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King of Spain. Upon which it shall come to pass, that all the fowls of the air shall be satiated with their flesh, that is, all the faithful Achates and confederates of King Frederic, having re'ceived the conquered countries as a reward for their labours, 'shall sit down, every one well contented with his portion, and shall possess it with gladness.' Such were the predictions of this doctor, who adhered to them with great pertinacity. Baudart [the great Calvinistic Historian] owns, that he had frequently heard him declare, I am very certain all will be accomplished; and I have neither said nor written any thing but what appeared to me to be plainly deducible from the text of the Apostle.'"

This prophesying humour, it is seen, was indulged by men occupying stations of respectability. David Herlicius, Professor of Natural Philosophy in Lubec, who died in 1636, was another of the prophetic race, who, like our English Lilly, promised great conquests to those who gave him good fees. De Witte, in his Account of Celebrated Physicians, says: "People of different nations frequently resorted to him: and, on account of his numerous experiments and the celebrity of his name, the Germans and foreigners asked his judgment about their horescopes. But above all others, he extolled the liberality of the Bohemians and the Poles." The reader will not require a formal statement of the reasons why the Bohemians asked his advice, since many of them were then exiles through the cruelty of the proud conqueror of their native land.-On the 15th of October, 1665, James Thomasius, the Lutheran Professor of Divinity at Leipsic, delivered an oration, on occasion of a solemn thanksgiving to God for the peace then concluded between the Emperor of Germany and the Ottoman Porte. The sanguine believers in the speedy commencement of the Millennium were much chagrined with that peace, because they had foretold that the reign of the Crescent was near its decline. On these prognosticators and D. Herlicius, Thomasius makes the following just reflections: Furnished with such arms as these, those persons sallied forth who have been desirous of late that we should believe 'speedily to behold the destruction of the Ottoman Empire. This has been done, I think, through great profanation of the holy scriptures, which they associate with predictions of a na⚫ture entirely different, and compel them to become interpreters 'to the dreams framed in their own imaginations.-But perhaps 'nothing affords a more powerful stimulus to this species of curiosity, than a persuasion of I-know-not-what kind of golden · age which will continue a thousand years, and during which, ' after God has overthrown his enemies in all directions, the be'loved flock shall live in a state of the greatest ease and delight. 'We are all captivated by the desire to exist in a land abounding 'with these blessings. If therefore any report promise to us

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'such a state of society, we imbibe the very sound of it with the greatest earnestness, and vigilantly look out for all those 'particular junctures which seem to favour these feelings.' He then informs his audience, that during the 17th century there never was any considerable war against the enemies of the true church without some predictions being delivered respecting the complete discomfiture either of the Pope or the Turks, or of both. 'Some persons,' he adds, ascribed the achievement of this great [future] conquest in the former German war to FREDERIC the Elector Palatine, while others claimed this laurel for Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden, and others for Charles Gustavus when nine years ago he was carrying on his devast❝ations in Poland.-D. HERLICIUS, who was probably in some ❝ other predictions a more felicitous astrologer than in this, wrote a pamphlet full of such predictions as these, and published it some time about the close of the last century. In it I behold 'Daniel, the Revelations, the saying of Elias, the prognostica❝tions of John Hiltenus, of Anthony Torquatus of Ferrara, and of the Turks themselves, the courses of the stars, and the con'junctions of the planets: All these he has enlisted and formed into one army, by which, in the minds of men, the Turks may 'be despatched in the last battle.'

