Prophecies of Robert Nixon, Mother Shipton, and Martha, the Gypsy Part 3

One thing is certain, that the Babylonian empire shall perish through the refusal of obedience by the ten Kings, who had given their power to the beast. This thing is already come to pa.s.s in part. The kingdoms of Sweden, Denmark, England and several sovereign States in Germany have withdrawn themselves from the jurisdiction of the Pope. They have spoiled the harlot of her riches. They have eaten her flesh, i.e. seized on her benefices, and revenues, which she had in their countries. This must go on and be finished as it is begun. The Kings who yet remain under the empire of Rome must break with her, leave her solitary and desolate.

But who must begin this last revolt? it is most probable that France shall. Not Spain, which as yet is plunged in superst.i.tion and is as much under the tyranny of the clergy as ever. Not the Emperor, who in temporal matters is subject to the Pope and permits that in his states the Archbishop of Strigonium should teach that the Pope can take away the Imperial crown from him. It cannot be any country but France, which a long time ago hath begun to shake off the yoke of Rome. 'Tis well known how solemnly and openly war hath been declared against the Pope by a declaration of the King (ratified in all the parliaments) by the decisions of the a.s.sembly of the French Clergy, by a disputation against the authority of the Pope, managed in the Sorbonne, solemnly and by order of the court. And to heighten the affront the theses were posted up even upon the gates of his Nuncio. Nothing of this kind had hitherto happened at least in a time of peace and unless the Pope had given occasion by his insolence.

Besides this superst.i.tion and idolatry lose their credit much in France.-There is a secret party, though well enough known, which greatly despiseth the popular devotions, images, wors.h.i.+p of saints, and is convinced that these are human inventions: G.o.d is beforehand preparing for his great work.

To this it may be objected that for the last hundred and fifty years the Pope's empire hath not been made up of ten Kings, because the Kings of England, Sweden, Denmark, etc., have thrown off his government; and consequently, France is not at this day the tenth part of the Babylonian empire; for it is more than a tenth part of it. But this is no difficulty; for we must know, that things retain the names which they bore in their original (without regarding the alterations which time does bring along.) Though at this day there are not ten kingdoms under the Babylonian empire, it is, notwithstanding, certain, that each kingdom was called, and ought to be called in this prophecy, the tenth part, because the prophet having described this empire in its beginning, by its ten horns, or ten kings, it is necessary for our clear understanding, that every one of these Kings and kingdoms, should be called one of the ten Kings, or of ten kingdoms, with respect to the original const.i.tution of the Antichristian empire.

Seeing the tenth part of the city that must fall, is France, this gives me some hopes that the death of the two witnesses hath a particular relation to this kingdom. It is the street or place of this city, i.e.

the most fair and eminent part of it. The witnesses must remain dead upon the street and upon it they must be raised again. And as the death of the witnesses and their resurrection have a relation to the kingdom of France, it may well fall out, that we may not be far distant from the time of the resurrection of the witnesses, seeing the three years and a half of their death are either begun, or will begin shortly.

And in the earthquake were slain seven thousand; in the Greek it is seven thousand names of men, and not seven thousand men. I confess that this seems somewhat mysterious: in other places we find not this phrase, names of men, but simply men. Perhaps there is a figure of grammar, called _hypolage casus_, so that names of men are put for men of name, i.e. of raised and considerable quality, be it on account of riches, or of dignity, or of learning. But I am more inclined to say, that here these names of men, must be taken in their natural signification and do intimate that the total Reformation of France shall not be made with bloodshed, nothing shall be destroyed but names; such as are the names of Monks, of Carmelites, of Augustines, of Dominicans, of Jacobins, of Franciscans, Capuchins, Jesuits, Minimes and an infinite company of others, whose number it is not easy to define and which the Holy Ghost denotes by the number seven, which is the number of perfection, to signify that the orders of monks and nuns shall perish for ever. This is an inst.i.tution so degenerated from its first original, that it is become the ruin of Antichrist. These orders cannot perish one without the other.

