be a certain great City called Babylon in a Mysterie Proof THis we finde directly laid down in the Revelation that a a Apoc. 17. v. 18. 18 v. 2. 21. great Citie called b Apoc. 17.5 in a mystery Babylon should become the mother of the spiritual whoredome and abominations of the earth so that the c Apoc. 17 2. 18. v. 3. Kings of the earth should commit fornication with her and the Inhabitants of the earth should be made drunke with the wine of her fornication The second Position THat by this great City Babylon the Mother of all the abominations of the earth is understood Rome Proof 1. BY the clear Testimony of Scripture in the seventeen Chapter of the Revelation where this City is described unto us First by the situation that it is seated upon seven Hills v. 9.18 and then by the largeness of the Dominion thereof That it is that great Citie that ruleth over the Kings of the earth v. 18. Now that by these two marks Rome was most notoriously known in the Apostles dayes may appear even by the Romane Poets who describe Rome just after the same manner as d Horat. in Car. seculari Dii quibus septem placuere colles Ovid Sed quae de septem totum circumspicit orbem Montibus imperii Roma Deumque locus Trist lib. 1. Eleg. 4. Lib. 3. Eleg 10. Rome the place of the Empire and of the Gods which from seven hills doth take a view of the whole world And more shortly Propertius Septem urbs alta jugis toti quae prafidet Orbi The City mounted on seven hils which ruleth the whole world No man reading Propertius ever made question but that Rome was here described and therefore no reason why any doubt should be made what that great Citie may be which with the same colours is painted out unto us in the book of the Revelation 2. By the judgement of the anancient Fathers affirming expresly that Rome is meant by Babylon in the seventeenth Chapter of the Revelation as the Rhemists themselves doe voluntarily confess in their last note upon the first Epistle of Peter 3. By the Confession of those who are most Devoted to the See of Rome as to name one for many e De Rom. Pontif. lib. 2. cap. 2. Bellarmine the Cardinal Jesuite whose words are these John in the Revelation every where calleth Rome Babylon as Tertullian hath noted in his third Book against Marcion and in his Book against the Jewes and it is plainly gathered out of the seventeenth Chapter of the Revelation Where great Babylon is said to sit upon seven Mountains and to have Dominion over the Kings of the earth For there is no other City which in the time of John had Dominion over the Kings of the Earth but Rome and the building of Rome upon 7. hills is a matter most famous Hitherto Bellarmine The third Position THat old Rome onely under the Heathen persecutors from the time of the first Emperour till Constantines dayes was not Babylon as the Proctors of the Church of Rome would perswade us but Rome in her last dayes being free from the Government both of Heathen and Christian Emperours And that Rome was to be that Babylon which should draw the Kings and Nations of the world unto Superstition and Idolatrie from such time as it ceased to be subject to the civil Prince and became the Possession of the Pope until the last destruction thereof which is yet to come Proof 1. THe matter of Babylon is revealed unto Saint John as a mysterie Apoc 17.6 But the persecution of the Church by the Heathen Emperour was far from being a mysterie For it being openly committed Apoc. 1.9 Saint Iohn himself at the same time being a companion with the rest of the Saints in this tribulation banished for the Word of God and for the witnessing of Iesus Christ into the Iland Pathmos this could not be shewed as a secret and mystical thing And therefore some further matter not then openly known to the world must here be intended 2. The state of Babylon after her fall is thus declared Apoc. 18.2 It is fallen it is fallen Babylon the great Citie is become the habitation of Devils the hold of all foul spirits and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird for all Nations have drunken of the wine of the wrath of her fornication and the Kings of the Earth have committed fornication with her c. If Heathen Rome onely were Babylon it would follow that upon the fall thereof in the dayes of Constantine the Emperour Rome professing the Faith of Christ should then become the habitation of Devils and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird Which being a most grosse and absurd imagination it must needs be granted that afte◠〈◊〉 â—ayes of the Christian Emperouâ— the faithful Citie should become a harlot even Rome whose Faith was once renowned throughout Romans 1.8 all the world should become Babylon the mother of whoredomes and abominations of the Earth Apoc. 17.5 3. Such a Desolation is foretold should come upon the great City Babylon which in the second position is proved to be Rome that it should utterly be destroyed and never built again nor reinhabited Apoc. 18. v. 21 22 23. Now at that very time when this judgement shall come it is said that the Kings of the Earth which have committed fornication with her shall bewail her and lament her Rev. 18. verse 9. whereby it is most evident that Rome is not to cease from being Babylon till her last destruction shall come upon her and that unto her last gaspe she is to continue her spiritual fornications alluring all Nations unto her superstition and idolatrie 4. Saint Paul 2 Thessalonians 2.7 Declareth that there was One in his time who did hinder the revealing of that wicked man who was to be the head of this Apostacie and falling away from the Faith And when that he should be taken out of the way then saith the Apostle Verse 8. Shall that wicked man be revealed He that with-held and made this hinderance in the Apostles time could be no other but the Emperour in whose hands as long as the possession and governement of Rome remained it was impossible that that wicked One of whom the Apostle speaketh should raigne there So that upon his removal that man of sinne must succeede in his roome whereupon that great Citie wherein he placeth his Throne falleth to be that Babylon Revel 18.23 which should deceive all Nations with her inchantments Now all the world can witnesse that the Emperour who sometime was the Soveraigne Lord of Rome is now quite turned out of the Possession thereof and the Pope entered thereupon in his stead Whereupon it followeth that the Pope for all his Holiness is that wicked one of whom the Apostle Prophesied 2 Thess 2.4 that he should sit in the temple of God exalting himself above
