Licensed and Entred according to Order .

THough in these latter Ages of the Church , many Learned and Prous Men , have made it a question , whether God now speaks to any by a prophetick Spirit ; yet surely 't were a great Boldness and Presumption for any peremptorily to determine that he does not ; for though it must be acknowledged , that these ways of God's revealing himself , are less frequent in these last and worst times , since the great Reason assigned for the frequency of Miracles and Revelation in the first Ages of the Church , viz. ( for converting men to , and conforming them in the Christian Faith , ) is in a great measure ceased ; For we have now a more sure word of Testimony , as the Apostle Saint Peter says , to wit , the written word of God : Wherein we have the Christian Doctrine displayed , together with the Lives , Miracles , and Examples of our Saviour and his Apostles . But there is nothing has brought the matter of Prophecy and Revelation so much into question , as the Frauds and Forgeries of Lying Popish Priests , who by counterfeit Miracles have strove each one to establish their several Orders ; or for the magnifying their particular Saints , Patrons , or Patronesses , have filled the World with most ridiculous and absurd Stories of pretended Miracles : But God be thanked , the Authour we have here proposed is removed far enough from the Exception that may be justly taken against those we were speaking of , being a Person of that known Learning , Piety , and Integrity ; for all which he is samed through the Christian World , that 't would be needless as well as impossible for me to recommend him .

Now to confirm what I have been saying , that the Spirit of Prophecy has not wholly left the world , even in this Age , I have here proposed this great Man , Archbishop Usher , for an Example , as it is delivered by Dr. Bernard , Chaplain to the Archbishop . And certainly let any Man lay aside Prejudice , and reflect on what has been already accomplished , as to his own particular , as well as in some part to Ireland formerly , and what is now sadly fulfilling in that miserable Kingdom , and he will be forced to confess , that this holy Man was indeed a Prophet .

The Author of the Life of this Excellent and Worthy Primate and Archbishop , gives an Account , that among other extraordinary gifts and graces , which it pleased the Almighty to bestow upon him , he was wonderfully endued with a Spirit of Prophecy , whereby he gave out several true Predictions and Prophesies of things a great while before they came to pass , whereof some we have seen fulfilled , and others remain yet to be accomplished . And though he was one that abhorr'd Enthusiastick Notions , being too Learned , Rational , and knowing , to admit of such idle Freaks and Whimsies , yet he profest , That several times in his Life he had many things imprest upon his mind , concerning future Events , with so much warmness and importunity , that he was not able to keep them secret , but lay under an unavoidable necessity to make them known .

From which Spirit he foretold the Irish Rebellion Forty years before it came to pass , with the very time when it should break forth , in a Sermon Preached in Dublin in 1601. where from Ezek . 4. 6. Discoursing concerning the Prophets bearing the Iniquity of Judah forty days , the Lord therein appointed a day for a year ; he made this direct Application in Relation to the connivance at Popery at that time . From this year ( says he ) will I reckon the sin of Ireland , that those whom you now imbrace , shall be your Ruine , and you shall bear this Iniquity . Which Prediction proved exactly true ; for from that time 1601. to the year 1641. was just forty years , in which it is notoriously known , that the Rebellion and Destruction of Ireland happened , which was acted by those Popish Priests , and other Papists , who were then connived at . And of this Sermon the Bishop reserved the Notes , and put a Note thereof in the margent of his Bible , and for 20 years before he still lived in the expectation of the fulfilling thereof , and the nearer the time was , the more confident he was , that it was near accomplishment , though there was no visible appearance of any such thing ; and ( says Dr. Bernard ) The year before the Rebellion broke forth , the Bishop taking his leave of me , being then going from Ireland to England , he advised me to a serious preparation , for I should see heavy sorrow ; and miseries before I saw him again ; which he delivered with as great confidence , as if he had seen it with his Eyes , which seems to verifie that of the Prophet , Amos 3. 7. Surely the Lord will do nothing but he will reveal it to his Servants the Prophets .

From this Spirit of Prophesie , he foresaw the Changes and Miseries of England in Church and State , for having in one of his Books ( called De Prim . Eccl. Brit . ) given a large account of the destruction of the Church and State of the Britains by the Saxons , about 550 years after Christ , he gives this among other Reasons , why he insisted so largely upon it , that he foresaw that a like Judgment was yet behind , if timely Repentance and Reformation did not prevent it ; and he would often mourn upon the foresight of this long before it came .

