Great in respect of place or chief residence where this power and great people are seated and by way of eminency as a Mystical City it may indeed well bear the Bell away For what people have given further occasion to be spoken of in respect of power people and place of chief residence throughout the whole world as Rome has as will hereafter be made more evident III. Mystery Babylon is not only a mysticaâ— City and Woman but a bad Woman and City a City of Confusion For so the word Babel or Babylon signifies viz. Evil or Confusion Parallel Rome Papal or Church of Rome is not only a mystical Woman City but a very evil Woman a City indeed of confusion there is the name of the lamb much spoken of but his doctrine contemn'd slighted and under valued and his Laws and Ordinances trampleâ— upon and notoriously violated his institution not regarded nor his example imitated either by the Bishop himself his Cardinals or inferior Orders they having his humility and self-denial only in their mouths but none of it iâ— their hearts like those the apostle speaketh of who in words profess they know God but in workâ— deny him For under this verbal and pretended humility lies covered the greatest pride in the world and under this verbal meekness and self-denial the greatest oppression cruelty superstition covetousness vain glory and love of the world that ever was manifest as appears by their pompous and glistering garbs their cruel persecutions and the vast sums of money brought in from all parts of their dominions by sleights cunning and deceitful Cheats Besides a meer hodg-podg of principles one Order or Fraternity professing that which another writes against and cries down which is the more strange to come from a Church infallible and that cannot err Besides the strange mixtures in their visible worship of traditions and humane inventions of lying and diabolical tricks of blessing by a Cross Pardons and Indulgences for money consecrating holy water and cleansing by it which are too numerous and tedious to relate and less needful to mention because so well known to all men And let any people in the Christian world pretending to religion be compared to them for supernumeraries trifling â—nsignificant ceremonies crouded into their pretended worship Nay let all the people in the Christian world be laid in the ballance against the Church of Rome in this respect and they will be found inconceivably wanting for which we have this Reason to â—udge her to be Babylon or the City of confusion If there is more confusion in contrariety of principles practices contradicting pretensions supernumeraries foolish and unscripturâ— inventions crouded into their visible worship in the Church of Rome than is to be found amongst any sort of people pretending to Religion in all the world besides then is Rome Papal or the Church of Rome the great Babylon or City of confusion But there is more confusion in the forementioned respects to be found in the Church of Rome than in any other Church or people in the world pretending to Religion Ergo Rome Papal is Mystery Babylon IV. Mystery Babylon is not only set forth 〈◊〉 a Woman and City of Confusion but is also called A WHORE a word which carries in it one of the highest Impeachments yet no other that was given to Israel Judah Jerusalem in the days of old upon the very same reason Isa. 57 3. and 16. 17. and Hos. 4. 8. 5. 3. For they being joyned in covenant with God as a woman is to an husband to be the Lords to serve him in Obedience and Subjection did like to an adulterous Woman break Wedlock and set up other Lovers or Idols in his stead and continued so a long time till a Bill of Divorce wâ— given and God proclaimed them Adulteresses and that he was not their husband nor they his wife but a whore and divorced Yet it is observable that they tho they worshipped Idols cryed The Temple the Temple of the Lord are we and would by all means be accounted the Church of God. Paral. Even so in like manner Rome Papal or the Church of Rome is not only called a Woman But according to Scripture History and notorious matter of Fact she is a whore having utterly adulterated from what she was once and so may justly bear that brand or black name for in the Apostles time she joined her self to the Lord to be his by firm tyes of a Gospel covenant and profession and as a renowned Spouse of Jesus Christ owned and professed him in the time of heathenish Rome and received the Apostles and Servants of God amongst them and withstood the fury of the Emperors suffering Persecution and had their faith spoken of throughout the whole World but yet after all this like Israel of old She left God Jesus Christ and almost all his Holy Laws and Ordinances and made Idols to her self of Saints Angels Reliques and Images upon which she doted and forsook the Son of God upon the working and appearance of the vile person or man of Sin who exalted himself into the place of Christ and became her head by which means she is so far degenerated from what she once was that she retains nothing of what really appertains to true godliness but the bare names of God Christ and Christian Religion having corrupted the true worship of the Son of God her first Husband and notoriously abandoned obedience and subjection to him taking this vile person the Pope to be her head and chief guide and setting him up in the place of and in dignity above Christ her first head and only guide of her youth and yet like Israel of old still cryes The true Church the Holy Catholick Church and Mother Church are we having on her forehead a strange mystery written i. e. God Christ Truth Verity Unity Universality Infallibility And yet with that on her forehead and in her heart too is written Devil Pope Lying Blasphemy Idolatry Deceit Perjury Blood and Horrible Cruelty towards the best of men professing Christ and Religion in uprightness and truth for which her abominable Idolatry and change of her first Head and Husband and setting up this vile Person with which she commits most horrid lewdness or Spiritual Whoredom together with the Kings of the Earth she is ranked by the Holy Ghost amongst the worst of Women and stil'd the great Whore and as her type and predecessor of old a well favoured Harlot but since her Spiritual Adultery and Whoredom hath been so apparently proved upon her by many worthy and eminent authors or Protestant Writers we shall conclude this black character with this following Argument and proceed to the next mark If there be no body of professing People in the Christian World that have so apparently declined or adulterated from what they once were deserting the holy headship doctrine example and right government of Jesus Christ having set up another visible publick and universal head
of the Church in room and stead of him whose Power Laws and Edicts are preferred above and before the authority laws and precepts of the Lord Jesus Christ as Rome Papal or Church of Rome hath done then the Church of Rome is mystery Babylon or the great Whore spoken of But there is no body of professing people in the Christian World nor throughout the Earth who have so apparently declined adulterated and deserted the Holy Headship Doctrine Example and right Government of Jesus Christ ut supra as Rome Papal or Church of Rome hath done Ergo Rome Papal or Church of Rome is mystery Babylon the great Whore. If any should think this argument not weighty let them shew if they can that some other people different from the Church of Rome have made as great or like change in point of Religion and Headship and matterâ— thereto pertaining so as this black character of Whore great Whore may more fitly and fully be made to meet upon them and we must confess our argument not weighty but till then we conclude it carries conviction in the Bowels of it V. Mystery Babylon is not only set forth by a Woman City of Confusion and Whore but also a great City and great Whore and the great City was divided c. Rev. 16. 19 And the Woman which thou sawest is that great City Rev. 17. 18. I will shew thee the Judgment of the great Whore Rev. 17. 