The Command of God to Come Out of Babylon, Title page – Errata
THE COMMAND OF God to his People TO COME OUT OF BABYLON, Revel. 18. 4. DEMONSTRATED To mean the Coming out of the Preſent PAPAL ROME: With a moſt Earneſt Perſwaſive to All to Come out who are in it; and a Diſſuaſive from looking back, if come out, or Entertaining any Alliance with That Communion: And herewith a Calculation of the Time the Papacy can, according to this Prophecy Continue, is given. On Solemn Proof, notwithſtanding the known Variety and Contrariety of Judgments, and former Mis-Computations, It can ſurvive but Nine or Ten Years in its Preſent State.
Printed in the Year 1688.
To the Reader.
THe People of this Nation, profeſſing the Proteſtant Religion, are in danger to be ſurrounded with all Methods of Inſinuation and Seduction to entertain the Popiſh Leaven; which how little ſoever it appears in Bulk, and how ſmall a Proportion ſoever in number of Perſons compared with Proteſtants it is rated at, it yet undoubtedly hopes to Leaven the whole Lump of the Nation, claiming to it ſelf the Privilege of the truly Catholic Chriſtianity, to which it can no more than pretend.
The Romaniſts do not only ſeem to themſelves to be, but likewiſe glory as being on the higher ground, tho' infinitely (as it may be in general Expreſſion ſaid) inferiour to the Proteſtants in Arguments of Scripture, Reaſon, and Antiquity, Yet while they offer Argument for Argument, Objection for Objection, Anſwer for Anſwer; All Men, and at all times, are not ſo wiſe to ſee, know, and be firmly perſwaded for Truth againſt Errors, eſpecially when Deceptions are flank'd with hopes of advantage on one ſide, and fears of diſadvantage on the other; which the Supreme Prince hath in His hand to diſtribute on each ſide.
At the beſt the Controverſie ſeems to depend, and to be like to depend while the World ſtands, as thus menag'd; but if indeed the Word of God having plainly foreſeen the ſtate of things, and the Roman Obſtinacy and Impenitence to the laſt, hath given the Pourtracture of Romaniſm in its full Proportion, ſo that it may be known and underſtood of all who will apply their Minds to the Conſideration. This cuts off all further Diſpute, and all its ſpecious Pretences, and ſeeming Arguments, and the Vails thrown over its Superſtition, Idolatry and Blood, are thin Lawns under which may be ſeen plainly the City and the Beaſt, deſcribed in the Revelation. Now no Arguments againſt it can be like this, nor ſooner make an end of the Controverſie, nor more ſecure Perſons from being tempted to revert to that Vomit the Nation hath caſt out, nor more effectually perſwade out of that Congregation and Aſſembly, thoſe who are now in the midſt of it; altho it ſeems to Fare much with the Generality of them, as with thoſe of whom Solomon ſpeaks, who falling into a deep Ditch, as abhorred of God, They ſeldom return again and take hold of the ways of Life; for ſuch Gueſts are in the Depths of Hell.
And becauſe it concerns them who are the Votaries of that Religion, to wipe off this great Blot that Prophecy (I make no doubt to ſay I have demonſtrated) hath laid upon them: And becauſe too many Proteſtants are not willing to think ſo ſeverely of them, as this Prophecy Imports, nor to judge the way of Prophecy proper to deal with them, and becauſe particularly One of a publick Eccleſiaſtic Character ſeems to take upon himſelf us an Umpire between Proteſtancy and Popery, and like the Days-man in Job, lays his hand on both: I therefore deſire any of thoſe perſons, laying aſide Paſſion, in which ſoever of theſe Claſſes, to make void what I call Demonſtration, and to render my Speech nothing worth.
For I would only ſurprize in the firſt place this one Objection, viz. That the Greek Churches, and the whole Train of Churches, that follow them, are either omitted by Prophecy, or muſt be condemned, as under the Apoſtaſie with the Romaniſts; although they have denyed, and do deny the Roman Supremacy, Infallibility, and come not up at leaſt to their Tranſubſtantiation, and its Idolatry.
But it is moſt Evident Prophecy hath not omitted them, nor does yet charge them ſo deep in the Apoſtaſie, as the Roman Church, though it does ſeverely Cenſure them of too ſad a Part in it. It does not omit them; For the Two Wings of the Great Eagle that bear the Church into the Wilderneſs, the very Expreſſion of the Apoſtaſie, though Including the myſterious Providence of God in things alſo, do ſo plainly Import the Eaſtern and Weſtern Empire; that they define For all theſe things ſee the Line of Time.the Time of the Apoſtacy, beginning within the ſpace after Theodoſius the Great, and Auguſtulus; For at no other time had that Empire its Two Wings ſo distinct, as from his Death, to the Ceſſation of the Weſtern Empire. It alſo Repreſents the Eaſtern and Weſtern Apoſtatizing Hierarchies by the Two Horns of the Other Beaſt, that ſpake like a Dragon, though Horn'd as a Lamb, that joyn'd in making the Image to the Grand Roman Beaſt, and to Cauſe it to Speak, and to Cauſe, &c. Revel. 13. All which was notably fulfilled in the Grecian Affectation of Univerſality, by John the Patriarch of Conſtantinople, laying the Foundation of that Tyrannous Title, which Phocas the Grecian Emperour ſoon after decreed to Rome and its Biſhop, and the Grecian Counſel of Nice; together with the Biſhops of the Weſt eſtabliſhing Image Worſhip, is much more Notorious, An. 787. On All which the Judgment of God in the Two Mahometan Woes of the Saracens and of the Turks fell ſo heavy on them, That under the Ignorance, Barbarity, Superſtition, Poverty, and the total Deſtruction of the Grecian Empire by the Mahometans, Thoſe Churches and All Dependent on them lye at this Day, though not ſo deep in the Apoſtaſie as the Romaniſts, expecting the Reſurrection of the Witneſſes, (So many as are truly the Church of Chriſt) and then the paſſing away of that Turkiſh Woe; For the laſt of thoſe Woes ſtill keeps them down, And only thoſe who ſhall after that continue Impenitent, will be in danger of Rome's laſt Judgment; All which are ſufficient Notices of Prophecy concerning them, and of their Elevation in the Apoſtaſie not of Rome's Degrees.
