Cruelty I say accompanied with such things as I have named is one of their main guards or supports of their Religion It is like a wall of fire round about them so that if any among them shall but attempt to get out from them what can they look for but Fire and Faggot or a most hellish Inquisition if they catch them And what tortures and torments are acted there may sufficiently affright and terrifie such as think of deserting them This Cruelty is innate to their Religion for finding themselves defective of truth to uphold it they make it up with cruelty and with lyes when they have done to hide it That horrid piece of Cruelty intended by the Gunpowder-Plot and carried on so far as it went by their Creatures though those Actors in that work of darkness be honoured by them at Rome yet they would have you believe that it was only a trick of State so impudently shameless are they in forging lyes They would also make you believe that the Book of Martyrs is full of lyes and no better than a Fable because it records the abominable Butcheries and Cruelties which by them were acted upon conscientious people And all the ground they have to belye it is from hence that there was a mistake or two in it which Fox himself who was the Composer of that Book first discovered having had some wrong information given him in those particulars Thus they are not ashamed to act Cruclties but are ashamed to be apprehended therein for indeed their actions are so barbarous that even humane nature may blush to be found guilty thereof And yet they are fain to fly to this refuge of defence to uphold their Religion and also for the propagating of it For indeed to speak properly it is not the Kingdom of God and of Christ having truth for its foundation which they uphold but it 's a Kingdom of pride luxury and wantonness and debauchery which wants a foundation in truth therefore fly they to Cruelty for their support And their Cruelty so rings over the World that all but themselves and their slaves dread to come under their power For there is no mercy in them to old or young male or female to innocent Babes or Women with Child Oh the tortures and the invented devices of Cruelty that they put people to in Ireland since our memory in the year 1642. driving them into Rivers by droves and keeping them therein from getting-forth till they were drowned This was the easiest death they put them to Some they hanged some they ript open and let out their bowels some they starved to death some they buried alive ript up Women with Child dashed the heads of Infants against the stones commonly stript Men and Women naked and caused them to perish with cold and hunger many most beastly and barbarous tortures they put both Men and Women to And this now is their way of defending and propagating their Religion which their God who was a Murderer from the beginning acts them violently forward in Time was when they were something more moderate in their bloody ways when they cited people into their Courts and gave them a Tryal at their Laws and suffered them to argue for their Religion But now they are become violently savage and bruitish beyond all humane modesty whereby we may take notice of two things 1. That they are Seducers and that we need not doubt of because they wax worse and worse according to the Character which the Apostle gives of Seducers 2 Tim. 3.13 Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived 2. We may hence also have strong hopes that they have but a short time to reign and rage in the World for therefore Satan is come down among them with great rage knowing that he hath but a short time This their Cruelty now and not Truth is one of the grand pillars by which their Kingdom is upheld Secondly Another pillar upon which their Irreligion as I may call it or Kingdom of Darkness stands is Ignorance They take away the Key of Knowledge from men and keep them in blindness that so they may be led by them as they please And to colour this piece of policy they would perswade their people that Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion and that the Scriptures make men Hereticks as some of them in the Massacre in Ireland got an English Bible and trampling upon it in the dirt as is informed cursed it saying that that was the cause or ground of all the Difference and therefore it is a thing not to be born with by them that any of their Lay-people as they term them should have the Bible or Testament except it be as they have corrupted it So they keep them from that that they may keep them in ignorance and they keep them in ignorance that they may rule them as they please and the people being deluded by them are willing to have it so for they see not the Serpent's subtilty that lyes hidden under that Maxime That Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion It is indeed the Mother of Devotion but to whom Not to God I testifie but to the Pope and his superstitious and idolatrous Worship Ignorance keeps men devout to him and his will-will-Worship but Christ Jesus came to raise up a people that should worship God in spirit and in truth and his Spirit is the Spirit of a sound mind not a Spirit of blindness and ignorance The devoutest men upon Earth have always been a knowing understanding people witness Noah Daniel and Job Samuel David and the rest of the Worthies renowned in Scripture yea and the Son of God himself who was filled with wisdom and truth who sometime spent the night in prayer to God and he that is born again is in his measure renewed in knowledge after his image Col. 3.9 10. Lye not one to another seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him Mind this that the new man is renewed in knowledge he is not kept in darkness and ignorance to make him devout to God When Paul came to Athens and beheld their blind devotion in their ignorance to rectifie this their devotion he endeavours to bring them to true knowledge not to keep them still in ignorance for that was his work as also the work of the rest of the Apostles and Ministers of Christ to turn men from darkness to the light and so from the power of Satan whose Kingdom is in darkness unto God who is light that so they might receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus Act. 26.18 Now he that stops up the light from men must needs be a Thief and a Robber which comes to steal 1. To steal away the hearts of men from Christ to himself and from devotion
