F An Advertijeine/It. tit, Glory of the heft Ages of the Church is darkned into Shane, and the Triumph for its Deliverance from Pagan Captivity, turnd to our Coufufion. ( I have fully in myHi_ ftoryof Councils defcrib'd the Mifchief of Clergy- Ambition, but never thought that fuch mens Faults fo overthrew all Chrift's Church in the Empire, as to make it Antichriftian: A holy humble Miniftry upheld it, while force ambitions carnal Prelates troubled it) as even a Heathen, ,.Ira. Mercellinue, witneffèth, fpeaking of Damafcuá s Cafe. If Chrift had no Churchvifble fo many hundred years, then he was no Chrift, or King, of a vifible Church ; which is a fad Conclufion for Oppofeis of Antichrift. Doth he fayworfe againft Chrift himfelf ? 2, Others fay, that Rime began to be Babylon the 6o6, under Boniface the Third and Phocac, ( on the Grounds before confuted. ) 3. Others begin it under Boniface the Eighth. q. Others begin it with Hildebrand.'s Ufurpation over Princes, between moo and i too years after Chrift. ;. Others begin it with ¡acacent the Third, ho in the Lateran Council generally firtt own'd that Vfurpatian and Tranfubfantiation, and bloody Perfcution for it, which before were own'd but by little Factions Parties. 6. ` Others labour to prove, 'that that Council made no Darees, and fo that it was not fettled then. Now if Rame for 606 years, or for loon, or for non years was not Babylon, then Pagan some was not then, nor Chriffian Rame, and no man knowcth when it began to be fo: And then almolh all our moft confident late Expofitions are quite overthrown. But doubt_ lefs gehn was told ofa Babylon, a Whore, a Beall, which was much earlier than this. The She or Seven Species ofPagan Government were not the Heads of a Chriftiaat Papal Beaff, that was to rife I000 or boo years after Chrift. See Blimp Barlow 's Pref. to his Brutuhr fulmen oftheir Novelty. with thefe Reafons this fort ofExpofitora add the Anfwer to the contrary Objec$onsi And to the firft they fay, that the Rifng ofthe Beall out of the Sea, cloth but tell the Order of the Viliion to John, and not that the Beaf was not yet in being; and it may mean Do. Qmielan or Dioclelian, not yet come. To the fecond they fey, The Objectors beg the uelion. 3. And fo of the third. 4. To the fourth they fay, that 7,2,i',1124 fignifieth not Centinuahce, but Operation, to which Come Copies joyo nitïTe,uoi, he ma(thWar: And they fay, that neither here, not cap. I I. of the Witnefles preaching, is meant a Thoufaud two hundred and fixty years, but Days, as exprefs'd, even three years andan half. 5. To the fifth they lay, It had the ten Crown'dHeads, which is the fame States which were Crown'd Horns, when they became militant and cruel. 6. They fay, that the Pagan Em- pire, as the Beafi commanding Idolatry, was not to be obey 'cl, 7, They fay, Pagan Roma is call'd .1?yf..ical, not Literal Babylon, and their Myfteries.of Worship alto were Idolatry. 9. They fy, that it is net Antichrift fitting in the Temple, but the Bed} blafpheming it, that this Textmentioneth. 9. They fay, §that Pagan Rome, as flch, is totally defolate, and toe ever, but the Papal is'not. sò. The Faithful came away from Pahylons idolatry and Sin before her Fall, and were call'd on to avoid her mofe carefully, juft when The was falling, left juif then,the falling.Babylon fall on them : but Papal Rome being not yet fallen, were no Chriftians thefe Thirteen hundred -years under the Reafons of that Call. r. They fay, Pagan Rome fold Slaves, and boughtiehem, and fold Souls to Idolatry worfe than Popery. 12. They fay, that the unmarried Heathens may be guiltyof Fornication, yea, and of Adultery, by rearm of God''s right to them : And the Fornication here is but Idolatry ; and it's laid to conclude that Heathen Rome was not Idolatrous. 13. Laftly, They lay, that. their' Senate, and all the Learned Patrons of Paganifm, and Reproachers ofChriftianity, better anfwer the Charaler of the fecond Beaft and falle Prophet, than either the Pope es pleading for himfelf,or his Agents Pleading for his Civil Power: I fltould next have told you the Difficulties that pofe nie about the other Queftions, but I fear perplexing the Readers, and mart not be fo large. I mention what I have done, to tell you why I underhand not the Itevalerians, and cannot, help it that I am no wirer than excellent Calvin, nor than all the ancient Fathers, (tho' I di/own their Conceit of a future Antichrift at the endof the World.) I doubt not but many, in blind Zeal, will call this my confefl'ed Ignorance a warping to- werds Popery, (thó I have long in my Writings sgzinft Popery conff I'd the very fante) , This I melt bear from them that bear more from themfelves, and from whom the Church beareth more. Ifs a fai Il thing for one man to be cenfur'd by ehofe perlons that cenfure hardlier aimofc all theChurch ofChrift on Earth : But when I try whether they know.any . more
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