These great events deserve to be distinguished from all others; for they have changed, or shall change, THE WHOLE FACE OF THE WORLD.

EXTRACTS FROM SERMONS BY DR. JOHN GILL.

THERE are some times fixed in prophecy, which by diligence, attention, and application men may arrive to some understanding of. There are indeed some times and seasons, the knowledge of which is not to be attained unto; and it would be wrong, as well as in vain, curiously to search into them. _It is not for us to know the times or the seasons_, _which the Father hath put in his own power_; for he has _determined the times before appointed_, when every thing that he has purposed or promised shall come to pa.s.s; and he has fixed a _time for every purpose under the heaven_, for the performance of every thing he has designed shall be; _a time to be born_, _and a time to die_, and for every intermediate event; but these times are not known beforehand, until things are brought into execution. There are others and very remarkable events, the times of which are pointed at in prophecy; and which with diligence and application, a knowledge of them may in some measure be attained unto: as for instance, the first coming of Christ into this world to save men: the time for it was not only agreed upon and settled between the Father and the Son, called _the fulness of time_, but there were several prophetic hints of it; nay, not only was it described by some general circ.u.mstances, as that it should be before the second temple was destroyed, since he was to come into it and while the sceptre was in the tribe of Judah; but the precise time was fixed by Daniel's seventy weeks, or four hundred years, which were to commence from a date given him; and before the expiration of which the Messiah was to come: and so as he by reading Jeremiah's books knew the time when the Babylonish captivity should end; another by reading his prophecies might know when the Messiah would come; and accordingly about the time when those weeks were drawing near to an expiration, there were many that were looking for the Messiah and redemption by him, as knowing that it was about the time by these weeks that he should come. There is a time set for the second coming and G.o.d in his times will show him, or cause him openly to appear; and though he will come in an hour we know not of, yet there are some circ.u.mstances pointed out in the word of G.o.d by which it may be known that it is nigh at hand; as that the day when the Son of man shall be revealed shall be as the days of Noah and Lot, when men indulged themselves in pleasure, lived in great security, unaware of the ruin coming upon them; and that when the Son of man cometh, faith will not be found in the earth; whether this be understood of the grace or doctrine of faith, or of faith with respect to Christ's coming: and when we compare these things with the present times, and consider the luxury, love of pleasure, carnal security and infidelity that abound among us, we might conclude that the coming of Christ is just at hand, were it not that there are many things which require time yet to be fulfilled previous to it, as the destruction of Antichrist, the conversion of the Jews, and the bringing in of the fulness of the Gentiles. So the last judgment which will take place at the second coming of Christ, and is most certain, being early known and often spoken of. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophecied of it, and of Christ's coming to it; the day is appointed when it will come on, though of that day and hour knoweth no man, not the angels in heaven, but the Father only: but then the princ.i.p.al things that should come to pa.s.s, relative to the church, between the first and second coming of Christ to judgment, are signified to us in the book of the Revelation.

_Sermon from_ 1 _Chron._ xii. 32, _preached Jan._ 1, 1752.

The destruction of Antichrist is the grand leading event to the glories of this state. This is hinted at in the epistle to the church at Philadelphus, the emblem of the spiritual reign; it will be the last struggle of the beast that will cause that _hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try_ the inhabitants of it: when the seventh trumpet will be sounded, which will bring on the spiritual kingdom of Christ throughout the world, he will destroy them which destroy the earth; meaning the Papists, who have destroyed the inhabitants of the earth with their false doctrine, superst.i.tious wors.h.i.+p, and with those b.l.o.o.d.y wars, murders, and ma.s.sacres they have been at the bottom of. And till this is done the spiritual reign cannot take place, especially in its full compa.s.s, and in all its branches, for so long as Antichrist reigns, the church will be more or less in an afflicted state: the date of the church's troubles, and of the reign of Antichrist are alike, and will expire together: the power given to the beast is to continue forty and two months; wherefore there can be no truly good and happy days, till these dates are ended.