1. I think it necessary to reassume this character again the Spirit of God noting this as a most eminent mark of her Paral Now that the Church of Rome is not only a Whore and Mystical City but a very great City and Whore will yet appear more evident 1. She hath a great name no name so great in the Christian World as the name of Rome she is called a Queen and being joined by Contract to her universal Head viz. the Pope or Man of Sin she would seem to be far greater than Emperors and temporal Princes and pretends a power to give them their Crowns and set them upon their Heads and kick them off again at pleasure 2. Great in Power She gives Rules and Laws to Kingdoms advances her Ecclesiastical Edicts above Temporal she sets the Pope and the chiefest of her Sons above secular Jurisdiction makes them unacountable and pretends a power to Absolve to Bless and Curse at her pleasure and without controversy the lesser is blessed of the greater 3. Great in multitude There are no People besides that are in a spiritual united Body and visible community professing Christianity comparable to her for multitude or the vast numbers of her Children 4. Great in actions vile actions such as deposing and poysoning Princes fomenting jealousies raising Wars setting Nations together by the Ears invading rights and properties of Nations and Kingdoms by subtile insnarements and cunning stratagems making tumults and uproars contriving Masscres burning Cities and carrying on dreadful devastations where she is gain-said and that which adds to her greatness is that invincible confidence she hath that all persons and things are made for her and given to her so that all things she doth are allowed as Legal and Just in Heaven tho the actions are most vile and as unhumane as any can be in the Judgment of any undeceived mortal from whence we shall frame this argument Arg. If there be no united Body of People or visible Community in the Christian World that is so great in name power multitudes and actions vile actions as Rome Papal or Church of Rome hath been and still is then the Church of Rome is mystery Babylon But there is no united Body of People or Community in the Christian World that is so great in name power multitude and actions vile actions as Rome Papal or Church of Rome Ergo Rome Papal is this great City Whore or Mystery Babylon VI. Mystery Babylon is said to sit upon many Waters which is expounded to be People Multitudes Nations and Tongues Rev. 17. 1 17. And he said unto me the Waters which thou sawest where the Whore sitteth are people and multitudes and nations and tongues c. which according to the learned Mede Peter Du Moulin and other famous Protestant writers is more than a third part of the ten considerable parts which the Roman Monarchy fell into not long before the Pope that man of Sin and Head of mystery Babylon assumed the imperial Seat and Throne which afterwards became ten Kingdoms with Crowned Heads assisting the Beast against the Lamb and Persecuting of the Saints distinguished into ten Kingdoms of the Empires I. of Germany II. France III. England IV. Scotland V. Denmark VI. Polonia VII The Kingdom of Spain VIII The Kingdom of Navarre IX The Kingdom of Hungary X. The Kingdom of Naples and Sicily All which Rome Papal had in possession as our French author saith in the days of Pope Leo the tenth Paral. So then it appears evidently that the Church of Rome has directly this mark of Mystery Babylon also she sitting upon many Waters viz. people multitudes nations and languages that she sate upon or ruled over more than one third part of the ten which was formerly under the Roman Empire in its civil state is evident whichâ— more than one third part hath since fallen into ten Kingdoms under the Government of ten Crowned Heads and have all agreed to give their Power to this last Beast as they received power as Kings one hour with him according to what was foretold which makes good what St. John â—n the Apocalypse hath made known as also Daniel concerning the little horn which had â— mouth speaking great things whose looks were more stout than his fellows Dan. 7. by whom three of the first horns of the Roman power in its civil state were pluck't up by the roots and in their place succeeded ten Kings or Crowned Heads who have their Crowns given to them by this last Beast and as they had their Crowns given by and hold their Kingly power under the Pope little Horn last Beast or man of Sin in requital of his fatherly care in giving his Sons so great a Patrimony so they give their power to him and ingaged against the Lamb in making War with and persecuting the Saints of the most High and will do so till the VVord of God or Prophecy of Daniel and Revelations of St. John c. is fulfilled which ten Crowned Heads answer to the ten Toes in Nebuchadnezzars Image and to the ten Horns in this 17th of the Apocalypse which are so concerned in the Beasts Kingdom and who will at last by the gracious providence of God that is some of them be overcome by the Lamb and turn to hate the Whore and make her desolate whom before they for a long time join'd with and supported and for whose pleasure they did persecute the Saints which ten States or Kingdoms are by our French author Peter du Moulin in his book called the accomplishment
to Lie Swear and For-swear to Kill Slay and Murther such they call Hereticks tho never so Godly if it be for the cause of Holy Church with a thousand things of the like nature which the people do believe and dare not disown upon their Salvation but boldly adventure to ingage at all opportunitys to Fight and make War burn Citys lay waste Countries and Kingdoms and destroy by Massacres and all manner of Murthering ways all Ranks and Degrees of Men who oppose the horrid principles of this vile Church and cursed practices of these Sons of Belial Nay they will go boldly to their own deaths when convicted and justly condemned for such like villanies and deny to day what they were convicted of yesterday and tho never so notoriously guilty yet will take it upon their Death they are as innocent as the Child unborn what can this be tho they drink it down as sweet Wine but an Infusion of the rankest and most deadly Poyson that the lowest celler of the bottomless Pit can afford the very Wine of the Whores Fornication and the most dangerous Intoxication in the World Which is attended with this aggravation i. e. the best medicines of the wisest Physicians will not recover them for Babylon having made the multitude drunk with this sort of Poysoned Wine how rare is it to have any to come to themselves or to their right minds again And to shut up this Head take this argument Arg. If no people in the Christian World have made the multitude of the common People or Inhabitants of the Earth drunk i. e. corrupted and Intoxicated their minds with wicked Lyes Falshood and detestable Doctrines as Rome Papal or Church of Rome hath done Then Rome Papal c. is Mystery Babylon But no People in the Christian World have made the multitude of the Inhabitants of the Earth Drunk i. e. corrupted and intoxicated their minds by wicked Lies falsehood and detestable Doctrine such as before mentioned as the Church of Rome hath done Ergo Rome Papal is mystery Babylon IX Mystery Babylon is said to sit upon a Scarlet-colour'd Beast and this Beast is full of the names of Blasphemy And I saw a Woman sit upon a Scarlet coloured Beast full of the names of Blasphemy c. Rev. 17. 3. So that it appears the Woman and the Beast are distinct by the Woman is meant the false Church by the Beast is meant the secular power or civil state or the Antichrist or that Government that is the eighth and of the seventh who assumeth both the Civil and Ecclesiastical Authority by whom the Whore false Church and Worship is supported That the Beast and Whore are distinct is evident 1. From other Prophecies relating to the same thing 2. From the letter of the text 3. From arguments grounded on reason 4. From the confession of the Whore her self 1. From the Prophecies in the Scripture describing the same state of the Roman Monarchy Dan 2. the latter part of the Image is partly Iron and partly Clay two states that were really distinct that could never so in corporate as to become one 2. From the letter of the text I saw a Woman sit upon a Scarlet-coloured Beast full of the names of Blasphemies The colours of the Royal and Imperial vestments as the Angel declared them distinct so the Apostle saw them distinct 3. They appear to be distinct from argments grounded upon reason For 1. The Beast is in the Masculine Gender the Whore in the Feminine Gender 2. Because the Whore is said to ride upon the beast the one carrying the other 3. The horns being of the Beast 't is said shall hate the Whore if they were not distinct the Whore must hate her self and eat her own flesh c. which is nonsensical 4. The Beast shall abide tho in captivity after the Whore is thrown down and destroy'd 4. From the plain confession of the Whore her self they are distinct who saith I sit a queen I am no Widdow c. Ergo she has a Head or Husband which is the vile Person little Horn and Ecclesiastical Beast or that man of Sin St. Paul declared should rise after the then present Romish power which did lett was taken away which the primitive Fathers as Tertullian Cyprian Jerome and others understood to be the Imperial power in its pure civil iron or unmixt-state or Legs of the Image Dan. 2. Paral. Rome Papal or Church of Rome hath not only drawn into Idolatry the Kings of the Earth great men abusing God his Son Jesus Christ and the Christian Religion and the blessed books of the Old and New Testament but she hath made the lower and ruder sort of the people drunk too as hath been shewed And 't is no wonder she thinks she may do any thing having a dispensation from heaven as she pretends which the Pope keeps the Keys of fearing no power on Earth And now that she hath the secular power to support her upon which she sits or rides in great pomp is evident and that they are really distinct for what of the secular power is still left at Rome is under