with his couenant c. Nor hold vp their hands to any strange God Doct 3 The Lord calleth his people out of Babylon now at hand to be destroyed for her sinnes For the rule is generall that the Iudge of all the earth will not slay the righteous with the wicked as Abraham saith to God Gen. 18.25 For how inextricable soeuer the perrill seeme to be 2 Pet 2.9 the Lord knoweth how to deliuer the godly out of temptation The Churches of the old Testament had heere of plentifull experience when we reade that Noah was deliuered from the floud Lot from the burning of Sodom and diuers others from diuers other great dangers The Churches also of the new Testament haue found the hand of God nothing shortened For besides the manifold deliuerances of the godly in the Acts of the Apostles it is reported that when Ierusalem was to be destroyed because she knewe not the day of her visitation the godly were forewarned by a voice from heauen Euseb 3.5 to get them from Ierusalem to Pella a Cittie beyond Iorden there to saue them selues The same mercie doth the Lord shew to his people For purposing to bring a finall destruction vppon that Rome Cap. 11 8 which crucified our Lord Iesus and after become that Antichristian Babylon which is drunken with the blood of Saints Cap. 17 6 and Martyrs of Iesus hee first by a heauenly voyce calleth his people out of her By this mercifull prouidence are risen all the protestant Churches and the same mercy will the Lord continue till he hath drawne all his people from among them and till hee bring vppon this Babylon her last and greatest plagues Heereby we know that such as fall vnto them are gathered together like Baals priestes that none of them be wanting when God will haue them consumed they that are gained from them Luke 3 7 are escaped from the vengeance to come Doct. 4 The people of God must come out from her What is heere meant by Babylon frō whence the people of God must come there is no great doubt for both the Papists and wee doe agree Ributa in 14 Reue. no 27. c. that it signifieth Rome vnder Antichrist which doth reuiue the sinnes of the heathen Emperors But the difference betweene vs is when shee is to be called Babylon The circumstances of the text which doe conuict Rome to be the place will also teach vs when she is Babylon She must of force be then Babylon when she is guiltie of the faultes for which this Babylon is said to fall Supra verse 2 2 3. Her first sinne is that All Natitions haue drunken of the Wine of the wrath of her fornications That is that all Nations haue beene afflicted with warres treasons cruelties and diuers other calamities because they would not submit themselues to to her abhominable pride idolatrie and other spirituall fornications Secondly when the Kings of the earth hane committed fornication with her corrupting themselues and theyr kingdomes with filthy superstitions and wicked inuentions which they haue fetched from her Thirdly when the Merchants of the earth are waxed rich of the abundance of her pleasures getting much mony by selling iustice and the soules of men Nowe because Rome hath been guiltie of these three impieties for the most part these thousand yeeres as the many lamentable examples doe make demonstration but especially in these later dayes before and in the age in which wee liue wee doe confidently and demonstrably conclude that Rome for these thousand yeeres past hath beene and especially in the time in vvhich wee liue nowe is the Babylon from whence the people of GOD is to come The rule is generall that all godly men ought at all times to seperate thēselues from the wicked For thus saith Saint Paule 2 Cor 6 17 Come out from amongst them and seperate your selues saith the Lord and touch no vncleane thing and I will receiue you But as the dangers haue been the greater so haue the vvarnings beene more importunate Wherefore seeing Babylon for her many cruelties corruptions was worthy to be destroyed Prophets Isaiah and Ieremie Psal 137 8 prepared many parables for those that came after in due time to drawe the people of GOD from thence the plaee of the greatest danger The same wordes which these Prophets vsed to draw the posteritie of Iacob frō that first Babylon doth S. Iohn heere vse to vvithdrawe the people of God frō this second Babylon more dangerous then euer was that first Heerevpon it followeth that what were the sinnes and cruelties of that first Babylon the same are iustly imputed to this second Babylon What perill the Iewes there were in the same are the people of God in here what equitie by reason of the condition of the people or iniquitie of the oppressors induced the Israelites to depart from Babylon the same is to preuaile with Christians to depart from this Antichristian Babylon of Rome It was a cursed miserie for the children of Israell in the captiuitie to be spoken vnto in a strange language and with a stammering tongue Esay 28 11 But in this Babylon the whole religion is in a strange tongue Wherefore seeing strange tongues are a signe to them that belieue not 1. Cor. 14.22 it is a signe that they whom God hath deliuered ouer to these which speake these strange tongues are in the condemnation of Infidels The people of God among the Babylonians Ierem. 