The destruction of Antichrist will be by the spirit of Christ's mouth, and the brightness of his coming; that is, by his coming in a spiritual way; or through the word of his mouth, his gospel attended by his spirit and power; which will s.h.i.+ne out with so much l.u.s.tre, splendour, light, and glory, as will chase away the darkness of popery, and enlighten the minds of people, to see into all the fopperies, absurdities, and wickedness of that religion and cause them to cast it off: yea, even to open the eyes of the kings and princes of the earth, to behold and loath the abominations of the wh.o.r.e of Rome they have committed fornication with; and fill them with wrath and indignation against her, as to hate her, make her bare and desolate, and burn her with fire.

This work will be greatly effected by the pouring out of the seven vials of G.o.d's wrath, or the inflicting the seven last plagues upon the anti-Christian states, upon the western and eastern Antichrist, the Pope and Turk; who must be both removed to make way for the spiritual reign of Christ. These seven vials will be poured out, or those plagues inflicted by Angels; by whom we are to understand protestant kings, and princes, and generals of armies; and these will be given them by one or the first of the four beasts, or living creatures, the emblems of gospel ministers; who having some notice of the time of antichrist's destruction being at hand, will stir and animate the christian princes and potentates to take this work in hand; and who are therefore said to go forth from the temple, the church, the place of divine and spiritual wors.h.i.+p, and where they themselves are wors.h.i.+ppers; and from whence they have orders to go forth and do their work.

The first five of these vials concern the western Antichrist, and his dominions: between which, and the trumpets, there is a great correspondence, though they respect different times and persons. The first vial will be poured out upon the earth, and designs those popish countries which are upon the continent, as France and Germany, especially the latter; and as the first trumpet brought the Goths into Germany, so the first vial will bring great distress upon the popish party in the empire, and issue in a reformation from popery. The second vial will be poured out upon the sea, and may intend the maritime powers belonging to the see of Rome, particularly Spain and Portugal; and as the second trumpet brought the Vandals into these places, so this vial will effect the same, and bring wars and desolations into them, and make a change in their religion. The third vial will be poured out upon the rivers and fountains of water, which may point to those places adjacent to Rome, as Italy and Savoy; and as the third trumpet brought the Huns into those parts; so this vial will bring in large armies. .h.i.ther, which will cause much bloodshed, and a great revolution in church and state. The fourth vial will be poured out upon the sun, which must denote some person or persons of great dignity and influence, and as the fourth trumpet brought destruction upon the Emperor of Rome, the sun of the empire, and upon governors under him, signified by the moon and stars; this vial will bring on the ruin of the pope of Rome, the sun of the antichristian empire, with all his cardinals, bishops, priests, etc. The fifth vial will be poured out upon the seat of the beast, which is Rome, the seat that the devil gave to the beast, and will produce great darkness in his kingdom; though as yet it will not be utterly destroyed, which is reserved to the seventh vial. Now these several vials as they will be so many plagues on the western Antichrist, and make so many breaches and ruins upon his states and dominions, so they will be so many gradual steps to the advancement of the glory and kingdom of Christ, and issue in the reformation of these places from popery. The sixth vial will be poured out on the river Euphrates, which designs the Turkish empire, in the midst of which that river is; and as the sixth trumpet let loose the four angels, or heads of the Ottoman family into Europe, so this vial affects the same empire and brings destruction on it, signified by the drying up of the waters of that river, as Babylon's destruction is expressed by the drying up of her sea, Jer. li. 36, which will make way for the king, or kingdoms of the East; the kingdoms of Persia and Tartary and others, to receive and embrace the Christian religion: this is the second, or Turkish woe, which shall pa.s.s away; when the kingdoms of this world will become Christ's and his dominion will be from sea to sea, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Sea; and from the river Euphrates to the ends of the earth. The seventh vial will be poured out upon the air, the whole kingdom of Satan, in all the branches of it, who is the prince of the power of the air; and this vial will clear the whole world of all the remains of Christ's enemies, pagan, papal, and Mahometon, which the other vials left or did not reach; and now will Christ's kingdom be in its full glory. Now the heathens, papists, pagans and Mahometans, will perish out of this land and these sorts of sinners will be consumed out of the earth and such wicked ones will be no more.

