But I never heard of any call'd a Reformed Church that ever did so nor I hope ever will altho they may have retained too much Popish Cruelty still unreformed of 9. Another Innovation is The Forbidding Marriage to their Glergy so called This is an Innovation also wherein they exercise Dominion over the Faith and Consciences of others and is directly contrary to the Scriptures Have we not power saith the Apostle to lead about a Sister a Wife as well as other Apostles and as the Brethren of the Lord and Cephas 1 Cor. 9.5 And again 1 Tim. 3.2 A Bishop must be blameless the Husband of one Wife c. And vers 11. The Deacons Wives must be grave c. And vers 12. Let the Deacons be the Husbands of one Wife Hence you see its clear that they that are in the Ministry have power to Marry But the Spirit of God dictating this liberty to Paul immediately in the beginning of the next Chapter which was a continuation of his discourse about Marriage he shews him an Innovation that should arise contrary to this liberty and he saith thus Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils speaking lies in Hypocrisie having their Consciences seared with an hot Iron forbidding to Marry and commanding to abstain from Meats c. Here the Spirit of God seems to point at this very thing even at the Popes prohibition of Marriage to Bishops and Deacons and such as were to be admitted into the Ministry because it follows so quickly after that liberty of Bishops and Deacons to be Marryed And the words that accompany this prohibition of Marriage are worthy to be taken notice on It shall be by persons that are fallen or departed from the pure Faith of the Gospel who shall have power over Bishops and are fallen giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils Speaking lies in Hypocrisie having their Consciences seared with an hot Iron as hardned in their Consciences as a thing seared with an hot Iron Then as a visible Character of such persons he gives these two open Marks that every one that runs may read them They shall forbid Marriage that 's one And command to abstain from Meats that 's another both which are found in the Popedom They have power over Bishops to forbid their Marriage and they are fallen very low from the purity of the Faith or Gospel as hath been shewed before And these also impose it upon their People as a matter of Conscience to abstain from Meats And the words Forbid and Command shew that these things came in by force and power not by a voluntary taking up The Prohibition of Marriage was very stiffly withstood by the Clergy but the power of the Pope prevailed against them The Contest about this Innovation Bucholcer expresses very plainly in the words of Schaffnaburgensis shewing it to be an imposition of Hiltebrand call'd Gregory 7. Anno Christi 1074. The Popes had need to keep the Scriptures from their People for otherwise which of them could read this first Epistle of Paul to Timothy and not see the Error of the Popes in this matter expressed so plainly chap. 3.2 4 11 12. and chap. 4.1 2 3. 10. Their setting up Images and Pictures and bowing to them or before them in reverence to them is another Innovation And this is imputed to them for Idolatry For what is Idolatry but bowing with reverence to an Idol or worshipping an Idol And this is flatly contrary to the Second Commandment the words whereof are thus Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image or any likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above or in the Earth beneath or in the Water under the Earth Thou shalt not bow down thy self to them nor serve them for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate me and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my Commandments What man reading this Commandment and seeing or beholding their Images and their bowing towards them could think otherwise but that they worshipped them Or who could think but that this practise is a breach of this Commandment Yea they themselves that have patronized this Idolatry have been so sensible of their contradiction of this Commandment hereby that they durst not let it stand but have turned it out because it looks their Image-worship so full in the face and is so plain that it would set the heart of every single-hearted man against it And this turning of the Second Commandment out of doors is a plain demonstration against them of their consciousness that they are guilty of the breach of it For if they did not know that it were against their Idolatry what need they turn it out of doors And to deceive the Simple they have made up the number of ten by dividing the last into two Thus they dare tamper with the Commands of God! Durst any man whose Conscience is not seared expunge a Command of God which was writ with his own finger and given with so great solemnity as this was as well as the rest at Mount Sinai I know the Sophistry of those that would palliate this their Idolatry by frivolous distinctions of Worship But the Lord hath exprest himself so fully against all appearance of Worship in this point that he hath laid all their vain distinctions of Worship void For whereas he hath in this Commandment declared himself to be a jealous God doth not this warn every man to flee from every appearance of the breach of it lest he by tampering with Images provoke the eyes of his Jealousie And doubtless this was spoken not only in respect of his own Jealousie who sees the purposes and intents of every heart but also of the jealousie of his faithful People who would be offended thereby and in offending them thereby he is offended Now let any judge Is not here an appearance of Worship done to Images when they bow before them and towards them with reverence If a jealous man should see so much respect and reverence between his Wife and another Man and see her so Idolize him as they do their Images would it not beget Jealâ—usie in him Appearances of great respect beget Jealousie Now I say why hath the Lord declared himself to be a Jealous God in this Commanâ—ment but to admonish us thereby to shun all appearance of the Breach of it according to the Exhortation of Paul 1 Thess 5.22 Abstain from all appearance of Evil. For the Breach of this Commandment the Jews severely smarted many times and shall not such as are called Christians take warning thereby Nothing provoked the Lord so much against his people Israel as Idolatry and shedding innocent Blood and shall we think that such things do not provoke his holy
to death by the croud and others thrust into the River And yet such great Fairs or Marts would not satisfy the avarice of some of the Popes but they sent afterwards their pardons to remote places to be sold Alexander VI. the year after his Jubilee sent his Indulgences far off to be sold In Germaniam saith my Author atque alias longinquas Provincias Diplomata cum amplissimis Jubilei Indulgentiis misit passimque vendidit propter eos qui Romam venire neglexerunt vel venire non potuerunt This was pretended to be for the sakes of those that neglected or could not come to Rome at the Jubilee By his Legates he sold them Pardons every where passim vendidit Buchol a Volater anno 1500. This Simony hath greatly helped to enrich the Popes and to bear them up in their high Exaltation in the World. Are these likely to be Successors of the Apostles and to sit in the Apostolick Seat Who said Love not the World neither the things that are in the World. If any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him 1 John 2.15 3. This Innovation or inventition of Selling Pardons of Sins absolutely destroys the Popes infallibility transplanting him out of Peter into Simon Magus that is out of that Spirit that was in Peter into that Spirit that was in Simon Magus So that although the Pope pretend to be Peters Successor Yet he is fallen from Peter to Simon Magus The Spirit that was in Peter abhorred the very thought of Selling the Spiritual gifts of God for Money But the Spirit that Simon Magus was of and so the Popes are of hath thought that the Spiritual gifts of God may be purchased with Mony This is a great fall to fall from one to whom the Key of the Kingdom of Heaven was committed to one whom he Excluded out of the Kingdom and turned the Key against him Saying Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter Thou art in the gall of bitterness and bond of Iniquity And what was the ground of all this great Severity only this Because saith Peter thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with mony Act. 8.18 to 24. And is not this very thought the Popes thought Now I entreat you weigh these things Is not the pardon of Sins one of the greatest gifts of God And does not the Pope think that it may be purchased with Money seeing he sells it Is not here the same thought that was in Simon Magus for which he was so severely sentenced by Peter and Excluded by him from all right in dispensing the Spiritual Gifts of God Will you say that Peter condemned this thought in Simon Magus but is of another mind now and approves of it in the Pope If so then you will condemn Peter as one faln from his own Stedfastness and not the Pope If you say the Pope doth not think as Simon did he doth not think that the Spiritual Gift of God may be purchased with Money then I say He is still the worse to sell that Spiritual Gift the Pardon of Sins for Money which he thinks cannot be purchased for Money For in so doing he both robs them of their Money and deceives their Souls making them believe a Lie. And if the Case be so with the Pope as it was with Simon Magus who thought that the Gift of God might be purchased with Money where is his Infallibility yea where is his power to pardon Sin Do you think that Simon Magus had power to pardon Sin Or that one in his Sin hath power so to do Seeing he that was guilty of that Sinful Carnal Thought is excluded with him from having any part or lot in dispensing the Spiritual Gifts of God except you will make Peter partial in excluding one and not another