out of their own land to the same place of Babel where they continued seventy years unto the overthrow of the Babylonian Monarchy by Cyrus The Prophets Isay and Jeremiah foretel the ruine of this Babel and delivering of Gods People from her Tyranny whom they exhort upon her fall to returne into their own land Hence is this forme taken and this whole Chapter is compiled of little else but the phrases of the Prophets touching Babel and Tyrus as the diligent reader by comparing the concording places may easily perceive This Exhortation to leave Babylon is Depart ye Isa 52.11 Ser. 50.8 and Jer. 51.6.9 Depart ye goe out from thence remove out of the middest of Babylon and goe forth out of the land of the Chaldeans flee out of the middest of Babylon and deliver every man his Soul be not cut off in her iniquitie forsake her and let us goe every one into his own Countrey Vers 45. My people goe ye out of the middest of her and deliver ye every man his Soul from the fierce anger of the Lord which as you see are almost the very words of this Text so that which followes here in the seaventh Verse I sit as a Queen and am no VVidow and shall see no sorrow is taken out of Isaiah 47.7 8. The wayling of the Merchants of this Babel and the store and preciousnesse of her Merchandize is borrowed from the like Description of the Costlyness of Tyrus Ezekiel 27. Ezek. 27. The inrecoverable ruine of this Babel shewed in the end of this Chapter by the signe of a great Milstone cast into the Sea is taken out of Ier. 51. Ier. 51. Where the Prophesie of that it self against Babel is appointed to be bound to a Milstone and cast into the river Euphrates which ran through the old Babell with this word Thus shall Babel sinke and shall not rise from the evil which I will bring upon her These Prophecies were accordingly accomplished as you may see in Daniel Daniel 5. for she is related in a great Feast made by Belshazzar to a thousand of his Lords wherein he would needs bring forth the Vessels of Gods House for his Nobles and Concubines to quaff in God wrote his Doom with a hand upon the wall of his Banquetting house and the same night the Medes and Persians under Darius and Cyrus entered the Citie slew the King and proclaimed libertie to Gods People Ezra 1.1 to return into their Countrey and reedifie the House of God as you may see and thus came Babel the Glory of Kingdomes as it is called Esay 13.19 to Confusion But this is the literal Babel whereunto there is a reference in this Text What now is the Mystical Babylon which here Gods People are bidden to leave Questionlesse some City answering to this in State in Glorie in Oppression of the People of God neither must we take it for the buildings onely and houses but for the State also and Policy as besides the Evidence of the Type of old Babel so taken by the Prophets and the common use of all Authours in like Case doth lead us There be two Opinions recited by Cardinal Bellarmine in this matter one that it should be the communitie of all the wicked and reprobate But this hath no manner of agreement with the Circumstances of the Text This is not seated on seven hills nor hath it seven Kings five fallen one being and another to come nor will those things that are foretold of the destruction of Babel agree to this Exposition and is rejected by the learned of that side And himselfe names another which he approves for the better viz. that here by Babel is meant the Citie of Rome As that was in Saint Iohns time for as he shewes out of Tertullian Look as old Babylon was the head of that Empire whose King persecuted and lead into captivity the People of God so did Rome then This is not onely Bellarmines judgement but Salmeron Viegas and others of that side that Babylon is Rome They do well to yield to the clear evidence of truth so clear in deed as it would be too shameful impudence to deny it For what City was there which in Saint Iohns time could have the addition of great but onely Rome or did rule over the Kings of the earth or to omit all other Arguments was seated on seven hills Septemque una sibi muro cirnundedit arces It may be said Constantinople also is set on seven hills and not unfitly for it was built in Emulation of Rome called new Rome but not till some * Anno 330. Ages after Saint Iohns time we need not spend more words in a plain matter having our Adversaries own Confession Babylon is Rome and old Rome yea saith Bellarmine Heathen Rome persecuting Rome Hear I beseech you Right Honourable and beloved to observe well not what Isay but what Saint John what the Angels what our Lord Jesus Christ himselfe doe foretell and relate in this Chapter touching the fall of this Babel or Rome It is confessed if Babylon be Heathen Rome that is now falne and hath been above a thousand years agoe and consequently thenceforth it is become An habitation of Devils the hold of every foul spirit and a Cage of every unclean and hateful bird for these are by the Angel conjoyned with the fall thereof in the 2 Verse will Bellarmine and his fellowes now confess this to be so I trow not But because it may be some body else will that we may speak not only to the men but to the matter Observe that the ruine of Babylon here spoken of is so described as to be sudden in one day in one houre her desolation is not only without recoverie but even Consolation Verse 8.10.19 like to the throwing of a stone into the Sea Verse 21.22 23. so as neither Musick nor Minstrel nor the sound of a Quâ—rn or any Crafts-man nor the voyce of a Bridegroome or a Bride nor light of a Candel shall be found in her any more This cannot agree with the Conversion or the Subversion of heathen Rome for all these things are yet left now to be found there and if men will not wilfully shut their eyes they must me thinkes needs see that this Desolation did not then come upon Rome nor is yet come upon her And therefore it is not Heathen Rome but after the embracing of Christian Religion which is to fall and consequently that out of which Christs People are called Viegas of likelyhood was aware of this and therefore hath devised another shift to escape by He saith Rome is here to be tâ—ken in a double estate That before it received Christs Faith and that which shall be in Antichrists time when as Saint Iohn saith in this and the former Chapter It shall revolt from the Bishop of Rome and from the Faith as he saith a little before Antichrists coming or at least at the beginning of
men so far above his reach there had been no need of He having in those and divers other aspersions which he hath cast upon him in his late book which may hereafter be fully cleared done himselfe the chiefest wrong I commend the whole to the Readers charitable and impartiall censure that no prejudicate opinion doe obstruct his right apprehension THE CONTENTS Of the Severall TREATISES The First consists of three POSITIONS 1. THat a great City called Babylon shall be a Seducer 2. That by this City is meant ROME 3. Not Heathen Rome but since it was freed from the Government both of Heathen and Christian Emperours and became the possession of the Pope The Second How the Papacy may be said to be the Beast that was and is not and yet is Rev. 17.18 The Third being Bishop Bedels Sermon on Rev. 18.4 Come out of her my people c. The Speaker our Saviour Christ His people those within the Covenant of Grace A paralleling the Speeches here with those of the Prophets Of Litterall Babell who meant by Mysticall Babylon The judgement of Bellarmine Salmeron Viegas to be the City of Rome How the title of Babylon the great and her reigning over the Kings of the earth rather agrees to Rome Papal then Heathen The Cup of inchantment whereby she hath deceived all Nations and one in speciall in imitation of literall Babell Dan. 1. applyed to that See Her Wantonnesse Pride sitting as a Queen glorifying her self the blood of Christians shed by the Papacy to be beyond that of Heathen Romes persecution his conclusion from the Premises That there are some of Gods people in Babylon That they are to goe out not only in affection but the place also Of Baptisme Grounds of the Catechisme Faith taught there of the doctrine of of merits What is to