the spirits of men for such a Persecution Sixthly What means else that general revolting unto the Doctrines of Popery and Arminianism The spirits of Popery which the Jesuits being the Popes Janizaries have laboured most in and had great contests with the Dominicans about them before ever the name of Arminius was heard of in the world and that they are Symbolical and the passage easie from one to the other the examples of Bertius Tilenus Vorstius and many others do make manifest But we need not go abroad for instances We saw in Episcopal times that those that were most forward in receiving and propagating these Doctrines of the Jesuits they soon fell into the superstitions of Rome in all their ways of Worship and we have reason to expect that it should be so in our time also Those Doctrines being as infectious now as they have been in times past Seventhly What may a man think of that general endeavor that there is to take off the odium from Popery and Papists among us That courting of them associating and complying with them so that with too many a Papist finds more favor then a faithfull Minister of the Gospel Nay what means that general neglect of the observation of this day In perpetuam Pontificiorum ignominiam Nay why is it denyed by some and the Religious observance thereof as if it were not a thing plotted by them but rather fained by us Eighthly What is the meaning of that design now on foot against the Ministers of the Gospel and their maintenance both being so clearly laid down in the Scripture and the latter having been so fully proved by the Law Is it not to be feared that all this is because they are the men that are lookt upon to stand in the light and do hinder the bringing forth of some such accursed birth according unto the Politick Counsel of Contzen the Jesuite who exhorts them to take away those that are forward and hot men Zealous for truth Haeresiarchae doctores errorum Repub pellendi sunt una vice si commodè fieri queat sin minus sensim paulatim li. 2. Politic. ca. 18. modus reducendae verae religionis and then error for so he calls truth cui patrocinium deerit sine pugna concidet or at least they being removed those may be be brought in who are unable either to discern truth from error or to convince the gainsayer and so the blind leading the blind both may fall into the Ditch Ninthly That general outcry that is upon all Truths Ordinances and ways of Religion among us as Antichristian Our Churches Antichristian our Ministry Antichristian our Laws Antichristian c. For it is Satans manner when he would set up Antichrist indeed to blend all the things of Christ with the Name of Antichrist thus giving the Wine of her Fornication in a golden Cup For Antichrist must blaspheme Gods name his Tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven neither hath this been a late design only for none of the Opinions or Practices that are amongst us are new but there was a book written many years ago Entituled Praemonitiones Christi Apostolorum de abolendo Christo vero per Antichristum Wherein the Doctrine of the Trinity the two natures of Christ his suffering in the flesh and his satisfaction unto God for sin All these are said to be Antichristian Doctrines and endeavoured to be censured under that Notion of a design of Antichrist to undermine the true Christ who saith the Author is Christ in the Spirit and not in the flesh Let none therefore be moved to hear every thing now termed Antichristian whether in Doctrine or practice according unto the licentiousness of men but rather fear lest under the name of Antichristian the things of Christ be cast off he who is truly Antichrist brought in who comes with all deceivableness of unrighteousness Tenthly When I consider also that general carelesness and inadventencie that is even amongst the people of God concerning these things a spirit of slumber and it is to be feared in Judgement being come upon them so that no man mourns under it no man lays it unto his heart I can remember when the Doctrines of Arminianism were revived in England by Mr. Mountagues Book what impression it made upon the spirits of the godly called then the Puritans of this Nation what mourning fasting praying writing there was against it but now even Godly men sleep whilst the Enemy sows these Tares This makes me to see need of pressing this exhortation that you come out that you keep out of Babylon Oh that the Lord would make it a Voice from Heaven to you For though there be many abominable Heresies Sects and Errors in this Land at this day and in this City Yet upon the forementioned grounds I am enclined to conceive that they all play small game but the Papists who insinuate themselves under all these Forms and thereby intend worse to us then a Powder plot if the Lord prevent it not and I am perswaded they had never greater