From this Spirit he gave mournfull intimations of the Death of our late Sovereign Charles the First , of whom he would be often speaking with fear and trembling , even when the King had the greatest success , and would therefore constantly pray , and gave all advice possible to prevent any such thing .

From this Spirit , he foresaw his own Poverty in worldly things , and this he would often speak of with admiration to the hearers , when he was in his greatest Prosperity , which the event did most certainly verifie .

From this Spirit , he predicted the Divisions and Confusions in England in matters of Religion , and the sad consequents thereof , some of which we have seen fulfilled , and I pray God the rest which he feared may not also be accomplished upon us .

Lastly , from this Spirit he foretold , That the greatest stroke upon the Reformed Churches was yet to come ; and that the time of the utter Ruine of the See of Rome should be when she thought her self most secure : And as to this last , I shall add a brief Account from the Persons own hand who was concerned therein , which followeth in these words :

The Year before this learned and holy Primate , Archbishop Usher dyed , I went to him , and earnestly desired him to give me in Writing his apprehensions concerning Justification and Sanctification by Christ , because I had formerly heard him preach upon those points , wherein he seemed to make those great Mysteries more intelligible to my mean capacity , than any thing which I had ever heard from any other ; but because I had but an imperfect and confused remembrance of the particulars , I took the boldness to importune him , that he would please to give a brief account of them in Writing , whereby I might the better imprint them in my Memory , of which he would willingly have excused himself , by declaring his Intentions of not writing any more , adding , that if he did write any thing , it should not exceed above a sheet or two ; but upon my continued importunity , I at last obtained his promise .

He coming to Town some time after , was pleased to give me a visit at my own House , where I failed not to challenge the benefit of the Promise he had made me : He replied , That he had not writ , and yet he could not charge himself with any breach of Promise ; for ( said he ) I began to write , but when I came to write of Sanctification , that is , of the New Creature , which God formeth by his own Spirit in every Soul which he doth truly regenerate , I found so little of it wrought in my self , that I could speak of it only as Parrots , by routte , and without the knowledge and understanding of what I might have exprest , and therefore I durst not presume to proceed any farther upon it .

And when I seem to stand amazed to hear such an humble Confession from so great an experienced a Christian : He added , I must tell you , we do not well understand what Sanctification and the New Creature are : It is no less than for a man to be brought to an entire resignation of his Will to the Will of God , and to live in the Offering up of his Soul continually in the Flames of Love , as a whole Burnt-Offering to Christ ; and how little ( says he ) are many of those who prosess Christianity experimentally acquainted with this work on their Souls .

By this Discourse I conceived he had very excellently and clearly discovered to me that part of Sanctification which he was unwilling to write .

I then presumed to enquire of him what his present apprehensions were concerning a very great Persecution which should fall upon the Church of God in these Nations of England , Scotland , and Ireland , of which this Reverend Primate had spoken with great confidence many years before , when we were in the highest and fullest state of outward Peace and Settlement . I asked him whether he did believe those sad times to be past , or that they were yet to come . To which he answered , That they were yet to come , and that he did as confidently expect it as ever he had done : adding , That this said Persecution would fall upon all the Protestant Churches in Europe . I replied , That I did hope it might have been past as to 〈…〉 ours , since I thought , that though we , who are the People thereof , have been punished much less than our sins have deserved , and that our late Wars had made far less devastations than War commonly brings upon those Countries where it pleaseth God in Judgment to suffer it ; yet we must needs acknowledg , that many great Houses had been burnt , ruined , and left without Inhabitants , many great Families impoverished and undone , and many thousand ●ives also had been lost in that bloudy War , and that Ireland and Scotland , as well as England , had drunk very deep of the Cup of God's Anger , even to the overthrow of the Government , and the utter desolation almost of a very great part of those Countries .