be thought of those that doe yet live there and cannot come out Whether the Church of Rome be a true Church rightly stated p. 83. Of the Ordination had there by the use of these words Whose sins ye remit c. That the Papall Monarchy is Babylon proved by arguments at the barre of Reason and from common principles of Christianity p. 89. Answer to that motive of staying in Babylon because they are told they may be saved in it An exhortation of such as are yet in that captivity to come out and of our selves to come further out Of Impropriations Dispensations c. with a conclusive prayer for the destruction of Babylon The Fourth A Confirmation of the abovesaid judgment From some grounds out of the Ancient Fathers consenting in an expectation that Rome must be the place and the successor of the Emperour there the Person A clear application of it to the See of Rome by the Fathers and Writers in successive ages before and after the tenth Century The Judgment of the eminent Bishops of England since the reformation the book of Homilies especially in 2 places calling the Pope Antichrist and the Babylonical beast of Rome A Synod in France as Ireland How far confessed by the prime writers of the Church of Rome The mistake of such as have diverted the application of it some other way an Answer of a passage of Doctor Heylenes concerning it in relation to the Primate and Articles of Ireland The Fifth Of laying on of Hands Heb. 6.2 Reasons why not confirmation but ordination Paraeus and Mr. Cartwrights concurrence in it with the Primate The necessity of an ordained Ministry The neglect of it as undermining the foundation Objections answered with a seasonable application to the present times The necessity of an external call The Authority not from the People That objection against our ordination being derived from Rome at large answered p. 218. That personal faults in the ordainers doth not null the ordination Some application The 6. Of the old form of words in Ordination Receive the Holy Ghost not meant of the sanctifying grace of the spirit nor extraordinary gifts of it but of ghostly or spirituall Ministeriall authority 1 Cor. 3. verse 3.6 and 1 John 2.20 The anointing teacheth you c. illustrated An objection out of S. Augustine answered Whose sins thou forgivest c. In what sense Ministers are said to forgive sins The Primates judgement in his answer to the Jesuits Challenge defended to be according to the doctrine of the Church of England which Doctor Heylene hath scandalized him in it The 7th Of a Set Form of Prayer The judgment of Calvine Dutch and French divines with their Practice Examples out of the Old Testament and New The pattern of our Saviour giving a form to his disciples taking one to himself and observing the set forms made by others That objection of Stinting the spirit answered An Vniformity in publique prayer a means of reducing unity in Church and State The full concurrence of Mr. Rogers Mr. Egerton Dr. Gouge Mr. Hildersham Dr. Sibbs Dr. Preston c. Of the length and gesture in prayer Mr. Hildersham of an outward reverence in the publick A Character of Bishop Bedell his industry at Venice and at home humility moderation government and sufferings An answer to Mr. Thomas Pierces fifth Letter wherein three Certificates have been published by him for the justification of a change of judgement in the late Primate of Ireland in some points ERRATA SOme omissions of Accents Pointing and number of pages the intelligent Reader may correct himself Page 39. l. 2. r. professed p. 40. l. 8. r. Lo-ammi p. 41. l. 18. r. ir p. 45. l. 9. for there t is related that p. 46. l. 15. d. and p. 48. l. 8. circun p. 49. l. 6. ly p. 63. l. 21. d. p. 59. l. 11. although p. 60. l. 4. her p. 63. l. 1. As gods l. 21. dis p. 64. l. 22. they they p. 70. l. 10. val p. 82. l. 20. d. p. 92. l. 6. may p. 160. l. 23. p. 161. l. 11. Padre p. 162. mar l. 8. justif p. 185. l. 2. baptizing p. 189. l. 2. mining p. 198. l. 6. of the p. 248. l. 22. mediatly p. 250. l. 22. 2. p. 278. l. 12 there p. 317. l. 8. Wethersfield p. 322. l. 18. prayer p. 329 l. 21. and Mr. p. 362. l. 12. d. following p. 378. l. ult d. which The judgement of the late Arch-bishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland what is understood by Babylon in Apoc. 17. 18. Apoc. 18. v. 4. Go out from her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and receive not of her plagues IN these words we are straightly enjoyned upon our peril to make a separation from Babylon For the understanding of which charge these three Positions following are to be considered The first Position THat it is plainly foretold in the the Word of God that after the planting of the Faith by the Apostles the Kings and Inhabitants of the earth should be seduced and drawn into damnable errours and that the mother of all these Abominations of the Earth should
his Kingdome Rome shall be grown proud and secure so as to say I sit as a Queen and then by the ten Kings mentioned in the former Chapter who had given their Kingdomes unto her shall she be ruined and burnt c In this Exposition the revolt that he tells of from the Obedience of the See of Rome is a Fancy of his own and hath not the least ground in St. Iohns Vision That the revolt from the Faith whereof the Apostle Paul speaks 2 Thessalonians 2. is the very Apostacy of Antichrist the man of sinne and sonne of perdition 2 Thes 2.3 that Rome in Antichrists time shall be secure and account her self to sit as a Queen and then be destroyed by the ten Kings that formerly had served and obeyed her this is very true as being expresly so laid down in the 16. and 17. Vers of the former Chapter But that which befell the Iewes in the looking for the Kingdome of Christ when it was already among them happeneth to Viegas and those of his side They fondly look for Antichrist the last head of the beast whereupon the Babylonian Harlot sitteth above a thousand yeares after all the former and consider not that this beast is one Principality under divers forms of Government whereof five being fallen in Saint Johns time one then in being and the other to endure a short space To make this short space a thousand years or else to put in so many years of the Popes government over Rome before Antichrist come who shall forsooth revolt from his Obedience It seemes rather the dream of a waking man then to hold any likelyhood of Truth Howsoever it resteth even by Viegas consent notwithstanding his cunning combination of two states of Rome that under Paganisme and that under Antichrist with a thousand years between that Rome must have continued Christian for sundery Ages before her Desolation and for ought doth yet appear the present Monarchy which she claims to exercise over the Christian World is the Mystical Babylon out of which Gods People are called For the better clearing whereof let us consider the Description that is made of this Babylon by the Angels and our Saviour Christ himself more distinctly to see whether it doe agree to the present estate of Rome or no The Angel tells Iohn in the last Verse of the former Chapter The woman which thou sawest is the great City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth and before Verse 5. upon her forehead is a name written Mysterie Babylon the great Touching this greatness I may spare my pains to speak much there is a learned Book of Iustus Lipsius which