hopes of it Use 2. But seeing God hath brought us out of Babylon what may we do to keep our selves from returning thither again Here I shall offer to you these few Directions as Preservatives First Receive the truth in the love of it 2 Thes 2.10,11 For this was the cause that did provoke God to give men up unto that efficacy of deceit at first Endeavor therefore to know and to be established in truth that you be not carried away with every wind of Doctrine and do not plead for truth as Lawyers plead causes by other mens evidences but get an experimental knowledge thereof in your own souls Consider it is the great depositum committed unto you to keep Buy it therefore and sell it not contend earnestly for the faith claim it as your inheritance for ever Secondly Let all those that fear God unite against this common adversary your divisions will always be his advantages their way having always been to fish in such troubled waters Captare tempor a impacata Rev. 15.1 though the Sea of glass be mingled with fire yet they that have gotten Victory over the Beast should stand together upon the same Sea with the Harps of God in their hands Commune periculum concordiâ pulsandum It is the observation of Bullinger several times in his Book de Persecut Eccles That because of the dissention of Brethren among themselves God did give them up into the hands of the Enemy ad abstergendum aeruginem quae quotidie magis as mag is crescebat Temporibus Aureliani Imperatoris c. Christiani optime inter se conveniebant sed ardens illud fludium imminutum dissentiones auctae sunt praecipue inter Episcopos doctores Ideoque Dominus passus est infideles Ethnicos manum Ecclesiae injicere Ita temporibus Constantini c. Yet let not this union be sinfull and unworthy unto that I exhort you not For Castam Christi sponsum decet casta concordia but you that agree in the Foundations the great things of Religion though in certain forms you differ or in truths of lesser alloy yet take Luthers Counsel to the Synod at Norinberg to silence your disputes untill a fitter opportunity Meum consilium est ut causam hanc sinatis ad tempus sopitam jacere hoc tempore enim animis sic affectis venenum est disputare And be sure in your diversity of opinion you endeavor to keep unity in affection Thirdly Suspect all new Doctrines For we are to enquire for the old way the good way that we may find rest to our souls we are to go forth by the steps of the Antient flocks Novelty hath always leaven in it the people of God antiently feared not only novel Doctrines or Tenents but new coined words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for with such false teachers use to come Felix Ecclesin cum nova de Deo dicere lascivia crederetur that Church is in a happy condition when all Novelties in Doctrine are suspected to be barely the fruit of wanton wits and prophane hearts Fourthly Take heed of hearing any of those that would bring in Popish leaven Your ears are not your own take heed what you hear itching ears seldom consent to true but ordinarily to unsound Doctrine 2 Joh. 10. If they bring not this Doctrine receive them not into your house bid them not God-speed Those common civilities which unto some strangers are a duty they cannot without sin be performed towards men that corrupt truths and hunt souls Fifthly Let Magistrates do their duty towards Religion It is Bellarmines Doctrine that they are Religionis defensores non Judices but you Right Honorable with the rest in Authority ought to Judge which is the true Religion and to endeavor to maintain it Christianity taking in all our relations and the Lord having promised Isa 49.23 That Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers and Queens thy nursing Mothers that which is promised to the Church as a mercy Magistrates should make Conscience to perform as a duty Do you therefore afford favor and encouragement unto those that are good and be you a terror unto them that are evil Mark those that cause Divisions and raise Distractions among you Sixthly Give unto God the glory of the mercy of this day Let your Vials be gold and full of Odours The Enemies fall before the praises as well as the prayers of Gods people Out of the mouths of Babes and Sucklings he hath ordained strength Psal 8.2 which is rendred by Christ thou hast perfected praise Mat. 21.16 and this shall be powerfull to still the Enemy and the avenger I shall conclude all with that 2 Chron. 20.22 when they began to sing and to praise the Lord the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon Moab and Mounseir that they helped to destroy one another FINIS