who is in the same fault Again doth not this also help to confirm that the Pope being faln from Peter to Simon Magus is that faln Star mentioned before 4. Another Innovation was that called Annatae An Invention very near of Kin to the selling of Pardons for this is a kind of selling of Benefices For they were not to enjoy Benefices but under this Condition that they should pay half of the yearly profit into the Popes Treasury This and the selling of Pardons hugely increased the Popes Treasure Quae res Blondo Platina testibus Pontifices Romanos Bonifacii Successores non minus Christiani Orbis quam Vrbis Dominos reddidit These things made him Lord as well of the whole Christian World as of the City You may see more of this in the Year 1400 from the Nativity of Christ quoted by Bucholcer Where he saith This Custom all submitted to except in England where the same was yielded to concerning the Bishops but not in other Benefices Now if we may not call this Symony what other name shall we give it Seeing it is a kind of selling and buying of Spiritual Benefices as they are called And judge Ye whether Peter or Paul or any other of the Apostles made filthy Lucre the Door by which they let men into the Ministry as the Popes do And yet the Pope call'd this Treasury into which this is paid The Apostolick Treasury As if the Apostles had set up or used such an Earthly Treasury I mention this invention because it was one thing that greatly strengthened the Popes in their high Exaltation And also because it impairs the Popes Infallibility to see them act so contrary to the Spirit of the Holy Apostles of Christ and yet giving it some Title to the Apostles by calling this the Apostolick Treasury 5. Another Innovation is the Popes Usurpation of a Power over Emperors Kings Princes and People in their Temporal concerns So as with a Word he can dethrone one and have another set up at his pleasure under his Dominion Was there any thing that tended to this in any of the Apostles Practises or Doctrine Or for many Ages and Generations after them Were not the Bishops in Subjection as to temporal affairs under the Princes of the World And not one of them authoritatively above another until wicked Phocas gave the Precedency to ambitious Boniface 3. And yet then he did not give him power over himself or over any secular Princes So that this was an Usurpation and Innovation of the Popes afterwards and was practised by some of them and they got it decreed in some of their Councils And Boniface 8. who first instituted the Mercenary Jubilees the same Year that he celebrated the first Jubilee Writ That he was Lord in Temporals and Spirituals in the whole World. Of whom it is recorded by Platina thus Qui Imporatoribus Regibus Principibus Nationibus populis terrorem potius quà m Religionem injicere conabatur quique dare regna auferre pellere homines ac reducere pro arbitrio animi conabatur c. His endeavour was to be a Terror to Emperors and Kings Princes
Eyes to see with their own Eyes and understandings the comfortable Sunshine of those pure Truths which shine forth in the plain and uncorrupted words of the Gospel left upon record This is Tyranny upon the Souls of people to which the Bondage of Egypt and Captivity of Old Babylon was but a small matter seeing that chiefly was upon the Body but this is upon the Soul. So that their enthralled people cannot say Their Soul is their own But they are the Slaves and Souls of men fulfilling that very expression of them Rev. 18.3 For how can a Man say that his Soul is his own when he cannot make use of the Faculties of it But must be wholly in things Spiritual restrained to the Sense and Will of another This is an Innovation of great consequence for it is as a Lock and Key upon all their other Innovations to keep them safe from being assaulted So that hereby they Establish themselves in their Kingdom of Darkness even as Satan holds his Kingdom in men as long as he can keep them in darkness but where light comes Satan falls like Lightning and even so where the free use of the Scriptures comes in their purity their Innovations must needs fall But what wickedness is this that for the upholding an earthly Kingdom they care not what becomes of Millions of Souls but let them perish in the darkness by their will. For Children of darkness they must be kept and not be suffered to become Children of the Light if they can help it The Holy Apostles of Christ gave this Testimony of the Scriptures That they are able to make one wise unto Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus and that they are given forth by inspiration of God and are profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the man of God may be perfect thorowly furnished unto all good Works 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. What 's the reason then that men should be envied the comfortable use and benefit of them Is there any true reason can be given for the restraint of them but this That men would by them be instructed and furnished against the Innovations of the Popedom and so run into that which they call Heresie But what desperate wickedness and scared Consciences hath God given people up unto that dare thus in opposition to the inspirations of the Spirit of God and benefit of the Souls of People deprive them of so great helps and furtherance of their Salvation This is a Robbery far greater than any earthly Robbery And yet they must be called Holy Fathers who have been the greatest Robbers in the World. May we not here greatly suspect that the Mystery of Iniquity doth here lurk where such care is taken to keep out the light of the Scriptures from men lest thereby they should discover it Yea may we not rather detect that Mystery of Iniquity to be here where so many Innovations contrary to the Holy Scriptures are found and such innovations as turn the profession of Christianity into a Stream quite contrary to its own nature To work wickedly and contrary to the Spirit of God and yet pretend therein holiness and serving of God What 's this but Iniquity under a Mystery wickedness vailed with pious pretences And what is the Mystery of Iniquity but Iniquity in a Mystery Iniquity under pious pretences which makes it a Mystery But those pretences cannot alter the nature of Wickedness but only put a fair Gloss upon it for wickedness is wickedness wheresoever it is found and the fair pretences put upon it cannot change its nature but only dazle the Eyes and Minds of men and make it mysterious to them The shedding of so much innocent Blood as hath been shed in Massacres and Fires and by other ways doth not change the nature of that wickedness by putting the name of Hereticks upon those who were so destroyed only that ignominious Title may cover it to the ignorant and make that cruelty seem to them a pious thing and so make that Iniquity a Mystery And in like manner Idolatry or bowing to Images may be made a Mystery by pretending it to be a reverencing God and thanking him for such or such a Saint or such like considerations when as the action it self is directly opposite to his command and bears no other appearance but of an idolatrous worship contrary to the second Commandment which they dare not let stand in the common sight of their people for fear of its discovering their Idolatry Now not to name the rest of these their innovations here what greater wickedness is there then these three namely shedding innocent Blood worshipping Images or Gods of their own making and robbing people of so great a Benefit to their Souls as the Holy Scriptures in their purity might be And all the pretences they can put upon these Evils can but disguise them and make them a Mystery but they cannot change the nature of them 12. Another Innovation is that invention of putting their people upon the pattering over so many Pater Nosters and Ave Maries that they need a String of Beads to number them by And here we may stand still and wonder that men that pretend themselves so profound Doctors and Fathers in the Church of Christ should shew themselves to be so blind or wicked So blind as to think that God is well pleased with Lip-labour or so wicked as to make people believe that he is so Surely they know that Christ Jesus our great Doctor or Teacher hath said When ye pray use not vain Repetitions as the Heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking Be not ye therefore like unto them Mat. 6.7 8. But these Doctors make their people like the Heathen herein The Lord requires such worship as is done in Spirit and in Truth John 4.23.24 It s not vain Lip-labour that 's acceptable to him but my Son give me thy Heart saith he He hates drawing near him with the Lips and the Heart far from him It s praying with the Spirit and with the understanding also that he requires If these great Doctors know not these things they are not fit to be Teachers or Guides in the Church of Christ and if they do know them the greater is their wickedness to teach people to do things that are so contrary to the Doctrine of Christ and thereby to make them like the Heathen thinking to be heard for much babling But to what end should they repeat so many Ave Maries with their Pater Nosters every day Is Mary at hand every Hour to be saluted by them Is she present continually all over the large Dominion of the Popedom to be saluted by them all that patter that Salutation so often over Or do they hereby worship her as a God thinking her to be Omnipresent It s hard to know for what good end this Custom was invented For my part I can see no other