he intitles Admiranda marvells touching the greatness of Rome not long after in concurrence thereto there was another made by Thomas Stapleton our Countreyman Professour at Lovaine which he intitles Vere admiranda Marvels indeed touching the greatness of the Church of Rome wherein by comparison he indeavours to shew that for largeness of Extent strength and power over Princes themselves honour yielded unto it the greatness and magnificence of the Romane Church doth far surpass the Roman Empire These two books were both printed together and set forth at Rome against the year of Jubilee 1600. as if the Papacy laboured to carry in her forehead the name Great Babylon For the reigning over the Kings of the Earth by this great City which is another point of the Angels description It is true that heathen Rome had anciently in the borders and consines of the state sundry Kings that held their Kingdomes of her Such were the Herods Aretas and Agrippa mentioned in the New Testament but these were neither in number nor dignity nor in the absoluten ss of their subjection to be compared with those that the now Rome reigneth over And no great marvel if the Roman Emperour armed with thirty or fourty Legions had many Kings at command saith Stapleton but that the Pope being altogether unarmed should give Lawes to the Kings of the Earth and either advance them to their Kingdomes or depose them who would not account worthy of great marvel true but the Angel shewes us the true reason Verse 12. the ten hornes which thou sawest are ten Kings which have received no Kingdome as yet but receive power Verse 17. as Kings at once with the beast c. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his Will and to agree and to give their Kingdome unto the beast until the Word of God shall be fulfilled And consider I pray you here the manner how they have given their Kingdomes to the beast Vpon the Election of any new Pope they send a solemne Embassage to profess their Obedience to him And one of those which is extant in Print as great a Monarch as any the Christian World hath Offers himself and all his Kingdomes his Seas Firm lands Islands Armes Forces Treasures Ships Armies whatsoever he is whatsoever he hath whatsoever he is able to doe and falling down at the Popes feet as a most obsequious Sonne he acknowledgeth and confesseth him to be the true Vicar of Christ our Saviour on Earth the successour of Peter the Apostle in that See the head of the Vniversal Church the Provost Parent and Pastor of all Christians praying him and humbly beseeching him that he would receive all whatsoever he hath offered to the profit defence of the Church into his Protection and Patronage And these words c. are said with a gesture corespondent the Embassador falling down upon his knees let Lipsius if he can with all his reading in Story shew us such an Example of any King subject to old Pagan Rome It is true that Nero accounted it for his highest Glory to have set the Crown upon Tiridates the King of the Armenians head in the City of Rome with great state and pomp But let us see saith Stapleton If the Majesty of the Church of Rome hath not had an equal part of this glory yea and a greater and then he reckons how Pope Leo the third gave the Empire to Charles the great and how other Popes conferred to others a great many other Kingdomes One thing he forgets that neither Nero nor any other Emperour of old Rome ever Crowned any with his feet as Celestine the third did Henry the sixth nor caused him to hold their stirrops or kiss their feet much less set their feet upon their neckes as Pope Adrian the fourth and Alexander the third did to the Emperor Frederick And that we may not spend more time in proving that the present Papal Rome reigneth over the Kings of the Earth the Merchants of Babylon are now resolved That all the Kingdomes of the Earth are the Popes insomuch that the best Title that any Prince can have to his Crown is Dei Apostolicae sedis gratia by the grace of God and Apostolick See Lib. Rom. Ponâ— 5.1.2 6. Ab Alex 6. Cap. 7.8 And Cardinal Bellarmine recognizing his
Decretals And if any make scruple to look on that Book let him see Bellarmine undertaking that the Pope intâ—nding to teach the whole Church can in no case erre in things appertaining to Faith De Rob. Pont. Cap. 3. Ver. 5. no no yet the particular Church of Rome that it is probable and pious to believe the Pope cannot become an Hereticke even as a particular Person that he is the judge of Controversiâ—s in the Church and his judgement certain and infallible Add to these that the same Bellarmine makes Temporal Felicity one of the notes of the Church De Not. Eccl. l. 4. c. 8. One point more rests in the speech of the last Angel concerning Babylon in this Chapter Verse the last That in her was fâ—und the bloud of the Prophets and Saints of all that were slain upon the Earth And in the former Chapter Verse 6. John saw the woman drunken with the bloud of Saints and Martyrs of Jesus That Heathen Rome was such there is no doubt And although Bellarmine would draw the Text another way to Jerusalem that this is the great City Verse 11.8 where the bodies of two witnesses shall lie unburied where also the Lord was Crucified since in the Romane Empire and by a Romane Deputy and to a Romane Death our Lord was put But this doth no less stick by Christian Rome unto this day to be drunken with the bloud of Saints and Martyrs of Jesus Let Histories be turned and an exact account taken how many thousands otherwise good Christians have been slain and massacred merely for his pleasure sake And because they would not submit to her Obedience I think it will very evidently appeare that they are imcomparably more then all those that suffered Martyrdome for the Christian Religion under Heathen Romes persecution To omit those whom as an Imperious Harlot she hath caused to be killed for calling her name in question Thus you see the Description of Babylon doth no lesse agree to the present then the old Heathen Rome the great City her command over the Kings of the Earth Her inchanting Cup Her wantonness and delicacy Her arrogancy and pride Lastly that bloudy and bloud-thirsty Cruelty against the worshippers of Christ exercised by her and which I desire you to observe by her alone for in no other part of the Christian world you shall find it To conclude then since neither Heathen Rome onely as she was heathen as Bellarmine would have it can be Babylon nor partly Heathen and partly Antichristan as revolted from the Pope with a gap of a thousand years between as Viegas divineth And the Character that the Holy Ghost sets upon Babylon doth no lesse but rather more agree to the present Pontifical Rome then to the old Imperial It is the falsely termed Christian indeed the Antichristian Rome which is the Babylon out of which Gods People are called And how they are to go out of her it rests to be considered Bellarmine cites Saint Augustine to prove that it is Corde non Corpore not in place but affection But the Temple of Gods people departing from Babel would seem to imply both And the rather because this great City is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt Rev. 11.8 now such was the departure of Lott out of Sodome and Israel out of Egypt It is true that by Cyrus his Edict Gods people were permitted to return into their own Countrey to the place