the conduct and management of the Church there being no civil administration of Justice or exercise of Laws but what is authorized and allowed by the Pope the Head of this Ecclesiastical State to make this further evident the Pope doth not only exercise a power of appointing seculars at Rome and near to it but he claims the like supremacy abroad in other Kingdoms if the secular Princes fall off from him or will not be reconciled to him and own him as head of the Church he will excommunicate and depose them and takes away their Crownâ— and Sceptres from them that the Pope is a temporal Prince as well as an ecclesiastical Bishop i. e. makes Laws exacts Tribute raises Souldiers and acts a Monarch is notoriously known which fairly affords him the title of Beast that his Royal and Scarlet Robes the Chair he sits in to his very Hose and Shoes with the Vestments of his Cardinals is Scarlet so that ye need not doubt but here you have the Scarlet coloured Beast besides no man can reasonably doubt that what the Civil power claims the Ecclesiastical power exercises and that this Princely Pope is in the Masculine and this Harlot or false Church in the Feminine Gender is owned by all partys That the Church state doth sit upon ride and govern the secular at Rome Italy and all its Territories that the Church of Rome owns that she is no Widdow but hath a head called his Holiness or supreme ruler of the Church is so evident that we cannot find them upon any file of record of controversy There remains therefore no more to be done here sith this black character of Mystery Babylon doth so well meet in the Romish Church Arg. If there be no visible state in the Christian World that doth so apparently sit upon command and govern the Beast
will find she out-does all Commâ—nities in the World. Arg. If no people in the Christian World hath such riches splendour outward pomp and bravery in the maintenance and management of their Worship as Rome Papal or Church of Rome hath Then Rome Papal or Church of Rome is this gaudy Harlot or Mystery Babylon But there is no People or Church in the Christian World that hath such riches splendour outward pomp and bravery in the maintenance and management of their Religious Worship as the Church of Rome hath Ergo the Church of Rome is Mystery Babylon XII As Mystery Babylon is thus adorned with outward pomp and external riches and glory so likewise another mark or character the Holy Ghost hath laid down of her is this i. e. upon her fore-head a name is written MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH Mother of Harlots may refer in part to external Whoredoms but chiefly 't is to be taken in a mystical sense i. e. she breeds and brings forth Spiritual Harlots viz. unclean Communities Parallel That this Character meets directly in the Church of Rome is very clear upon her forehead denotes as our late worthy Annotators observe the open guilt â—nd impudence of this Spiritual Harlot Mystery Babylon that is there is a Mystery in what follows in her name the Great not to be understood of the Chaldean Babylon but of a City or Policy under the Gospel as cap. 11. 8. she is called Spiritual Sodom and Egypt so in a spiritual or mystical sense she is called Babylon because a City like to Babylon for Idolatry and Persecution of God's Israel Not a meer Harlot but one that breed up Harlots and nourishes Idolatry communicating it to others and this is the true name of Rome instead of Mother Church 1. Here is a name written in capital Letters and written upon her fore-head so as to be read of all i. e. there is no way to hide oâ— cover her Whoredoms or to defend or deliver her self from being the Mother of Harlots if this were not to be seen and read by all inlightened Christians and Professors it would not not so much concern us for if the Book of the Revelations were not written for the Christian World it leaves us at an uncertainty nor are we in a capacity to make a Judgment in this great case who this great Whoâ—â— is 2. Nay and if this Babylon were a small and private People and Community of Christians or such who pretend themselves so to be she could not be called Great Babylon and Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth But Rome is a great People a great Whore or false Church and her detestable Spiritual Adultery appears obvious to the whole World nay her Images and Idolatry causes both Jews and Turks the more to hate and abhor that Christian Religion which she professeth as it has been manifestly made known by many worthy Writers 3. And for Mystery see what we have said in the first Chapter of this Treatise wherein is opened that strange Mystery of the Romish Church Is it not this Mystery Babylon that says she is the true Church by pretending to Visibility as one of the chief Evidences thereof and yet 't is positively said That the true Woman or Church of God was for the space of 1260 years in the Wilderness Rev. 12. where she was hid all that time or abode in an obscure condition Is it not a Riddle and confus'd Mystery that she being Queen Regent riding upon the Beast in state all along and yet that very poor and distressed Woman that fled into the Wilderness and abides there in a suffering condition all the time of the Beasts Reign Is not this a Riddle and strange Mystery that one pretending her self to be the only true Church of God and Mother of Peace Purity and Charity and yet notoriously known to be the breeder bringer forth and cherisher of Division Falshood most Bloody Butcheries and Barbarous Cruelties and Murders 4. She is called Babylon or Babel i. e. Confusion and doth not this agree to the Church of Rome doth she not openly shew her self to be the absolute Antitype of old Babel 1. In devising and setting up another way to Heaven than what God hath ordained and appointed viz. a Tower of their own raising not by Christ alone but by the demerits of their own good works and you know what some of those works are that she calls meritorious which is to destroy and cut the Throats of such she calls Hereticks i. e. godly Protestants This is the way she haâ— found out for the Salvation of her dear Children 2. In plucking up or endeavouâ—ing to rase out the true Worship of God as old Caldeaâ— Babylon did and setting up Idolatry in the room of it 3. The Church of Rome may well be called Babylon in respect of her Doctrine Principles and Modes of Worship which iâ— such a jumble strange mixture and heap oâ— Human Inventions that may well go foâ— â—onfusion it self see our third mark in her orders diversities and long muster Roll of officers that are so numerous as well as unâ—criptural that if mixture and confusion be â—ny where 't is to be found in this pretended Church where you have Pope Cardinals Priests and Arch-Priests Bishops Lord Bishops and Arch-Bishops Deans and Archâ—eacons Suffragans Patriarchs Abbots Friars Monks Nuns Seminaries Jesuits followers of St. Francis Jansenius Augustine Capuâ—hins c. and what not this Romish Harâ—ot hath received some of her jolly Church â—relats with their exorbâ—tant power from her heathenish Predecessors Romuâ—us and Numa Pompilius who made Flamins Arch-Flamins and a Ponâ—ifex maximâ—s to sacrifice unto the Gods and some of her ceremonies she has taken from other Infidels as the shaving of Priests Crowns like the Priests of Isis and Serapis in Egypt nay for confusion and filthy abomination she has out-done Heathen Rome for Numa the King of the Antique Romans forbad them to think that the Image of God had the shape of a man or form of other living Creatures yet this mother of Idolatry alloweth the Image of God the Father in form of an old Man and Holy Ghost in form of a Dove tho the holy Prophet inveighâ—ing against this detestable vanity demandeth To whom will ye liken God Or what similitudâ— will ye set up unto him Yet this whorisâ— Church to these teachers of lies as one observes and counterfeits of God to the shame of Christians adoreth these Images or rather the Devil in them whose worship it is and so fulfils that which is written of her Rev. 9. 20. That men would not repent of the works of their hands and of the worship of Devils and Idols of Gold and Silver and Brâ—sâ— and of Stone and of Wood which neither can see neither â—ear nor go As she appeareth in all these things to be Mystery Babylon the great and abomination of the Earth so as
