It is now above a Century and Half since this “ Candle of the LORD” was first lighted up; which (no Doubt against the Mind of Him, who lit it) has been ever since almost totally hidden from the Eyes of our Nation, " under the Busbel,” either of an indolent Neglect, or of a scornful Disdain. I hope, however, that it may now at length be a feaSonable Junelure " for bringing it, with Honour, “ forth” out of it's undeserved Oblivion and Obscurity; and " for putting it on the Candlestic” of Publication; " that it may give it's Light to the whole “ House” of our Englih Dominions. (See Prov. xx, 27. Matt. v. 15.) In very Deed, I cannot help wishing, that, at least, every sincere Lover of the essential Light and Truth of GOD might hereby have a fair Opportunity given him of commencing an Acquaintance, and holding a profitable Interview with, our divinely - illuminated AUTHOR; which would be no small Satisfaction to myself to have contributed the very least Mite to.' Now, if any of these should, either on their own, or on Account of a certain Class in the religious World, have entertained a strong Prepossession and Prejudice against all VISIONS and VISIONARIES; I am sorry for it; and would only recommend it to them to learn of God " to judge and discriminate be“ tween Cattle and Catile.” (Exod. ix. 4. Ezek. xxxiv. 17, 20, 22.) And if others, going a Degree further, and allowing JOHN ENGELBRECHT to have been a true Child of God, a good Visionary, and a faithful Servant of our Lord Jesus CHRIST, for his own Time and Place; will yet fcruple whether his Testimony is not so much inferior to others of a later Date, as of Course to be now antiquated and in applicable to us in England, at this Time of Day: I will only beg their serious Attention to what will be offered on this Head in the sube. fequent Part of the present Address. After After this, I hope it will be clear to them, from the very Nature of the Thing, that no restrictive Locality, no Antiquatedness, no comparative In- , feriority of Dispensation, and the like, can, in this Case, take Place, and be justly alledged to depreciate it's Appearance to our Nation at this Time. For, I own, I cannot conceive how any Thing could lay a more equitable Claim to an universal Expediency for all Nations, for all Times, and for all Circumstances. And this of Course almost extorts a Confeffion from me, that my Heart seems to presage, in the divine Light, that there never was, perhaps, any Time and Nation, when and where a Publication of this Nature could have appeared with greater Propriety, and with a fairer Prospect of assisting to bring poor Sinners to true Repentance, and to the Primitive Faith in our dear Lord Jesus CHRIST. the difrom me, this of crimes, andiner For, to an observant, spiritual Eye, the two Circumstances following are very apparent: 1. That our Nation, being one of the most free under the Cope of the whole Heaven, has thereby a natural Incitement and Opportunity for carrying on, as every one is disposed, either the Work of God, or the Work of the Devil; and that, to the very highest Pitch of them both. . This is no chimerical Notion, but a palpable Fact, and a visible State of Things subsisting, in every Shape, before the Eyes of all Men. 2. All the Signs of the Times are every-where, through all CHRISTENDOM, conspiring to indicate the long - predicted « Hour of Temptation," mentioned Rev. iii. 10. and the Beginning of Sorrows,"? or Birth-Throes, which are to make Way for the BIRTH, or Appearance of that “ Man-Child, who 66 is cs is to rule all Nations with a Rod of Iron,” (Rev. xii. 5. comp. with Ifai. ix. 6--7.) Of Consequence they portend those near - approaching divine Judg- and for a REFORMATION much more radical, real, the vortached, in ti most importa This then being not without some good Grounds supposed, what could, I pray, be found more suitable for these Nations, and at such an awful Crisis of Times, than John ENGELBRECHT's mar- vellous Declarations concerning these Events; and, in Consequence thereof, his divine Enforcement of the very Doctrine our dearest and blessed Lord him- self preached, in similar Circumstances, (Matt. iv. 17.) and of that most important, and twice- re- peated Memento of his, (Luke xiii. 3, 5.) “ Except 36 ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish? ” And again, when the same most faithful and true Witness tells us, that “ As a Snare shall that Day come “ (and thus at an Hour they think not) on all them " that dwell upon the Face of the whole Earth. " IVatch ye therefore (proceeds he) and pray always, « that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all " chefe Things, that thall come to pass, and to " stand before the Son of Man." "That ye may 66 have Confidence, and not be ashamed before Him, cs at his Coming,” (1 John ji. 28.) That we ali 66 having Oil in our Veftels with our Lamps, may (at this very iniportant juncture) “ as wilė Virgins, " be ready to go in with the Bridegroom to the 'Marriage; before the Door be (irreversibly) si at his Comence, and of Man.” So much then for the present Propriety, or Sea- fonableness Effect upo the Heart an an Applicat But, as to the Translation itself, suffice it to say, that I have executed it as well, and as faithfully as my Talent in this Way would aumit. My general Aiin, at least, has been to exhibit a just and true Portrait of my AUTHOR to an English Eye.. I have endeavoured to make him write now,' as a Century and Half since, one of his English Contemporaries and Peers might, in similar Circumstances, be sup- . posed to have expressed himself in Writing: Or, perhaps, more as if one of our Contemporaries and Countrymen, of the same Order and Station in Life, were, were, under the same Impulse of the Holy Ghost, to express himself now, upon the fame Occasion, at this very Day. This is all that can be proposed by, and it may in some tolerable Degree be expected of, a Transator. I have therefore preferred and preserved (if not perfectly, yet as well as the Nature of the Work would allow his own native SIMPLICity of Stile, or Diction. Although I am not in-, fensible that it may often sound unpolished and mean in the Ears of some: Nor will his very long Digressions, his frequent Repetitions, and his Periods, sometimes rather involved and ill-connected, prove a Whit less tedious and tiresome, if not vexatious, to those who regard Words only; or who, in the true Athenian Taste and Spirit, are only seeking after as something newER STILL," in the Republic either of Religion, or Letters, (Acts xvii. 20, 21.) And yet, if I had studied to curtail these Redundancies, and to give his Sentences a better Turn, and further to dress him up in our modern Fashion; the Man himself would have been afterwards hardly known, and I should have only thereby disguised and exposed him. He is as he should be for all rightly-disposed Readers." To lift up a Tool upon God's Altar " of unhewn Stones, would pollute, or desecrate it,” (Exod. xx. 25.) “ To preach the very Cross of 66 Christ with Wisdom of Words, would make it " of none Effect,” (1 Cor. i. 17.)-A Thing this not enough considered in these degenerate Days; when too much a great Deal is rested upon the Elegancy of Words, and too little Regard is paid to the true Power of the Kingdom of God. (See 1 Cor. iv. 20.) Nothing is more plain than that the ever-blessed, ever. living, and all-sovereign God has reserved to himself the incommunicable and indefeasible Right and Prerogative of sending his own EXTRAORDI NARY |