where the Lords worship was then fixed Now there is no such place specially appointed as our Lord Iesus Christ shews in his speech with the woman of Samaria John 4. But certainly if any of Gods people cannot by separation in judgement and affection so live as not to be partakers of the sins of Babylon they are to go out bodily also and in no wise to touch any unclean thing Gods people are warned to do even by the consideration of the Holy vessels of the Lord which they carried with them out of Babylon The reason which confirms this charge of going out of Babylon is drawn from the danger of participation in her sins and in her Plagues that is Isay 52.11 blowes stripes punishments which are not onely those mentioned in the 8 Verse Death Mourning Famine Fire but as in the 14. Chapter where the same Proclamation is made of her fall which is here the drinking of the hot and unalaid wine of Gods vengeance and to be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the Holy Angels and the Lamb and the smoak of their torments shall ascend for ever and ever We have thus descussed the meaning of this Scripture which being all laid together is this Saint Iohn hears our Lord Iesus Christ admonishing from Heaven his faithful people to come out of the obedience of Romish Popish Babylon least partaking with her in her sins they receive also of her stripes and punishments both Temporall and Eternal Here concerning the person of the speaker mentioned in this first place and that circumstance that he speaks from Heaven I will for the present say no more but desire onely that it may renew the religious attention of all that each would say with himselfe I will hearken what the Lord God will say for he will speak Peace unto his People and to his Saints that they turn not to folly That every one would remember the words of the Apostle see that ye despise not him that speaketh Heb. 12.25 for if you escaped not when ye refused him that speaketh one Earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven But these points shall be more profitably pressed when we shall have considered the speech it self Wherein observe first he call his people to come out of Babylon a plain Argument that there are many not onely good Moral and Civil honest men there but good Christians not redeemed onely but in the possession of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which may be confirmed by these reasons First there is amongst these that are under the tyranny of the Romish Babylon the Sacrament of entrance into the Covenant of Grace Baptisme by which those that are partakers thereof are made Members of Christ the children of God and heirs of Eternal life of these that have but this Seal of Gods Covenant viz. infants are no small and contemptible part of Gods People though as yet they cannot hear this Voyce of Christ calling out of Babylon besides this there is publication of the tenure of the Covenant of Grace to such as are of years though not so openly and purely as it might and ought yet so as the grounds of the Catechisme are preached sin is shewed Christs redemption or the story of it is known Faith in him is called for John 3.18.36.5.24 and this Faith is by the Grace of God wrought in some For the Word of God and his Calling is not fruitless but like the rain
all that is called God or worshipped And consequently that Rome where he hath settled his Chayre hath long since begun and yet continueth to be that Babylon from whose communion we are charged to sever our selves by that voyce from Heaven Apoc. 18.4 Goe out of her my People that ye be not partakers of her sinnes and receive not of her Plagues The judgement of the Primate wrot by him long agoe in answer to the request of a learned Friend what is meant by the beast that was and is not and yet is and other passages in the 17. and 18. of the Revelation IN the Revelation these four Particalars must be carefully distinguished The woman which is the great City Babylon The first beast which ariseth out of the Sea Apoc. 13.1 The second beast which ariseth out of the Earth Apoc. 13.11 and the false Prophet which ministreth to the second beast that goeth to destruction Apoc. 16.13 19.20 by which are meant as I conceive Vrbs Romana Imperium Romanum Pontifex Romanus and Clerus Romanus The two beasts in Cap. 13. verse 11. are plainly distinguished and that distinction must necessarily be observed in the seventeenth Chapter Likewise for the great beast mentioned in the third and seventh verses of that Chapter is the same with the first beast of the thirteenth Chapter as appeareth by the like description of the seven heads and ten horns the lesser beasts mentioned in the eighth and eleventh verses which is the last head of the former can be no other but the second beast mentioned in the thirteenth Chapter verse 22. who revived the Image of the former i. e. of the Empire and made all to admire and adore it Now the Question is how this latter which is Pontifex Romanus can be said to be the beast that was and is not and yet is My conceit of this is Singular but such as it is I will not conceal from you The Pontifices among the ancient Rom. as Dionysius Halicarnassaeus noâ—eth in his second Book of Roman Antiquities were obnoxious to no other jurisdiction neither were bound to render account of their doings to any they were only at the command of the Pontifex maximus whose authority was so great that the Emperours thought it inconvenient that this Supremacy should be committed to any other therefore by assumeing it to themselves and anexing it to their imperial Crown they did by this means extinguish the Spiritual Magistracie and in a sort extinguish the solemne Magistracy which under the 5. former heads was distinguished from all other superiour Governments and prosecuted with special regard and reverence That as if now for example in our state one should Prophesie of the Government of the Dukes of Lancaster under the like Type he might say of them in this manner The beast that was for the Dukes of Lancaster in their time have been great and is not for by annexing of the Dutchey to the Crown there is now no speech of any Duke and yet is for the Dutchey still remaineth with the several offices appertaining thereunto though the state of the Duke lieth as it were drowned in the person of the King So in like manner the Angel might speak of these Pontifices Romani the beast that was for he was in former time of speciall account And is not Being now confounded and in a manner swallowed up with the state of the Emperour And yet is for the Priest-hood remained still the Title and Dignity thereof resting in the Emperour This Beast this Pontifex Romanus shall hereafter appear in his Pontificalibus and by his creatures the false Prophet induce the world to accept his Pontifical power for the highest upon earth as before they did the Imperial the image whereof is in this perfectly revived As for the second we are to consider that the seven heads of the first beast are expounded Apoc. 17.9 10. to be both the seven Mountains on which the woman i. e. the great City verse 18. was seated and the seven Kings or head Governours by which that City was ruled The Pope in regard of his Civil power over the woman i. e. his Regall Power over the City of Rome orderly succeedeth the six heads that went before him and so becometh the seventh claiming that