Power or them in it Thirdly he is an Opposer exalting himself above all that 's called God. What is called God in Scripture First God Almighty himself He opposes him and exalts himself above him in over-ruling and controuling his command leaving out what he pleases or finds to be against his earthly Kingdom one thing is the Second Commandment which is so strongly enforced with arguments even by God himself to be inviolabsy observed without any shew of the breach thereof for fear of exasperating his jealousie incurring of punishment upon their posterity that he that controuls it must needs be an opposer of God. Secondly He opposes Christ and his Kingdom bringing in an earthly Kingdom of darkness in opposition to Christ's Spiritual Kingdom of Light. Thirdly He opposes and exalts himself above all Magistrates called Gods in Scripture Psal 82.1 6. John 10.34 35. putting down and setting up as he pleases He hath a Kingdom above them all The Popedom is a Kingdom above Kings of the Earth Therefore he and they that bear the Power in that Kingdom are this exalted one Fourthly He hath his Seat in the Temple of God the Church The Church is called the Temple of God in the New Testament 2 Cor. 6.16 What agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols For Ye are the Temple of the living God. Here this man of Sin this Son of Perdition hath his Seat He sitteth in the Temple of God which clearly distinguishes him from all other Potentates which have their Seed in the Civil Government Read 2 Thess 2. Where under this exalted one you will find The Mystery of Iniquity subjoyned and entailed as patronized by him So finding out that exalted Opposer finds out the Mystery of iniquity which consists in Innovations and Inventions of men contrary to the Doctrine of Christ Jesus and his Holy Apostles I know some good people take this Mystery of Iniquity to be that natural sinful State wherein generally all men live But for the better information of their understandings I desire those that think so to take notice That this Mystery of Iniquity here spoken of is a Circumscribed Mystery which had its rise since the publication of the Gospel and shall have its period again in due time before inqiuity have an end It began indeed to work in some mens Spirits in the Apostles days but was letted that it could not break forth and come to its heigth It doth already work saith the Apostle Only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way 2 Thess 2.7 An Enemy letted it until he was taken out of the way The persecuting Emperors while they stood they kept down the profession of Christianity very much by frequent persecutions so that there was more power of Christianity preserved while Persecution lasted But when Constantine the Great got the Dominion and gave full Scope to the profession of Christianity and drew in Nations into an outward conformity thereto by his noble and courteous usage of those he conquered then that which letted was taken out of the way and then by degrees sprang up the magnifying of the outward form and imagined pious additions were made thereto under which by little and little the Mystery crept up till it came to its height For it rose under pious pretences and that was it that blinded people so that they could not perceive it But as the Mystery of Iniquity had a Beginning and growth in this wise since the Apostles times so it shall have a period The Lord will bring no nought this Mystery again and consume it with the Spirit of his mouth and destroy it with the brightness of his coming It shall fall with the desolation of the great Whore upon whose Fore-head it is writ being upheld by her and she shall fall before Iniquity have an end as will appear afterwards And therefore I say this Mystery of Iniquity is not the common sinful state of wickedness that men have lived in in all Ages of the World which have born the open Face of wickedness but it is a circumscribed and vailed Mystery having a beginning and an ending in this latter age of the World since Christ It is a Mystery of wickedness wrapped up in an outward Mantle of pretended Christianity And when the Lord opens the Eyes of Princes that have given their power to it to see it they shall hate the Whore and Eat her Flesh and burn her with Fire Rev. 17.16 And this they shall do before the common State of wickedness have an end Secondly as the Mystery of iniquity is couched under the Innovations of men So in them we shall find that which is called Sodom and Egypt Spiritually Sodom literal was a place of great Violence and Uncleanness How violently did they beset Lots House only for the fulfilling of their Brutal uncleanness And hath not as great violence been used upon the account of Innovations for the fulfilling of their spiritual uncleanness in going a Whoring after the inventions or innovations of men Are not the Streets or ways of these innovations as full of danger and violence where all are rooted out that stand against them or at least violently handled What hath been the Ground of all that violence of late done in France but innovations of men to turn them to embrace mens inventions That great word if I may not say Boast of converting about two Millions of people into the Bosom of the Church of Rome for which might be expected a grateful acknowledgment from the Pope what is it more then a converting of them to their Innovations by their violence For they were Christians before they did not convert them to Christianity but only to the Popish Innovations I name this because it is so fresh in every ones mind But violence hath all along attended the Innovations of the Popes And beside the spiritual uncleanness of going a Whoring after mens inventions How great a Provocation to brutal uncleanness is made by that one Innovation of prohibiting Marriage to their Clergy and otherwise by Licencing Stewes and making people believe they have pardon for their Sins for a little mony especially if they be Venial as they count some None I think are accounted so Mortal as opposing their Innovations That 's made Heresie with them and worthy of death and damnable Again in these Innovations Egypt spiritually so called is found Egypt was a House of Bondage to the natural Israelite So these Innovations are a House of Bondage to the Spiritual Israelite The true Seed that desires to follow Christ fully finds Bondage in all Innovations or Inventions of men And they that impose humane Traditions and Inventions upon peoples Consciences are like the Task-masters of Egypt to the truly spiritual Seed For the true Seed the Chaste Virgin hates subjection of Spirit to any other in things Spiritual save to her own Lord Christ Jesus His Wisdom and Council she delights to lye under But the hard task
of the imposition of mans wisdom upon her Spirit is grievous Bondage to her and causes her Spirit to groan for deliverance And in time the Lord will work deliverance for the spiritual Israelite as he did for the literal Thirdly In Innovations we find Babylon the Great Many words used in former times both before and under the Law are transferred or brought over and put upon things under the Gospel or New Covenant either because they are under the like Circumstances or were prefigured by things aforegoing As to give one Example or two the Tabernacle and Temple which were made by men and made of Wood and Stone and Gold and Silver and Brass and Iron These were places for the presence of God to appear in and to dwell in But in the fulness of time those were laid aside again and yet the names of them retained and put upon other things where the presence of God was to reside As namely Christs Body Destroy this Temple saith he and in three daies I will raise it up again This spake he of his Body putting the name Temple upon it Again the same word Temple is put upon his Church 2 Cor. 6.16 Rev. 2.1 And also upon the Bodies of his Disciples 1 Cor. 6.19 What know ye not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you And again saith the Apostle If any man defile the Temple of God him shall God destroy for the Temple of God is holy which Temple ye are 1 Cor. 3.17 So Tabernacle is used in like manner 2 Pet. 1.14 Shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle I might instance in many things but I would not digress too much from my present scope and business which is to shew that the name Babylon is also put upon something under the Gospel which Babylon of old resembled or did prefigure And that is that Dominion that stands in Innovations or Inventions of men This is called Babylon the Great Rev. 17.5 Now why the name Babylon should be put upon that Power and Dominion that stands in Innovations under the Gospel times consider the like circumstances of both Old Babylon and New and the like expressions given forth of both and I think you may easily be perswaded thereof Old Babylon was called The glory of Kingdoms Isa 13.19 and the Lady of Kingdoms Isa 47.5 7. And Babylon the Great is counted no less seeing she reigneth over Kings of the Earth Rev. 17.18 There was the same exalted security of heart in both for Old Babylon said in her heart I am and none else besides me I shall not sit as a Widdow neither shall I see the loss of Children Isa 47.8 Babylon the Great saith in her heart I sit a Queen and am no Widdow and shall see no sorrow Rev. 18.7 Old Babylon was a place of Captivity to the Israelites and New Babylon or Babylon the Great hath been a place of far greater Captivity to the true spiritual Israelite That was but for a few years only for Seventy But this hath lasted long even many Generations namely ever since Innovations got head That was a Captivity far less cruel than this latter Captivity hath been They both of them have exercised force upon the Consciences of People As the People of God were bid to flee out of Babylon of old And deliver every man his own Soul Jer. 51.6 So in like manner concerning the Great Babylon it 's said Come out of her my People that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her Plagues Rev. 18.4 The words of the Prophets both Isaiah and Jeremiah concerning Babylon of Old seem to reach even to this Babylon the Great So that the Old Babylon seems to typisie this very much as they that read Isa 47. and Jer. 50 and 51 Chapters may perceive And also that they both have a like destruction Jer. 51.63 64. compared with Rev. 18.21 Both are to sink and not rise again This shall be the fall of Innovations