My reasons for this opinion I shall briefly mention:
God is just. We are sure that the Judge of all the earth will do right. Our short-sighted reason may suggest such a thought as this — Why doth not the providence of God send the Gospel to the poor benighted heathen? Why did He permit the delusions of Mahometanism and Popery to overspread the greater part of the earth? But if God is just and good in permitting Pagans, Papists and Mahometans to be tainted with their delusions in consequence of the sins of their forefathers, who made a bad use of the light while they had it, God Almighty permits a wicked couple to have a numerous family, and to train up their children in sentiments and practices that will endanger their salvation; and yet God is holy and good. And as the Protestant makes a bad use of the Gospel, there is cause to fear that their posterity, for several years, will sit in darkness and the shadow of death. Again, this shall be for the glory of God. It is a Scripture doctrine that all things will terminate in His glory, though we do not know how. It may satisfy us that it will be so. Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. To me it appears probable that there was never such darkness upon the face of the earth as there will be a few years before the dawn of the Millennium, from the resurrection of the witnesses. But before it appears, the darkness will be thick, and the persecution severe. The faith of the Church will be at a low ebb. They will adopt the language of the Psalmist, “Will the Lord cast off for ever, and will He be angry evermore? Is His mercy clean gone for ever? Doth His promise fail for evermore?”
Lastly, this is His usual method with His Church.
Let us consult Scripture and experience, and we will find that this is the case. A little before the plot of Haman was defeated, the Church was in extreme danger. A little before Jacob was made happy, he is brought to say, “All these things are against me.” A little before the dawn is the darkest time of the night. The dawn of the Millennium will be the resurrection of the witnesses. A little before this the darkness will be very thick — the Protestant religion will be persecuted, and their interest very low. It is likely that many of them will receive the glorious crown of martyrdom during the three and a half prophetic days. Popery will reign triumphant. They will then rejoice and send presents to one another. They are happy that the men who galled their consciences and exposed their errors are removed out of the way. The courage and constancy of the martyrs will animate the rest of the Protestants to suffer the utmost effects of the rage of the Popish party. God will wonderfully secure their persons and hide them from their rage. The beast, however, and his adherents, are still uneasy; and, in order to make sure work, they enter into a plot. Very like themselves they are suspicious, and not without cause, that all their new converts are not sincere. The Pope and Cardinals, to promote the cause of the Church, engage a number of the most zealous Catholics in all his dominions, and bind them with an oath of secrecy to cut off in one night all the new Protestant converts; and with this view they are to engage men they can depend on, in every corner, and these are to be prepared for the bloody field. The miserable victims are to be invited to partake of the universal joy. No sooner do they get them within their power than a cruel carnage ensues. They spare neither friend nor brother. This is the cause of God and of the holy mother church; and therefore they think they do good service. They imagine it will be an easy matter for them to manage the few fugitives that are hiding themselves in caves and mountains. As for those half converts and others who did not turn, being protected by the favour and interest of great friends, they are all cut to pieces. The bloody butchers spare neither age nor sex, friend nor foe. All the Papal dominions are filled with woe and lamentation. The people of God are wonderfully protected by Him; they look as believing their temporal salvation to be nigh. They agree privately to appoint a night for watching, fasting and prayer. The night they appoint for wrestling with their God is the night the bloody Papists appoint for their cruel work. There will be a remarkable downpouring of the Spirit, and they are made to believe that God will work wonders for them, and they are not disappointed. He does so unknown to them. And next day they hear of the murder of their unhappy brethren. They see, however, the hand of God in their safety. The Papists think they have fixed Popery on an immortal basis. Instead of this they shall find to their cost that they have given it a most terrible blow. The bloody deed disgusts all the powers of Europe. They are shocked at the bloody spirit of Popery. Even Catholics of humanity shudder at the deed. They cause the blood-hounds who killed their friends and relatives to say that the people they murdered were Papists. In consequence of this, there is an edict in favour of Protestants to profess their own religion without molestation. The Gospel is preached with success, and the Church looks forward for better days. The resurrection of the witnesses is the morning of the Millennium and a prelude of that wonderful and glorious era. But it may be objected that there is a great degree of knowledge in the world — that there is a spirit of liberty extending among all ranks — that therefore such events are improbable: besides, we have the Gospel in Protestant Churches preached in its purity, and it is hoped the candlestick will never be entirely removed. But the darkness may overspread and be very thick, notwithstanding, in many places. The Romans were a learned people at the time when the Gospel was first preached to them, for it appeared soon after the Augustine age; but we know that in a few centuries the most fertile provinces were overrun with numbers of barbarians, who spread havoc and ignorance wherever they appeared. What people were ever fonder of liberty than the Romans? Yet they were first enslaved by their Emperors: then by the hands of Goths and Vandals, and last of all by the infallible head of their Church. The barbarians enslaved their bodies, and the Pope enslaved their minds.
As to our having the Gospel in purity among us, can we pretend to have it in greater purity than it was preached at Rome? It is acknowledged that we have the Gospel preached and the ordinances administered in great purity among us. But we must say that the Gospel was preached with greater purity to the Romans than it is to us. They had the personal presence of the Apostles, and they had this additional advantage over us, that they had the faith of the Gospel confirmed by miracles. They had ocular demonstration, which bore down all opposition. Notwithstanding all this, the Roman Church in process of time became a corrupt and idolatrous church. If they fell, so may we; “Let us not be high-minded, but fear.” Contempt of the Gospel and immorality provoked God to bring in barbarous nations among them to punish them for their sins. Ignorance overspread the empire, and this ignorance became the mother of Popish delusion. Our sins, in like manner, may bring similar punishment. We have lukewarmness in religion, and we know the express threatenings that are levelled at that particular sin. The Protestant Church is doubly infected with this sin. If God did not spare other Churches, what ground have we to expect that He will spare us? There is cause to fear that our contempt of the Gospel, our lukewarmness in religion, and the immorality of many false Protestants, will bring all but total darkness upon our posterity. From what has been said of the Pope’s religion, some may be apt to suspect that we exclude all of that communion from salvation. It is answered, that if God reserved to Himself seven thousand souls in the kingdom of Israel, may He not reserve many thousands in the Church of Rome from the contagion of idolatry. Many might escape the plague if it visited the city or metropolis; but a man would advise his friend to leave it, because he believed it would be dangerous to stay. The words of Scripture to the people of that Church are — “Come out of her, that ye be not partakers of her plagues” — a proof that he has some in that idolatrous Church.