Keach - Houston-Packer Collection BS537 .K4 1779

T !I E c H u R c H 0 F R 0 M E, Book IV. If all the Marks and Characrcrs left us upon divine Record, to prove My!lery Baby– Ion by, do more aptly and fit!y agree to Rome Pap•!, than to the City of JeruJalem, the Seat of the 'turks, or Rome Heathen : Then Rome Papal, and not any one ot <hem, ·is Myfl:ery Baby/on. But the Marks and Characrers left upon divine Record, to diftinguiih and know .Myfl:ery Baby/on by, do more aptly and fidy agree to Rome Papal: · Ergo, Rome Papal, and not the other, is Myfl:ery Babylon. For the clearing up of this Argument, we ihall difl:incrly fl:ate the Characrer of .Myfl:ery Baby/on, and run the Parallel betwixt her and Rome Papal, in this Method following: Baby/on is a Woman, which imports either a fingle Perfon, ranked in the Femi– nine Gender; or a Body of People related to fome Head, Hulband, or public Per– fan to whom !he is joined in Wedlock, by Covenant or matrimonial Contract, as Eve was related to Adam, and therefore called Woman; or as Judah and Ifrael, who were joined in Covenant with God, and therefore called a Woman, or as the true Churcn now is married or joined to Chrifl:, and therefore called a Woman. A fingle Perfon, ·as Eve was, fue cannot be, becaufe the Characrer given of her in refpecr of her State and Acrions, doth no way comport with it: She mull: therefore be a Body of People, re– .lated to fame Head, Hufband, or public Perfon, as Judab and Ifrael of old was, who are often called by the Trtle of Woman; and in like manner Baby/on, before her De– generacy, were a People joined in matrimonial Contracr, by a Gofpel Covenant and Profeffion, to the Son of God. M E T A P I-I 0 R. . 1:. B/lBYLON imports a Body of People that was once united to the Son of God; and hence, metaphorically called a Woman; And I Jaw a Woman fit, &c. And the Woman was arrayed, &c. And I Jaw the Woman drunk, &c. Rev. xvii. 3, 4, 6. II. Baby/on is a City, a very great ·City, fo called in a threefold Re– fpecr; ( 1.) In refpec't of Power; (2;) In refpecr of People; (3.) In refpecr of Place and Refidence, where this Power and People is feated; Rev. xvii. 18. and xviii. 10, 16,-18, 19, 21. City being in– definitely taken for either of thefe, or comprehending all, as in thefe Inftances, PJal. cxxi. Ifa. xiv. 3'· Afls xix. 28. PARALLEL. I. ROME Papal, or the Church of Rome, is a Body, a great Body, a famous Body of People, and which were, before their Apofl:acy, a true Church, by Gofpel Covenant and J:'rofeffion tmited to the Son of God, as her public Head and f-lufband ; Among whom are ye aifo the called of JeJus Chrift. 'l'o all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be Saints; Grace be to you, and Peace from God tbe Father, and the Lord JeJus Chrifl, Rom. i. 6, 7. II. Rome Papal, or Church of Rome, is a City, a very great City, fo called in a threefold Refpeet, 1. In refpect of Power, which is twofold, ( 1.) Civil, (2.) Ecclefiafl:ical, fignified by two Horns like a Lamb, Rev. xiii. 1. 2. ln relpecr of Peo– ple, which are great in Number. 3· ln refpect of Place and Refidence, where this Power and great People is feared; and indeed it is as worthily called, by way of Eminency, a City, as any Power, Peo– ple, or Place in the Chrifl:ian World, becaufe there is nothing fo much fpoken of, or gives fader Occafion to be fo much fpoken of, as Rome, in refpecr of Power, People, and Place, wh ich ihall be further c)eared by Argument, &c. The Fame of this People as a Church, was grear, before the Power and chief Dominion of the Place was joined with it; as appears, Rom. i. 8. Firjl, I thank my God, through JeJus Chrift, for you all, that your }<(litb is j}okm of throughout the wbole World. Ill. Baby/on is not only a WoIll. Rome Papal, or Church of Rome, is not man, and a City, but a bad Woonly a Woman, and a City, bm a very evil Wo– man, and a City of Confufion; for ·man, and a City of Confufion: There is the Name fo the vVord Babe!, or Baby/on, of the Lamb much fpoken of, bur his Docrrine iignifies, viz. Evil, or Confufion. undervalued and !lighted, his Laws trampled upon and violated, his Example not regarded for Imi– tation, either by the Bilhop himfelf, his Cardinals, or inferior Orders, havino- his Hu– mility and Self-denial only in Words, like thofe the Apoll:le fpeaketh of, tha~ in Words profefs

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