and of that power and Dominion that stands in them in the Lord's time They shall sink in the Waters in the minds of People as things born down with great weight Oh then rejoycing Joy and gladness attends the fall of this Great Babylon Rejoyce over her thou Heaven and the holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on her Rev. 18.20 What is it that hath done so much mischief to Apostles and Prophets and Saints that God will avenge them thereof as Inventions and Innovations of men and therefore they are bid to rejoyce when these are thrown down like a great Milstone into the bottom of the deep That Babylon the Great standeth in the Inventions and Innovations of men is manifest because it cannot stand in any pure Dispensation of God for then it could not be called Babylon nor Confusion Therefore it must needs stand in the Inventions and Innovations of men deviating from the pure Dispensation of God or purity of his Truth and in them Babylon the Great will be found And this will more appear by that which follows For where the Great Whore is found there Babylon the Great must be found it being the Inscription upon her Forehead Rev. 17.5 Vpon her Forehead was a name written Mystery Babylon the Great c. Therefore now I come to that thing expressed a little afore namely That here viz. in Innovations we shall find the Great Whore also What was that that was so much charged upon Israel of Old by the Prophets for Whoredom but that they being a People standing related to God under the first Covenant or Law went a whoring after their own Inventions Psal 106.39 They did not keep to the Institutions and Counsels of God but did like the Heathen or other Nations they worshipped Idols set up Groves and Altars of their own Invention and such like and this was called Whoredom because it was a breach of their Faithfulness and Loyalty and Chastity to God who had married them to himself under a Covenant Jer. 3.14 Psal 106.35 39. Levit. 17.7 Ezek. 23.30 37. So likewise under the Second or New Covenant if we profess our selves married to God in Christ Jesus to walk with him whom we are commanded to hear and obey according to his Counsels and Doctrin and then follow inventions of our own and bring in Innovations contrary to the Doctrine of Christ and his holy Apostles this is Spiritual Whoredom against Christ As the Inventions of the Israelites was whoredom against the Marriage Covenant of God given by Moses So Innovations of Christians is Whoredom against the New Covenant given by Christ the Mediator thereof These two things must concur to the making up of the great Whoredom 1. A Profession of a Marriage Covenant to Christ take him to be our Head our Guide and Counsellor and Ruler And then 2. Great disloyalty to him herein in rejecting his Counsels and Spirit and entertaining and embracing a Stranger viz. A Spirit
are led out from her by the Spirit into a solitary Wilderness condition shall best see her And indeed they shall best see the Innovations of lesser Whores who are not in the Whoredom or involved in the Innovations Now what did John see I saw saith he a Woman sit upon a scarlet coloured Beast full of Names of Blasphemy having seven heads and ten Horns Here she is described by that which supports her and over which she ruleth as one rules over the Beast they sit upon The Great Whore is a pompous Whore and sits upon a pompous Beast a scarlet coloured Beast that is an earthly pompous Power not upon the power of the Spirit by which the Apostles of Christ were supported but upon an earthly power full of blasphemous names against the true power and the faithful servants of Christ who abhor the Innovations of men This is a Beast sutable to the great Whore and of one Spirit with her and fortified to uphold her in her large Dominion over Peoples Multitudes Nations and Tongues having seven Heads and ten Horns and what those are the Angel unfolds afterwards To go on with the Characters of the Woman vers 4. And the Woman was arrayed in Purple and scarlet colour and decked with Gold and precious Stones and Pearls having a Golded Cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her Fornication Here she is described by her Ornaments and by her Cup which contains her Fornication Her Ornaments are such as are used by Kings and Potentates of the World Purple and Scarlet and Gold and precious Stones not such Ornaments as the Apostles were adorned with and approved of in the Saints such as Humility Meekness Quietness Sincerity Truth and such as the Gospel approves of but such Ornaments as might make her of equal Splendour with the Princes of the World if not above them Doth not the Hierarchy of Rome answer this magnificence And then she is described by her Cup in her hand which contains the filthiness of her Fornication This demonstrates that her Fornication is Spiritual being contained in a Cup carried in the hand and that is the model of her Worship or composure of her Service which contains her spiritual Fornication and going a whoring after her own inventions This Cup is a very remarkable Character 1. It 's call'd a Cup because it contains her Fornication and also because out of it she pours forth the Wine of her Fornication to the inhabiters of the Earth wherewith she makes them drunk It contains their Inventions after which they go a whoring 2. This Cup is a Golden Cup. It 's golden to outward appearance Their Outward appearances of Worship are not only glorious to the outward eye being performed with great Ceremony cost and splendour but also the minds and ears of carnal earthly spirits are dazed with the seraphical expressions and golden words used therein 3. This Cup is in her hand In whose hand In the great Whores hand This shews that they that hand this Cup to the People they are the great Whore. It 's in the Womans hand the great Whores hand It 's framed already and beautified with all the art they can and carried in the hand It 's already formed to be put into the hand of every Servitor that is devoted to their Innovations Their Worship is not carried in the heart and springing from the Spirit of God administred from his Gift to the comfort and edification of people as their Worship did in the Apostles daies but this is in the hand and any wicked person can administer it or hand it forth 4 It 's full of abominations and filthiness of her Fornication It 's full of Innovations and Inventions of men which are an abomination to God. And to go after them is to go a whoring from the Spirit of God as the Israelites did They went a Whoring after their own Inventions Psal 106.39 Next we come to the Inscription upon the Forehead of the great Whore vers 5. which Couples all these together viz. The great Whore The Mystery of Iniquity and Babylon the Great So that find one and you find them all The Inscription is this Mystery Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots and abominations of the Earth This being writ upon the forehead of the great Whore shews that she is all this in her all this is found this being as her Crime writ upon her Forehead or a proper name extant to know her by Now if you can find out the Mystery of Iniquity by him that Heads it that sits in the Temple of God the Church exalted above all Magistrates then you have the great Whore also Or if you can find the great Whore by the Characters given of her then you have the Mystery of Iniquity and Babylon the Great for they are all co-incident being concatinated in one Chain as the inscription on the great Whores Forehead shews plainly As for the Words Mystery and Babylon the Great seeing I have spoken of them before I refer to that and so pass on to the next Character of the great Whore vers 6. And I saw the Woman drunken with the blood of Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus and when I saw her I wondred with great admiration Here 's a mark of a bloody die which the great Whore can never wipe off But the more she endeavours to blot it out by destroying those that see her guiltiness the deeper she sets it and the larger she makes it Here every one may see that the great Whore is a bloody Whore. She 's drunken with Blood which significantly expresses her great thirst after the blood of those she kills so that she swallows down their blood greedily without remorse and without all reason saving that they withstand her Innovations Where shall we find this bloody drunkenness so much as in the bloody raging Massacres Burnings and Cruelties which have been acted under the dominion and power of Rome and of those who have been infected with her innovations None like those And that which heightens this wickedness is that she is drunk with the Blood of Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is of holy men innocent persons who are of a Righteous life and good conversation and truly fear the Lord. Who are also called Martyrs or witnesses of Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is such as bear witness to Jesus acknowledging and owning him and his Doctrine and willing to lose their lives rather than to deny the truth delivered to us by him and his Servants Such as these she kills because they see her innovations and cannot stoop to them That 's greatly remarkable also that her bloody drunkenness is such as put John to admiration John lived in times of Persecution and saw cruelty enough no doubt being banished into the Isle of Patmos at that time But that was not it that put John to an astonishment as some would have it But it was