respect in higher headship then did his Predecessors But not content with that for whereas the state of Pontifex maximus which in Saint Johns time after a sort was and is not as hath been shewed by means of the Christian Emperors was clean extinguisht the first of them bearing only the Title but not exercising the Office and Gratian the Emperour at last abolishing both the Title and the Office as by Zosimus a heathen Historian we understand the Pope raised it again out of the grave and took it to himself and after he had gotten to be the seventh head retained not the pontificality as an appendant of his regall Power as did the Emperours before him but advanced the head thereof far above any of the seven civil supreme governments making himself by that means an eight head distinct from any of the former which in respect of his civil Power was one of the seven Neither was he content to extend the jurisdiction of his Pontificality ad urbem regiones suburbicarias onely or to bound it within the confines of Italy but which was never done by any Pontifex maximus before him by being Pontifex urbis he challenged a Title of Summus Pontifex Orbis and so became not onely a head of the former beast but also a severall beast by himself receiving in his government the image of the former beasts drawing all the world to worship the same for as Augustinus Steuchus writeth in his second Book against Laur. Valla when the Pontificality was first set up in Rome all Nations from East to West did worship the Pope no otherwise then of old the Caesars A SERMON Preached at Christ-Church Dublyn before the Lord Deputie and the Parliament of Ireland by BP BEDELL Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland Anno 1634. Revel 18.4 And I heard another voyce from Heaven saying Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues Right Honorable Reverend Worshipful and Beloved THe Censure that Saint Hierome passeth on this Book of the Revelation Tot Sacramenta quot Verba so many Words so many Mysteries hath often run in my mind and made me even fearful to pronounce concerning the divers Visions in it and even loath to meddle with it Neither have I to my best rememberance above twice in my whole life chosen any Text out of it to declare out of this place which resolution I should stil have holden save that I conceive some extraordinary fitness in this passage for the present occasion of this great meeting And yet even now I shall treat of such a part as is none of the hardest to be understood so as with out
and all the kingdome of Antichrist c. This latter passage is only produced by Doctor Heylene as an evidence that the Pope is not declared to be Antichrist either here or any where else in the book of Articles or Homilies which how the force of it can be extended so farre beyond its own sphere doth not appeare For his principal argument that he finds here the Pope and Antichrist distinguished as much as the Devil and the Pope 'T is answered The destinction here is not between the Pope and Antichrist but between him and his Antichristian kingdom for the words are not the Pope the Divell and Antichrist but and all the kingdome of Antichrist That Universality all comprehending both head and members And if we should allow a Duumvirate in the Pope and Devill for the government of that kingdom one as the visible head the other as the invisible or the one him that reigneth the other by whom he receiveth power so to do Rev. 13.4 both might be thus owned without infringing the title of either Howsoever 't is not the arguings from such niceties in the placing of words which the book of Homilies are not strict in as might be shewed in several instances but the observation of the scope and drift of the place the comparing it with others the concurrance of the judgement of severall eminent Bishops afore-cited who cannot be imagined to declare against the doctrine of it will carry the sense of it accordingly with the judicious and unbiassed Reader and so much for the book of Homilies Unto which I might also adde the opinion of some learned men liveing and dying within the outward communion of the Church of Rome To instance onely in Padrio Paulo who wrote the History of the Councill of Trent After whose stabbing by an Emissarie from Rome many of the Clergy of Venice brake out into that application calling that See Impura insana superba meretrix pestis ac lues mortalium and her ruine to be expected according to Rvelat 18. Some of the verses are printed at the end of the Interdict writ by Padrio Paulo and translated out of Italian into Latin by Bishop Bedell who was often an ear-witnsse when he lived in those parts of divers learned men producing that of 2 Thes 2. the man of sin who exalts himself above all c. and shall sit in the Temple of God c. both as an argument that the Bishop of Rome is the person sitting and that those who are oppressed and tyrannised over by him are (u) Calvin Epist 104. Under the Papacy some Church remaineth a Church crazed forlorne mistaken yet some Church his reason is Antichrist must sit in the Temple of God which is cited by Mr. Hooker Instit Sect. 27. Gehazi a man though over-run with a Leprosy and to be shunned as unclean Antichristianismus est morbus in Christianismo the Church of God and from thence rejecting any application to Mahumet and fixing it upon the Bishop of Rome some questioning Is it he or shall we look for another others saying as the Jewes of the blind man This is one very like him but many This is he Which puts me in mind of the confident assertion of Cardinal Perron who affirms that whosoever maintaineth this wicked doctrine that Popes have no power to put Kings by their supreme thrones they teach men to beleeve that there hath not been any Church for many ages past and that indeed the Church is the very Synagogue of Antichrist and the Pope in good consequence to be the Antichrist which Oration the Cardinal himselfe addressed to King James upon a supposition it might have converted him See King James Preface to the defence of the right of Kings * The words of the Cardinal are these viz. by this Article i. e. that Kings are not deposable by the Pope we are cast headlong into a manifest heresie as binding us to confesse that for many ages past the Catholick Church hath been banished out of the whole world for if the Champions of the doctrine contrary to this Article do hold an impious detestable opinion contrary to Gods word then doubtless the Pope for so many hundred years expired hath not been the head of the Church but an heretick and the Antichrist p. 453. Now whereas both sides as you have heard are agreed upon the place to be Rome which checks the phansie of such as would apply it to Constantinople or to persons that never were at either I shall only confirm it out of one of the Popish Writers who hath quoted most of the rest to save the Reader any farther labour if he hath a mind to satisfie himself in it 't is Tyrinus the Jesuit in his Commentary upon the 17. Revelat. Where comparing the vision of the beast with 7 heads and 10 hornes cap. 13. with that of the 17. and granting it to be meant of the same like Pharaoh's dreames the seven eares of corne and the seven kine were both one then for the vision there he saith by the great harlot whose Mystical name is Babylon cannot possibly be meant of any other then Rome 't is plain saith