to God to devotion to himself to serve his own turn And 2. he thereby robs people of their deliverance from the power of Satan who rules in darkness as God rules in light And so 3. and consequently he robs people of receiving forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus for that 's the end of turning men from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God namely that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among God's sanctified ones But this will not stand with the Interest of him who seeks the glory and greatness of this World and an uncontroulable Kingdom over all without questioning what he doth and therefore Ignorance must be the nourisher of blind obedience to him which he blasphemously calls devotion to God And in this work now though he seek to be as high as Lucifer yet hath he made himself a slave to the Rulers of the darkness of this World whose principal drudge he is in labouring to keep men in darkness where Satan's power is We find in Scripture that darkness is the perishing state out of which God calls his people Eph. 5.8 Ye were sometime darkness but now are ye light in the Lord walk as children of the light 1 Pet. 2.9 Ye are a chosen generation that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light Col. 1.12 13. Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light who hath delivered us from the power of darkness And therefore to abide in darkness and to abide in a perishing state is all one in Scripture-language as also to be rejected of the Lord is expressed by being cast out into outer darkness 1 Joh. 2.9 10 11. He that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth because that darkness hath blinded his eyes And Darkness is the place where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Mat. 8.12 and 22.13 Now then it is easie for any to judge whose Minister he is that hides light from men to keep them in the darkness and whose work he doth He is none of Christ's Minister nor doth his work to promote his Kingdom which is a Kingdom of light but he doth the work of the Rulers of the darkness of this World and his own work to keep men in slavery to him who seeks the glory of this World And this now is one of the stratagems of the mystery of iniquity and one principal prop of Antichrist's Kingdom and a chief guard about the Pope to let him sleep at quiet Thus the Sword or carnal Weapons of Cruelty and Ignorance and such like means are the props and guards of this Kingdom which the Papists are Subjects to and not the pure and uncorrupted Truth recorded in Scripture And therefore that some of them may deliver themselves from that mystery of iniquity if the Lord please to open their eyes is the end of my writing these things And though some expressions in this Treatise may perhaps seem too harsh to some of them yet having to deal with such bad Principles in persons who pretend to be invested with authority and power derived from Christ in the work of his Ministry and in his service I could not use easier language than I have done And as I have here manifested the destructive Principles of the Papists to be most erroneous and wicked I say the same against the destructive zeal of any professors of Christianity upon what Principles soever they go and under what Name soever they stand and likewise affirm That no destructive zeal is renewed after the image of him that hath created us and made us new creatures for as God sent not his Son into the world to destroy so he came not a destroyer but a Saviour to save mens lives Therefore would he not suffer James and John to destroy nor Peter when he drew his Sword and cut off Malchus his Ear but bid him put it up and then heal'd the Ear again which he had cut off and hath left it upon record that his Servants shall not go about that Work to root out the tares out of the field that is the World that 's a Work reserved for the Angels at the end of the World I shall now for conclusion leave a few Queries for the Papists to satisfie their own Consciences in rather than to expect an Answer to them and I desire them to be impartial while they consider them 1. Whether the Lord hath taken up an outward Succession again since he laid aside Abraham's natural Succession 2. Whether any be a true Successor of Peter or of the rest of the Apostles who doth not walk in the same Spirit and Doctrine 3. Whether Christ hath substituted a Patron of Lying Perjury Plots Conspiracies Cruelty and Murders to be his Vicar to represent him upon Earth and to be the Head of his Church and an example to the Flock And whether it be not great blasphemy to affirm it 4. Whether he be a friend or an enemy to Christ who opposes the main ends of his Coming As namely in these particulars 1. In point