would; provided it was fuch as they in their own confciences thought beft: But none will be intitled to the * fecond, but who are baptized, and acknowledge their Re• deemer t.

This, (that is, the second or angelick) will be the promis'd land, the true Canaan; for the former was only a type of it; —as was the laft Jerufalem, of that which will then be built • up, and far surpass any thing that this earth has yet bore: It will be built by the direction of Heaven, and is therefore re* presented as descending from thence; not only the greatest part of the gold, filver, and precious stones, now fo unequal⚫ly distributed on this earth, will be collected to build it, but likewise hidden treasures will be discovered for that purpose.'

But as it will require a confiderable time to effect all these ← things with that justice, regularity, and order, which it is * confiftent with the wisdom and goodness of God that it should, it is abfurd to think, that our Blessed Redeemer will come with his glorified body, to live again upon earth so many years as this would require.'

This will be accomplished by a prophet, which it will please God to ordain, and influence by his divine fpirit for that purpose,-who will be called the righteous fervant of • God, and the vicegerent and ambassador of Jefus Chrift.• He is mentioned by Mofes and all the prophets, and very par☛ ticularly by Isaiah; but the circumftances attending his Mafter's coming, and his, are blended together on purpose to throw a necessary obfcurity upon them.'

That his approach is very near, I moft fincerely believe; and fhould be very wanting in my duty to God, and affection for all mankind, was I not to tell them fo; having ftronger reafons for entertaining that belief, than I have as yet mention

ed.'

Our Bleffed Redeemer makes mention of him in many places, but with much caution, to prevent its being underftood prematurely. In the xviith chapter of St. Matthew,

Without any previous punishment.

• and

For it is through him only that we can have life everlasting.

6

⚫ and the 11th verfe, he mentions him under the name of Elias, ⚫ who he said certainly would come first and restore all things; <-but, in the following verfe, throws an obscurity upon it by • a feeming contradiction, which is evidently intended to pre> vent his difciples from making any farther inquiry into what it was not proper, at that time, for them or the world to be 'acquainted with.'

< But the most positive mention made of him by his Lord is in the xvith chapter of St. John, and 5th verse.

• Fefus faid unto his difciples, now I go my way to him that fent me, and none of you afketh me, whither goest thou? but becaufe I have faid these things unto you, forrow hath filled your ⚫ beart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: For if I go not away, the comforter will not < come unto you; but if I depart I will fend him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of fin, and of rightcoufnefs, and of judgment: Of fin, because they believe not on me ; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no ́ more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. ‹ I have yet many things to fay unto you, but ye cannot bear them • now. Howbeit, when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: For he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear that shall be speak, and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: For he fhall receive of smine and fhall fhew it unto you. All things which the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that he jhall take of mine, and fhew it unto you.

What our Blessed Lord here deliver'd has been, very excufably, hitherto applied only to the defcent of the Holy Ghoft r upon the apoftles; nor was it the pleasure of God it should be understood to mean any thing else, till a proper occasion required its being rightly explain'd; but many circumstances • therein mentioned, do abfolutely refer, in the strongest terms, to the coming and operation of the Divine Spirit in the perfon of the prophet, who is to come to restore all things, efta⚫blish the kingdom of righteoufnefs, and reconcile the father "of all to his children *.-But had Jefus Chrift, in whose

' name

See the laft chapter of Malachi, where he is fpoken of under the name of Elijah, for the names of men and places are frequently used, when fpeaking of others of fimilar characters.

name he is to come, given them particularly to understand who he meant by the Comforter, he would either have con'fus'd their ideas, or must have inform'd them of such other • circumstances as were not proper for them at that time to 'know.'

< He will come in a nation, where that form of divine wor'fhip which comes neareft to primitive christianity will be profeffed; and whofe liturgy will, by the direction of Divine Providence, be previoufly prepared to fuit better the times ' approaching, than either the past or present.

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• That nation, and particularly its metropolis, the great city of St. John, will be famous for receiving all comers with open arms; and for its abundant exercise of that virtue which will cover a multitude of fins.

The fovereign of the nation he comes in will be found to be the beft of human princes;-and will be exalted as em'peror over all thofe kingdoms, principalities and ftates, which are, by a contrary faith, his enemies; and will enter Rome with more magnificence and univerfal joy than any of the • Roman emperors ever did; but this without difpoffeffing any ❝ of those princes who are found to have acted for the good of their fubjects.

All will be literally accomplished which was promised to God's primitive people in the Old Teftament *.

All which was promifed to the Chriftians by our Redeemer and his apostles in the New Teftament ;-and likewise what was promised by Mahomet to his votaries; fo far as concerns • the future rewards of religion and virtue.

• Many fables will also be turn'd into facts, and old predic<tions verified; and particularly a remarkable one, relating to 'a certain nation, which, if I mistake not, runs thus:

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miller, with two thumbs upon one hand, fhall hold three kings horfes, while that nation is won and loft three times in one day. When the Comforter comes, there will be three fovereigns in one kingdom.-The prophet, who, under his Divine Mafter,

*For though this may seem to contradi& what our Saviour faid, concerning the difperfion of the Jews to the end of the world, yet the objection will be removed when we confider that this expreffion, not only there, but in fome other places, means to the end of the finful world.

fler, will be fovereign of the globe; the then reigning prince, "who will be made an emperor, and his next heir, who will < be crowned king in his ftead.

The kingdom will be taken from the reigning prince, and < given to his next heir; fecondly, it will be taken from a human prince, and given to a holy one *; and, laftly, it will be taken from the dominion of Satan, and restored to the favour and protection of the Almighty, (as will all others in the fpace of three years afterwards.) All this in one day, and without a drop of bloodshed.—

< There will be an elegant palace, and other conveniencies, provided for his reception, in the nation he comes in; which neither the builders, poffeffors, nor daily admirers, will at all fufpect for whom it was defigned.'

This extraordinary discovery of a new prophet to arise amongst us, and who, for ought we know, may turn out to be our author himself, is introduced, we may observe, with great folemnity, and back'd by the authority of holy writ: but it has been the fate of the fcriptures, in every age, to be wrested and tortured to fuch purposes; for, as Dryden archly remarks, • What defence can Greek and Hebrew make !

That our author is pretty far gone in the drunkenness of enthusiasm, will appear fufficiently evident from the last quotation we shall extract from him, which our readers will meet with in a note, p. 96. and is as follows:

How little credit foever may be given to it, I think it incumbent on me, upon this occafion, to mention what happened to me three years and a half ago, when I was going to publifh thefe thoughts under the title of, A key to human Nature, as it is (at least to myself) a certain proof that it is < in the power of the Almighty to make this earth, at one and the fame time, a heaven to fome, and a hell to others.

I had not wrote near fo long, nor intently, as I have often done upon other subjects, when I was affected in the following

' manner.

An electric matter feemed to run through my arm, and fly from the ends of my fingers I wrote with; fparks of a bright fire darted from my eyes upon the paper I wrote on, and I

* One established by holy appointment.

• had

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