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Show Majler John Cottons .ARfwer Principall Exception w<h the Examinertaktth againft fome of th member! ofour churche!, & again I\ all the church<Sfor their(; k e we.fhall !urther(God willin~)cleare when the Examiner putt:th~~ upon m lt.J the frquele. Meane \\ hile, we profeffe a! we doe b ] t\Jat fuch an atiion is not any Church-comunion with Anti~h;;'~• nor doth fo enthrall t~e People ofG?d unto Antichrill, as to fe~ p~ra te them from Cho1fl,no not as he 11 Head of the vilible Ch h The A11fwer whkh (upon occafion of this Point) tlte Examu;c ' gt.v e!.h'. t\) t he .p ; 4PI'f l s QQe fl!' on,( Tf'here wa1 your Cb~~rcb before ILnu~· thtr:) thou~h IC_ fee me to htmwell and good: yet it gratifieth the Papt~s, an? flratt?eth the holy qounfell of God in Scripture. 1be J!<:!•P•~n, fatth he,u tbur rpe/1 anf,mrJ.,ta wit,1hat ftnce the .Apnjlafie of A"uchrifl, 1rudJ,and theho!J Citie,( according to the Propbec R . :U .& .13.)have been troden under-font, and tbowhole Earth ba~' ..,::: dere~ after tke B~ajl ; J!' God hath Jlirred up witneffiJ to Prophe in JatLclot? agamjlthe ?••ft ,~ur!ng bir 42 monetbJ Reigne. Neverth,k§e, theft wuneffiJ have tn ~hetr '.'mu more or lefJe fubmitted to Antichrijl; ~nq hu €burch, If' or{htp, Minijlery,&c • .And fo clll'lfeqr~ent!Y have lxen tgnorant·of the true Church, tb3t i1, Chrift ta~tn for the Church in tbe l'f~e Pr.fejJi~n of that ho!J way of rvorJhi!>' which he himjilfo at firfl"'P'" pam ted. TillS Anfwer giveth awJy the caufe tot he Papifls.Th denfon nd, Wbedreh WlaJi J OttrChhAurc hbefore Luther;>· This nAw" {ei rg1, v, "e!th1.t "gra~te ,t at tncet _e poll a lie there was no particular church cx:~n t,~f the world. Th~s fully fatisfi,th their defire,and expeaatiqn. or t, cherewere "?Church ofChrifl in the world ,for fo man ~et~tufles of ye_:~rcs nil Luther, then they readily conclude, Thftt etr1 ~hFurch ot fume_wa!(before Luther)the onely Church in the ·w )o rh , ., ho rtheyurge tt ' (and) k now not ho w we can fairely deny . lt t at _t eChurchofChrill,eventhatChurchtowhichtheko s ot the k•.ngdom~ arc committed, ( which is the vilible Ghur~h )),. 1 ata!(atnfl which theG:Ztes ofl-ldlfballnot he-abk to prevai/e and fo ~o~~llthe Power of AntichriiUf <.hen the vifible Church ofChrill · A • . tle~~ ceafc, and yet during all that time of the Apoflafie of ., nttc tn • no C~urch was extant in the world but the Church of C.Mhm e, lt hefn R dunng all 1I t at ti·m e (· wh 'i C••l I·S no' t yet expired) rhe m• urc 10 <me is,arld h~th been theonely Church of Chrill thefe k ;? ~ges. ·Be~d"', astht~ Anfweocr gratifie1h the P•pifl •nd rna· .eto t cp~om.Ce of Chrifi ( Mai,J6.l 8,19) )9f rione effett: foil' 1\raitneth to M'!fte~ Roger Wiiliams. ftraitneth theCounfell ufGod in the very TextsofScriptureafl~dgedbyhimfelf. F<Jri~ thatTex~(Rev. II: )where the out~aodCourt is given to the Genttles,( that u,Ecclehafltc.ll Coum,gtven to An· lichrill & hi< Clergy )v. 2 . There al ro a rod or reed is given by the Angel unto ?ohn,to meafure the Temple ofGod,and the Alcar,and them that worfhip therein,v.t.Which evidently holdeth forth that even then there was fomewhereexcant the Temple, th•t is, the vifibleChurch of Chdll,which had communion withChrili as He.td of the Church,there called 1he .Altar,alfd tbe Temple, was fnrn ilhed· with uue worfhippers,and all meafu red according to the Patrerne of Apollolicall Rule. What if Ecclefiaflicall Stories be deficient in telling us the times and places of their Church-.1\lfomblieslls therefore the Word of God deficient , or the Church ddicient, becaufe humane Stories are deficient ? Great hath been the indu llry and vi~ilancy of Satan and Antichrifl,to blot out (as much as in them lay) all Monumenu and Records of fuch holy Affemblies: but yet fometimel their own l nquifitors confdfe,that the Churches of the 1Yalden[e1, or men of that way, have been extant a tempore Ap,J!<>/ irum. \ ' Furthermore; evident it i•, ~hat when the Dragon perfecl)led the woman,(thatis,the CI-urch)the Church fl<d into the Wildernel, ind wal there nourijbed for a time, and timu , a11d balfe a tim<, (Rev. 11. 14.) which is all rhe time, wherein thdY.:afl re rgned, Rev. 13. s:And wherein the Grnt'<le!,having obtained Rule in che CJurt, trod Mll'ne the ho!J Citie under· foote, Rev. I I. 2, . , Moreover, evtdent alfo ic is, that all the Ang~ls (rr Miniflm }, of Gods wwh that poured out their ViJlls upo" the 1\nti.:h. ifliw State, did all ol them ilfue forth out of the Temple, and om; of the 'femple as then opened,Rev.l) -),6 . \~nich argutth 1dur,~~c T~mpleor Church was not onely then viltb\e, bat open.y v1.wle: not vifib!e on ely to the fecret 1\tl<mbly of the rrue W?rfh>ep<rs, bue openly confpicuom to them that had net fe~"e tt bd vre. N >W how all thofe Ieven Aqaels (hould come out of th< T ~m ~l e, and tt openly viiible, and all .;'fth em pou rc out th ei r Via !Is up}n the Antichri~ ian Stat< by feven Dogree~ , to 1hc utter de(J!_.trhn of, it : ••d yet no Church extant, either b:f<Jre L·,ther, or IHICO LHtoer, tiU the Utter extirpation of Aotichrifl, paffeth all my c-Jmprehenfion .. Ta |