of Enlightning 2. In point of Innocency 3. In point of Worship First Because Christ came to enlighten the World and to bring them out of darkness but the Popes stop the light and keep men in darkness Secondly Christ came to raise up a harmless inoffensive quiet innocent people and of them a Kingdom of Peace where nothing should hurt nor destroy but the Popes bring forth a people quite contrary harmful offensive unquiet disturbers of the Civil Peace by Plots Conspiracies Murders c. Thirdly Christ came to bring forth a people that should worship God in spirit and in truth such as the Father seeks to worship him but the Pope requires such Worshippers as will stoop to his Superstitions and idolatrous Worships after the Formality that he prescribes or else they must expect an Inquisition or some other usage as bad Now consider whether he that thus opposes the Ends of Christ's Coming be not an Enemy 5. Whether he that knoweth sin aforehand and yet entices or encourages his Children into it by promising them pardon and indempnity if they do it doth not very aptly follow the steps of that old Serpent that deceived Eve who told her Ye shall not die though ye eat 6. Whether those Roman Casuists do err that say It 's no sin to swear a falshood if they have a Reserve in their mind to salve it with Or it 's the Pope that errs in promising Pardons for such Oaths so making them sins For Pardons are Relatives to Sins 7. Whether Equivocations and mental Reserves will stand as a good plea for Lying and Perjury at that day when the righteous Judge of all the World shall judge every man according to
the matter in hand Therefore mind the Angel's interpretation Ver. 18. He tells John what that woman is The woman which thou sawest is that great City which ruleth or hath a kingdom over the Kings of the earth So that you see this woman which is the great Whore is a great ruling City reigning over Kings Then add to this the Angel's interpretation of the seven heads Ver. 9. The seven heads are seven mountains upon which the woman sitteth So then thus far is plain That the great Whore is a great ruling City that reigns over the Kings of the earth and is situated upon seven mountains This so fully points out Rome that their own Writers cannot deny it for it is famous in all Nations for its situation upon seven mountains or hills which are these viz. Mons Palatinus Quirinalis Aventinus Caelius Viminalis Aesquilinus Capitolinus Hence this City is called Septiceps and Septicollis that is it hath seven heads or seven hills Therefore Ovid speaks thus of it Sed quae de septem totum circumspicit Orbem Montibus imperii Roma Deumque locus Rome which from her seven mountains views round the World is the place of the Empire c. That 's one opening of the seven heads they are seven hills The Angel gives it also another opening ver 10. And there are seven Kings five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come which also still further points out Rome These seven Kings are seven Governments as some observe Brightman Rev. 17.10 and five of these were fallen when John wrote the Revelations and one then was and another was not yet come at that time which they thus interpret Rome from its rise or first original had these Heads 1. Kings 2. Consuls 3. Dictators 4. Decemviri 5. Tribunes and these five were then fallen when John writ the Revelations 6. Emperors and that was the then present Government And the 7th was not yet come which was by Popes Thus both these opinions of the seven heads meeting together so patly upon Rome do still confirm that to be the place of the chief residence of the great Whore where she sitteth or is seated Some indeed take these seven Kings to be seven particular Emperors and in that they vary yet they meet in this that they belonged to Rome but in my understanding the first is most apt and so Learned Brightman takes it quoting The History of Cornelius Tacitus for those several Governments of Rome until the Emperors for he lived and writ in the first Century after Christ But I place not much weight upon this which may admit of dubious disputation but pass on to other things Again It 's said in this same Verse that this Woman or great Whore sitteth upon a scarlet coloured Beast Beast is used in Scripture for Dominion and Power as Dan. 7.3 17. These great beasts which thou saw are four Kings or four Governments c. Now this beast which the Woman sits upon is said to be scarlet coloured the colour of blood so the Church of Rome is born up upon a bloody power being upheld by bloody Cruelties Inquisitions Murders Massacres so that her sins are as scarlet wherewith she is clothed This is true enough of Rome Or if we take this scarlet colour to set forth the splendor magnificence and greatness of the beast or power that upholds the great Whore this also is answered by Rome's Equipage and Pomp. So put these together now Scarlet coloured beast relates to that potent and bloody power that upholds the Whore And great Whore relates to Religion or Worship and the temper of her Spirit which is degenerated and adulterated with traditions and superstitions and inventions of men And the seven heads or mountains relate to her outward situation or chief place of her residence which the seven Kings or seven sorts of Government also confirms the Angel thereby pointing as with a finger where to find her chief seat outwardly in the World This beast in whom the power resides is also further described hereby that it is full of Names of blasphemy To bring this home to Rome this I say That the Names of Holy Father his Holiness