G.o.d will make a short work in righteousness, upon the enemies of his church: as yet I take it, none of them are poured out, though some great and learned men have so thought; as yet there have been no such devastations on the continent, as in France and Germany, as to produce the above effects; nor in the countries of Spain and Portugal; nor in Italy and Savoy, and like the places near Rome, nor in the seat of the beast, Rome itself; nor on the Pope and his cardinals; the river Euphrates is not dried up; the Ottoman empire is yet in being; the Turkish woe is not pa.s.sed away; and much less the world cleared of all the enemies of Christ and his church; no, before this work is done, the outer court must be given to the Gentiles, and the witnesses must be slain. Had they begun to be poured out at the time of the reformation, as some have thought, in all likelihood they would have been finished before now; and Antichrist would have been destroyed, and better times than we are now in would have succeeded; but, however, this we may be a.s.sured of, that as the plagues in Egypt issued in the destruction of Pharaoh, and in the deliverance of the Israelites, so these vials will end in the ruin of Antichrist, and in the salvation of the church of Christ. As soon as these things will take place, nay, as soon as you hear of those seven plagues, immediately you hear of persons on a sea of gla.s.s, triumphing over Antichrist, having the harps of G.o.d, and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb: and no sooner it is said, that Babylon is fallen, but voices are heard in heaven ascribing salvation, glory, honour and power to G.o.d, for his judgments on the great wh.o.r.e; declaring that the Lord G.o.d omnipotent reigneth; that the marriage of the Lamb is come; and his bride made ready; and proclaiming them happy that are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb; all which respect the spiritual reign of Christ, now introduced by the ruin of Antichrist.