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But the prophecies of Christopher Kotter, a native of Sprottau in Silesia, are the most remarkable specimens of the art. He received his first angelic communications in 1619, and continued to divulge his rhapsodies for several succeeding years. He introduced the Elector Palatine, the King of Bohemia, into his visions: This afforded him a pretext for waiting upon his majesty at Breslau in 1620, to acquaint him with his yet higher elevation and success. He also visited some of the minor German courts; for in those days of rapid changes, he contrived to prophesy smooth things to those who had full purses. But as he was exceedingly patriotic, his presages generally promised increasing felicity to the affairs of the Electer Palatine, and accumulated misfortunes to the Emperor Ferdinand. In the benighted regions of Moravia, Hungary, Silesia and Bohemia, our prophet's predictions became very popular; and were circulated, viva voce, and in manuscript, for political purposes. He was at length seized by the Emperor's Attorney General in Silesia; and after having been long immured in a prison, he was exposed on the pillory with this inscription over his head: This is that false prophet, who predicted events which have never happened! This enthusiast then retired into Lusatia, and died there in 1647.

The fame of Kotter's prophecies was greatly enhanced when they fell into the hands of that ingenious man and elegant scholar, the Rev. John Amos COMENIUS, the author of that very

useful book, JANUA LINGUARUM RESTAURATA, which was soon translated into twelve languages. He was pastor of the Protestant Church in the city of Fulneck in Moravia; and, after the great success of the Imperial arms against King Frederic in those regions, he and all other Protestant ministers were compelled to retire from Bohemia and Moravia. In his route to Poland, in 1625, he heard of Kotter, visited him at Sprottau, and took him into Poland. Comenius translated into the Bohemian language one of this enthusiast's revelations, which foretold the speedy overthrow of Antichrist, and of which the manuscript copies were soon multiplied, for the consolation of the Refugees, since they promised unnumbered triumphs to King Frederic. On his return from Poland, Comenius left Kotter in Silesia, and proceeded to Berlin, where he found, even among the refugees of Bohemia and Moravia various judgments had been formed about the new prophet: For while some considered him a true prophet, and especially when the post brought intelligence that the king of Denmark was raising an army; others declared Kotter to be a knave, who, having consumed all his substance, had in despair devoted himself to the vocation of a lying prophet.-This difference in judgment gave Comenius some uneasiness: But the assurances of the famous Christopher Pelargus, who had recently left the communion of the Lutherans and become a Calvinist, and who was then Superintendant General of the Churches of Brandenburgh, revived his drooping spirits: For, having examined Kotter at Berlin by order of the Elector, he declared to Comenius, that he ought neither to indulge in any doubts respecting the truth of the man's extraordinary mission, nor to repent of having translated his Revelations into the Bohemian language. In the History which Comenius gave of these Revelations, he says, that Pelargus afterwards addressed him in the following language: "You behold this collection of books,'--for that very eminent man was famous throughout all Germany for possessing a well furnished library, into which he had introduced me when I desired a more private conference with him,"You behold this library of mine; I have consulted the works of 'all the authors composing it, both ancient and modern, for the purpose of knowing what opinion we ought to form concerning this question-Are any new revelations, divine or angelical, to be admitted after the time of Christ and his apostles, and after 'the sealing of the Canon of the New Testament? But not one of them could resolve my scruples. I therefore betook my

• For some account of this man, consult the notes to the Works of Arminius, vol. I, p. 419, 450; in which is inserted an interesting letter from his colleague BERGIUS.-Pelargus was one of those who veered about from Lutheranism to Calvinism, when the young Marquis of Brandenburgh, at the instigation of his wife, (page 250,) changed his party: This divine had, unfortunately for his reputation, previously published several books in favour of the peculiarities of Lutheranism.

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'self to prayer, and most ardently beseeched God not to suffer his church to be deceived: This was the practice which I adopted, rising frequently from my bed in the night and prostrating 'myself upon my face. But at length, after all my musings and divine suggestions, I have nothing more than this to say on the subject-The Lord God of the holy prophets hath sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done!', which are the very expressions that the angel employed in the 22nd Chap. of the REVELATIONS."-This is as dangerous an instance of tempting God, as that recorded concerning the bigotted Festus Hommius, who asked the Divine Being to shew him whether Arminianism or Calvinism was the truth, and who, after a single prayer to this effect, received what he interpreted into a supernatural intimation to persevere steadfastly in those opinions which were generally received, that is, in those of Calvin!!

