"account of ------------- a certain prophecy "of one Arise Evans, which you have "heard some of your friends speak of in "terms of astonishment; as I have his "book which is scarce, I am able to give 6. you that satisfaction. But it may not be amiss first to let you into the character "of the prophet. Arise Evans lived and flourished in the last century, during "the time of our civil confusions. 66 66 He was a warm Welshman, and not disposed "to be an idle spectator in so busy a scene. "So he left his native country for London, "and finding on his arrival there that Inspiration was all running one way, projected to make a division of it from "the Roundheads to the Cavaliers, and set 66 66 66 he up for a Prophet of the Royalists. He “did, and said many extraordinary things "to the grandees of both parties and it "must be owned, he had a spice of what "we seldom find wanting in the ingre"dients of a modern prophet, I mean prevarication." "Of this he has himself given us a "notable example in the 42nd page of "his Tract, called an Echo from Heaven, "which, because it contains an uncom"mon fetch of wit, I shall describe. "There are two confessions," says he, "subscribed by my hand in the city of London, which if not now, will in 66 "after ages be considered. The one was "made at the Spittle, and subscribed with the right hand, in the aforesaid 66 vestry, before Sir Walter Earl; and "that is a confession made by the inner 66 man, or new man; the other confes"sion is a confession of the flesh, called "the outward man or old man; and "the confession made before Green (the 'Recorder), and subscribed with the "left hand, as the difference in the. writing, being compared, will make "it appear. I know the bench, and the people thought I recanted, but alas! they were deceived.” 66 66 66 Well, but this very man has in the "77th and 78th pages of this Echo printed "for the author in 12. and sold at his "house in Long Alley in Black Friers, "1653, second edition with additions, a prophecy which astonishes all who care 66 fully consider it. It is in these words, "A vision that I had presently after the king's death. I thought that I was in "a great hall like the king's hall, or the 66 castle in Winchester, and there was "none there but a judge that sat upon "the bench and myself; and as I turned "to a window in the north-westward, "and looking into the palm of my hand, there appeared to me a face, "head and shoulders like the Lord Fair"fax's, and presently it vanished. Again, "there arose the Lord Cromwell, and "he vanished likewise; then arose a young face and he had a crown upon "his head, and he vanished also; and "another young face arose with a crown upon his head, and he vanished also; "and another young face arose "with a crown upon his head, and "vanished in like manner; and as I "turned the palm of my hand back again to me and looked, there did 66 appear no more in it. Then I turned "to the judge and said to him, there "arose in my hand seven; and five of "them had crowns; but when I turned 66 my hand, the blood turned to its veins, "and these appeared no more: So I "awoke. The interpretation of this vision 66 is, that after the Lord Cromwell, there "shall be kings again in England, which 66 thing is signified unto us by those that "arose after him, who were all crowned, "but the generations to come may look for a change of the blood, and of the "name in the royal seat, after five kings "once passed, 2 Kings x. 30. (The "words referred to in this text are these) "And the Lord said unto Jehu, because "thou hast done well, &c. thy children F "of the fourth generation shall sit upon "the throne of Israel."* Sauvages mentions, that a woman, subject to epilepsy, saw, during the paroxysm, dreadful spectres, and that real objects appeared magnified to an extraordinary degree: a fly seemed as large as a fowl, and a fowl appeared equal in size to an ox. In coloured objects, green predominated with her; a curious fact, which I have seen verified in other convulsive diseases. very intelligent boy, who was under my care for convulsions of the voluntary muscles, when he looked at some large caricatures, glaringly coloured with red and yellow, insisted on it that they were covered with green, till his paroxysm abated, during which his intellects had not been at all affected. Jortin's Rem. on Ecclesiast, Hist. App. to vol. I. A |