God's Vice-gerent Christ's Vicar upon Earth Vniversal Bishop Peter 's Successor Holy Church Holy Mother Mother Church Abbots which signifies Fathers Jesuits which signifies Disciples of Jesus and many other such like Names and Titles whereby men would shew themselves eminent Servants of God and of Christ nearly related to him I say these and such like Names and Titles being put upon most unholy and ungodly men upon superstitious and idolatrous Worshippers upon bloody and inhumane Butchers and slaughterers of men upon such as are teachers and animaters of lying and dissembling and speaking lyes in hypocrisie upon truce-breakers false accusers encouragers of men to forswear or perjure themselves under a cloak of Equivocation instigaters of acters of Massacres of Plots and Conspiracies against Rulers and Nations upon such persons as know these abominations aforehand to be sins and yet having their Consciences seared as with a hot Iron will presumptuously encourage men thereunto or in defiance of Conscience will rush into such sins and depend upon the Pope's Pardon I say such Names and Titles upon such persons or such a people is high blasphemy against God against Christ and against his holy Servants to whom they challenge Succession because such Titles of so near relation render the God of Christians as a Patron to all ungodliness they render Christ as a generater and nourisher of a brood of wicked people they render Christianity as a Nursery of more than heathenish absurdities and inhumane abominations they render Christ Jesus and Peter as Teachers of wicked Plots and Conspiracies What can tend more to blaspheme that is to defame that holy Name of God and of Christ whereby we are called What can more blast the Fame as the word Blasphemy imports of that innocent Lamb of God and of his holy Apostles by whom the profession of Christianity was planted in the Earth Well may the Jews Turks Infidels abhor the Name of Christianity looking upon it through the corrupt lives and deceitful and savage actions of those that by such Names and Titles profess themselves to be so great Masters of that profession and the chief upholders of it Thus the Name of God and of Christ is greatly blasphemed by the ruling Party of the Romish Church who dignifie themselves with such Names and Titles so nearly relating to Christ and yet live in such abominations as are so abhorring to his Nature Again This scarlet coloured beast on which the Whore sits is said to have ten horns that 's expounded by the Angel to be ten Kings ver 12. And these must agree to give their kingdom unto the beast until an appointed time that is until the words of God shall be fulfilled ver 17. And then they shall hate the Whore and make her desolate and naked
She hath reigned over the Kings of the Earth and they have committed fornication with her but God will put it into their hearts at last to hate the Whore and make her desolate and good cause when there is no fidelity to be found in her except they be absolute slaves to her to do what she will have them to do Object Thus this 3d. Verse together with the Angel's interpretation of it doth so fully point at Rome that seven-headed or seven-hilled City that the Popish Writers have confessed it to be Rome only they frame this evasion which stands need to be answered before I pass from it viz. That this great Whore is not Rome present but Heathen Rome that is Rome under the Government of the persecuting Emperors who were before Constantine the Great who in their time persecuted the Christians and shed much blood Which thing say they put John to great admiration as is exprest ver 6. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus and when I saw her I wondred with great admiration This they say was to see so much Christian blood shed by the persecuting Emperors Answ But I pray you what great admiration or new admiration could that put John to to see open Enemies of Christians drunk with their blood Or what new thing was this to John who was a companion in tribulation with those that suffered persecution in those times which he had seen before he writ this Book of the Reuelations This could not procure such new admiration to make him wonder so much but the ground of so great admiration lay here To see a people in vision to rise up under that Name that was then persecuted and under a great profession of Christianity to have them represented to him to be drunk with the blood of Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus while they so highly professed Jesus here was ground indeed of astonishment to John But it 's a weak and silly thing to turn this off from Rome present to Rome heathen under the persecuting Emperors as some of no small Note do whom at present I forbear to name Suppose any of us had lived in the days of John and had seen such persecutions as he had seen and had been a companion in the same tribulation under open professed Enemies would this be such a matter of wonder to us to have it represented to us over again in vision No the frequency of a thing takes away the wondring at it especially with so great admiration But to see a new thing so strange a thing so contrary to the nature of the thing In plainer words to see Christians drunk with the blood of Christians to see so high professing Christians who would honour almost every thing that appertained to Christ honour his Mother honour his Apostles honour his very Sepulchre and the very Cross upon which he was crucified yea the very images of a Cross for his sake if I may not say adore them A people that should keep days