But this holy Man , turning to me , and fixing his Eyes upon me with a serious and irefull look , which he usually had when he spake God's word , and not his own ; and when the Power of God seemed to be upon him , and to constrain him to speak , which I could easily discern much to differ from the countenance wherewith he usually spake to me ; he said thus :

Fool not your self with such hopes , for I tell you , All you have yet seen hath been but the beginning of sorrows to what is yet to come upon the Protestant Churches of Christ , who will e'er long fall under a sharper Persecution than ever yet was upon them ; and therefore ( said he to me ) look you be not found in the outward Court , but a Worshipper in the Temple before the Altar ; for Christ will measure all those that profess his Name , and call themselves his People ; and the outward Worshippers he will leave out to be trodden down by the Gentiles . The outward Court ( says he ) is the formal Christian , whose Religion lies in performing the outward Duties of Christianity , without having an inward life , and power of Faith and Love uniting them to Christ , and these God will leave to be trodden down , and swept away by the Gentiles ; but the Worshippers within the Temple , and before the Altar , are those who do indeed worship God in Spirit and in Truth , whose Souls are made his Temple , and he is honoured and adored in the most inward thought of their hearts , and they sacrifice their Lusts and vile affections , yea , and their own wills to him ; and these God will hide in the hollow of his hand , and under the shadow of his Wings . And this shall be one great difference between this last and all the other preceding Persecutions ; For in the former the most eminent and spiritual Ministers and Christians did generally suffer most , and were most violently fallen upon ; but in this last Persecution these shall be preserved by God as a Seed to partake of that Glory which shall immediately follow , and come upon the Church , as soon as ever this Storm shall be over ; for as it shall be the sharpest , so it shall be shortest Persecution of them all ; and shall only take away the gross Hypocrites and formal Professours , but the true Spiritual Believers shall be preserved till the Calamity be over .

I then asked him , By what Means or Instruments this great Tryal should be brought on ? He answered , By the Papists . I replied , That it seemed to me very improbable they should be able to doe it , since they were now little countenanced , and but few in these Nations , and that the hearts of the People were more set against them than ever since the Reformation . He answered again , That it would be by the hands of Papists , and in the way of a sudden Massacre ; and that the then Pope should be the chief Instrument of it .

All this he spake with so great Assurance , and with the same serious and concerned Countenance , which I have before observed him to have , when I have heard him foretell some things which in all humane Appearance were very unlikely to come to pass , which yet I my self have lived to see happen according to his Prediction , and this made me to give the more earnest Attention to what he then uttered .

He then added , That the Papists were in his Opinion the Gentiles spoken of in the 11th of the Revelations , to whom the outward Court should be left , that they might tread it under foot : They having received the Gentiles Worship , in their adoring Images , and Saints departed , and in taking to themselves many Mediatours : And this ( said he ) the Papists are now designing among themselves , and therefore be sure you be ready .

This was the substance , and I think ( for the greatest part ) the very same words which this holy Man spake to me at the time before mentioned , not long before his death , and which I writ down , that so great and notable a Prediction might not be lost and forgotten by my self and others .

This gracious Man repeated the same things in substance to his onely Daughter the Lady Tyrril , and that with many tears and much about the same time that he had expressed what 〈◇〉 aforesaid to me , and which the Lady Tyrril assured me of wi●● her own mouth to this purpose .

That opening the Door of his Chamber , She found him with his Eyes lift up to Heaven , and the Tears running apace down his Cheeks , and that he seemed to be in an Ecstasie , wherein he continued for about half an hour , not taking any notice of her , though she came into the Room ; but at last turning to her , he told her , That his Thoughts had been taken up about the Miseries and Persecutions that were coming upon the Churches of Christ , which would be so sharp and bitter , that the contemplation of them had fetched those Tears from his Eyes , and that he hoped he should not live to see it , but possibly she might , for it was even at the Door : Therefore take heed ( says he ) that you be not found sleeping .

The same things he also repeated to the Lady Bysse , Wife to the present Lord Chief Baron of Ireland , but with adding this circumstance , That if they brought back the King , it might be delayed a little longer , But ( said he ) it will surely come , therefore be sure to look that you be not found unprepared for it .

To conclude in the words of Dr. Bernard , speaking of this excellent Person , Now howsoever I am as far from heeding of Prophesies this way as any , yet with me it is not improbable , that so great a Prophet , so sanctified from his youth , so knowing and eminent throughout the Universal Church , might have at some special times more than ordinary Motions and Impulses , in doing the Watchman's part , of giving warning of Judgments approaching .