Babylon XIII But further to put it out of all doubt who this Whore is 't is said she was drunk with Blood this is another Mark and Character the Holy Ghost hath given to know her by And I saw a Woman drunk with the Blood of the Saints and the Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus and I wondered with great admiration Rev. 17. 6. Now if the Church of Rome be guilty here or hath this black Mark and Character upon her she is the unhappiest Church and People in all the World and gives cause enough to Angels as well as to the Apostles and Holy Men to wonder i. e. to see a Woman pretending to be nobly descended the Daughter of the great King of Heaven and Earth the only chast Spouse of the Lamb the Mother of all Peace Holiness and Innocency not only defiled with all those foul and abominable errors Idolatries and detestable pollutions but also guilty of so much Blood of Saints and of the precious blood of the Martyrs of Jesus and not only guilty of Blood but also drunk with Blood yea drunk with such Blood but that this the Church of Rome is guilty of nothing is more clear which indeed gives cause to every good man in the World to abhor her And that we may make this most evidently to appear 1. Consider what it is to be drunk 2. What things do necessarily contribute to it 3. Shew what the true and proper signs of it are 4. Whether such things can be fixed upon the Church of Rome 1. To be drunk is to take in excessively any thing as disorders nature in its course and operations this we take to be a general definition of it including the proper and metaphorical notions thereof 2. Such things as necessarily contribute to it are 1. Great and vehement desire or thirst after it 2. Plenty of the thing thirsted after 3. The greedy taking their fill of it 3. The signs of drunkenness are 1. When the faculties are so disordered that they will not submit to the best Reason that can be given them 2. When they will abuse those whom they are most obliged to love and respect 3. When they have cast off all considerations of their own and others good and for bear no mischief but what they are restrained from by force 4. That these things are evident in the Church of Rome will appear 1. Because she hath shed a Mass a very great Mass of Blood of Saints and of the Martyrs of Jesus who is able to account the numbers of them that she hath murthered in all parts of the Christian World only upon the account of Religion particularly in Bohemia Germany Poland Lithuania France Spain Italy Portugal Low Countrys England Scotland and Ireland 'T is enough to peirce an heart of Stone to hear of the barbarous crueltys and devilish inhumanities exercised for more than five hundred years upon the poor Waldenses and Albingenses by the hands of this Bloody Whore or Romish Harlot besides the wonderful numbers and multitudes of them for according to the account I have met with in History hundreds of Thousands nay some millions of those Godly Christians were most unhumanely butchered by the bloody Papists Children Born of her own Body nay in every street of this great City the Blood of the Saints hath run down like a River were this not notoriously known to the whole World I could give an account of the vast numbers slain in Bohemia in France and in Ireland of late years where there were not fewer than two hundred thousand souls sacrificed to allay the thirst of this Bloudy Whore. So that it is out of dispute she hath the first signs of a most filthy shameless drunken Strumpet i. e. she has been excessive in drinking of innocent Blood and 2. Not only so but she has drunk so much that she is intoxicated and disordered that she would never submit to the best reason that could be given her for she has been so mad that none could disswade her from exercising her cruelties on the Bodies of the Saints whose Blood she thirsted after in as unhumane a manner as incarnate Devils could devise as if to murther them was not sufficient nor could it satisfie her but she would have them die many deaths as hanging by the Feet by the Hands by the middle on a Beam by the Hair of the Head on Tenters pouring melted Lead on their Heads Boiling in Caldrons rosting alive and burning alive The poor Waldenses living in and about the valleys of Piedmont about the year 1560 were most cruelly and barbarously murthered to allay her excessive thirst some were stript stark naked and whip'd to death with Rods of Iron others drawn through the Streets and Burnt with fire brands some thrown down an high Tower and some cut in pieces with sharp Knives fourscore persons had their Throats cut as Butchers kill their Sheep threescore Women were so cruelly rackt that the Cords pierced their Arms and Legs to the Bones and then being cast into Prison they all died except nine of them young Virgins were Ravished in a Barbarous manner until they died Children were pull'd alive out of their Mothers Bellies and the Breasts of many Women cut off so that the Infants died of Famine and many other strange kind of tortures for many years together multitudes of those Godly Waldenses indured And the Albingenses who professed the same doctrine and principles were all along in the like or worse sort and manner if possible butchered in the City of Bezier there were saith my author threescore thousand persons slain the Priests and Fryers going about the Streets in the mean time with Crosses and Banners and singing Te Deum Laudamus in the year 1655 in the Valley of Lucerna and other places this bloody Strumpet thirsting still after the Blood of the Saints and like a filthy drunken wretch caused an Edict to be put forth that such who would not turn Papists within three days must take what would follow and indeed that was bad enough as you may see in Sir Samuel Morelands History of that late Persecution it began Jan. 25. 1655. upon which some Thousands of those poor Souls were forc't to fly for their lives in the depth of Snow when all the Valleys were covered with Water there being amongst them some Women with child others newly delivered some sick and diseased Children crying and lamenting Old Men and Women some decreâ—it leaning on their Staves all dragged or forc't over the Ice Snow c. with bitter tears sighings cries and wringing of hands beating of Breasts mourning and complaining of the cruelties of those merciless Papists but alas so drunk with Blood before that they like brutes regarded none of their cries no more than the bleating of Sheep but this is not all no sooner that they were forc't from their haâ—itations but their houses were pillaged rifled and ransackt of all that was left and this not sufficient neither to
look back â—ut for six hundred years last past in which â—me we shall find hundreds of thousands of proâ—st Christians most Butcherly and Barbarously â—ut to death for their Zeal and Love to the â—hristian Religion in the respective Nations â—f Europe before which the Heathenish state â—f Rome was gone off about the space of six â—undred years so that if we will regard the full satisfying of this Prediction about Mystery Babylon we must of necessity bring her down lower than the Heathenish State of Rome 6. Rome Heathen cannot be this Babylon under consideration because the discoverie of other Prophecies relating to the same State no way agree to the Power of Rome Heathen 1. This State of Babylon is called Mystery of Iniquity This no way agrees to Rome Heathen but fully agrees to Rome Papal compare 2 Thes. 2. 7. with Rev. 17. 7. viz. For the Mystery of Iniquiry doth already Work The Angel said unto me Wherefore didst thou marvel I will tell thee the mystery of the Woman and of the Beast that carryeth her 2. The head of this State of Mystery Babylon is called the Man of Sin by way of Eminency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only beyond the common rank of Men but beyond the highesâ— Sons of wickedness that went before him And there is a great Truth in this for if wâ— consider the Pope in respect of Pride Hypocrisy Idolatry and Blood he is the most unâ— parallel'd Man of Sin. 3. This State or Mystery of Iniquity bâ— gan to work in the Apostles days which 〈◊〉 no way applicable to the Power of Rome Heaâ— then for that did not then begin it beinâ— at that time in the very Meridian of its Greatness and universal Sovereignty Luke 2. 1. And it came to pass in those days that there came out a Decree from Caesar Augustus that all the World should be Taxed 4. This man of Sin mystery of Iniquity or head of the Babylonish State is said to be let or hindred in his designs He that now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way 2 Thes. 2. 7. But now Rome Heathen had no let or hindrance either from the Word of God or that declared it as it was a Civil Magistracy to be Gods ordinance nor from any opposite power either Civil or Military they giving Laws to the greatest part of the World and enjoying the supream Government of the best Kingdoms in the Universe none being able to Cope with them at that time 5. This head of the Babylonish State is said to sit in the Temple of God which the Power of Rome Heathen did not do neither in the Temple of Jerusalem nor in the Church which is more properly the Temple of God for the Jews kept the possession of the Litteral Temple till it was destroyed and for the Church of God the Heathen Emperors never loved it so well as to make their residence in it but the Bishop of Rome before he shewed himself to be that wicked one viz. the man of Sin did evidently sit in the Church or Temple of God and so fulfilled this Prophecy in the very Letter of it 6. He that is the man of Sin or head of this Babylonish State was to rise by Apostacy or falling away from the Christian Religion 2 Thes. 2. 3. There shall come a falling away first exactly agreeing with another Prophecy to the same purpose 1. Tim. 4. 1. Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the Faith c. But Rome Heathen did not rise by Apostacy from the Christian Religion or a departing from the Faith which they never professed as is Evident to the whole World Ergo. Rome Heathen Cannot be this Babylonish State. 7. This man of Sin or head of mystery Babylon lay hid in the Apostles time and was not revealed but the Power of Rome Heathen did not then lye hid or wanted to be revealed for it stood visible and high upon a Hill even upon seven Hills according to the Roman Poet Ovid who lived about the very time of Christ's being on Earth in Lib. de Tristibus Sed quae de septem totum circumspicit Orbem Montibus Imperii Roma Deûmque Locus That is But Rome which from her seven Hills the whole Earth views around the place of Gods and Rule c. Ergo Rome Heathen cannot be this Babylonish State. 8. This mystery of Iniquity is said to oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped 2 Thes. 2. 4. But this the power of Rome in its Heathen State did not do for they Worshipped offered Sacrifices and bore a reverence to their Gods which by nature indeed were no Gods and 't is only the head of Rome Papal that runs down all Gods but those of his own making Ergo Rome Papal and not Rome Heathen must of necessity be this mystery of Iniquity 9. The rise or coming of this mystery of Iniquity is after the working of Satan 2 Thes. 2. 9. But the rise of the Romish greatness and power when Heathen was not after the working of Satan but was said by Daniel to be produced by the Providence of God or the four winds of Heaven And by the Apostle to the Powers ordained of God Rom. 13. 1. Therefore Rome Heathen cannot be the mystery of Iniquity c. here meant 10. This mystery of iniquity is not only said to come after the working of Satan 2 Thes. 2. 9. but also with all Power c. But the rise of Rome Heathen was not after that manner Ergo c. To illustrate the first Proposition note that the Term all Power marks out the Romish Pope so notoriously that whosoever runs may read it for if we do but impartially consider his impudent usurpations upon Crowned Heads and his pretences of supremacy over the whole Christian World his proud imperious Decrees Bulls c. his disposal of the Kingdoms of Princes and the Inheritances yea the very Lives of private Persons of any Rank that dare disobey him his pretences to shut and open Heaven Hell and his feigned Purgatory his carrying a symbol of that vast and God like Power viz a brace of Keys hanging at his Girdle All these will appear as clear demonstrations that the head of Rome Papal is the head of Babylon and the grand Impostor or the capital manager of this mystery of Iniquity he having most sacrilegiously assumed to himself all Heavenly Power of Damning or Saving and all Earthly Power both Temporal or Civil and Ecclesiastical or Spiritual 11. The wicked Babylonish State comes forth with a great pretence of Miracles which are but false Signs and lying Wonders to deceive and cheat the People and by this means they Conquer Nations and carry away their Kings to their wicked Interest This Rome Heathen did not do for though the Heathenish Power of Rome did Conquer Nations and Countrys with their Kings yet it was by State
to endure their Yoke as fish cannot live in waters which are turned into blood 3. Vial on Rivers he concludes means Popish Doctrines 4. Vial on the Sun in all likelyhood saith he is the Ottoman Emperor as the 4th Trumpet raised him so the 4 Vial shall pull him down I think it rather means the German Emperor 5. Vial on the Seat of the Beast is meant the City of Rome saith he which is here threatned and all agree with him in this 6. Vial poured out on the great River Euphrates and the waters thereof were dryed up that the way of the Kings of the East might be prepared c. The sixth Vial destroyeth the Empire of the Turks and their Religion which the sixth Trumpet had advanced to the highest pitch of its Grandeur for the River Euphrates does saith he undoubtedly signify the people of that part of the world and its waters being dryed up denotes the end of that Empire and their Religion after which there will be nothing to hinder either the Kings of the East who shall be enlightened and converted or the Jews who are there dispersed in great numbers from marching into the West to help to finish the destruction of the beast he after intimates that he believes by the Kings of the East the Jews are meant c. And by the Ê’ unclean Spirits he judges are intended the Jacobins the Cordeliers and the Jesuits 7. Vial poured into the Air he thinks signifies the Antichristian Religion and that this Vial shall clear all places of it It is done that is the mystery and total ruin of the Papacy time shall be no more for the Whore or Church of Rome her Idolatry Of the rise of the Beast As touching the rise of the beast he says p. 275 It was when that Imperial Edict came forth to establish Rome as Soveraign over all other Bishops which was in 445 in favour of Leo I. and so may hope to see the end about 1705. but reverent Mr. Knowles rather fixes on the year 428 or thereabouts for which he cites Simpsons History of the Church lib. 4. Socrat. hist. Eccl. cap. 3. Helvicus in concil Taurinat cap. 7. Magdeb. cent 5. cap. 10. Which ended in 1688. a year I hope that hath laid a foundation for the utter ruin of the Papacy in this Kingdom brought a sudden change great overthrow upon the OldWhore here amongst us we have a King now blessed be God who has it put into his heart with other Kings and States to hate the Whore and the work we hope is begun Some brief hints of this French Ministers Answer to Mr. Jurieu about the Vials SAith he Mr. Jurieu builds his commentary on Rev. 16. i. e. in that he considers the seven Vials as seven Periods of time making the first Vial to fall upon the 10th age and lasted 150 years p. 2. and the 6. Vial he affirms to have continued from the year 1429. till the time of Luther at which time he begins the seventh Vial. This saith he is the great principle that Mr. Jurieu goes upon i. e. the 7 Vials are certainly 7 Periods of time and after this principle saith he he draws three conclusions 1. That there is a difference between the Vials and the Plagues that the 7 Plagues are the Judgments of God and the 7 Vials denote the 7 Periods of time wherein those Judgments are to fall upon the Papal Empire 2. That all the Plagues are designed against the Papal Kingdom and not so much as one of them against the Empire of the Turks 't is certain saith Jurieu that the 7 Plagues are entirely intended against the Empire of the Beast 3. That there are in all thirteen Plagues whereof the 6 first have destroyed the Roman Empire as civil these 6 Plagues fell under the 5 first Trumpets and that the 6th Trumpet which is divided into 7 Vials shall destroy the same Empire as Ecclesiastical and Papal and that the Vials have been pouring out since the 10th Century that the 7th is not yet wholly poured out but that it begun at the time of Luthers reformation and will end at the general reformation c. Now saith this learned French Minister whereas Mr. Jurieu's principle is that the 7 Vials are certainly 7 Periods of time this hath no evidence in it being neither certain nor clear to those that are versed in the reading the Prophets saith he Jurieu affirms that the 7 Vials signifie an Hour-glass and not a cup for a cup is of another form than a Vial in that this hath a large Belly and a narrow Mouth to which our Author saith it is not about the form of a Vial that we treat but about the signification of it nor is there any Greek Author that ascribeth to the word Vial the signification of an Hour-glass But by all Dictionaries it does appear that the term Vial signifies a Cup a Chalice in a word a vessel designed to drink in so that Mr. Jurieu's great principle is more than doubtful but then the use to which St. John applies this term Vial does make us plainly see its falshood in Rev. 5. 8. The 24. Elders fall down before the Throne having Golden Vials full of odour which are the Prayers of the Saints where Hour-glasses used to offer Incense in and to scatter perfumes in places of worship Again he saith that the term Vial can have no other signification but this i. e. in that the wrath of God whereof they are said to be full chap. 16. the Vials are said to be full of the wrath of God and are poured out are saith he Hour-glasses said to be cast into the Air on the Sun or Sea c. Moreover he refutes Jurieu about the Trumpets and that they rather signify Trumpets proclaiming War than Trumpets whereby the Jubilees were published and so shews his weakness in asserting the Trumpets to signify Periods of time sith years of Jubilee were years of joy but these Trumpets brought in woe and lamentation with them so that it is not true faith he that the Trumpets of St. John intimate Periods of time by an allusion to the Trumpet which published the Jubiles and it is yet less true that the Vials are Hour-glasses to mark these Periods by Mr. Jurieu's principle being false saith he all the conclusions which he draws from it must necessarily be false also 1. 'T is false that there is a difference between the 7 Plagues and the 7 Vials seeing they are the same Judgments of God against the Enemies of his Church 2. 'T is false that the Plagues are designed only against the Empire of the Beast for saith he the Trumpets and Vials have in part for their object the Turkish Empire and Mahometan Religion 3. 'T is false that the 6th Trumpet is subdivided into the 7 Vials and that the 7 Vials have been pouring out since the tenth Century for 't is the 7th Trumpet that is subdivided into