acknowledge all this to be meant of Rome and can be understood of nothing else only he refers it to Rome in the latter dayes of the world his Observation upon Chap. 18. is this Nota Romam meretricem esse mercatricem cauponam quae vine suo omnes inebriat dementat And this is called mystically Babylon upon a double account First because of their resemblance in sin First in pride and Self exaltation Babylon the glory of Kingdoms the Beauty of the caldeans excellency Isa 13.19 So Rome she saith in her heart I sit as a Queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow Revel 18.7 Secondly In Tyranny and cruelty Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lords hand that made all the Earth drunken the Nations have drunk of her wine therefore are the Nations mad Jer. 51.7 So mystical Babylon is a woman that sits upon many waters rides upon the Scarlet coloured Beast and hath a golden cup in her hand and she was found drunk with the blood of the Saints and the Martyrs of Jesus Rev. 17.6 Thirdly In their Witchcraft and Sorcery therefore Caldeans and Southsayers are commonly put one for another most of them being Magicians and addicted unto those unlawfull Arts So Mystical Babylon by her Sorceries are all Nations deceived Rev. 18.23 Which sometimes makes me fear Popery in England much the more because it cannot but be apparent unto every judicious man that Sorcerie grows common amongst us and we have many instances that as Heresie and Cruelty so Heresie and Sorcery have gone together Secondly It is called Babylon because of the likness in the punishment First The Vengeance upon Babylon was the Vengeance of the Temple Jer. 50.28 the Violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon shall the inhabitants of Sion say and my blood upon the inhabitants of Caldea shall Jerusalem say Jer. 51.35 So it shall be with Mystical Babylon in her was found the blood of of the Prophets and of the Saints and of all that were slain upon the Earth and the Lord will avenge this blood of his servants at her hand and will give them blood to drink for they are worthy Rev. 16.18 19.2 Secondly The destruction of Babylon did come suddenly these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day the loss of children and widdowhood they shall come upon thee in their perfection in the multitude of thy Sorceries and the great abundance of thy Inchantments Isa 47.9 So will the Lord deal with mystical Babylon she shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the Cup of his indignation her plagues shall come in one day Death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burnt with fire For strong is the Lord God who judgeth her Rev. 11.10 18.8 Thirdly The destruction of Babylon shall be perpetual it shall never be built never be inhabited nor dwelt in from Generation to Generation but the wild Beasts of the Desart shall lie there Owls shall dwell there and Satyrs dance there Isa 13.20,21 The same is said of mystical Babylon also No crafts-man shall be found any more in thee the sound of the Milstone shall be heard no more in thee the light of the candle shall shine no more in thee but thou shalt become the habitation of Devils and the cage of every unclean and hateful Bird Rev. 18.2.22,23 Secondly what is the destruction threatned to Mystical Babylon in this Book Duplex Babylonis interitus in hisce vaticiniis primo pro urbe Bestiae regia puta urbe Romana deinde pro Civibus aut Civitate Romana quam constituit Papa c. Mede clavis Apoc. Cap. 11. there is a double ruin overthrow denounced against her First as Babylon is taken for the City called the Throne of the Beast Rev. 13.2 sc that which was unto the Heathen Emperours the Metropolis or Imperial City this was given to this new Beast and becomes his Throne also Rev. 13.2 Thus Babylon is to be destroyed under the fifth vial Rev. 16.10 and unto this destruction the words of the Text refer Secondly Babylon is not only taken for the City but the Citizens the inhabitants thereof the chief part of which are the Pope Cardinals Bishops with their several Religious Orders who after the burning of the City by the ten Kings shall escape by flight and shall send forth their Emissaries unto the Kings of the Earth not subdued by the Lamb and shall prevail with them to joyn in the same interest and stir them up to unite in that great Battail Armageddon where Antichrist with all his scattered troups and his confederates even all the wicked of the Earth shall be destroyed at once for the Lord loves to see them perish together to bind them in bundles to burn This destruction of Babylon is reserved to the last Vial that upon the Ayr and then shall great Babylon come up into remembrance before God to her utter ruin that her name shall either be blotted out or become a Curse in the Earth Having thus opened the words the Observation which I have pitcht upon is this Doctr. That it is a special duty which the Lord requires of his people living in such times that they make a separation from Mystical Babylon and that especially when her ruin draws