The Bloody Tenant Washed and Made White in the Blood of the Lamb, Part 2 · Chapter 15
To CHAP. XV.
THe Texts of Scripture which Mr. Williams alledged, not to prove the Churches of England to be falſe in their Conſtitution, Miniſtery, Worſhip, Government, (for to that end he alledgeth no Scriptures at all) but to urge upon us a ſeparation from them, (even from hearing in their Aſſemblies) were three, Iſai. 52.11. 2 Cor. 6.17. Rev. 18.4. Whereof I certified him in my Letter, That two of them (to wit, the firſt and laſt) made nothing to his purpoſe. For that of Iſaiah, and the other of the Revelation ſpeake of locall ſeparation, which he knew we had made: and which neither he, nor indeed our ſelves apprehended to be ſufficient, though ſufficient to anſwer, in part, the literall ſence of thoſe Places.
To which he anſwereth, That he could not well have beleeved that Mr. Cotton, or any other, would have made that coming forth of Babel in the Antitype, Rev. 18.4. to be locall and materiall alſo. For what Civill State, or Nation, or Countrey in the world, in the Antitype could now be called Babel? If any, then ſurely Babel it ſelfe properly ſo called: but there we finde a true Church of Jeſus Chriſt, 1 Pet. 5. Secondly, If Babel be locall now, whence Gods People are called, then muſt there be a locall Judea, a Land of Canaan alſo, into which they are called, &c.
Reply. If the Examiner had been pleaſed to have read Mr. Brightman on Rev. 18.4. He might finde, I was not the firſt that Interpreted, either that place in Iſaiah, or this in Revelation, of a locall ſeparation. For as there was in old Babel, ſundry of Gods Iſrael, Inhabitants then when the Medes and Perſians were about to take it, and deſtroy it: ſo will there be in new Babel ſundry of Gods choſen people ſtill inhabiting amongſt them, even then when the ten Kings will be ready to take the Citie, and to burne it with fire. Unto whom as the Lord ſent his Angels to haſten Lot out of Sodome, when he was about to deſtroy it: ſo he hath ſent and will ſend the voyce of his Meſſengers to haſten his people, as well out of new Babel, (as he did out of old) before that ſodaine deſtruction fall upon the City, and upon them in it.
He need not make it ſo ſtrange, What Civill State, or Nation, or Countrey in the world ſhall be called Babel now? As if the very exp…eſſe letter of the Text had not clearely enough deciphered the City of Rome, the great City, which in Johns time reigned over the Kings of the Earth, to be the Babylon, (the Antitype of Babel in Chaldea,) whom the Lord would deſtroy, and out of whom he calleth his people to depart? Why doth he tell us of Babel in Peter, (Babel in Chaldea,) as if the Type and the Antitype were literally the ſame place? Or as if he were altogether a ſtranger in the Booke of the Revelation, and never underſtood Rome to be called Babylon?
But ſecondly, ſaith he, If Babel be locall now, then there muſt be a locall Judea, a Land of Canaan alſo, into which the Saints are called.
Reply. 1. It followeth not; for the Angel that calleth them out of Babel, doth not call them into Judea, or Canaan. There is no mention of ſuch places in that call at all.
2. There be, and will be, when Rome is deſtroyed, and before it be deſtroyed, viſible Churches of Chriſt, (as was Judea and Canaan of old;) into which theſe Saints who are called to depart out of Rome, have a juſt calling to come and to joyne themſelves. For it is out of the Temple, and out of the Temple open in Heaven, out of which thoſe Angels come, who powre out the vialls of Gods wrath, both upon the Antichriſtian State, and upon the Citie of Babylon it ſelfe, Rev. 15.5, 6. with Chap. 16.19.
The Examiner need not here aske, Whether Mr. Cotton can ſatisfie his own ſoule, or the ſoules of other men, in making a locall departure from old England to New, as if therein we had obeyed that voyce of the Angel, Come out of Babylon my People, partake not of her ſinnes, &c.
For 1. I doe not count England, literally to be Babel, nor myſtically neither. I beleeve a man may live and dye in England, and yet obey that Commandement of the Angel in all the parts of it. Some other godly men might finde more favour and exemption from Babyloniſh corruptions in the midſt of England, then I was ſuffered to doe, without locall departure.
2. Though I thinke, that in thoſe words, Come out of Babel my People, locall ſeparation be intended, yet when he addeth, Leſt yee be partakers foreign her ſinnes, I beleeve, ſpirituall ſeparation is much more required: and locall ſeparation as a meanes the better to attaine that end of ſpirituall ſeparation from partaking in her ſinnes.
Which may alſo cleare the meaning of the Text, and the fraud of the Examiner. For the words are not (as he alledgeth them) Come out of Babel, my people, Partake not of her ſinnes: For ſo the latter part might be an foreign, or explanation of the former: Coming out of Babel, might be all one with, Partake not of her ſinnes. But the words of the Text be, Come out of her, my People, that yee be not partaker of her ſinnes. Which plainly argueth, that coming out of Babel locally, is a meanes to prevent partaking in her ſinnes ſpiritually.
It is true which he ſaith, The Lord Jeſus hath broken downe all difference of Places, (Joh. 4.) and all difference of Perſons, Acts 10. To wit, in regard of ceremoniall pollution, or ceremoniall holineſſe. But if he thinke, there is no difference between one Citie, or Countrey more then another in morall pollutions of Idolatry, & ſuperſtition, unrighteouſneſſe and uncleanneſſe, he maketh himſelfe a greater ſtranger both to the Word and to the world, then I did thinke he had been.
The two cauſes of Gods Indignation againſt England, which he ſuggeſteth, are worthy due conſideration and attention. I would rather ſay Amen to them, then weaken the weight of them. OnelyOnly I ſhould ſo aſſent to the latter, as not to moove for a Toleration of all Diſſenters, Diſſenters in Fundamentalls, and that out of obſtinacy againſt conſcience, and Seducers, to the perdition of ſoules, and to the diſturbance of Civill and Church-Peace: but onelyonly of ſuch Diſſenters, as vary either in matters of leſſe weight, or of fundamentall, yet not out of wilfull obſtinacy, but out of tenderneſſe of Conſcience.
As for the Controverſie, which the Examiner ſaith, He hath with me, Whether falſe worſhip be not onelyonly locall, but a ſpirituall Guilt, and not onelyonly a Guilt, but alſo an Habit, &c.
I doe acknowledge no ſuch controverſie between us: I wholly conſent with him in the Point. OnelyOnly I doe not beleeve, all that to be either a Guilt, or an Habit of falſe worſhip, which he doth imagine: but in his termes I accord.