the 7 Vials because 't is under the 7th Trumpet that the Vials shall be poured out whosoever well considers what is to arrive under the 6th Vial according as St. John has described it and thereupon compares it with what is to come to pass under the 7th Trumpet may from thence prove that the Judgments of God represented by pouring forth of the Vials agree admirably with the effects of the 7th Trumpet and may from thence conclude that the subdivision which Mr. Jurieu attributes to the 6th Trumpet agrees only with the 7th p. 10. He then proceeds to defend a former Book written by himself as I suppose against Jurieu about the Vials The first foundation upon which he goes is that the Apocalypse is nothing but a continuation of the Prophetical History of Daniel concerning the 4th Monarchy which is the Roman Empire and concerning the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. The 2d is that the Apocalypse predicteth 3 changes that were to befal the Roman Empire by the first it was to pass from Paganism to Christianity by the second it was to pass from Christianity to Antichristianism and Mahometism and by the 3d it is to return from Antichristianism and Mahometism to Christianity purified by a general reformation The 3d rule by which he goes is that the first change fell out under the 6th seal that the 2d came to pass under 6 of the Trumpets and that the 3d shall arrive under the 7th Trumpet that brings in the Vials The 4th is that these three visions viz. that of the Seals that of the Trumpets and that of the Vials are the three principal Visions and do comprehend the whole Prophetical History concerning the Roman Empire and the Church of God and that all the other Visions are but commentaries upon these three The 5th is that none of the Vials are contemporary with any of the Trumpets except the seventh Trumpet and that there is as much difference between the time of the Trumpets and that of the Vials as there is between the time of building and the time of destroying what is built and that we are to see all that overthrown under the Vials which was established under the Trumpets this does evidently appear in that the Trumpets and the Vials display themselves towards the same subjects and that the effects of the Vials are different from those of the Trumpets And this difference is so great that whosoever considereth it carefully and without prejudice will be convinced that whatsoever was produced and raisâ—d under the Trumpets shall fall into decay and come to ruine under the Vials For whereas under the 1st Trumpet there fell upon the Earth Hail mingled with Fire and Blood instead of this under the first Vial there falls upon the same Earth i. e. those who worship the Beast c. a noisom and grievous sore And whereas under the 2d Trumpet there was a burning Mountain cast into the Sea So that the third part only of all that was in it died The 3d Trumpet made the Fountains and Rivers become bitter but the third Vial represents the Rivers and Fountains changed into Blood. The 4th Trumpet lays before us the third part of the Sun and of the Moon and of the Stars smitten i. e. The 3d part of the Roman Empire darkned by the pestilential Doctrine of Mahomet and invaded by the Army of the Turks But the 4th Vial which is poured forth only upon the Sun seems to threaten the Ottoman Empire and Religion The 5th Trumpet foretells the fall of a great Star to whom were given the Keys of the bottomless pit out of which there rose a Smoke and Locusts The Keys plainly shew Rome to be meant in that she challengeth to have the Custody of the Keys committed to her and pretends to be the Seat of St Peter and this denotes the growth of the Papal Empire But the 5th Vial is poured out upon the Seat of the Beast i. e. upon Rome which predicts her destruction and therefore represents his Kingdom become full of darkness and his Subjects Gnawing their Tongues through despair The 6th Trumpet as also the 6th Vial have the River Euphrates for their Subjects but with this difference that the 6th Trumpet loosed the four Angels that were bound in the River Euphrates which represented the growth of the Turkish Empire and of their Religion whereas the 6th Vial dries up the said River and produced the end both of their Religion and Empire The 7th Trumpet denounceth the 3d and last woe and under it the Vials of Gods wrath are to be poured out upon all the enemies of the Church in order thereby to manifest and fulfil the Mystery of God which is nothing else save the reuniting all Nations under the Scepter of Jesus Christ which will begin the Millennian Reign These are the principles upon which saith he the Anonymous Author hath built the Systeme of his Explanations which as he Judgeth to be beyond all possibility of being overthrown so it is from this source that he will bring his answers to those reasons which Mr. Jurieu hath endeavoured to prove that all the Vials are already poured out and also the defence of the Reasons by which he hath in his Illustrations proved that they are not yet poured forth p. 14. He then proceeds to answer all Mr. Jurieu's reasons which the said Jurieu brings to prove all the Vials already to be poured out The proof saith he which Mr. Jurieu grounds upon the conformity of the first 4 Vials with the Events observable in the history of the Pagan Empire is perfectly overthrown by considering the nature of the Vials themselves for they are nothing else but the Judgments of God upon the Papal Empire in order to destroy it but the events which he will have to answer the 7 Vials produced a quite contrary effect i. e They raised it they increased it and brought the Papal Empire to its grandeur the wonderful corruption of the tenth Age signified according to Mr. Jurieu by the noisom sore of the first Vial served to diffuse the darkness of Error and Idolatry by which that Empire is supported the Croisad's which he will have to be signified by the Sea Rivers under the 2d and 3d Vials as likewise the Suns scorching men under the 4th Vial which he will have to prefigure the growth of the Papal Authority did all contribute to the rendering the Empire stronger and more terrible How then could these Vials which are the Judgments of God nay and the last plagues and Judgments to finish the wrath of God upon the Beast and Babylon be said to be poured out to increase and perfect the grandeur of the Papistry or Papal Empire Jurieu to answer this difficulty would have us believe that some of the severe Judgments of God nay and they must be some of the last Plagues or Judgments too the Popes are not the Subject but the instruments these plagues saith Jurieu fall upon
Covenants to drive a Trade in Perjury forswear every thing they are justly charged with and is fully proved against them Ninthly To foment Wars and Broils in every Kingdom and Countrey where they have Power contrive the Ruine of Towns Places Cities Countreys and Kingdoms by Fire Sword and most Cruel Devastations Tenthly To slaughter kill and barbarously murther both Men Women and Children even all that dare make a shew of Conscience and Religion so far as to abhor and dissent from these Villanies This is such a Scheme of Religion and Systeme of Divinity to come from an Apostle a Shepherd a Vicar and Successor of Christ from a Church Sheep Saints and the pretended followers of the Meek Peaceable and Innocent Jesus who taught altogether otherwise by his Doctrine and Example that it might well be wondred at and is the strangest Mystery that ever appeared of which we challenge the whole World to shew the like in the Turks and Saracens For men to Swear Lye and to Forswear themselves and yet be true Men to contrive Rebellion Murther and Treason and yet be as Innocent as the Child unborn To be elevated to the highest Pinnacle of Pride even above Emperours and Kings above Jesus Christ and God his Father and yet be humble and lowly To commit gross Idolatry and yet be the Servants of the Living God To be filled with and make a Trade of Excess and Drùnkenness and yet be Patterns and Standards of Sobriety and Temperance To cast down the Truth to the ground deface the Laws of God and burn the Scriptures and yet be the true Witnesses of it To forgive sins and yet be the greatest Sinners themselves To commit Fornication and Adultery and yet be spotless and pure in heart To foment Wars and Broils in every Kingdom and Countrey where they have power to contrive the Ruine of Towns and Places Cities Countreys and Kingdoms by Fire Sword and cruel Devastations and yet be as harmless as Doves to all mankind the only Sons of Peace and Quietness To slaughter kill and barbarously murther Men Women and Children that dare not be so wicked as themselves and yet to be full of mercy tender pity and compassion an Apostle Shepherd Vicar Successor of the Meek and Lamb-like Saviour And for the dear Consort of this Impious Head on Man of Sin do not only confederate with him but a Principal in all these unparallel'd Villanies and most butcherly and rapacious Murthers and yet be the Holy Catholick Church of God the pure and spotless Spouse of Jesus Christ the true Sheep the harmless Lambs the best of Saints and close followers of the Lord Jesus who always taught the contrary by his holy Doctrine and meek Example We say these things not being found by secret search but are written in Capital Letters upon her forehead appear in open view to be read by every one that is not wilfully blind Let any one shew us a greater Mystery in the World than this and we will subscribe to it 4. It cannot be the Turks because they are not the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth which this Babylon is said to be Rev. 17. 