So much for Prophecies. There are also _Signs_, which are look’d upon as Forerunners of the Coming of our Saviour; and, therefore, may give us some Direction how to judge of the Distance or Approach of that great Day. Thus many of the Fathers thought the _coming of Antichrist_ would be a Sign to give the World Notice of its approaching End. But we may easily see, by what hath been noted before, what it was that led the Fathers into that Mistake. They thought their six thousand Years were near an End, as they truly were, according to that Chronology they followed: and therefore they concluded the Reign of Antichrist must be very short, whensoever he came, and that he could not come long before the End of the World. But we are very well assur’d, from the Revelation of Saint _John_, that the Reign of Antichrist is not to be so short and transient; and from the Prospect and History of _Christendom_, that he hath been already upon his Throne many hundreds of Years. Therefore this Sign wholly falls to the Ground; unless you will take it from the Fall of Antichrist, rather than from his first Entrance. Others expect the _coming_ of _Elias_, to give Warning of that Day, and prepare the Way of the Lord. I am very willing to admit that _Elias_ will come, according to the Sense of the Prophet _Malachi_, _Chap. iv. 5, 6._ but he will not come _with Observation_, no more than he did in the Person of _John_ the Baptist; He will not bear the Name of _Elias_, nor tell us he is the Man that went to Heaven in a fiery Chariot, and is now come down again to give us Warning of the last Fire. But some divine Person may appear before the second coming of our Saviour, as there did before his first coming, and by giving a new Light and Life to the Christian Doctrine, may dissipate the Mists of Error, and abolish all those little Controversies amongst good Men, and the Divisions and Animosities that spring from them: Enlarging their Spirits by greater Discoveries, and uniting them all in the Bonds of Love and Charity, and in the common Study of Truth and Perfection. Such an _Elias_ the Prophet seems to point at; and may he come, and be the great Peace-maker and Preparer of the Ways of the Lord! But at present, we cannot from this Sign make any Judgment when the World will end.