THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES: OR THE OVERTHROW OF THE PAPAL TYRANNY IN FRANCE, THE PRELUDE OF DESTRUCTION то Popery and Delpotilm, BUT OF PEACE TO MANKIND. BY J. BICHENO. THIRD Edition, with large Additions. I have told you before it come to pafs, that when it is come to pafs ye might believe. JESUS: Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen! Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her fins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her fins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Therefore fhall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine. Rev. xviii. 2, 8. Be ye ready for in fuch an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh. JESUS. AND LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, SOLD BY PARSONS, PATERNOSTEK-ROW; COTTLE AND JAMES, BRISTOL; LUNN, CAMBRIDGE; MARCH, NORWICH; NEWSOM, LEEDS; CAMPBELL, BATH; FULLER, NEWBURY; AND SNARE, READING. Price Is. 6d. Of whom may be had, the SECOND PART, Price 1s. 6d. Alfo, the Author's FRIENDLY ADDRESS to the Jews, and LETTER to Mr. D. Lavi. Price ADVERTISEMENT. HISTORY no where informs us of any event so extraordinary as the late revolution in France. If viewed on all fides, with its attending circumftances, by an atten- . tive and unprejudiced eye, it must furely excite the greateft aftonifhment; and thofe who have been used to unite in their minds the providence of God with human occur→ · rences, (whether they approve of this great change of things or not) cannot help inquiring, Is this from men, or is it from God? Is it one of thofe commotions produced by the conflicting paffions of men, that rife and fink, and are foon forgotten; or is it one of thofe events which mark the great æras of time, and from which originate new orders of things?—If the latter, it is undoubtedly the theme of prophecy. Appearances indicate that this will be a fatal ftroke to the papal ufurpations, and to the reign of defpotifm. Thofe prophecies therefore, which direct our hopes to that interefting period, when all antichriftian tyrannies are to perifh, deferve, at this time, peculiar attention. But where shall we find a clue to guide us in our inquiries? The author of the following thoughts confulted commentators the most generally approved, on the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation of John. He found much to edify and to excite curiofity, but was fill in the midft of a wilderness. At length he was determined to commit himfelf to his own investigations, and explore thefe regions of wonders, without placing implicit confidence in any guide. Circumftances led him to conjecture, that the beast which John faw coming up out of the earth was Lewis the Fourteenth, or the French tyranny, perfected by him, and fupported by his fucceffors; and that it was this beaf which flew the witneffes. This is the clue which he has followed, and he thinks it is that by which the mazes of thefe wonderful vifions, at least as far as they have been accomplished, may be traced with precifion, and fome things, which are yet to come, be conjectured with great advantage. But without this to guide us, all feems confufion. A ferious application to the fudy of the prophecies, and an attentive obfervation of the figns of the times, have produced in my mind the strongest perfuafion, that the utter downfal of the papacy, the final overthrow of defpotifm, the restoration of the Jews, and the renovation of all things, are near at hand; and that every year will aftonifh us with new wonders. "As the days of Noe were, fo fhall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, and marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, fo fhall alfo the coming of the Son of Man be." * From this perfuafion arifes the indifpenfible duty of calling the attention of mankind, with peculiar earneftness, to the things which belong to their peace. "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and found, an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand."+ I know what an author, who writes on fubjects like thefe, has to expect. But my heart tells me, that I publifh thefe thoughts with the pureft intentions, and that my only aims are to ferve the interests of Christianity, to promote the welfare of my countrymen, and the common caufe of humanity, by inviting men to confider the figns of the times; that, as individuals, and as a nation, we Matt, xxiv. 37-39. + Joel ii. 1. may |