Page:Strange and remarkable prophecies and predictions of the holy, learned and excellent James Usher, late Archbishop of Armaugh (sic).pdf/7

( 7 ) and ſpiritual Ministers and Christians did generally ſuffer moſt, and were moſt violently fallen upon; but, in this laſt Perſecution, theſe ſhall be preferred 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 the ſhorteſt Perſecution of them all; and ſhall only take away the groſs Hypocrites and formal Profeſſors, but the true ſpiritual Believers shall be preſerved till the Calamity be overpaſt.]

I then asked him, By what Means or Inſtruments this great Trial ſhould be brought on? He anſwered, By the Papiſts. I replied, That it ſeemed to me very improbable they ſhould be able to do 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 foretel ſome Things which in all human Appearance were very unlikely to come to paſs, which yey I myſelf have lived to ſee happen according to his Prediction; and this made me 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 th of the Revelation, to whom the outward Court ſhould be left that they might tread it under Foot; they having received the Gentile Worſhip in their adoring Images and Saints departed, and in taking to themſelves many Mediators: 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 t) the very ſame Words which this holy Man ſpake