near For the opening of it there are two things to be considered First What separation is required Secondly What are the grounds and the reasons of it First What kind of separation doth the Lord require of his people this we are the more narrowly to look into because it is a controversie between us and them and the question as Cardinal Perron proposeth it is Liceatne à communione visibilis Ecclesiae discedere Cameron opusc miscel pag. 522. therefore I must give you this distinction First There is a separation that is a sin Secondly There is a separation that is a duty First There is a separation that is a sin These are they that separate themselves sensual not having the Spirit Jude 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Decompound may seem to note thus much that they separate and separate till they have forsaken all the true Churches of Christ upon Earth many there are for this kind of Separation who say there are no true Churches Ordinances Ministery and with the foot of pride and contempt not only depart from them all but kick at them Unto these I would only say three things First this Doctrine doth at once destroy the whole plot of this Book of the Revelation wherein the Lord shews unto John all things that should be acted for his Church unto the end of the World and the Spectators thereof which are as the Chorus and upon every occasion give their Acclamations are the Churches First The Church is here meant because first there is Gods presence amongst his people his Throne is there
being nothing else but Ethnicismus Redivivus And so the Devils prophesie was after a sort fulfilled when after three hundred sixty five years or thereabouts the apostacy of Antichrist did over-spread the World But these men undertake to make it good and that even in as large a sense as Satan would have it understood sc that there are no true Churches no true Ordinances since that time and so since Antichrists rise the Christian Religion hath been destroyed or in a manner utterly banished out of the world Qui fratres nullos extra suam partem agnoscere volebant adversus orbem terrarum sacrilegae dissensionis altare erexcrunt Aust de verit Eccles cap. 13.16 There are another sort who though they deny not all Churches as the former yet like to the Donatists of old they acknowledge none but their own all other they readily term Antichristian and such as they can hold no Communion with though they profess to believe the same principles of Religion and walk in holiness of Conversation yet they deny them Communion as Churches unless they come under their form Now because godly men may fall under this delusion therefore I desire all such persons seriously to consider these three things First Christ in the days of his flesh separated not from the Church of the Jews though there were abundance and those very gross Corruptions in it Now the Disciple is not above his Lord it is not good to make our selves wiser or more holy then he Secondly When Christ holds communion as a head we should not deny it as members Now Christ did not presently give Babylon a Bill of Divorce Corruption coming into that Church by degrees and so long as Salvation was to be had there this Voice was not heard from Heaven Come out of her my people they were not called to separate from her Communion and it must needs be dangerous for any person to call a Society Loammi which God hath not so named Thirdly Where the Foundations of Religion are held though there be many differences in circumstantials yet it is not lawfull to break communion with such much less under the name of Antichristian For though the Sea of glass be mingled with fire the fire of Contention and though there be great differences in opinion yet all may get the Victory over the Beast and his Image his Mark and his Name and they may joyn together to praise God they have so though it may be they are not all alike Victorious Quas Ecclesias non dissitemur retinere conjunctionem communionem salutiferā cum Christo capite fundamento sanctae Catholicae Ecclesiae cum illis decet nos retinere fraternam Communionem Daven ad hortat ad pacem Eccles cap. 8. This therefore hath been a Rule given by Divines in several ages for the reconciling of brethren among themselves that hold the head Keep to the Foundation though in many things of less concernment they differ and that is that with all such Communion is to be held as with the Churches of Christ their Errors not being such as cut them off from Christ or being inconsistent with Salvation Upon this ground the antient Church did own the Donatists as brethren and held it their duty so to do Optat. Mile vit lib. 3. 