50 6 were lost sheepe But heere they that follow this Beast are in the case of reprobates Whose names are not written in the booke of life of that Lambe Reue. 13 8 In the first Babylon the shepheards of Gods people caused them to goe astray Ierem 50 6 but heere theyr shepheards like the Scribes and Pharises compasse sea and land to make one of their profession Mat. 23 15. and when hee is made hee is made two folde more the child of hell then themselues bringing them to meditate and commit treasons and to be hanged when they haue doone All that found the people of God in Babylon deuoured them Ierem. 50 7. and theyr enemies said We offend not because they haue sinned against the Lord But heere as many as are knowne or suspected to differ from them are deuoured bodie 5 Deer de haeresibus and soule and goods and name friends And heere I cannot but let them that are seduced know that now they suffer many of them to discourse of Religion at theyr tables and in markets and other meetings whom if they catch so dooing where they haue power in theyr handes or shall finde so dooing in theyr natiue Country when they shall haue preuailed such discoursers must to the pot and suffer as heretikes notwithstanding now they speake thē fayre for a purpose and for a while Wherefore flee from the mids of Babell and depart out of the Land of these
no agreement as righteousnes with vnrighteousnes light with darknes Christ and Beliall the belieuer with the infidell the temple of God with idols and doe with Saule desire to spare Agag whom God requireth to punnish Againe if the voice be from heauen it shall bee established they that speake otherwise are false Prophets and they that striue against it doe kicke against the pricke Act 5.38.39 Wherefore as Gamaliel faith in another case refraine your selues from opposing it least yee be found fighters against God Doct 2 Come out of her my people Gen. 14.12 Ioshu 2 1.8 Iudg 4.11 17. 1 King 19.7 Heere first we see that among the wicked are the children of God A thing very commonly noted in the Scripture Lot was in Sodom Rahab in Iericho Iaell among the Gentiles Obadiah that feared God greatly and saued an hundreth of the Lords Prophets was the gouernor of Ahabs house and to be short there were Saints of Caesars houshold euen of Nero that cruell monster For good seede and weede growe vp together and corne and chaffe are on the floore together Exod. 6,9 Yea we know that in Egypt were many Israelites that could be cōtented to liue still with the onions and flesh pots of Egypt in Babylon were many Iewes Ezec. 20 32 that said We will be like the heathen and families of the countries Yet were these the redeemed of the Lord Ezec. 36 26 and sanctified by him In this Booke the same is often shewed to be the condition not onely of many godly Christians but also of the most glorious Church For shee flyeth into the wildernes beeing mingled among the Gentiles and such pretended Christians as followed the Antichristian Papacie Out of this doe arise many godly considerations First that such as thinke that it is not possible for Christians to liue vnder the gouernment of vnchristian Gouernors but that they must loose the name of godlie men and their number must not be called a Church doe exceedingly bewray their ignorance both of the Scriptures in generall and of this booke of the Reuelation in particuler The Church of Pergamus was a Church Reue. 2 13 and a golden Candlesticke though shee dwelt where satans throne was Yea that which is more it had them that maintained the doctrine of Balam that taught Balack to put a stumbling blocke before the children of Israell and also those that maintayned the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes And the Church is clothed in the sunne Reue 12 1 c. treadeth the Moone vnder her feete and is crowned with twelue starres a Woman and a glorious Church and holy though she be fled into the wildernes and mingled among the Antichristian Babylonians depriued of publique assembles sacraments discipline as doth appeare by this speech Come out of her my people So that heere I cannot but reproue the Brownists or rather the reuiued Donatists which haue made a seperation from vs and our Church which they cannot blame as guiltie of the sinnes of Pergamus or Sardis or Corinth which notwithstanding are acknowledged to be churches thēselues being our Iudges Much lesse are we guilty of the sins of Antichrist among whō were the people of God notwithstanding Sure their ignorance is much to be lamented and their dissoluing of Christian Cōmunion to be detested therefore to be auoyded