and People To give Kingdoms and take them away at his pleasure Now here take notice that as the Popes Exaltation of himself was foreshewed 2 Thess 3 4. So this Power and Dominion of the Popedom over Kings and Princes was foreshewed Rev. 17. ult under the representation of a Woman there expounded to be a great City reigning over the Kings of the Earth And the Woman which thou sawest is that great City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth Or nearer the Greek thus Which hath a Kingdom above the Kings of the Earth Which Kingdom if it be not the Popedom reigning over the Kings of the Earth deposing them at pleasure and Surrogating others in their stead then I confess I know not what it is But if other Circumstances in that Chapter be considered with this I think it will put this out of doubt which here I cannot stand upon without too great a diversion and interruption but in its proper place following where the Hierarchy of Rome comes to be spoken of by Gods assistance I shall demonstrate Another innovation is The Exercising Dominion over mens Faith. It may be something of this kind might begin before the Popes were so named But however it s upheld and practised by the Popes and was not owned by the Apostles Doctrine but is an Innovation contrary to the simplicity and purity of the Gospel wheresoever it is found That it is a piece of Popery and upheld by them is manifest by their punishing and cruel handling of those that in Conscience towards God and faithfulness to his Truth cannot submit to those their humane Innovations which they see to be so But the Popes who have arrogated to themselves Power and Dominion over the Persons and Thrones of Kings and Princes are not satisfied without the like dominion also over the Throne of God the Conscience and except they model mens Faith and cast them all into one Mould which thing the Apostles durst not do The Apostle Paul disclaims this Dominion over mens Faith 2 Cor. 1.24 And he durst not judge the Faith or Conscience of the different believing Romans when some of them kept a Day and others kept it not and when some of them did Eat Herbs and others did Eat Flesh and both to the Lord as he judged and therefore he defends them both one against the other and judged nothing but their judging of one another in so doing Rom. 14.4 5 6. And then he puts them in mind of Christ's Prerogative in this case ver 10. Saying But why dost thou judge thy Brother Or why dost thou set at nought thy Brother We shall all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ But the Popes are not of Pauls mind they will have men believe as they believe or else Burn them alive if this be not to exercise Dominion over mens Faith and Conscience what is And if this be not an innovation contrary to the simplicity purity mercy and meekness of the Gospel nothing is which saith In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves 2 Tim. 2.25 not burning them as is done under the Tyrannical Popedom 7. But to back this their cruel Dominion over the Faith and Consciences of men and to palliate it and make it take place and go down with their people they put the Name Heretick upon those who cannot conform to their Innovations that they may incense people against them And this is another Innovation And so they heap Innovation upon Innovation Whereas indeed and in truth nothing is Heresie but that which opposes the Truth of the Gospel delivered by Christ and his Holy Apostles To oppose false Doctrine and innovations of men is no Heresie But to bring in Innovations contrary to the Truth of the Gospel and to require subjection thereto this is certainly Heresie Therefore let them that call or count men Hereticks look to it that they be not found the greatest Hereticks devouring innocent Lambs of Christ under that false notion And indeed here is a notable Stratagem of Satan whereby to make them that fear God and abhor mens inventions as Sheep fit for the Slaughter even to fix opprobtious Terms upon them For this begets an Odium in the minds of Blindfolded people against them and makes them through hatred ready for Butchers and to execute Massacres and all manner of mischief against the Faithful Servants of Christ under that notion of being Hereticks It must be under some such disguise that the Great Whore makes her self drunk with the Blood of Saints and with the Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus such as bear witness to him and his Truth against the Innovations of men 8. And so that 's another Innovation namely To rid men out of the Earth whom they call Hereticks It 's no sin to destroy them say they Yea further they have made it a Law to Burn them And this hath not been a dead Law or like a Sword kept in a Scabbard but hath been cruelly executed where the power of the Popedom hath prevailed I am sure this cruelty is an Innovation for there is no such Doctrin from Christ or any of his Apostles but positive Doctrin against it Therefore that Law and such other destructive Laws and the execution of them must needs be Innovations of men Christ Jesus our Lord said He came not to destroy mens lives but to save them Luke 9.54 55 56. But this Spirit that hath got into the Popedom comes to destroy mens lives therefore is a Spirit contrary to the Spirit of Christ It 's another Spirit crept in under the profession of the Gospel not his Christ Jesus our Lord said also concerning the Tares which his Servants would have been plucking up Let them alone How long were they to let them alone Even till the end of the World. And then the Angels must do that work Mat. 13.29 39. Men are not infallible they may mistake Therefore the Lord said to his own Servants Let them alone lest ye pluck up Wheat with Tares He will not have them do that rooting Work but he will set those to do that work that can more certainly distinguish between Tares and Wheat even the Angels they shall not do it neither till his appointed time even the end of the World. This therefore must needs be an Innovation contrary to the command and will of Christ to be doing this work under any pretence namely to be rooting out Tares if they really be so out of the Field of the World before Christ's appointed time Again it 's against that Golden Rule of Christ As ye would that men should do to you so do ye to them Mat. 7.12 Now would any man have others to burn him because he cannot believe as they believe Would those burning Popes have any of the Reformed Churches to burn them or their People because they believe not as those Reformed Churches believe I think not And yet it were but Lex talionis like for like if they did so
Spirit now And a pretence of honouring God thereby will not excuse men to him The Jews when they had made a Calf in the Wilderness and Sacrificed to it and Feasted with those Sacrifices this was done in pretence to the Lord who had brought them out of Egypt Therefore when Aaron proclaimed a Day to do Sacrifice to the Calf he proclaimed it thus To morrow is a Feast to the Lord Exod. 32.5 You see this was pretended to be done to the Lord the people came upon that Proclamation as keeping a Feast to the Lord and did Eat and Drink and make merry and in their Sacrifice câ—lebrated their deliverance out of Egypt But they would have that Calf to represent their Deliverer and therefore attributed that Title to the thing repesenting which was due only to the Lord whom they would represent For we cannot imagine that they who so lately had seen the wonders of the Lord in bringing them out with a high hand and went before them in a Pillar of a Cloud and Fire could believe that Calf to be their Deliverer both because it was made after they were delivered and also because it was made of their own Ear-Rings and Gold which they gave to Aaron to make it of but they put Signum pro re significata the sign for the thing signified which the Lord will not approve of in such case And therefore in this place and to this Innovation I may here add their Idolatry used in their Sacrifice of the Mass worshipping the Sign for the thing signified Namely their worshipping of that which their own hands have made which was always counted Idolatry in Scripture Their Land saith the Prophet Isaiah is full of Idols they worship the Work of their own hands that which their own Fingers have made And the mean Man boweth down and the Great Man humbleth himself therefore forgive them not Isa 2.8 9. And again in the New Testament it s said The rest of men which were not killed with these Plagues yet repented not of the Works of their Hands that they should not worship Devils and Idols of Gold and Silver and Brass and Stone and Wood which neither can see nor hear nor walk Rev. 9.20 Now consider is not this the Work of their own hands that which their own Fingers have made Is it not a God of their own making Do they not first make the Bread or Wasers and then make it a God by speaking a few words And is it not such a God as can neither see nor hear nor walk nor speak By which Characters Idols are frequently described and will you have Christ Jesus to come under the description of Idols and make him like them The Idols of the Heathen have Mouths but they speak not Eyes but they see not Ears but they hear not They are known to be Idols because they can neither speak nor see nor hear and will you make him like one of them Read and consider Psal 135.15 16. and Psal 115.3 4 5 6 7. Where you may plainly see not to hear not to speak not to see not to smell not to handle not to walk are made notes of an Idol to know them by And will you now make our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the World was made like a Dumb Idol Will you make that to be he which was only left for a Memorial of him Do this as often as ye do it in remembrance of me saith he He makes it but a Sign for a Memorial of him I do believe that many may be verily perswaded that the Bread and Wine are really the Body and Blood of Christ and so use it with great reverence as if it were he and that they think they do honour him thereby But it is great dishonour done to him if you well consider the thing For first it brings him under the Circumstances of the Idols of the Heathen as hath been shewed 2. To offer him up again invalidates that one Sacrifice of himself upon the Cross once for all by which he hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified But I know you stand upon the literal words of Christ This is my Body And therein I can bear with you a little because many may think that they