in memorial of the Birth of the Suffering of the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ keep days in memorial of his holy Apostles and sing forth their praises in their solemn Assemblies and publick Worships and magnifie themselves as the only Church of Christ and count all others who joyn not with them in these things to be Hereticks To have such a people represented as drunk with the blood of Christians drunken with the blood of Saints and of the Martyrs of Jesus a thing so contrary to what they bear a profession of here was matter of wonder indeed to cause John to wonder with great admiration as is expressed ver 6. And this now aptly agrees with the title of the great Whore which title the persecuting Emperors did not so fitly bear seeing they never owned Christ as their Head and Husband nor themselves to be his Spouse But Rome that now is doth challenge this near relation to him and yet doth these things against those that profess him as well as her self Thus you see how fully the Spirit of the Lord doth discover the state of degenerate Rome by what hath already been signified to us And I might here pass on to other Principles but because they are so highly exalted in this conceit and it is so rooted a Principle among them that they are the only true Church of Christ I shall desire the Reader 's patience to view also what further discovery is left us upon record in the two next following Verses of this 17th Chap. viz. in ver 4. and 5. Ver. 4. And the woman was arayed in purple and scarlet colour and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls that is with all the glory of this World with which bait the Devil would have catched Christ himself but could not But the Church of Rome hath swallowed down the bait and for the glory of this World hath stooped to his terms to bow down to him and let in his Spirit who was a lyar and murtherer from the beginning and so she hath her reward the pomp and glory of this World And she holds forth also a golden cup to the Nations to make them drink of the same cup of fornication with her as it follows in this Verse Having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication This aptly sets forth the Worship of the great Whore and the wine wherewith she makes the Nations drunk This wine is the wine of her fornication and it 's in her Cup which Cup is in her hand and beautiful to look at being golden or guilded with gold She carries the Cup of her worship in her hand it 's external or outward for a shew not internal and in the spirit it lyes in that which her own hand hath formed and carved out to her self according to her own devices And it is always ready being composed and bundled up for any one in Orders even the vilest and wickedest person among them to carry in his hand and offer up And it hath a fine golden outside to look upon to please the eye her worship is sumptuous and glorious enough outwardly to the eye and she hath also guilded it with all the daintiest expressions that she could pick out of the Scriptures to please the ear and composed Songs and Anthems and Hymns and prepared Organs and musical Instruments and Quires of Singers to accompany them to elevate the minds of people as if they were wrapt up in a heavenly melody for a while But look within the Cup and what 's there There 's Fornication Superstition Will-worship Idolatry falling down before Images and Pictures and Crucifixes worshipping of Saints and Angels which God never commanded nor they ever suffered men to do to them but forbad them They come not behind Nebuchadnezzar in their worship when he caused all to fall down and worship the Image which
he had set up when they heard the sound of the Cornet Flute Harp Sackbut Psaltery Dulcimer and all kinds of Musick nor much behind him for Fire and Faggor to devour those that will not worship with them We read but of one Furnace that he caused to be heated to burn dissenters in but they have burnt multitudes of dissenters who would not consent to their worship witness Smithfield and other places in Queen Maries days Add hereunto the many Murthers done otherways by Inquisitions and bloody Massacres her unsatiable blood-thirstiness and blood-guiltiness So that you see although the Cup of Rome's worship be a golden Cup to look at yet within it's full of filthiness of her fornication it 's full of dead mens bones and all uncleanness like the painted Sepulchres of the Pharisees Israel's worship which was of God's own appointment became an abomination to him so that his soul hated it for these two things which Rome is eminently guilty of one was Because their hands were full of blood Isa 1.13 14 15. The other was Because they had chosen their own ways and their soul delighted in their abominations Isa 66.3 Now for Rome's worship it 's of her own forming not of God's institution and for blood her hands are fuller of that than ever Israel's was and for superstitious inventions Israel cannot compare with her Therefore her worship must needs be more detestable and abominable in the sight of the Lord than Israel's was being also aggravated hereby that whereas Israel was but under types and shadows as under a Schoolmaster but she lives in the days of greater light under the ministration of the second Covenant or new Covenant which far excels the first Covenant in the glory of its light 2 Cor. 3.10 So that for her now with bloody hands and with deceitful dissembling hearts to approach to worship the Lord this must needs be an abomination Judge in your selves I desire you ye of the Romish Church what acceptance this can