Secondly heere we learne to aunswere the Papists that demaund of vs where our Church hath beene for these thousand yeeres It was among them though they were not it as the chyldren of Israell were in Egypt 2 Kings 17 and 24. and Babylon in Goshen in Holah and Habor and in the Citties of the Medes and you were translated into their wonted places as were the Assyrians into the citties of Samaria the seate of the people of GOD. But they say that the Israelies were knowne to be in Goshen during their seruitude in Egypt The scripture that saith also that the Iewes in the captiuity were in Holah Habor in the cities of the Medes doth note the place But as for your Goshen and Holah and Habor they were no where to be seen by such as were as sharp sighted as the Egyptians or Babylonians To this I answer first that it is no merueile that they see not the godly among them partly because like the deuill they thinke that all is theyr owne and neuer consider Iob Iob 1.8 that is an vpright and a iust man one that feareth God and escheweth euill and partly because of this time that the question is demaunded Saint Iohn doth say that the woman the Church Cap 12.14 was in the Wildernesse nourished from the face or sight of the serpent which for subtiltie and quicke sight whereof this Dragon taketh his name may very neere be compared to the Papists But they say where were their assemblies their sacraments and sermons with other seruices As if there could bee no Iewes in Babylon Amoc 6.10 because according to the prophecie they durst not remember the name of the Lord as it doth also appeare in the booke of Ester wherein the name of the Lord is not once mentioned Were Ester Mordecai and the people that fasted and prayed no people of God Mare 7.6 Or are the godly bound to bewray and betray themselues by casting holy things to dogs and pearles before swine to bring the graces of God in them into contempt and themselues into manifest perrill Secondly wee answere that our Church was among them themselues being our Iudges For when they tell vs with what difficultie they gat the title of supremacie what masculine opposition they found when at Constantinople and in the second counsell of Nice they would erect the worship of the Dragon by the adoration of idols when they tell vs by what arts they wronge themselues from the subiection of Princes when they proclaime bloudie 5 Deer de haeres ad abolendum and blasphemous lawes againse such as teach and beleeue any otherwise then they teach or beleeue for so do they define heretickes when they bragge of the many fiers and warres that they consumed them by and insult of their conquests this way they also tell vs that such as maintained the doctrine of the Apostles and such as worshipped the God of their fathers after the way which they call heresie were among them persecuted for the same doctrines that we differ from them in and therefore by their owne confession our Church was among them which in this place is called the people of God Thirdly heere wee learne that such which doe liue among the Papists though stained with some of their superstitions may be saued but alwaies with limitation First that their sinne be of ignorance not of presumption Num. 15.30 for there remaineth no sacrifice for the sinnes of such And secondly that though they be smitten into the place of Dragons yet must they not forget God Psal 44.17.20 nor deale deceiptfully
popish Caldeans Iere. 50 8 Esay 52 2 3 11. and bee yee as the hee goates before the flocke Loose the bands from thy necke ô thou captiue daughter They that rule ouer the people of God make them to howle Depart depart yee goe out from thence touch no vncleane thing goe out of her and be ye cleane that beare the vessels of the Lord. Come cleaue vnto the Lord Iere 50.5 in a perpetuall couenant that shall neuer be forgotten It shall not be with you as it was with the children of Israell that came out of Egypt vppon a suddaine For yee shall not goe out with hast nor depart by flying away Esay 52 32 but the Lord will goe before you and the God of Israell will gather you together Esay 28 17 The Lorde thy God will teach thee to profit and leade thee by the way that thou shouldest goe Hee will teach you the feare of the Lord and instruct you by his holy word to escape the most vnprofitable doctrines of superstitions and treasons which directly tend to the destruction of body and soule and are only enforced vppon you by fables and lyes euen by lying prophecies of alterations and hopes which shall neuer bee accomplished Zac. 14 12 For this shall bee the plague where-with the Lord will smite all people that haue fought against Ierusalem euen the profession of the Gospell of Iesus Christ Heb 12.22 theyr flesh shall consume away though they stand vpon their feete and their eies shall consume in their holes Hosca 12.1 and their tongue shall consume in their mouth They are fed with the wind and