This Objection then Fore-clos'd, let Him that can make void, what I have ſaid concerning Rome.
For that this Prophecy of the Revelation is a Book of Senſe, no one that looks into it, and hath Senſe himſelf, can deny, any more than that Euclid's Propoſitions are ſo, though not underſtood by the moſt; And I doubt not, the generality of Hands, into which this Diſcourſe may fall, believe it to be Divine. But many believe alſo, That the Divine Author did not deſign to be underſtood, at least till ſome other state of Times. I do acknowledge, it hath in his wiſe Diſpoſal lay much hid from Ages and Generations: but that he hath given Leave, Encouragement, and Aſſiſtance to the underſtanding it, I will uſe in this place no other Argument, than the Diſcyphar and Explication he hath given of the Community we are now to treat of, and the Recommendation of it to the Minds that have Wiſdom to obſerve: For having first given it under the Emblem of a Woman ſitting on a Beaſt of ſeven Heads and ten Horns, he unriddles the Heads to be ſeven Mountains and ſeven Kings, and the ten Horns to be ten Kings, and the Woman to be that City that at that time Reign'd over the Kings of the Earth; which is as plain an Interpretation he meant Rome, as if any one in theſe days ſhould firſt draw London in an Emblem or Device, and then ſay, It is the City that is at this time the Capital City of the Nation; I doubt not, any one that underſtands common Senſe would think it plain enough, London was the City, and if the Emblem were Treaſonable, the Innuendo would be thought ſufficient to take away his Life.
And That It is the preſent Papal Rome, the Procedure of the Argument is even as eaſie; For if the Emblem of London were given with the Succeſſion of Kings from the Conqueſt, under which it hath been the Capital City till it came down to our preſent Soveraign (whom God long preſerve, and let our King live for ever) it would be a ſure Character, the preſent London was intended; even ſo ſure may the preſent Papal Rome be known to be intended by this Prophecy.
Theſe two things I look upon as indubitably certain, the Diſcourſe of which runs to Pag. 17. And as to the Calculation of Time I fix upon, I think it as clear, certain, and eaſie, as by the Ballance of the Time of the Moon with the Time of the Sun, It would be to a skilful Aſtronomer to tell us how many Lunar Years, or Years of the Moon have paſs'd from the Conqueſt, when we are agreed how many Years of the Sun it is; as is endeavoured to be made out to Pag. 32.
However, the Two first, That Rome, and the preſent Papal Rome, are deſign'd by the Prophecy, are as certain, as plainest Words of the Prophecy, expounded by it ſelf, can make them. On which, I throw down the Glove to all Gainſayers.
And if ſo, they are ſufficient to Found well the enſuing Inferential Corollaries to the End; and to build an earnest Perſuaſive to come out of that*foreign. Communion, as the very Force of the Prophetical Word implies, as well as the Vogue of Language; and if we are Come out, by no means to look back, nor ſo much as to make any Terms with it: For it can give us no Equivalent to incline us to yield it but a Toleration to its re-ſeating it ſelf into a poſſibility to make publick Offers of its Golden Cup to the Nation. No Indulgence can be a valuable Price for this; For, The Glory of Chriſt and of his Kingdom, which that Eclipſes, is of more value than our Liberty; and yet God forbid but that all due regards of the moſt Chriſtian, Evangelick Spirit, ſhould be born to all the Perſons, from the highest to the lowest, who are of it, much more to all Proteſtant Diſſenters: But to ſuffer, ſo far as it is in our Power legally, and in our Places, to hinder this Propheteſs from Seducing, whoever reads theſe Seventeenth and Eighteenth Chapters of the Revelation, and what is to follow to the End of the Prophecy, which cannot come before the Fall of this Babylon, and finds, (as I am not afraid to ſay) I have proved, It is the preſent Papal Rome that the Prophecy intends, will ſee Argument ſufficient against it, if he be a Chriſtian, and a Proteſtant; and the more zealous he is of Chriſtian Proteſtancy ſtill the more Reaſon. And as for all Ambidexters, Two-handed Achitophelians, or Judaſſes, who think to find it in their Account to be on both ſides; as they are now the private Scorn and Deſpiſal of the Age, ſo in future Records, and not long hence, they will ſtand Pillars of Salt.
Pag. 27. Line 24. read, after Wound, During the Chriſtian Emperour. lin. 27. blot During the Chriſtian Emperour.