have with the Lord for a people that plots and contrives the subversion of Kingdoms and sticks not to poison or stab or murder those that they fear may hinder their wicked designs who barbarously massacre people more merciful than themselves who are manifested thereby to partake more of the heavenly nature than they For a people that sets up to themselves Stocks and Stones Images and Pictures in abundance and falls down before them and bows themselves to the work of their own hands and prays to them that are no Gods nor present in all places with them to hear their prayers a people that turn away in their hearts from the living God and think to make Men and Angels their Intercessors for such a people to approach before the Lord and sing forth their Anthems and Allelujahs unto God Judge ye if this worship be not abominable and like the painted Sepulchres which appear beautiful outward but within are full of dead mens bones and filthiness yea and full of dead mens blood too which cryes to the Lord under the Altar How long Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth And yet Rome would paint over all these abominations to blind the eyes of men that she may seem holy in the practice of all these things She will tell you that all these that she kills are Hereticks and it 's no sin to kill them She will tell you that she doth not worship Pictures and Images though she bow down to them but she doth it in honour to God and such like shifts and mists she casts over her actions to blind the carnal eye and leave it in a mist And therefore how fitly doth the Spirit of God meet with her jugling evasions and fixes this as one of the marks of the great Whore upon her forehead as a Name written viz. Mystery as it follows in the next Verse which comes now to be considered Ver. 5. And upon her forehead was a name written Mystery Babylon the great the Mothes of harlots and abominations of the earth This is the Name that the Spirit of God fixes upon the forehead of the great Whore Mystery She commits Whoredom and Idolatry in a mystery she sheds innocent blood in abundance and yet in a mystery She would not be thought to be an Idolatress nor to commit Whoredom nor to be a Murderer she would juggle you out of a belief of that which your eye sees and your ears sufficiently hear of her here is mystery indeed but it is the mystery of iniquity not the mystery of plain-hearted godliness And this Name is set in such a place that it 's easie to read it it 's set where she cannot hide it if she do but shew her face it stands upon her forehead The Front of all her Zeal carries Blood and Idolatry written in it but yet vailed and you must not believe it to be so Though you should see her prostrate her self before her Idols you must not take her to be an Idolatress though you should be attempted to be slain by her hands and though you should see many massacred round about you yet you must not take her to be a Murderer and though you should hear her Children lye to your face and prove themselves lyars by their actions yet you must not take this to be lying yea though they forswear and perjure themselves yet you must not take this to be swearing out of truth But you must take her to be a holy Mother and pious worshipper of God under Idolatry and a charitable tender-hearted Mother in the midst of Massacres and a maintainer of truth by lyes and perjury and equivocations She is an exact observer of the footsteps of her grand Champion to walk thereafter who though he be never so wicked yet you must reverence his Holiness Again Another part of her Name is Babylon the great Names of many things under the Old Testament are applied to like things under the New As Prayers and Thanksgivings are sometimes called Sacrifices and Incense New Covenant is called Mount Sion and Jerusalem c. So Babylon and Sodom and Egypt are words sometimes used to express a like people by There be three or four things remarkable in Rome for which the Name Babylon is put upon her 1. Confusion and so the word Babylon and Babel signifie for Rome hath confounded all things under the New Covenant with her traditions and superstitious inventions 2. As Babylon of old was a place of great Idolatry so also is Rome Read but the Epistle of the Prophet Jeremy to them that were captives to be carried to Babylon and you may see how like they are you may find it in the Apocrypha Baruch 6.4 5. Ye shall see in Babylon gods of silver and of gold and of wood born upon shoulders which cause the Nations to fear Beware therefore that ye in no wise be like to strangers neither be ye afraid of
them when ye see the multitude before them and behind them worshipping them Thus it is also in the streets of the great City mystical Babylon Rome and among her Children when they go about the streets with their Host besides all the rest of their Idolatry committed in their places of Worship and in secret 3. As Babylon of old was exalted above all and call'd Lady of Kingdoms Isa 47.5 and the glory of Kingdoms Isa 13.19 So Rome exalts her self in like manner and calls her self Mother Church and Caput omnium Ecclesiarum i.e. the Head of all the Churches and sits as Queen over all in her own exalted mind But then 4 thly and lastly Rome is most fitly call'd Babylon because she holds the seed of God in bondage and captivity Whom she leads captive once she will hardly let them escape without danger of their lives or cruel torments in her Inquisitions they must become perfect slaves to her Superstitions Will-worships and Idolatries And what bondage is like to this that people to whom God