7. de Schismat Donat. Nomen frateruitatis non putavit istis denegandum immo impietatis esse putavit de isto nomine vel tacere Donatistas ab Orthodoxis pro fratribus agnosci c. Fraternitatis nomen Donatistis fastidiosum Orthodoxis vero necessarium c. For they durst not deny Communion with them in Church Ordinances whom they durst not deny to enjoy Communion with Christ here and of whom they could upon Scripture grounds hope they should have Communion with them in glory hereafter And if this be not a Rule by which we ought to walk there can be no Communion beetwen Parties disagreeing in any thing For so long as there is blindness in the mind of man and some things in the Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hard to be understood so long as there are different degrees of light and men not made perfect in love 't is impossible that in every thing we should agree Yet so long as we hold the main that wherein Salvation lies for in brevi facili stat aeternitas Hilar. so long as we differ not in Fundamentals such Doctrines which a man cannot be ignorant of as Austin observes sine dispendio promissae Salutis without missing Salvation this union in the great things of Religion should ingage men to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and to take heed that they differ not in affections where they cannot agree in opinion Secondly There is a separation which is a duty Come out from among them and be you separate 2 Cor. 6.17 which is by Cameron and others said to be double Excessus internus externus That is a separation from the corruption and from the Communion of a Church First There is a separation from the corruption of a Church so we are to separate in any Church in the world that is to abstain from the evil thereof and in our place to bear our Testimony against it Thus we see though the Lord Jesus did hold communion with the Church of the Jews saying I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the Church will I sing praise unto thee Heb. 2.12 Yet he did separate from all the Corruptions thereof and was unto them a faithfull and true witness against their Erroneous Doctrines Superstitious Customes and Traditions thus it was the duty of Gods people from the first Working of the Mysterie of iniquity to come out of Babylon and therefore the Witnesses began their Testimony as soon as Antichrist began his Apostacie to tread down the Temple of God or rather the outward Court thereof For they Prophesied in sackcloth and ashes a thousand two hundred and sixty days which is contemporary with the whole time of the Reign of Antichrist as appears Rev. 11.2,3 But yet that was not an immediate separation from Communion For the Church of God did a great while lie hid among them There were tempora gemendi latendi as Cameron speaks times of their mourning in and groaning under those corruptions before a total separation Secondly There is a time also when the Lord doth require a separation from Communion When his people are to withdraw all communion from such to look upon them as a Church of Christ no more to abhor them in regard of Communion as an accursed thing Thus when the Lord had given the Jews a bill of Divorce and broke off the natural branches which is not spoken of breaking men off from grace or electing love for the Election obtained mercy when the rest were blinded but it is here meant of being broken off from a Visible Church state the good Olive tree
being a type thereof Rom. 11.24 When the Lord had thus called them Loammi his people were to hold Communion with them as a Church no more God having cast them off and wrath being come upon them to the uttermost So though Rome were sometimes a true Church of Christ and afterward corrupted by degrees yet when the Lord divorced her as an Harlot as the Mother of Harlots calls her Babylon and not Sion then it is the duty of his people not only to separate from their corruption as before but from their communion also I come now to give the reasons of such a separation from Mystical Babylon which are these First Because God hath put her away hath said of them they are not my people but spiritually Sodom and Egypt Antichristian Gentiles ver 11.2 when the Lord thus forsakes any people we should forsake them when the glory of the Lord departs from a people the Angels withdraw their Protection and by the same degrees Ezek. 10.4,5.18.19 and Chap. 11.22.23 whensoever the glory of the Lord removed the Cherubims also did lift up their wings And as the departure of God is the ground of their withdrawing Protection so it should be of our withholding Communion Secondly Such a separation is to be made because in Babylon no Salvation can be had A Reprobate may in truth be made partaker of all that is contained in the Religion of the Church of Rome Ecclesia propriè dicta non probat quicquid probant mali Doctores admixti ecclesiae nec quicquid boni Doctores haud bene docuerunt Melan. Daven adhort cap. 4. It was Mr. Perkins his Observation long since That a Papist by the Rules of his