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A27119
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An arrow shot against Babylon out of Josephs bow which grew up from the stem of Jesse ... and this is a visitation and warning (once more) from God unto all such rulers, teachers, and people in England who are, or may be persecutors about religion and worship that they may yet flee out of Babylon ... the great whore (which hath set upon nations and reigned over the kings of the earth) that they may partake no longer of her sins ... and this may serve as a glass for all false Christendom to behold themselves ... / by William Bayly.
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Bayly, William, d. 1675.
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1663
(1663)
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Wing B1518; ESTC R25910
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22,002
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29
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AN ARROVV SHOT AGAINST BABYLON OUT OF Josephs Bow Which grew up from the stem of Jesse the Root and Off-spring of David and was bent by the Archer of Israel which hath struck at Cains mark from Paradice into the Land of Nod and hath lighted in the skirts of the great Whore to the discovering the Mother or original of Harlots and all Abominations of the Earth tracing her in her footsteps with all her Companions and Merchants the Beast Dragon and false Prophet by the blood of the Prophets and Saints and of all that were slain upon the Earth And also pursuing her from her birth or the Serpents hole out of which she came to her latter end which is the bottomless pit or Lake of Fire into which she must return And this is a Visitation and Warning once more from God unto all such Rulers Teachers and people in England who are or may be persecutors about Religion and VVorship that they may yet flee out of Babylon mystery Babylon the great VVhore which hath set upon Nations and reigned over the King of the earth that they may partake no longer of her sins lest they partake of her perpetual plagues which cometh swiftly upon her in one day With a few questions concerning the Devil and Cain and the Whore and the Dragon and the Beast and false Prophet whence they came and where they are and how they may be known and whither they must all go together in the end And this may serve as a Glass for all false Christendom to behold themselves and try their ways and see what Spirit and Church they are of and whose children they are if ye were Abrahams children ye would do the works of Abraham By WILLIAM BAYLY Put your selves in array against Babylon round about all ye that bend the Bow shoot at her spare no arrows for she hath sinned against the Lord Jer 50.14 For thy Merchants were the great men of the earth for by thy sorceries were all Nations deceived in her was found the blood of the Prophets of saints and of all that were slain upon the earth Rev. 18.23 24. LONDON Printed in the Year 1663. An Arrow shot against Babylon c. IN the beginning before transgression man was in Paradice the Garden of God made in his own image and likeness and was in unity and peace with him in the innocent meek tender holy upright life in which he was formed in which state he stood with God as a Child with a Father or as a Wife with a Husband without variance distance or enmity between them and God's blessings was upon them in this their innocent lowly obedient state till at length another spirit got an entrance by desiring or letting the desire go out after the eye to be more knowing and wise in the mysteries of the outward Creation and visible things c. which soon captivated the tender simple upright mind and beguiled it from its own proper life and being in which it was made a living soul for they did not only taste but eat and that brought the death over them as it is written Gen. 2.17 for they entred into a secret false joy of what they had attained to and a satisfaction they got in the sensual wisdom and knowledge of things and so grew conceited that they were as Gods knowing good and evil c. And so through this aspiring spirit or motion which began to spring up in their minds a secret strife or enmity began to arise between the innocent life and it for there was a contrariety between them but they eat of the Tree of Knowledge which beguil'd them from the Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradice of God This was Adam's fall going outward with his mind from the guidance rule and dominion of the innocent upright Life by which he was made a living soul feeding in the aspectings and viewings of the visible things the mysterie and secrets of which was hid from him in that Life from which he was departed and he only could retain but strong imaginations of them which pust him up so now he became a griever and an oppressor of God's good Spirit and it became a reprover and troubler of him by reason of his disobedience against it and departure from it and he was now afraid of God's voice having done that which was contrary to him and then to get peace he sewed fig-leaves to make themselves coverings but all would not do while the Tree of knowledge is fed upon which was good in its place but forbidden to feed upon because it beguiled from the Tree of Life being pleasant to the eye and desirable to make one wise c. and the World by Wisdom knows not God so by it they lost the knowledge and unity and peace of God and were driven into the Earth and shut out of the Paradice of God and became vailed in the enmity pride and pleasures of the Earthly or sensual part which followed that aspiring motion of the subtil Serpent or Adulterer that led out from God like the Harlot Solomon speaks of that was subtil of heart whom the young man followed as an Ox to the slaughter and as a fool to the correction of the Stocks and knew not that it was for his life and that her paths led to the Chambers of death and her steps take hold of Hell this is the thing Adam was very young and the Harlot subtil so was deceived for the one enticed and the other consented and followed not knowing it was for his life though God had said he should surely dye but this Tempter led out the mind from the sence of the good man of the House with her Bed of pleasures and delights and with enticing vvords she forced him but the end was bitter as Wormwood as hath been known by woful experience for here was the first carrying away captive into Babylon the Mysterie of which the outward vvas but a figure and the first draught of the Whores Cup of Fornication was novv drunk by vvhich the just innocent life suffered as one might say even in the Womb and in Cain and Abel the tvvo Seeds or Spirits were clearly manifest the one in pride fury enmity murther drinking his brothers blood and the other the sufferer by him in the patience vvhose blood had a voice that cryed unto God from the ground and yet it 's said of Babylon that in her is found the blood of the Martyrs and Prophets and of all the Saints that have been slain upon the Earth then Cain was in Babylon which is now called the Great Whore and the controversie between Cain and Abel was about Sacrifice and Worship this hath spread even the Spirit of Whoredoms Enmity and Wickedness over the World and Cains Mark hath been apparent among multitudes peoples tongues and languages killing and persecuting about Religion and Worship This is the great Whore which hath sate upon many Waters reigned over the