There will be very large conversions every where, in the several parts of the world: in all popish countries and antichristian states; even the ten kings that have given their kingdoms to the beast, have been a.s.sociates of Antichrist and reigned with him, shall withdraw from him; they and their subjects shall revolt from him, and be converted, and embrace the pure gospel: as it will be the christian princes and potentates that will pour out the seven vials on Antichrist, they will carry the gospel with them wherever they go; or, however, the ministers of it will follow closely at their heels, way being made by the former for them; whose ministry will meet with great success every where, and those that escape the judgments of G.o.d in these nations, will not only be affrighted at them, but will be truly converted by the gospel and give glory to the G.o.d of heaven. In the Mahometan nations, the Turkish woe being past and that empire being destroyed and way made for the gospel to be carried into the eastern kingdoms, great and large conversions will be made by it; there is a most glaring prophecy of this in Isa. lx. 7., which whole chapter concerns the spiritual and personal reign of Christ; all the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee; they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar and I will glorify the house of my glory. Now Kedar and Nebaioth were the sons of Ishmael, Gen. xxv. 13., who settled in Arabia, the country now possessed by the Turks; so that this is a prophecy of the conversion of mult.i.tudes in those parts, whereby the interest of Christ will be increased and his church glorified. Moreover, in all Pagan countries the gospel will make its way, and be successful; the covering and veil of blindness and ignorance, cast and spread over all people and nations, will be removed by it; not only the darkness of popery and Mahometanism, but the gross darkness of paganism shall flee away at the light and brightness of Zion's rising; the Gentiles shall come to it; the fulness and forces of them shall be brought into the church, being converted by the word: and not only vast mult.i.tudes of the common people but great personages also; kings shall be enlightened by it; these shall come to Christ, fall down before him and wors.h.i.+p him; these shall come into his church and become members of it; kings shall be nursing fathers and queens nursing mothers to his people; they shall bring their riches, honour, and glory into his house; and his saints shall suck the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of kings, be enriched, honoured and protected by them. This will be the time when the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; not that there will be any change or alteration in the form and order of civil government, which will be the same as now; there will be kings and queens then, as at this time, as these prophecies show, it will not be until the personal reign of Christ takes place, that all rule, authority and power, will be put down: civil magistracy in the spiritual reign will continue as it is; only it will change hands, it will be entirely in the hands of christian kings and princes all the world over; and no doubt but it will be better exercised, be more orderly and regular; and that truth and righteousness will prevail every where. But I must not forget the conversion of that considerable body of people the Jews, who have been preserved a distinct people for several hundreds of years for this purpose; the conversion of these people will be sudden and of them altogether a nation shall be born at once. It looks as if their conversion would be like that of the apostle Paul, and he seems to hint that it will, when he says, that he, in obtaining mercy, was a pattern to them which should hereafter believe; meaning, perhaps, his own countrymen that should believe in Christ in the latter day, whose conversion would be similar to his; that as his conversion was sudden, in the midst of all his ignorance, unbelief, and rebellion, and without the word, by the immediate power and grace of G.o.d, so will theirs be in like manner: nor is it likely that their conversion should be by means of the word, since there is such an aversion in that people to the hearing of it; and a rare thing it is to see a Jew in a Christian a.s.sembly. But, however, all Israel shall be called, converted, and saved; there is a famous prophecy of this in Hos. iii. 4, 5., in the first of these verses it is said, the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king and without a prince; without any civil government of their own, the sceptre having departed from them many hundred years ago; and without sacrifice; daily or yearly, or on any occasion: they believing it to be unlawful to sacrifice any where but in their own land, and at Jerusalem, and on the altar of G.o.d there; and without an image, and without an ephod, and without seraphim; without any manner of idols, or idol-wors.h.i.+p; they being not addicted to idolatry, since their return from the Babylonish captivity: and now as all these things are exactly fulfilled in them, so will in like manner that which follows: afterwards shall the children of Israel return: by faith and repentance, from their evil way, from their impenitence and unbelief, and rejection of the Messiah, and seek the Lord their G.o.d, and David their king; the Messiah, the son of David, their king, as their own _Targum_ paraphrases it; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days; in the spiritual reign of Christ; and it is hinted as in the Philadelphian state, Rev. iii. 9, then will the children of Israel appoint themselves one head, which is Christ, whom they will own and acknowledge to be their head, lord, and king; and they shall come out of the land, or countries where they are, to their own land, and great shall be the day of Jezreel: and this will make a considerable part of the glory of Christ's spiritual kingdom.

The light of the gospel, both in the preachers and professors of it, will be very great, clear, and distinct; the light of the moon, as in the present dispensation to which it may be compared, shall be as the light of the sun, to which that dispensation shall be like; and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days: as if the light of seven days were collected together, and shone out at once; hyperbolical expressions, setting forth the exceeding greatness of gospel light in those times: not only the watchmen, ministers of the word, shall see eye to eye, all truths clearly and distinctly, but their ideas and sentiments shall be regular and uniform; there will be an entire harmony and agreement between them; and even private Christians, common members, shall all know the Lord, and the things of the gospel, in a very clear and comfortable manner, even from the least of them unto the greatest of them; when G.o.d shall lay Zion's stones with fair colours, and her foundation with sapphires, make her windows of agates, and her gates of carbuncles, and all her borders of pleasant stones; then all her children shall be taught of G.o.d, to such a degree as they never were before, so clearly, fully and universally.