he she sits upon (x) The usual stile of the Sybils 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Roma septicollis in Plutarch Varro a Festival among the Romans called dies septem montium Tertul. in his time calls the people of Rome the people of the seven hills Ipsam vernaculam septem collium plebem convenio Apol. l. 35. seven Mountains and raigns over the Kings of the earth which can agree to no other city besides And urgeth that place of Saint Peter 2 Peter 5.13 the Church which is at Babylon salutes you to be meant of Rome for as Bishop Andrewes observes (x) Ita avidè avent homines hii Petrum Romae alicubi in Scripturâ reperire potius ut Babylonem velint esse Romam ubi Petrus fuit quam ut Petrus Romae non fuerit Valde enim illorum interest ad caput fidei ut Petrus Romae credatur fuisse c. Tort. Torti p 183. rather then Peter should not be at Rome which they have slender or no proofes for out of Scripture but yet is of great consequence to the Papacy they will confesse it to be Babylon And though 2 Thes 2. he saith the Temple of God where the man of sinne sits is Jerusalem yet here his seat of Babylon must be Rome Produceth the expresse Testimonies of the Fathers for it Lactantius Tertullian Jerome Ambrose Augustine c. and saith he even our hereticks meaning the Protestant Writers for after the same way he calls heresie so worship we the God of our Fathers and in conclusion produceth most of his own associates the Writers of the Church of Rome Sixtus Senensis Bellarmine Bozius Zuarez Salmeran Alcazar unto which I may adde Baronius (y) Certissimum esse nomine Babylonis Romam urbem significari Anno 45. n. 18. 'T
is most certaine saith he by the name of Babylon the City of Rome is signified Ribera in his Commentary upon it saith the same adding also (z) Huic conveniunt aptissimè omnia atque illud inprimis quod alii convenire non potest optimè etiam convenisset◠quod in eodem capite mulier quam vidisti est civitas magna quae habet regnum super reges terrae all things fitly agree to it and somewhat that can be applied to no other then Rome as The seven heads are seven hills and The City which reigneth over the Kings of the earth Viegus saith (a) Existimamus nomine Babylonis Romanam urbem significari in hoc Apocalypsis opere ubi toties Babylon nominatur c. omnia quae his capitibus memorantur in Romanam urbem aptissimè quadrant We conceive wheresover Babylon is mentioned in the Revelation it signifies Rome and all things in the 17. and 18. Revel very fitly appliable to it According to that of (b) Johannes in Apocalypsi Passim Romam vocat Babylonem ut Tertullianus annotavit apertè colligitur ex cap. 17. Apocalyp ubi dicitur Babylon magna sedere suprà septem montes habere imperium super reges terrae nec enim alia civitas est quae Johannis tempore imperium habuerat super reges terrae quam Roma notissimum est supra septem colles Romam aedificatam esse lib. 3. de Rom. Pont. cap. 13. Bellarmine formerly quoted and Lessius (c) Roma à Johanne vocatur Babylon quia Babilon fuit figura Romae quibus verbis aptè designat Romam who saith John calls Rome Babylon as being the figure of Rome and by his words he elearly sheweth it to be Rome All which may well give a check to the Novelty of some among our selves who without the ballast of sound or sollid judgement have been carried about with the winds of other imaginations which yet I could easily believe some Popish Agents upon second thoughts have had their hands in to get it driven off the further from their shore Though how farre not-withstanding our aforesaid Writers and these are from an agreement in the above-said hath been made apparant in the two former Treatises viz. Those of the Popish Writers would have it Rome while it was Heathen and the fall to be with the Heathen Empire and ours Rome since it became Christian and the fall yet to come Those of ours who in defence of our Ordination from the scandal of Antichristian by its passing through the See of Rome have endeavoured to take off that See from being such in the aforementioned places as it was a needlesse refuge so the cure is worse then the disease And those who have with the Popish Writers yeelded the man of sin and the son of perdition by that manner of expression to be meant of a single person were not forced to it for it may notwithstanding be meant of a successive race of men in one place and government non de unitate individui sed speciei according to the like instance in Scripture Esa 23.15 Tyre shall be forgotten 70 years according to the days of one King i. e. of one Kingdom viz. The Empire of the Caldeans which after Nebuchadnezar and his successors Evelmerodach and Belshazar was given to the Medes and Persians and Dan. 7.17 the 4 beasts are 4 Kings i. e. the four successive Empires the Chaldean Persian Grecian Roman as the seven Kings do accordingly Rev. 17. signify seven successive governments and so the man of sin may be meant accordingly not of a particular man but of a race of men succeeding in that Tyranny as when they say the Pope is the Head of the Church they do not limit it to this or that particular Pope but mean it of the continued succession from S. Peter Neither is the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of any more force for the limitation of it to one man there 2 Thes 2. then it is in Luk. 4.4 Man lives not by bread only or Mark 2.27 The Sabbath was not made for man both includeing all mankind or 2 Tim. 3. ult That the man of God may be perfect c. which is not confined to one but takes in all the Ministery For which or any thing else concerning this controversie which I shall not enter into I shall referre the Reader to Bishop Downham Bishop Jewel Bishop Abbot with others from whom he may receive full satisfaction Only thus much in confirmation of the Judgement of those two Reverend and eminent Bishops a Vindication of it from the aspersion of singularity and novelty THE Late Arch-Bishop of ARMAGH'S judgement of the sense of that place Heb. 6.2 Of laying on of hands enlarged and defended THis and the former verse may well be called the Apostles Catechisme consisting of six Principles or Fundamentals of Christian doctrine as they are called in the former verse of which this is the Method The two former concern this life viz. Repentance from good works and Faith towards God The two latter the end of this life viz. the Resurrection of the dead and eternal judgement The two middle viz. the doctrine of Baptismes and laying on of hands are in relation to both either as Conduits to convey the two former into us or as Chariots to carry us with comfort to the two latter That they are Fundamental Principles as well as the other cannot be doubted of by their being placed in the midst of them only the question is what is meant by them First by the doctrine of Baptismes I conceive is meant the Sacrament of Baptisme which is often joyned with the two former Fundamentals By our Saviour with Faith he that believeth and is baptized Mark 16.16 By Saint Peter with repentance Acts 2.38 Repent and be baptized Object The objection against it is that 't is Baptismes in the plurall number Answ Answ First the Syriack reads it in the singular number and Saint Augustine in his book de fide operibus renders it Lavacri doctrina the doctrine of the font from whence Ribera gathers there might be some Ancient Greek Copies accordingly But secondly it is an Enallage Numeri the plural for the singular as Genes 8.4 The Ark rested on the Mountaines of Arrarat which Tremelius by way of explanation renders uno montium Matth. 27.44 Theeves for one of them only Luke 23.39 So accordingly The Israelites having made one golden Calfe said these are thy Gods O Israel c. Exodus 32.4 and verse 33. Moses saith they have made themselves Gods of Gold yet verse 24. it is called by Aaron This Calfe Drusius hath divers of the like as Sepulchers for Sepulcher Cities for City c. and so here Baptismes for Baptisme I am not ignorant of other conjectures by learned men signifying a threefold Baptisme Sanguinis flaminis fluminis or the thrice dipping for sprinkling the number of perons coming to be baptized the