5. And upon her forehead was a Name written MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH And here we demand in excuse to the Turks this one Thing From whence did proceed the Murthers Massacres and Martyrdoms of all the Religious Professors of Christianity that have died by violence in the Christian World for the space of twelve hundred years last past And from what people did proceed those horrid Oaths Blasphemies and Execrations that the World hath wofully been acquainted with most horrid and strangely astonishing to repeat Came these unparallel'd Degrees of Impiety from the Turks from the Waldensians Lutherians Calvinists or any Non-conforming Protestants No no why whose Language then is it Whose Why 't is the Language of the Beast of the Bottomless Pit and Bloody Whore who bare these Blasphemous Sons of her own Body daily nourishes them at her Breast and strengthens them in their sinful courses by accounting them the Sons the precious Sons of Sion the true Sons of the Catholick Church the Darlings of Heaven the beloved ones of the Virgin Mary and gives them Pardons for these Bold and Heaven daring sins as often as they commit them and come to ask Pardon for them so that Sin and Pardon is as constant and common with them as Breathing and Eating And these things are done to Seal and Confirm Lies which is the more heavy heinous and prodigious For if men may Lye by Allowance may kill and shed Innocent Blood without controul of Conscience and Church censure◠may Swear and Blaspheme and Challenge God himself to Damn them may burn men for Religion consume Cities to Ashes conspire the death of Kings the Ruin and Overthrow of Kingdoms Whore and Murther Infants and yet be accounted a Church the Members and Parts of it called Saints Holy Children and the Sons of the most high God Then may we claim a Patent and take a License to change the name of all things and alter the Ideas of the minds of men call and account Beelzebub a good God and all his black Tribe the pure Saints of the most High call the lower Regions of Blackness and Darkness to which he is confined the Heaven of Glory and Eternal Light of which things we ought in Justice to clear the Turks until Witnesses of undoubted credit shall come forth and evidence that the Turkish State is the Mother of as great Abominations as these are 5. And Lastly The Turks cannot be Mystery Babylon because they never were made drunk with the Blood of the Saints and with the Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus which this Woman Mystery Babylon is expresly said to be Rev. 17. 6. And I saw the Woman drunk with the Blood of the Saints and with the Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus and I wondred with great admiration Now let any man shew such blood-shed Saints bloodshed by Massacres and Martyrdom for the Professing of Christianity which must be if the Text be answered in that clause Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus by the Turks either within their Dominions or without as hath been shed by a Generation nearer home and we shall become like the Man without the Wedding Garment wholly speechless and say not a word more about Babylon 6. Now that Babylon in the Apocalypse is Great Rome that in former times Reigned and in suture times shall be destroyed is owned by some of the Papists themselves and is asserted by all Protestants the Difference betwixt them is brought to this narrow Point The one wholly confines Babylon to Rome Heathen and there totally to terminate the other brings Babylon down lower to Rome Antichristian or Papal Rome Now that this work may be to edification and more full satisfaction in this great case we shall advance to the last and chief
Crucifix but especially the great Idol of the Mass so that whosoever will not own that most ridiculous Idolatry of a piece of Bread consecrated by the foul Mouth and unhallowed Hands of their cursed Priests to be their God and Saviour must be burned at a Stake these Idols they tell us ought to have due honour given to them because the honour which is given to them is referred to the Prototype whom they do represent and these abominations she kisseth as Idolaters of old were wont to kiss the Calves lighteth Tapers before them as the Literal Babyloniam did Candles before their Images c. VII Literal Babylon or Chaldea were not only a people of great Pomp Pride and Covetousness but had also great Riches and Treasures O thou that dwellest upon many waters abundant in treasures thine end is â—ome the end of thy Covetousness Jer. 50. 37. 51. 13. So in like manner Papal Rome is not only â— people puft up with pride and vain-glory but as 't is said of Mystery Babylon she is very rich being arrayed with Purple Scarlet Gold Pearl and precious Stones But she sits also upon many waters to wit People Multitudes Nations and Tongues But is very covetous as well as proud and full of treasures for besides the gifts she boasts were first given to her in the time of Constantine the Great she hath made a prey upon the Nations thro' her fearful covetousness and not only a prey upon Nations and Kingdoms but a spoil upon Saints and Holy Martyrs and hath had the Gifts of Kings and vast Revenues setled upon her Orders and Clergy nay and she has peeled the people by selling Pardons and Indulgences and raising Peter-pence besides vast sums for praying poor Souls out of the scorching flames of Purgatory nay so horrid covetous is she that she is not willing any should go to Heaven without great Gifts of Money to Holy Church besides much Money comes in by tolerating Whores and Whoredoms which thing is notoriously known to be done in many Cities of the Popedom by which slights she is grown-so exceeding rich and full of treasure that she can afford a Golden Cup to present her intoxicating Wine in to be cloth'd as we said before with Scarlet deck'd with Gold Pearl and precious Stones yea she maketh the Merchants of the Earth rich who Trade with her she doth indeed as fully answer to the Type in this as Lam. 1. 10. stretching forth her hand upon all the pleasant things of those Countries and Kingdoms where she hath sate as a Queen VIII Literal Babylon made the worst of men among the Nations and Provinces chief Officers and Rulers those that were rais'd to Preferment were Enemies to Gods people and to his ways of worship Her Adversaries prosper that is the Adversaries of Sion and are the chief c. This Character hath Rome Papal upon her for she hath all along made base and vilâ— men Rulers and Chief among the people not suffering any men to bear Office in Kingdom Cities or Corporations but such vile time-serving Persons that would Sacrifice all Justice Right and Honesty to her cursed Will and unsatisfied Lust no nor indeed have so much as a Vote to chuse Persons to bear Rule iâ— Government nor comfortably to buy nor â—ell unless they would relinquish all Goodness and Religion and receive the Mark of the Beast in their Foreheads or right Hands viz. publickly to profess or privately subscribe to â—ud Injunctions and Commands of the Beast the against their Consciences and inconsisteâ— with their Religion Who can be Cardinaâ— unless they do own the Pope Who can bâ— Kings without being in danger of being deposed or poysoned that subscribe not to the Sâ—â— of Rome Who can sit safe as Governoâ— over Cities c. where she sits as Queen Regent without truckling under that Yoak oâ— Subjection which she puts on the Necks of all her Vassals nay Pope Martin the Fifth iâ— his Bull added to the Council of Constance â—â— Pareus tells us Prohibits all Roman Catholicks to suffer any Hereticks to have any dwellings in their Countries or to make any Bargains or use any Trades or to perform to them any Civil Offices which makes good thâ—â— word Rev. 13. 