Brotherly love, which is now waxed cold, will be in its height and glory, agreeable to the name of this state, Philadelphia, which signifies brotherly love: there will be no more contentions, animosities, and quarrels: Ephraim shall not envy Judah on account of pre-eminence of office, gifts and grace; and Judah shall not envy Ephraim, by any haughty or overbearing carriage, or with wrangling debates and opprobrious language: the two sticks of Ephraim and Judah shall be one in the hand of the Lord; there will be perfect harmony and love, nothing to disturb, distress, and make uneasy, or tend to alienate the affections of one from another; there will be no p.r.i.c.king briars nor grieving thorns among them; they will be like the first Christians, of one heart and of one mind, and of one judgment, all studying to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

Holiness, which becomes the house of G.o.d for ever, will now adorn every member in it; nor will there be such immorality in the world as at this present time: holiness will be as common as profaneness is now; in that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses holiness to the Lord-yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah, shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts: Christ therefore takes his t.i.tles in writing to the church at Philadelphia, the emblem of the spiritual reign, suitable to its state; as truth and holiness shall then prevail, he addresses it thus, these things saith he that is holy, he that is true; truth and holiness go together; truth influences the heart, and that the life and conversation.

There will be great peace and prosperity of all kinds, inward and outward, spiritual and temporal; in these days of the Messiah's spiritual reign, shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth: as the saints will enjoy great peace of conscience and tranquillity of mind so they will have nothing to disturb them without; there will be no more persecution; there will be none to hurt or destroy in all the Lord's holy mountain, as there will be no discord among themselves, so no distress from any enemies, violence shall no more be heard in their land, nor wasting and destruction within their border. O happy, halcyon days! I go on to observe,

There will be a personal appearance of the Son of G.o.d, and a glorious one it will be: he will personally appear; the Lord himself shall descend, not by his spirit, or by the communication of his grace, or by his gracious presence, as before; but in person he will descend from the third heaven, where he is, in our nature, into the air, where he will be visible; every eye shall see him, when he cometh with clouds, or in the clouds of heaven, which will be his chariot; he will descend on earth et the proper time; and his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives; on that spot of ground from whence he ascended to heaven. Job seems to have this descent of his in view when he says, he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; which seems to respect not so much his first coming as his second; since it is connected with the resurrection of the dead.

This appearance of Christ will be a very glorious one: it is called the glorious appearing of the great G.o.d, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Happy are those that belong to this city, who are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of G.o.d; whose citizens.h.i.+p is in heaven, and they have a right to enter in through the gates into the holy city, the new Jerusalem; but miserable will these be that will be without, for without are dogs: and then he that is unjust, will be unjust still; and he that is filthy, will be filthy still; and he that is righteous, will be righteous still; and he that is holy, will be holy still.

_Sermon from Psalm_ lx.x.xvii. 3, _preached Dec._ 27, 1752.

_An Extraordinary Prediction relating to the Downfall of the House of Bourbon and the House of Austria_.

RELATED BY MR. JOHN WESLEY.

A LITTLE before the conclusion of the late war in Flanders, one who came from thence gave us a very strange relation; I knew not what judgment to form of this, but waited till John Haim should come over, of whose veracity I could no more doubt than of his understanding. The account he gave was this; Jonathan Pyrah was a member of our society in Flanders, I knew him some years, and knew him to be a man of an unblameable character. One day he was summoned to appear before the Board of General Officers; one of them said, What is this we hear of you? we hear you have turned Prophet, and that you foretell the downfall of the b.l.o.o.d.y house of Bourbon, and the haughty house of Austria; we should be glad if you were a real Prophet, and if your prophecies came true; but what sign do you give to convince us you are so, and that your predictions will come to pa.s.s? He readily answered, Gentlemen, I give you a sign: to-morrow, at twelve o'clock, you shall have such a storm of thunder and lightning as you never had before since you came into Flanders. I give you a second sign: as little as any of you except any such thing, as little appearance of it as there is now, you shall have a general engagement with the French within three days. I give you a third sign: I shall be ordered to advance in the first line; if I am a false Prophet I shall be shot dead at the first discharge, but if I am a true Prophet I shall only receive a musket-ball in the calf of my left leg. At twelve the next day there was such thunder and lightning as they never had in Flanders; on the third day, contrary to all expectation, was the general battle of Fontenoy; he was ordered to advance in the first line, and at the very first discharge he did receive a musket-ball in the calf of his left leg.