two several times in the year in the Ancient Church set apart for it Easter and Pentecost called dies baptismatum which is Calvins and Bezaes or implying the double act in it the inward Baptisme of Christ and outward baptisme of John that is to say the Ministers which are Mr. (a) Answ tâ— Rhemist Comment on N. T upon this place Cartwrights words upon the place who also saith by a trope both Sacraments are here noted under one but I conceive that which we first gave is the best And 't is observable that the Apostle saith the doctrine of Baptismes 't is not the absolute want of it when it cannot be had but the rejecting of the doctrine of it that damnes 'T is possible that some of those three thousand converted by Saint Peters Sermon might have died before they could come to the water and yet be saved but if they had rejected the doctrine of it when they were bad to be baptized like the Pharisees rejecting the Counsel of God against themselves or like Naman who despised the river Jordan I question it A well ordered discipline is the ornament of the Church but upon the confession and doctrine of Saint Peter it was to be founded in which sence the Apostles and Prophets in their doctrines are called the foundation of it Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone and as some think is the sence of that Revel 21.14 that in the twelve foundations were the names of the twelve Apostles in relation to their doctrinals So much for that Now the next is the doctrine of laying on of hands Here is the great question What is meant by it That it is a Fundamentall cannot be denied if Baptisme be one this must be another see in the verse how like twins they are borne and bred under the same roof And 't is observable that in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the plural number doctrines referring to both In the search of several Authours I find these two expositions most worthy of consideration The first is Confirmation of children after Baptisme which hath somewhat of Antiquity for it most of the Writers of the Church of Rome incline that way and even Calvin is of that mind also and in his Comment upon this place stands much for it and wisheth it had not been laid aside hodie retinenda pura institutio superstitio autem corrigenda and produceth this custome of confirming of children in the Primitive times to be an argument they were then baptized but I conceive it cannot be the sence for this reason because 't is not a Fundamentall and hard to prove it was then like Baptisme and the rest esteemed to be of a necessary use and belief in the Catholick Church according to that of Vincentius Lyrinensis Magnopere curandum est ut id teneamus quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus creditum est hoc est enim verè propriè Catholicum contr haeresin cap. 3. That is to be held for a Catholick verity which hath been believed every where alwayes and by all And our Church saith children baptized have all things necessary to their salvation The Papists that hold it to be a Sacrament do not say 't is a Fundamentall and when it was observed by us we took it to be only an ancient laudable custome of the Church and whether it was so in Saint Pauls time in the Church of the Hebrewes it doth not appear The second Exposition is that it should be meant an ordained Ministery which clearly in Saint Paul's time we find was wont to be by laying on of hands This is Pareus his sense upon this place It was saith he (a) Initialis doctrina de ministerio Ecclesiae quia tum ordinabantur per impositionem manuum an initial doctrine concerning the Ministery of the Church then ordained by imposition of hands * Totum munus Propheticum c. Gualterus in his Comment upon this place saith In this is contained the whole function of Preachers c. designed unto it by imposition of hands But none so full as Mr. Cartwright in his answer to the Rhemists upon this place his words are these viz. By the imposition of hands the Apostle meaneth no Sacrament much lesse confirmation after Baptisme but by a trope or borrowed speech the Ministers of the Church upon the which hands were laid which appeareth in that whosoever believeth not that there ought to be a Ministery by order or Ordination to teach and govern the Church overthroweth Christianity whereas if Confirmation of children were a Sacrament as it is not yet a man holding the rest and denying the use of it might notwithstanding be saved And some lines after gives us summarily the sense of this verse viz. to be the doctrine of the Sacraments and of the Ministery of the Church Ye see in his opinion what a dangerous thing it is no lesse then the hazard of their own salvation to lay aside an ordained Ministery or to deny the doctrine of it which men now frequently presume And 't is observable the argument which he useth he produceth as a Maxime then in his time taken for granted not to be proved but supposed no man then so much as questioning the necessity of it for though there were then divers disputes about discipline and ceremonies in which this learned Authour then appeared yet both parties esteemed alike of Ordination to be a sacred institution none presuming to take upon them the office of the Ministery without it Well this I conceive to be the sence here of laying on of hands viz. That it was a Principle of the Catechisme taught to Christians at their first reception that there was to be a successive ordination or setting apart of persons for the Ministery for an authorative preaching of faith and repentance and administration of Sacraments called laying on of hands from the outward rite as the Lords Supper by breaking of bread And this was the judgement of the most Reverend and learned Father of our Church the late Arch-Bishop of Armagh which hath the rather emboldned me to employ my thoughts in the confirmation of it and surely if it be a fundamentall the knowledge of the sense of it is of a greater consequence then to be slighted First it is considerable how well this doth sute with Saint Pauls expression elsewhere speaking of Ordination 2 Tim. 1.6 Stirre up the gift of God that is in thee by the putting on of my hands 1 Tim. 4.14 neglect not the gift that is in thee given thee with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery both thus sufficiently reconciled Saint Paul was the principal the Presbyters were his assistants according to the constitutions and custome of our Church in Ordination The Bishop is not to do it alone but with the assistance of at least three or four of the Ministers which was after the patteâ—n of the Primitive times The injunction of