16 17. IX Chaldea or Literal Babylon made the ways of Sion to mourn hindred men to come to her Solemn Assemblies made her Ministers to sigh defiled the godly Women and ravished the Virgins in the Streets of Jerusalem and burned down the Houses and Dwelling-places of Gods people starving and famishing of them and miserably destroyed them by several cruel deaths hanging their Princes by the Hands and caused the Faces of their Elders not to be honoured c. Rome Papal or the Romish Church in all these things hath exceedingly out-done Literal Babylon that so she might make it appear she is her direct Antitype and that they were but her Fore-runners in these respects for this Mystical Babylon hath with a witness made the ways of Sion to mourn for these twelve hundred years hindring all she could in every Kingdom from coming to their Solemn Assemblies driving them into corners frightning and dispersing their Auditors by Fines Imprisonments Banishments and other cruel Usages pulling down their Churches and publick Meeting-places causing her faithful Ministers to sigh and Pastors to mourn because they might not Preach to their poor afflicted Flocks and the people grieve because they could not hear the pleasant voice of their Pastors by reason of violence c. She hath also been guilty of that most horrid cruelty of forcing both Ministers and people from their dwellings labouring to starve or famish both their Bodies and Souls too and not contented to burn their Bodies to ashes but has oft-times burn'd their Houses Towns and Cities as Germany hath wofully experienced and England also witness the burning of the famous City of London Southwark and its adjacent places who knows how many Fires she hath kindled in the space of twenty eight years last past in this Island And then for ravishing godly women and chast Virgins in a beastly manner she hath imitated old Babylon nay far exceeded her that she might shew to all she was her Antitype in these villanies They have ravished Women before their Husbands Faces Maidens before their Parents Faces as you have heard openly in the Streets in the sight of the Sun and then imbruing their barbarous Hands in their Blood as divers Histories do declare X. There is one thing more in Chaldean Babylon in respect of her ruin which I think not amiss here to add viz. We find God by the Prophet speaks of her sudden destruction Jer. 51. 8. Babylon is suddenly fallen and that also she shall be destroyed by an Army out of the North Countreys For lo I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an Assembly of great Nations from the North Countrey and they shall set themselves in array against her from thence she shall be
Patent 3. In his progress to the height of his dignity by leaving his fixed station as pastor of a Church and by Deceit Treason and Violation of all Laws mounts the Throne of imperial grandure 4. He rules by a supreme ecclesiastical power as well as temporal pretends to the Keys of Heaven as well as the Sword of Justice on Earth shewing himself to be the Beast that hath two Horns like a Lamb spoken of Rev. 13. 11. 9. This little Horn hath so many marks upon him that they are too numerous to handle distinctly after our usual methods and therfore we shall put the remaining part into a General rank and conclude this subject The Pope of Rome hath so many marks or characters upon him that are too numerous to be handled distinctly in a little room and therefore we shall but touch upon them so far as they shew the Text made good and form an Idea of truth in the minds of men 1. He must change times and laws 2. Continue a long a space of time 3. He is a vile person 4. Had not the honour he hath fairly given him either by God or man but gained it by flattery 5. Removed the proceeding by the Arms of a flood 6. He became strong by a small people 7. He shall have power over the fattest places of the Provinces and there scatter his Riches 8. Such as do wickedly against Religion he shall accept 9 Under him the Saints fall by captivity and spoil by sword and flame many days 10. Shall do according to his own Will not accounting himself tied to any Laws 11. He shall exalt himself above every God and speak marvellous things against the God of Gods. 12. Shall not regard the God of his ancestors 13. Nor the desire of Wedlock 14 Nor any God in a pious way 15. Shall give honour to them that have armed forces 16. Shall own a strange God with splendid Ceremonies Dan. 11. 38. 1. The Pope of Rome hath changed times and laws in two respects 1. He hath set up and pluckt down Kings which is called a Changing of times and seasons Dan. 2. 21. 2. He has made strange alterations of the Laws Orders and Institutions used in the Church in respect of Officers administrations of Sacraments and celebration of days 2. Hath continued above twelve hundred years 3. He is as vile a person as any in the World tolerates all kind of wickedness by his Dispensations Pardons c. 4. Had his exaltation neither by Inheritance lawful conquest nor rightful gift from rightful donators 5. He had the help of Phocas to kill the Emperor Mauritius and by the help of Gothes and Vandals enlarged his power 6. Became strong by a small People having only a declining Church and apostate Christians to assist him 7. He hath power over Italy which is reputed to be the Garden of Europe c. 8. He accepted entertained and encouraged the people of any nation that would turn wicked and sacrifice all Prety and Religion to serve his Interest 9. Under him the Saints have fallen by flames captivity and spoil many days 10. He hath done according to his own will and doth not look upon any Laws to be obligatory to him either from God or men 11. He the Pope hath exalted himself above every God that is such that are so accounted amongst men or Gods on Earth by excommunicating deposing treading upon their Necks and kicking off their Crowns by his Blasphemous Edicts and Injunctions he exalts himself above God himself and his written Laws c 12. He doth not regard the God of his Ancestors either the Idols of the Emperors or the God of the good Bishops that went before him 13. He hath been remote from the desire of Women in a lawful way nay and frights his Clergy from it too who are made uncapable of Spiritual promotion and censured as heinous transgressors if married 14. He hath not regarded in a pious way any God for tho' he doth name the true God often and in words profess him yet in works he doth defie him and profane his holy name 15. He gives honour to them who have armed Forces and lends them assistance to carry on his black diabolical designs 16. He hath owned a strange God a mark compleatly made up in the Mass which is adored with splendid Ceremonies 17. The people of the Saints 't is said shall take away his power to consume and destroy it to the end i. e. the Lords people in their representatives shall take away the Papal power c. and is it not done in part already here in England upon all we may frame this Argument If all these characters meet no where so clear and evident as upon the Pope of Rome then the Pope of Rome is the little Horn and vile person set forth in the Book of Daniel But all the aforesaid characters meet no where so clear and evident as upon the Pope of Rome c. Therefore the Pope is that little Horn. CHAP. V. Shewing that the Prophecies of our Saviour in Mat. 13. 15. Also that of Paul Acts 20. 29. and 1 Tim. 4. and 2 Thes. 2. 3. Concerning false Prophets and grievous Wolves as also of the Man of Sin may and ought to be applied to the Pope and Church of Rome FIrst The Lord Jesus foretold that Enemies should come in his name and deceive many and that they should appear in Sheeps clothing and under that Vizard hide their devouring Teeth see his words Mat. 13. 15. Beware of false Prophets which come to you in Sheeps clothing but inwardly are ravening Wolves that is have a design to destroy Now 't is most evident that the Popes of Rome and their long Succession have thus especially at first appeared i e. in Sheeps clothing covering their hellish designs under the name of Christ Vicar of Christ an Apostolical Bishop c. the true Church holy Church and Christian Religion but with an intent hereby to deceive for all their pretences of Jesus Christ's being the truth Christ hath been but as a Vizard to hide their wolvish nature and devouring teeth for whilst they under the notion of Christianity hide themselves they have carried on most pernicious and destructive designs and that in these three respects following viz. 1. If there have appeared any Kings or Queens in the Christian World that have been piously inclined they have forth with endeavoured to pervert them by their Diabolical Doctrine oft destroying them with their holy Poyson 2. If any Ministers or Men of Parts and Piety have risen up to set forth Gods holy truth and so bless the dark World with Gospel Light and Saving Doctrine they have either choaked them with Gifts and Preferments or affrighted them by dreadful fears or by a ravenous thirsting after their Blood and have most wickedly and treacherously destroyed their lives by cruel torments 3. If collective Bodies of pious Congregations of Saints or good Men