hath given reason and understanding shall not make use of it but lay it aside and submit wholly to the understandings or rather wills of others though it be against their own and so be urged to submit to that which is against the light in their own Consciences And this is the greatest bondage and captivity of all and therefore well may Rome be called Babylon the great She is also called Mother of Harlots and abominations of the earth She brings forth Harlots that is such Children as go a whoring with her after her Inventions Those that in tenderness of Conscience and in subjection to the words of Christ who said In vain do you worship me after the traditions of men will not joyn with them in their invented traditions and superstitions such she owns not for her Children she will be no Mother or Nurse to such but seeks to murder them in cold blood as none of hers she will be only Mother of Harlots that can prostitute themselves with her to her Idolatries and Inventions and if they can do that it shall not break the band between them although they be common Harlots in the vulgar sence but she will remain their Mother She is also Mother of abominations in the earth Not only Mother of abominations in Worship and superstitious Inventions but also Mother of abominations in the earth abominations as to the civil life of men without the consideration of worship abominations to men as they are men living upon the earth To manifest this I shall quote one Scripture and then her own actions will testifie the truth of it against her It is Prov. 6.16 17 18 19. These six things doth the Lord hate yea seven are abomination to him A proud look a lying tongue hands that shed innocent blood an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations feet that be swift in running to mischief a false witness that speaketh lyes and him that soweth discord among brethren Now see and judge if Rome be not Mother of these abominations Who more lofty in spirit than the Pope and his Romanists Can any compare with him who exalts himself over all makes his Cardinals as Princes his Bishops and whole Clergy as great men and makes his whole Train dispise others as Hereticks not worthy to live in the earth Here 's a proud look indeed And for a lying tongue Rome's Children are so pregnant with that that one cannot tell how to believe either what they say or what they swear How miserably were the Protestants in Ireland cheated by them by fair promises and deep oaths that they would secure their Goods for them in the time of that bloody Massacre and yet when they had got them into their hands refused to restore them yea and afterwards murthered them And so 3dly They have hands that shed innocent blood none like them for that 4thly An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations Whose hearts are so full of wicked imaginations Plots Conspiracies and devices of Cruelty as Rome's Children 5thly Whose feet are swifter in running to mischief than the Papists who in one brunt can cut off so many thousands by Massacres before they make an end Their feet are speedy to do mischief when they get but the opportunity 6thly Another abomination is a false witness that speaketh Lyes If we go no further than this year how have they endeavoured to choak all true reports among us with their lyes and falshoods Witness the false reports and lying stories that they gave forth about the death of Worthy Godfrey till the truth appeared by Evidence and could no longer be hid 7thly and lastly He that saweth discord among brethren is also one of the abominations in the earth This is one of Rome's Principles Divide impera Divide and then command Divide what 's that but sowing of discord destroying of concord setting one against another that she may fish in troubled waters Whether she made the former division and discord between the late foregoing King and the People or no I will not say but if they did it 's but according to their Principle Thus you see Rome is a fruitful Mother of abominations of the earth And now you may also at leisure view all these things over again and see how pertinent all these Characters of the great Whore are to Rome they fit her as a garment that sits close and compleat upon a man's back And why then we should be afraid to look upon her as that great Whore here described by the Angel to John I know no reason especially if we add that which follows in the 6th Ver. of this 17th Chap. viz. And I saw the Woman that is the great City seated on seven Hills 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 But having spoken of this afore and shewed that it must be Rome professing Christianity and not heathen Rome that caused this great admiration I forbear to speak more of it now I say till Rome shew the contrary to these Characters by a better lise and conversation they will rest upon her And it 's not by her poysoning and stabbing fire and faggot Inquisitions and Massacres that she can clear her self No that way confirms and fixes these marks more fully upon her the more she seeks to wipe off the stains of blood that are upon her by such means the more and greater they still appear And now for the deciding of the Question in hand which all that I have said tends to Let any that have any reason of their own to make use of and any honesty and faithfulness in their hearts towards God and Christ Jesus our Lord judge and determine the Question Whether this Church of Rome so guilty of these things be the only true Church of Christ now and all others that draw from her be Hereticks I hope whosoever considers these things