own Religion cannot go beyond a Reprobate where Foundations are destroyed Principles denyed or corrupted and this not the Doctrine of some particular men only for such there may be in the purest Churches of Christ upon Earth as in the Church of Corinth there were those that denyed the Resurrection of the dead but when it becomes the Doctrine of the Church which they as a Church do profess to maintain and refuse to be reclaimed then there is no more Salvation to be expected there which is conceived to be the pouring out of the second Vial upon Mystical Babylon Rev. 16.3 The Sea then became as the blood of a dead man and every living Soul died in the Sea By the Sea is meant their Doctrine and the Comprehension or Collection thereof as by the Rivers are meant those that carry abroad this Doctrine in all places and all parts of the World This Doctrine is become the blood of a dead man ex corrupta fit corruptissima it was corrupt before yet some lived in it but now every living thing dyed That is there was no more Salvation to be had by the Doctrine of their Religion therefore with them no more Communion is to be held Thirdly We are to separate from her because she is become a persecutor of all the people of God through the world She rides upon a Scarlet coloured Beast an Embleme both of Majesty and Cruelty she is drunk with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus and in her will be found the blood of the Prophets of the Saints and of all that are slain upon the Earth Rev. 18.24 A separation therefore is a duty that we hold not Communion with her whose trade is Persecution Fourthly Gods people are to separate from Babylon because God hath set himself against her to destroy her with a great and eminent destruction For when she comes up into remembrance before God she that made all Nations drunk with the cup of the wine of her Fornication shall be made to drink of the cup of the wine of the fierceness of Gods wrath Rev. 16.19 and shall with violence as a Milstone be cast into the Sea and be found no more at all Rev. 18.19 It was proclaimed long ago That if any man worshipped the Beast or his Image or received his Mark he should drink of the wine of the wrath of God without mixture and be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb Rev. 14.10 Cujus vastitatis confusionis haec erit causa quod Romanum nomen quo nunc regitur Orbis tolletur è terrâ in Asiam Imperiâ—…â—…eveitetur ac rursus Oriens dominabitur atque Occidens serviet de praem divin sect 7. cap. 15. And this Judgement the Antients did foresee and do expect Horret animus dicere dicam tamen quia futurum est Romanum nomen de terra tolletur Lactan. I am affraid to speak it yet I will speak because it shall come to pass that the name of Rome shall be blotted out or taken away out of the Earth Fifthly All Gods people are to separate from her that they partake not with her in her sins it hath been Antichrists business from her very beginning to infect and corrupt others and that she doth after the manner of Harlots in a way of Love and in the most enticing manner for she gives the wine of her Fornication in a golden cup. This hath even been the manner of those men whose spirits Satan hath touched from that impression of devillishness left upon their spirits to desire and endeavor to draw others into fellowship with them in the same sin and the same condemnation and as he that doth not reprove his brother doth bear sin for him Lev. 19.17 So he that doth not give Testimony against sin in that way which the Lord requires brings upon himself the guilt thereof It is not always enough to speak against sin or to mourn for it but a man is to separate from them that walk in it there is a time for Lot in Sodom to vex his righteous soul from day to day but there is a time when he must come out of Sodom unless he will perish with it Sixthly A separation must be made because they that partake in their sins shall surely receive of her plagues and God is no respecter of persons though such as are justified can never come under an eternal guilt yet they may contract a temporal which may involve them in the same temporal Judgements with the wicked and so Sampson like they may die with the Uncircumcised The good Figs shall go into Captivity with the bad though not to the same end Jer. 24. If therefore Gods people desire to be delivered from their plagues they must not partake in their sins which they will alwayes do until they forsake their Communion Use Let this be unto all the people of God as a voice from Heaven to perswade them to come out of Mystical Babylon And the rather because the work of this day should be as to exalt God in this mercy and deliverance so to make Popery odious ever after therefore this day should always revive our detestation that being in our eye which Luther professed to be