When the war was over he returned to England, but the story was got here before him, in consequence of which he was sent for by the countess of Stair, and several other persons of quality, who were desirous of hearing so surprising an account from his own mouth. He could not bear so much honour; it quite turned his brain. In a little time he went stark mad, and so he continues to this day, living still, as I apprehend, on Wibsey Moor Side, within a few miles of Bradford.

So much for this military Prophet. Mr. Wesley remarks in a note that he is since dead; but we are not able to ascertain whether there be any account of him and his predictions in the papers or other periodical publications of that time. If any gentleman is in possession of information on this subject, the intelligence is worth communicating to the public.

Part of this prophecy being fulfilled, the objects in view to be obtained by a publication are, what was the exact prophecy? whether the several circ.u.mstances mentioned did take place.

PROPHECIES OF MOTHER s.h.i.+PTON, AND MARTHA, THE GIPSY.

LONDON: _PUBLISHED FOR THE BOOKSELLERS_.

THE LIFE AND PROPHECIES OF MOTHER s.h.i.+PTON.

IN the second year of the reign of Henry VII., which was the year 1486, there lived a woman called Agatha s.h.i.+pton, at a place called Knaresborough, in Yorks.h.i.+re. She came of poor parentage, who died and left her, at the age of fifteen, dest.i.tute. After their decease, she still lived in the old house; but being now deprived of those helps she formerly enjoyed, she was obliged to seek relief from the parish; which she did, but with so much regret and grief, that she seemed in her begging rather to command alms, than in a humble manner to desire it.

Satan looked on her poverty to be great, and knowing her evil inclination (for you must understand that Satan is a good scholar), and perceiving that she was willing to accept of any proposition to change her condition, he, one time, as she was sitting melancholy under a tree by a river side, accosted her in the form of a very handsome young man.

"Pretty maid," said he, "why so sad? thy age is too tender for thy head to be troubled with the cares of the world; come, tell me what is the matter, and if it lie within my power to a.s.sist thee, as I am sure it doth, thou shalt not want a friend of me."

Agatha cast up her eyes, and seeing a face so lovely, could not suspect Satan hid in that comely shape, whereupon, in a lamentable tone, she expressed all that troubled her, informing him of her great wants, and that, not knowing how to work, she could not provide what her necessities required. "Pish," said Satan "this is nothing; be ruled by me, and all shall be well." She told him she would. Hereupon, he ordered her to meet him at the same place the next day, and he would bring some friends along with him; for he told her he resolved to marry her. She promised him she would; and accordingly they met. He came riding upon a stately horse, with a pillion behind him for his spouse, attended by a great many gallants (as they appeared), well mounted, and in a n.o.ble equipage.

Satan's attendants soon conveyed his mistress behind him; she not in the least doubting the reality of all she saw.

They needed neither switch nor spur to hasten them forward, the horses were fiery enough of themselves, and ran with that swiftness, that the wind could not overtake them in their full speed: soon they arrived at their journey's end, where seemed to be a very stately house, with a pair of great gates, which, at their approach, was opened by a porter in his livery gown. Alighting, she went in, where she saw a great many servants, who seemed, at the sight of her and their master, to show much respect and obeisance.

Now did Satan command rich garments to be brought, which she was immediately clothed with; and being thus richly attired, she was ushered into a great hall, where was a long table, furnished with all the varieties the whole world could afford; at the upper end of which table she was placed, next to her intended husband: all the rest of the guests placed themselves as they thought fit. As they had the choicest cheer, so they had the best of wines, and sweetest music.