Book lV. MYSTERY BABY L 0 N. METAPHOR. whicb come to you in Sheeps Gloath– ing, but inwardly are ravening Wolves; that is, have a Defign w deftroy you. PAR ALL EL. and defl:ruCI:ive Deligns, !hewing their woliilh and devouring Nature in thefe three RcfpeCI:s. (r.) If there have appeared any Kings in the Chrifl:ian World, that have been piouOy difpofed, they have forthwith endeavored to pervert them by their di– abolical DoCtrines, or def\roy them by their holy Poifon. (2. ) Jf any Minifl:ers, or Men of Parts, have rifen up, to fet forth God's holy Truth, and blefs the World with Gofpel Light, and faving DoCtrine, they have either choaked them with Prefermen", atrrightcd them by dreadful Fears, or by a ravenous Thirfl:ing after their Blood, have moft wickedly and treacherouOy deftroyed their Lives. (3.) If collective Bodies of pious Congregations of Saints have fpnmg forth in the World, they have followed them like Blood-hounds, and devouring Wolves, with Fire and Sword, fearful Maf– facres, Devaftations, Murders and Slaughters, till they have fpoiled them, torn in Pieces, and devol\led them: Compleatly fulfilling that PrediCtion of the Apofllr, AEis xx. 29, 30. For I know this, that after my Departure jha/1 grievous Wolves enter in amongjl you, not fparing the Hock : Alfo of your ownfelves jhaii!Vlen arife, Jpeaking per·verfe 'Things, to dra·w t1w.1y the Difciples after them. Who can this Prophecy fo ex– aCtly agree ro, as the bloody Popes, who at firlt arofe out of the Church, and aCted the Part of Wolves to purpofe, 1. By atfrighting the Flock: 2. By difperling and fcattenng them abroad: 3· By drinking or fucking the Blood of any of them they could faften upon, in a moO: aftonifhing and prodigious Manner? As for thole two eminent Gofpel Prophecies, viz. the Beginning of 2 'fhejf ii. and of 1 'fim iv. we will give a brier AbftraEt by way of Parallel, fhewing how thefe re– late only to the Pope of Rome, and no other. The Apoflle exprefsly tells us, that a Man of Stn !hall arife, who fhall be a L"vlefs one, that will lift "P himfelf againft God, to fit in the Temple ot God; that was hin– dered in his wicked Deligns by the Imperial Power; who gets up by a falling away, 2 'fhejf ii. 3, &c. 1 'rim. iv. That he was to be fo confiderable, as to be ealily dif– cerned and difcovered by theChrif– tian World; rhac he was to ma~ nage a great Myflery of Iniquity: Hi~ coming up was to be by the A!liflance and Working of the D evil: He was to have a two-fold PO\ver, Civil and Eccleliaftical, comprehending all earthly Power: He was to fuggeft Signs and lying Wonders to the People: He was to make ufe of all Treachery, or De– ceivablenefs, and Lies; his Fol– lowers were to be given up to ftrong Delufions; his Party was to fpcak defperate Lies in Hypo– crify, to have feared Confc;ences: That he lhould be againft Matri– mony; that he lhould command a long Lent, and to abf\ain from Meats. If the Pope of Rome be not a Man of Sin, then Beelzebub is not a Devil, as is largely demonftrated in the foregoing Sheets; for no divine or human Law can fet any Bounds to his Ambition, and fpiritual Tyranny. That he exalts himfelf againfl: God, in polluting his pure Worlhip, and againfl: Kings, by his u!urped Sllpremacy, is before evi– denced : That he was hindered by the Roman Im– perial Power, is the Opinion and Judgment of the Learned; and alfo that he \\aS the monllrous Spawn of the great Apoftacy. That he manages a great Myftery of Iniquity, in which his grand Counfellor, the Devil, lends him Politics, to a double Ufurpation, and Encroachment llpon Solll and Body; pretends ro Miracles, and falfe Won– ders, aCts like the Metropolitan Cheat and lmpoltor of Chriflendom: That his Followers are ftrongly deluded, meer Liars and Hypocrites, with feared Confciences, forbidding honeft Marriage, but al– lowing canonical Whoredom: That he forbids , Meats, bllt can difpenfe with the groffeft De– baucheries: All thefe, I fay, witll thofe other Marks the Holy Spirit gives of him, are fo le– gible upon the Pope, as if the very Slln Beams had writ them in Capitals upon his brazen Fore– head. Therefore we difmifs him with this full– proved Concllllion, That he, and only he, is ""7 '~'X."> the Antichrifl, and the very Man of Sin. Thus you have had a brief Defcription of Myflery Baby/on, and the Antichriftian Beaft, who hath been io long a Time fo great a Plague to the World, but more efpecially to God's Church. · xo 0 Metaphors,
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