verily obey Christ therein But if you well weigh it you will find that those words are not to be taken literally but figuratively as many other of his expressions were as for instance I am the Door I am the true Vine my Father is the Husbandman Take one more which comes near to that saying This is my Body namely this Except ye Eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and Drink his Blood ye have no life in you John 6.53 Some took that in a literal sense as you do those words This is my Body But let us mind his own exposition of them for that comes near to the Case in hand The words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life What do you talk of the Flesh The Flesh profiteth nothing It s the Spirit that quickeneth John 6.63 Whereby he shews plainly that this Eating of his Flesh he spake of was the receiving and nourishing of his Spirit in our Hearts which gives us life a Spiritual Life in him A like expression to this he used to the Woman of Samaria John 4.14 where he compares the receiving and embracing of his Spirit to drinking of Water the words are these But whosoever drinketh of the Water that I shall give him shall never Thirst but the Water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of Water springing up into everlasting Life You see by Water he understood Spirit and by Flesh and Blood he understood Spirit which were Metaphorical expressions And so here in these words This is my Body he spake after the same manner For when as he saith The Flesh profiteth nothing to what end should we imagine that he left his Flesh to be eaten But then as for the Offering of him up by a Priest This is an intrusion into the Mediatorship of Christ who only could offer up himself to God He being both the Sacrifice and the Priest set apart by God for that work whom all the Priests under the Law typifyed And he did this himself Once for all And there remains no more Sacrifice for Sin. For by one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are Sanctified You may read that word Once expressed many times in the 9th and 10th Chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews whereby is shewed the Difference between the Sacrifices of the Law which were types and that one Sacrifice of Christ which was the substance How they were offered often because they could not make the Comers thereunto perfect as pertaining to the Conscience but this Sacrifice of Christ was offered but Once because it is of Efficacy at once offering to make the comers to it perfect as pertaining to the Conscience that is to clear
end in it but this namely to keep People busie and so to divert them from more serious thoughts lest their Consciences should be set at work to ponder the Path of Life and whether they were in it or no and so should enter into more serious and deep consideration of their Spiritual condition Or is it because they have led them out of the Road of peace by their superstitious innovations and must give them some thing to do to pacify the requirings of their Conscience For there is even in the Heathens a Conscience that must be satisfied or diverted by some manner of worship or other and therefore they satisfy their conscience as well as they can by worshipping something what they think to be a God. And is this the Case here How like then do they make their people to the Heathen But I consider there may be another end in it to keep people thus busie and that is lest they should grow too wise for their Teachers by improving their spare time in searching into Truth and acquainting themselves with the Ground of those things they practice and walk in and so should come to see the rotten Foundation upon which all their superstitious and idle inventions are grounded Filling their Hands full is a way to divert them from such scrutiny or search that so they themselves may sit at rest and ease in their dominion of innovations over the People For find them work enough and that will keep them busie and divert them from prying into the Mysteries of their Innovations and so keep them off from turning against them for imposing such groundless imaginations upon them For the Minds of Man must have something to busie it self withal being of a restless inquiring prying temper 13. Another Innovation is that of Cardinals of which there is no mention at all in Scripture not one word of such a Conclave or Combination These are as it were the very Hinges upon which the Popedom doth hang and turn it self and therefore are they rightly called Cardinals as much as to say Hinges from Cardo a Door-hinge These being Popes Creatures bear up the Pope after they have set him up And one with another as one Head they cherish and enforce the Popish Innovations wherein his Kingdom stands and they therein as the chief Princes of that Kingdom These having no Foundation in Scripture must needs be an Innovation And when the overflowing Scourge comes to sweep away all refuges of Lyes these being one chief false refuge of the Popedom and main Pillars thereof must tumble with it The Pope he is the Door through which the Popedom of Innovations hath come in And the Cardinals they are the Hinges upon which he turns bearing up him and his Kingdom of Innovations and together they will fall when the Mystery of Iniquity shall be dissolved These are of the number of those Merchants of the Earth which shall lament the fall of the Babylon of Innovations when mens Eyes shall be opened and no man shall buy their Merchandize any more understanding them to be but the vain Inventions of men which profit them not For so hath our Lord Jesus Christ taught us saying In vain do ye worship me teaching for Doctrines the Precepts of men These are some of those Innovations which are introduced and upheld by Popes besides many others which it would be too tedious here to recite It may be the Lord may stir up the Spirits of some others to pursue them further But these here mentioned are sufficient to let any understand what it is I call Popery namely these and such other Innovations upheld under the Popedom For I would not have any to think as I have signified before that I do by Popery understand whatsoever is found among the Papists for I do not by Popery comprehend those ancient and good Truths which the Church of Rome was at first established in and many of which they may yet retain as namely all those wholesome and sound Doctrines that are agreeable to the uncorrupted Scriptures and which nourish a pious and good Life and which teach to walk humbly with God and faithfulness to his precepts and equity and just dealing among men to do to others as we would have them to do to us and which teach charity and mercy and good works and which lead to an inward walking with God and to an innocent life among men and such like I call nothing of this kind popery but only as I say Innovations contrary to the precious Truths of the Gospel I own that there are precious Truths among them but much entangled and clouded with abundance of innovations mixed therewith Therefore it was needful for me for Peoples better understanding thus to distinguish between the one and other between the good and primitive Truths and the inventions of men crept in afterwards That in the inventions of men or Innovations we may find the Apostacy of the Romish Church which comprehends these things viz. In their Innovations we shall find 1. The Mystery of Iniquity 2. Sodom and Egypt Spiritual 3. Babylon the Great 4. The great Whore that sitteth upon many Waters which is the Mother of Harlots Which things call for Repentance First I say in their Innovations we shall find the Mystery of Iniquity And that may easily be found out by the plain and full description of him that is head in it 2 Thess 2.3 4. First take notice that there must be a falling away from the purity of the Gospel which implys that the Mystery of inquity was to arise where the purity and truth of the Gospel had been professed and lived in but was fallen from and in the same place the Mystery of iniquity should arise in which Mystery there should be one thus described 1. He should be a Son of Perdition or a Son of Destruction a destroyer and so to be destroyed And so the Angel of the bottomless Pit which is a faln Star hath the same name both in the Hebrew and Greek Tongue Rev. 9.11 being called Abaddon and Apollyon which signify a Destroyer For they belong both to one and the same destroying Mystery as head therein and so have the same name 2. He should be one that opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is Worshipped 3. He sits in the Temple of GOD the Church Shewing himself that he is God. Now who is there that Answers this Description so much as he that is head in the Popedom Whether it be a particular man or a conjoyned power or combination of more together First he or they that sit in that power are fallen from the purity simplicity and innocency of the Gospel of Christ into the destructive inventions and innovations of men by reason of which Millions of Men and Women professing Christ have been destroyed by Massacres and otherways therefore Secondly the Title of the Son of Perdition a Destroyer Abaddon and Apollyon doth aptly fit that