to rain by your power Will the ice and the snow melt at your command Will the fierce Winds obey your voice when it issueth forth of its treasury and whirleth up and down the Earth Or do you know whence it cometh or whither it goeth Wil the thunder and lightnings be staid and the noise and brightness thereof cease at your command If these things and the like you can do then will I confess unto you that you may go on and prosper and prevail against the Heritage of the Most High whom he hath blessed with everlasting blessings But if you are not able to do these things then in vain do you strive to set bryars and thorns in battel against a consuming fire For I tell you again in the Name and Authority of the Almighty God the Jehovah of Israel That if you still proceed in persecuting his people and dear children as you have done he wil dash you in pieces like a potters vessel and confound and scatter you with destruction upon destruction till you are become as the chaff of the Summer-threshing-floor and as the ashes of the Dunghil which the Wind driveth away and your place shall be no more found and your remembrance shall be a hissing and abhorring to Nations This is God's Word of Life and Truth unto you Remember Cain the Pharisees Aegyptians and Sodomites whose Works you are doing your Name of Christianity stinks before God and men and is even a proverb of reproach among Nations afar off The Pharisees who were persecutors said they were Abrahams Seed and had one Father even God c. and yet were doing the Works of the Devil vvho was their Father ye hypocrites whose state this is shall not God's dread fall upon you Wil ye not tremble before his pure eye of jealousie which beholds all your doings thoughts and words though never so secret Will you still say is not the Lord among us no evil can come upon us Will you untempered-Morter-daubers promise the Wall shall stand and the daubers thereof be established when God hath said The Wall shall be no more nor them that daub it is there not a lying spirit and deceitful tongue in the mouth of all these Prophets whom the Lord never sent And are they not crying peace to the wicked to whom is no peace from God and preparing war against the just that cannot put into their mouths And are not these the greedy dumb dogs that never have enough and cannot bark to awaken the Witness of God in peoples consciences that they may arise from the dead and stand up that Christ may give them light and life in which they may see the thief and be able to withstand the Robber Did ever Christ Jesus or his Ministers Apostles or Disciples persecute about Religion or Worship or run to the Priests of the Earth to uphold their Ministry Or east men into Prisons for their bellies or went to Law for tythes or took treble damages as you call them and rob people that did refuse to hear them as you have done Mention one example in all the Scripture or else be confounded for ever and your tongues cleave to the roof of your mouths for ever Or were not the Prophets Apostles and Disciples of Christ always sufferers and persecuted and imprisoned for their Testimony and for righteousness sake by the Powers of the Earth chief Priests and Rulers in all ages Were they not haled out of the Synagogues and brought before Rulers Governors and sometimes beaten and stoned whipt and charged to speak no more in the Name of Jesus Was not this their portion from the great men and chief Priests and Counsells And yet did not they learn in all Estates to be content But are not you discontented who cast such into prisons for fear of losing your belly-god And were not they unlearned and ignorant men in the Laws and Languages of the Rulers chief Priests and Doctors c. And had not they Latine Greek and Hebrew that persecuted and crucified the just And did not Christ say to his Apostles or Disciples when he sent them forth to Minister Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of Wolves be ye therefore wise as Serpents and harmless as Doves and take no thought what ye shall eat c and what is set before you eat asking no question c. then not to go to law about the in bellies if not ask a question about such things And did not the Apostle say such were enemies to the Cross who minded earthly things whose God was their belly which caused him even to tel of it weeping among the people and said their and was destruction c. and that grievous Wolves would enter in not sparing the people after his decease and hath it not been so these sixteen hundred years Have not the people been grieved robbed and spoiled by those Wolves that soon got the sheeps clothing the Apostles and Disciples words and turned against the life and the sheep and grieved them and these Christ prophesied of before his departure saying False Prophets shall rise and deceive many and love would wax cold and iniquity abound c. by their fruits ye shall know them they have the sheeps clothing but inwardly ravening Wolves Here is the true character of the false Prophets and false Apostles and by this ye shall know them Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles Can you expect a harmless Life in a grievous Wolf though he have the sheeps cloathing is not his nature greedy and ravening and devouring among the sheep and lambs Do his covering change his nature Hear this O ye Priests and Prelates Bishops and the rest of your Brood and consider and see who are the Thorns and the Wolves and the greedy Dogs that have never enough the biters and devourers tearers and renders of the sheep and look about you and behold your selves and see if you live in the life of what you speak whether your inside agrees with the sheeps covering the Saints words of which you make Merchandize for God is renting off all deceitful coverings and you shall appear as you are to the view of Nations and no hiding-place shall be found for the worker of iniquity though he profess and say Lord Lord yet he is cursed Now if you say you are of Christ's sending let it appear by abiding in his Commands and Doctrine let us see you are sheep indeed by your harmless life and your contentedness in all Estates not seeking the peoples goods and money but the good of their souls and the glory of God by bringing forth good fruits in the sight of men by which your Light so shining they may glorifie the Lord of Heaven and leave grieving the people by minding your bellies what you shall eat and drink and wherewith you shall be cloathed c I say eat of that bread which comes down from Heaven and don 't so much mind the earth