follow after the east wind they increase daily lies distruction But if yee will imbrace the Gospell Iohn 17.17 Reue 7.17 the word of truth the Lambe which is in the mids of the throne shall gouerne you euen the godly and Christian King shall leade you to the Scriptures the fountaine of liuing waters and God shall wipe all teares from your eies Moreouer when it is sayd by a voice from heauen come out of her my people it is the office of as many as belong to heauen be he King or Bishop or Minister or Magistrate by enticing as God did the Israelites from Egypt by thrusting out as the Angels did Lot from Sodom by importuning as Moses did the people from the tents of Korah Dathan and Abiram or by pulling them out of the fire Iud 23. Zach 3.2 as God did Iehoshuah to call to them that belong to God to come out from this Babylon of poperie which is horrible for sinne and to be made horrible by destruction And so much the rather because the enemie is proud They insult to see the slacknes of the Ministery that are nothing so dilligent to saue as they are to destroy they insult for the generall coldnes if not Apostasie that is in the gentlemen and their inclination to them wards they insult that the commissions against them doe find so many failings they insult for discord their auncient helper they insult that though the face of the lawe bee against them yet the edge is turned from them Wherefore let them see that euery heauenly voice of this Land doth crie come out of her my people Act. 2.4 and saue your selues from this froward generation And heere I might haue passed to another point were it not for the Brownistes that abuse this place to maintaine their wilfull sinne Heb. 10.25.26 in for saking the fellowship that we haue among our selues Let them consider whether the circumstances of this text and the like where Babylon is mentioned in this booke or the Prophets whence Saint Iohn doth borrow his speech may truly agree to our Church which maintaineth so many cōtradictions vnto Antichristian Babylon Nay if it may be prooued that we haue departed from as many corruptions in doctrine and pollicie as did conclude Rome to be Babylon and haue imbraced as many doctrines as did the children of Israell that came out of Babylon eyther must they find vs another Babylon among the Iewes departed from the captiuitie or else their seperation is an Apostasie and no departure from Babylon Popish Babylon like the first Babylon was builte by such whereof one did not vnderstand anothers speech Gen 11.7 Beda Eccles hist Lib 1. cap 15.27 Act 2.11 Amos. 6.10 Cap 13.6 but with vs as in the times of the Apostles all men doe heare in theyr owne tongues the wonderfull things of God Among the Babylonians it was not lawful for the children of God to remember the name of the Lord but we teach all men to reuerence the sanctuarie of the Lord and them that worship therein according to the Gospell In Babylon Dani 3.2.3 Reue 13.15 the people of God were vnder a forraine Tyrant were constrained to worship the image of the beast vnder paine of death but we are deliuered from that captiuitie and now the Lord is our God Ezech 34.24 and his seruant Dauid a Prince of our owne Nation is our King as the Lord did promise Who seeth not then that we are the people of God come out of Babylon therefore they that are departed from vs haue erred in their hearts because they haue not knowne the wayes of God and doe blaspheme when they call vs Babylon But my purpose is to vrge that onely which directly Saint Iohn would haue vs pursue Doct. 5 That yee be not partakers of her sinnes Here first is to be marked that such as will not depart from them shall be infected by them Ecclus. 13,1 as it is said Hee that toucheth pitch shall be defiled there-with The rule is generall sinne is infectious and this not onely with vnrighteousnes but also with impietie Prou 22.25 Make no friendshippe with an angry man c. least thou learne his wayes saith Salomon But in matters of Religion a man is exceeding weake and the temptation mightie so that a man soone learneth these wicked waies Therefore did the Lord so often by Moses so earnestly by Ioshua forewarne the Iewes to make no compact with the Nations Exod 23 33 and 34 15 Deu 7 2 c Iosua 23 13 and inhabitants of the Land least they should be vnto them a snare to cause them to serue other Gods And as it was fore-told so fell it out as it is in the Psalme They were mingled among the heathen Psal 106 35 learned their works But more perilous is this time of Antichrist 2 Tim. 3 1 2 Thes 2 11 because in it the Lord doth send strong delusion so that if it were possible the elect should be deceiued Mat 22 24 Reue 13.8 No maruel the if all those whose names are not written in the booke of life do follow the beast And to iustifie the truth heereof wee daily see many loose fellowes practising vndutifull wits that meditate vppon an alteration to be daily seduced