quite contrary to him and an Enemy to his Counsels altho professing him yet introducing and setting up Innovations of its own And whosoever do outstrip or excel others therein they are the Great Whore. And the Spirit of Whoredom will manifest it self most among them by abusing the Chast and Faithful Servants of Christ who love his Precepts and dare not subject themselves to the Innovations of men For the Whorish Spirit is a cruel Spirit hating Chastity because Chastity is a check to its Whoredom I speak of Spiritual Chastity and Whoredom Thus you may see what is couched under the Innovations of men viz. The Mystery of Iniquity Sodom and Egypt Spiritual Babylon the Great and the Great Whore. Which Innovations most abound in the Church of Rome tho others as yet may not be altogether clear of some of them But now that I may speak clearly and be rightly understood concerning persons I must resume my former distinction of persons for I now come to speak of persons chiefly But as I could not well speak of things in an abstracted sense without relation to persons so now I cannot speak of Persons without relation to things I look upon the Church of Rome consisting of these three Parts 1. The Hierarchy or Ruling Chergy so called 2. The Inhabitants of the Earth 3. Such as in sincerity of heart seek after the Lord. The First of these viz. the Hierarchy as they stand in Innovations in the Popedom or usurped Dominion and Exaltation I take to be the Great Whore And I shall give my reasons for it which are these two following First Because the Description of the great Whore given by the Angel to John doth so aptly fit this part of Rome Those Characters that are given of her whereby to know her are found on them Secondly Mystery standing upon the great Whores forehead relates her to the Mystery of Iniquity Thes 2. And that hath such an exalted one in it as we find only in Rome and no where else Concerning the first of these two Reasons that the Great Whores Description and Characters are found in Rome that is in the Hierarchy thereof the very reading of Revel 17. may give light to any unbyassed and indifferent Capacity I shall point out several of those Characters First Come hither saith the Angel to John I will shew thee the Judgment of the Great Whore that sitteth upon many Waters Revel 17.1 Here we have one Character of the Great Whore and that is She sitteth upon many Waters What those Waters are the Angel expounds to John ver 15. The Waters which thou sawest where the Whore sitteth are Peoples and Multitudes and Nations and Tongues She hath a large Dominion over Peoples Multitudes Nations and Tongues a kind of Universality which Universality they of Rome boast of and glory in the Title of Catholic which signifies Universal But they are no further Universal than to fulfill this Prophecy Therefore they glory in that which helps to discover their shame giving them one Character of the Great Whore. The next ver 2. gives us two more Characters of her One is That the Kings of the Earth have committed fornication with her They have been drawn in by her to go a whoring with her after her Innovations or Inventions The other is this And the Inhabiters of the Earth have been made Drunk with the Wine of her fornication So that here you see there is some distinction made between the Great Whore and those that commit Fornication with her or are made drunk by her wine Which helps to clear my attributing of the Title of the Great Whore only to their Ruling Hierarchy For it s they that draw others into the Fornication of their Innovations others are deluded by them and made drunk by them Here be two or three work stand need of being opened 〈…〉 1. Who are those Inhabiteâ—s of the Earth To that 〈◊〉 〈…〉 â—â—ey are not the Saints 〈…〉 â—ersation is in Heaven 〈…〉 expression is Philâ—◠〈…〉 are such as have 〈…〉 the Earth The Inventions and Innovations of men are not Heavenly things but Earthly springing from the carnal and earthly Wisdom of mans heart now these having the chief Foundation of their Religion standing in the Innovations of men which are earthly they are the Inhabiters of the Earth They dwell in the earthly things of mans Wisdom not in the heavenly things of Gods Wisdom grounded in him and his truth And therefore 2ly These are fit Subjects to be made Drunk with those Innovations that is to be inflamed in their Spirits with a furious zeal for them for their Religion stands in them And therefore no marvel if they be violent like Drunken men against all that speak against those Innovations Yea a 〈◊〉 ready with greediness to destroy those that will not embrace them And that especially because 3ly Those Innovations are made like wine to them and therefore called the Wine of her Fornication They so agree with the carnal heart of man that they are as Wine to them for they nurse them up in a good conceit of their Condition indulging their carnal hearts with outward observations and giving them rest therein while they are Strangers to God and to the operations of his Spirit This repose in outward things giving ease to and lulling asleep their Conscience is sweet as Wine to them and the more being sweetned with the words of heavenly things put upon them By the Artifices used about their Innovations they are so taken that they become raging Drunk or mad upon them not more humble more meek and gentle and tender-hearted as the mystery of Godliness makes men But these become cruelly Drunk first with the Wine of the Fornication of the Great Whore and then together with her drunk with blood being made hands fit for her to destroy with Which shews what Spirit is at work under these Innovations But before I proceed any further I would here advertise the Reader that I do not look upon all that are counted of their Hierarchy to be equally concerned or have an equal share in this great Whoredom tho I cannot excuse them For some may be more passive and carryed along with the stream and strength of the active part who are fierce and violent and are the chief enforcers of their Innovations As when the Prohibition of Marriage was imposed upon their Clergy many of them did greatly withstand it to their power but were forced to it by the greater power of the over-ruling part and made to submit to it against their minds Such I look upon rather as Captives than otherwise And so the case may be with many in other Innovations But to proceed in the Description and Characters of the great Whore the Angel took John into the Wilderness in the Spirit that there he might see her more fully Not that the great Whore is in the Wilderness who sits upon many Waters Peoples multitudes Tongues but that intimates that such as
This is one interpretation of the seven Heads She sits upon seven Hills Now it 's well known that Rome is scituated on seven Hills or Mountains And therefore was known by the name Vrbs septicollis and Septiceps and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words signifiâ— seven Hills or seven Heads That 's one Interpretation or unfolding of the seven Heads of the Beast that carries the great Whore. The Angel also gives another interpretation of those seven Heads that both meeting together they might make the more certain discovery of her That second interpretation was not then at that time wholly fulfilled when the Angel gave it And that still adds more clearness and certainty to the applying of it to Rome The interpretaton is this And there are seven Kings five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come 〈◊〉 and when he cometh he must continue a while These seven Kings are rightly taken by prudent understanding men to be the seven Governments that Rome hath had viz. First Kings secondly Consuls thirdly Dictators fourthly Decemviri fifthly Tribunes Which five were fallen in John's time then One is said the Angel to John and that was the Emperors which made the Sixth and was standing in John's time But the other the Seventh which was the Popes is not yet come said he And when he is come he must continue a while How aptly do these things fit Rome even as a garment fitted to ones back So that finding all these Characters of the great Whore so apparently in Rome how can she clear her self from being that very great Whore Only this I would have the Reader to mind that by Rome here I do not understand every individual person in her but the Ruling Hierarchical power of Rome which makes the carnal and earthly people drunk with the Wine of her Fornication and holds the People of God in Captivity under her As Jerusalem and Israel was charged with Whoredom in like case of following their own inventions whenas all in it were not guilty but God had a precious people in it who were grieved therewith So it may be with Rome And so by Pope I do not so much understand every individual Pope as the Mystery and the power of the Popedom in which they stand I now pass on from the Hierarchy of Rome to the Inhabiters of the Earth who are a People set on mischief by the Whoredomes oâ— the great Whore. These are a People so intoxicated with the Wine of her Fornication that is with the Innovations of the great Whore that like drunken men they are full of quarrel heady bold out-facers of Truth haters of all that stands in the way of their Innovations and ready with eager minds to embrew their hands in the blood of righteous people if their Masters do but call them Hereticks and set them on altho they have no other provocation or reason to do it but only because they are against their Innovations These are very numerous so that the great Whore wants not hands to execute her fury upon the innocent Servants of Christ when she sees a fit time to employ them And this they are ready to do in loyalty to her Usurped Authority And therefore altho they are not guiltless yet she is chiefly charged with being drunk with the blood of the Servants of Jesus As David was charged with the blood of Vriah because it proceeded from him So the great Whore standsguilty of all the blood shed in obedience and loyalty to her Innovations But in a dangerous thing to be 〈…〉 in the hand of there that sight against God and against'd â— simplicity and pusity of his wares and innocency and fidelity of his Servants It may go easier with those that are drunk with the Wine of the great Whores Fornication than which her that is drunk with blood but I think none that understands the danger would be in Sodoms use because it shall be more toletable for them than for some other Cities at the day of Judgment There is a third sort of People under the Dominion of the great Whore whom my Soul longs after whose Spirits are drawn after the Lord and who truly fear him altho their understandings may be captivated under many of her Innovations These when they come to see their liberty in the Lord may say with the