*

Comenius says, at that period, in 1626, the dowager Electress Juliana, the mother of King Frederic, informed a Moravian nobleman of high distinction, who as well as herself was then a refugee in Berlin, that she had received a letter from the king her son, enquiring whether it was possible to obtain a manuscript copy of the prophecies of the Silesian. The nobleman procured one; but not being able to present it himself on account of indisposition, he commissioned Comenius, who was still at Berlin, to perform that service for him. Instead of delivering it into the hands of the old Electress, Comenius pro ceeded without delay to King Frederic at the Hague, from whom he obtained an audience, and delivered a luminous speech, of which the following is an extract: Since all the prognostica'tions of Kotter have been committed to writing, and since in them your Majesty and your royal offspring are introduced as the principal personages of this Divine Comedy, it seemed an absurdity to those persons who have till now preserved these 'prophecies in their own hands-to withhold them from the knowledge of your majesty. They are not, however, delivered to your Majesty with the design of imposing upon you a 'necessity of absolutely believing them, but for these two purposes: FIRST.-That they may be preserved in your majes ty's possession as in sacred archives, to be produced at some future period as a testimony; in that case, after these predic ❝tions have been completely and openly fulfilled, it will not be in the power of any man to suspect, or calumniously to report, that they had been formed subsequently to the occurrence of the events predicted. SECONDLY.-That an opportunity may be 'thus afforded to you of observing, whether it is not probable 'that Divine Providence may dispose of such concerns as these, ' and mature them into events. For if we do not refuse to lis

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* The Works of Arminius, vol. 1, p. 405.

⚫ten to political disquisitions, astrological predictions, or simi⚫lar conjectures of men of prudence, and to learn what their "sentiments are respecting any impending change in public 'affairs, why should we reject these prophecies which are derived from a HIGHER ORIGIN? The persons therefore, in whose custody they were, have taken the liberty to transcribe from 'the authentic manuscript an exact copy which they now present by me to your majesty with their most humble and res'pectful services'-Being the bearer of such golden promises as these, Comenius was graciously received by the Ex-King Frederic, and dismissed with a handsome present.

Comenius was invited by the English Parliament, in 1641, to assist in the reformation of the public schools of this kingdom; but, on his arrival in London, he found his patrons too much occupied with the ebullition of the political troubles which had then begun to display themselves. The knowledge, however, which he then gained of our domestic affairs, was of service to him in his subsequent prophetic enterprizes. In 1657, he published at Amsterdam, where he then resided under the patronage of the opulent house of DE GEER, a large collection of prophecies entitled, Lux in Tenebris, "Light in Darkness." This book contained Kotter's prophecies, those of Christina Poniatovia, a female enthusiast, and those of Nicholas Drabi cius, a minister and prophet in Moravia: It promised miracles to those heroes who should engage in the extirpation of the House of Austria and the Pope. Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, Cromwell in England, and Ragotski of Transylvania, were among the number of the mighty warriors, to whom Comenius, in this and subsequent extravagant publications, promised the high honour of achieving splendid triumphs for the establishment of Calvinism, which should become the universal religion, and be made a praise in the earth.

I was gratified to find from Comenius's own account, that a few of the Bohemian ministers disapproved of the promulgation of Kotter's early Revelations. "Two of these ministers, with some of the elders of their church, requested that the manuscript might be suppressed, whether it was the fiction of some ingenious man, or the production of a fanatic. It was dangerous for two reasons: FIRST. It was injurious to the consciences of men, if they suffered themselves to be seduced by it from the sure word of God, to uncertain figments of this description. SECONDLY.-It exposed the Reformed to the loss of their liberties or their lives, if such predictions should fall into the hands of their adversaries.”—The Professor Nicholas Arnold, to whom we have already alluded, page 198, wrote an able reply to the second production of Comenius, and shewed the extreme

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