Israelites O Lord our God other Lords besides thee have had dominion over us but by thee only will we made mention of thy name Isa 26 〈◊〉 Other Lord have had dominion over ye to cause 〈◊〉 to make mention of thy Name in their superstations waies but by thee only even by thy self and thy direction and assistance will we now henceforth make mention of thy Name They that have been in bondage under enforced Worship when they are made rightly sensible of it will see the dominion that other Lords have had over them will not satisfie but there will be a cry in their hearts that â—he Lord alone may rule over their Conscienceâ— and that all their profession of him or making mention of his name may proceed from himself and so shall they worship him in Spirit and in truth These may say also with Israel of old By the Rivers of Babylon there we sat down yea we wept when we remembred Zion Psal 137.1 I know whose case that hath been under lesser Innovations The heart that truly fears the Lord and pants after him longs after the purity of his ways and when it gets a glimpse thereof sits down weeping under all other bondages of humane traditions and Innovations finding it self as it were in a Captivity or banishment from its own Land which it longs to be at and that is the enjoyment of the prefence of the Lord in the purity and simplicity of his ways Now my Soul and Spirit simpathizes with such as these breathing to the Lord for their deliverance wheresoever they are having had a fellow-feeling of their Bondage and I hope deliverance draws nigh to many For what is their Captivity but their Thraldom and Bondage under the Innovations of men And what shall be their deliverance but the falling of those Innovations which hold them Captive and their being set in the liberty of the Spirit Though men have built a Tower of their own Inventions whose top may reach to Heaven and upon the top of which they pretend to set men into Heaven yet down again this must tumble This Babel this Great Whore this Mystery of Iniquity this Mother of Harlots must have a fall and then that Voice will call to them from Heaven Come out of her my People that ye be not pertakers of her Sins and that ye receive not of her Plagues Rev. 18.4 Now what shall be this great fall of Babylon I answer if we consider what was the fall of the Jews we may partly understand thereby what shall be the fall of Babylon The Jews fall was their continuing in that which God by
Christ Jesus came to put an end to They fell short of the Grace and Glory that was revealed and came by Jesus Christ altho they continue a People still So Babylon the House of Captivity shall fall Innovations or Inventions of men after which they have gone a Whoring and under which the Seed of God hath been held in great bondage these shall have thei◠〈…〉 the hearts of men they shall understandingly see them 〈…〉 hated of the Lord and to 〈…〉 to the Spirit of God 〈…〉 the Truth revealed by 〈…〉 and witnessed by 〈…〉 Aâ—â—stles and Prophe◠〈…〉 so they shall 〈◊〉 in the 〈…〉 being seen and fallen 〈…〉 they shall strongly be called out of them them by the Spirit of God. For observe after it is said Babylon the Great is fallen is fallen that Voice is uttered Come out of her my People For after the great fall of Babylon there shall yet be a Continuing in or upholding of her Innovations by some But Gods people are called out they that fear God and love his truth shall be called out and so the rest that remain in them shall be captivaâ—ed themselves thereby as a Bird in a Cage For those Inventions and Innovations of men shall become a Habitation of Devils and a hold of every foul Spirit and a Cage of every unclean and hatefull â—â—â—d and that after Babylons great 〈◊〉 Rev. 18.2 This fall of Baylon the Great that is the fall of mens Innovations shall be no small matter for it will carry along with it Plagues and Death and Famine and Mourning The Scarlet coloured Whore that hath been decked with Gold and precious Stones and Pearls anp lived deliciously and Reigned in great Pomp by by the Merchandize of her Innovations she shall have torment and sorrow and be pinched of her Deliciousness when men begin to see the cheat of her Merchandize and will buy it no more when they begin to see the Vanity and wickedness of her Innovations and will no more buy any of them then comes her Plagues and Torment and Sorrow and Famine and Mourning For what is it that hath upheld the Great Whore but the Merchandize of her Innovations And these things men shall come to see and Kings shall see And when they see it they shall hate the Whore and make her Desolate and Naked and shall Eat her Flesh and burn her with Fire Her Innovations are as her very Flesh and Blood which give her Comeliness and Vigour if you consume them you put her to torment and even eat her Flesh as it were and burn her with Fire and this even those Kings shall do who have given their power unto the Beast that carries her and whom she hath drawn in to commit Fornication with her Rev. 17.16 17. And blessed be God who hath put it into the hearts of some Rulers of the Earth to make void one great Innovation of the Mystery of Iniquity for the deliverance of Gods people that is to oppose that persecuting of one another for Conscience sake or worshipping God according to their Conscience This is a great step of Reformation and the King of Kings make them successfull therein and bless their good Endeavours and open their eyes yet further and the eyes of all that are honest hearted to see still further and further into the Mysteries of his Kingdom and to embrace them and also into the Mysteries of Iniquity to turn from them Oh! What rejoycing will there be in the Earth among all that fear God and love his truth when the Inventions and Innovations of men are cast out and the simplicity of the Gospel shall be free for all men to walk in When those Innovations of men that have caused so much bloodshed shall come to an end and like a great Milstone shall be cast into the Sea and be found no more then will follow the Marriage of the Bride the Lambs Wife and Alâ—eluâ—â— For the Lord God omnipotent signeth Rev. 19.6 7. A POST-SCRIPT to those that are Members or Vpholders of the Great Whore. THE Lord seeks not the Destruction of people but that they shou'd repent of the evil of their ways and be preserved and that 's the desire of him who hath writ these things Therefore his advice to them that find themselves included in humane Innovations is this to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God and lay down what they find to be contrary to his Counsels left they suffer in upholding that which God will consume and destroy For tho single persons cannot reform the degenerated State of things yet they may reform themselves The Pope may reform himself a Cardinal may reform himself by withdrawing himself from that he sees evil and in humility of Spirit submitting himself to the Counsels of God and simplicity of the Gospel laying aside the Innovations of men The Lords pleasure is that man should rather be preserved than destroyed I wrold have healed Babylon saith he Then if she be not healed where lies the fault Is not her Destruction of her self Oh! that you could see the evils that are introduced into the profession of Christianity by the Wisdom of men and despise the World and the Glory thereof and exaltation in the Earth in comparison of an immortal Crown of Glory which fadeth not as Earthly glory doth How much better a purchase would you obtain than the earthly fading transitory momentany glory of this world And no man hath run himself so far from the Lord but that there may be a returning except he deny the Lord that bought him They that were the greatest Transgressors in the Churches of Asia were advised to repent and threatned if they did not which implies that the mercies of God were ready to receive them if they did repent O return return to the purity and simplicity of the Gospel as it was in the Primitive times of the Apostles and lay aside all these separating Inventions and Innovations of men which divide between Christians and Christians that we may come into Unity as at the first What! is Christ divided No certainly he is One and his Doctrine is One. It s the Device and Doctrines of men that diviâ—e O what Acclamatiâ—â—s of Jâ—w will there be among all that love the Lord Jesus Christ in truth when the separating Inventions and traditions of man are cast forth This is the great fall of Babylon over which the Saints and Servants of God shall sing Alelujah But the Spirit of God seems to speak prophetically of Babylon that she will not be healed saying of Babylon of old we would have healed Babylon but she is not healed And I think there is little ground to expect that so great a Society of men so strongly conjoyned in a Mystery of Innovations can make a publique Reformation of themselves together because it s most likely that the greater number of them will be for maintaining their earthly Interest and worldly Glory that they have in their Kingdom of Innovations therefore the Lord calls to particular persons to withdraw saying Come out of her my People that ye be not partakers of her Sins and that ye receive not of her Plagues Rev. 18.4 For let her be as strong as she can yet she hath to deal with one that is stronger Strong is the Lord God who judgeth her so that she cannot avoid his Stroke Therefore let all that fear the Lord come out of her come out of the Inventions Innovations or Traditions of men into the simplicity and sincerity of truth where you shall find the Comfortable presence and power of the Lord going before you and as a Lamp enlightning your paths that you may follow him in safety and satisfaction to your Souls as he leads and goes before you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS Books Printed and Sold by Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lumbard-street Folio ISaac Penington's works price 12. s. 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