IF the Brazen Serpent made by Gods ap­pointment was broken in peeces when it was Idolized, and that we must fight a­gainst spirituall wickednesses set up in high places; If Baal must not be pleaded for; If Bell must be confounded; if the bleating of the Amalekites fat Cattel spared by King Saul was offen­sive to the Almighty; If Babel is so sick of the Popish Catholike disease that no balm will heal her; If the indignation of the most high is manifested from Hea­ven against the high places, by thunder and light­ning, fire and brimstone, Storms and Tempests, O let the pillars of your hearts tremble, and be ye moved at the terrour of the Lord, who doth great things both in Heaven, and Earth, and hath said he will destroy the High places; Flee therefore from such abomi­nations, and deliver every man his soul, Plead not for Baal, but let Baal plead for himself, and put to your hand to the throwing down of all the monuments of Idolatry; for so you have sworn to do, and it's not for you now to repent thereof: Therefore let it not [Page 2]be grievous in your eys though the Houses of Baal be broken to pieces, and the founded bells of Babels bulls confounded and disolved.

For surely if these these things had been quite abo­lished in the days of King Henry the eight, and King Edward the sixt, many a precious life would have been preserved, which now is destroyed; but there being many Idols Temples, and other monuments of Idolatry left undestroyed, Queen Mary did speedily set up her abominable Idolatry in all these High pla­ces as much as ever; and had the more time to exer­cise her self in most cruel persecution. And when Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown, she threw not down these abominations; neither did King Iames, nor the late King, but did still let them remain to the dishonour of the living God, and plaguing of the Kingdomes. And although since the beginning of these late troubles, there hath been some reformati­on made by demolishing of Crosses, and Idolatrous pictures, yet nothing is done so much as ought to be: for the Roots of superstition, even the Idolatrous high places are not yet removed, though many of them were built intentionally in the forms of Crosses, and consecrated to Popish Saints, that thereby the people might the-more adore them: Neither have you ta­ken away the Popish bells, though they are abomina­ble Idols in the very conception, formation, dedicati­on, consecration, exaltation and occupation thereof, and therefore ought to be taken down, and utterly demolished.

Oh therefore that the Honourable House of Par­liament were throughly sensible how greatly the Name of God hath been blasphemed; and many thou­sands of poor souls deluded, bewitched, and led head­long [Page 3]into hell by such abominable Idols. Now that none may hence forward plead ignorance in omit­ting of this duty of demolishing of these Idols the bells, which proceeded from the Dragon; which is the Divel and Sathan, I shall lay open the filthiness & abomination therof, See the com­plaint of Ja­cobus Selesta­diensis to Ma­ [...]imilian the Emperour. as those who have read their books & the Chronicles, and have seen their practises, have spoken & can speak by experience, What great abomination hath been committed about these cur­sed Idols the Bells! What horrible blasphemies of God,In Mr. Foxes acts and monuments.and of the Saints in Heaven! What solemn profana­tion of the Name of the living God, See also The. Bacon upon the reliques▪ in­dulgences, par­dons, stations, Exorcisinse, consecrations; benedictions, where you shal see the abomi­nations of the Bells. and of his holy spi­rit! What abuse and mis-application of the sacred Word, by their filthy polluted lips! What Exorcisms, by the living God, the God of Elizeus the Pro­phet,! What suplussing, & stoleing! What crossing and cringing, with the Priests & Clarks singing! What in­vocations, execrations, conjurations, and benedictions, blind devotions, and admirations! What wiping, anoin­ting▪ sweetning, & perfuming! What sprinkling, with choise of Godfathers and Godmothers, naming the pretty bables for babies, the bels for Babels buls! What singing and ringing! What drinking and roaring! What Gossiping at the said Christenings of these abo­minable Idols! Far worse then the Calves of Beth-ha­ven, or the Image of King Nebuchadnezzar, which was set up in the plains of Dura: for these are [...]van­ced above the rest of their Gods, even in the highest pla­ces of their Idols temples, That the bels which through their prayers have been brought into a right shape into Christendome (as they say) may make sweet melody like Davids Harp, and ring merrily as their Priests and Clarks did sing merrily af [...]er it was cast, Te Deum, and De pacem, and a Domi­ne [Page 4]factum est istud, & est myrabila in occulis no­stris. This is the Lords doings, and is marvel­lous in the eys of us: Oh horrible! the Founder foundeth it, and they say, it is the Lords doings, when it is the Divels doings: For from whence came these cursed bells, but from the Idol Bell and the Dra­gon, Belzebub the Prince of the Divels? Thus the children of Belial have called their bells by the name of old Bell of Babel, even the God whom they worship; and as Babel signifieth confusion, so the almighty saith, Bell shall be confounded, Ile pu­nish Bell, Bell stoopeth; and indeed the Bells begin to stoop already, and it's hoped the Lord of Hosts will dissolve them in his fury. But how have the eys of the people been blinded and made to dote upon these detestable Idols, that they prayed for the virtue of the Holy Ghost to be put thereon, and again, that the same may be sanctified and hallowed of the Holy Ghost; and in another prayer, that the Bell may be replenished with his heavenly blessing; and in another prayer, that the dew of the Holy Ghost may be poured out thereon.

Oh what power and glory, what virtue and good­ness do they ascribe unto this Bell, for as at King Herods occasion, the people cried, the voice of God and not of men, so these ignorant sots, after the Bishops or so [...]raign hath wiped the bell with a linnen towel, sing, Vox Domine super aquas, the voice of God is upon the waters; Deus majestatis intonnuit, Domine superaquas multas, vox Do­mine in virtute; vox Domine in magnificentia, vox Domine confringentis cadros, and also as­cribe that salvation to these bells, which belongs to God, and onely to his Christ; that the sound and [Page 5]noise thereof, shall drive away the fiery darts' and power of the enemies, and make their army a­fraid. And as the Heathen Romans of old ascribed deliverance to mother Idaea, See Mayers hist. pag. 125. upon the comming forth of a Prophesie of Sibil, that if Idaea the mother of the Gods were brought to Rome, they should be able to drive the forraign enemy out of Italy, whereupon Embassa­dours being sent to Attalus King of Pergamus to fetch her, and by the way the Oracle of Apollo being consulted with, he (that is that Devil) answered, that they must have a care to bring this Idaea into the worthiest mans house in Rome; wherefore with great solemnity one that was judged by the Citizens of Rome to be the worthiest, was required to meet the Idoll, being then 50 miles off the City, together with a company of Matrons, who brought Idaea the mother of their Gods by turns upon their shoulders, all praying as it entred, that it would willingly enter, and be propitious unto them; so the foolish people now, who hold ignorance to be the mother of devotion, are made to believe, that the sound and noise of the Bels shall drive away the fiery darts and power of the enemies and make their armies afraid; and with such words do they pray at the dedication of the Bell; and likewise that the imaginations of fantasies, the striking of Lightnings, the hurt of Thunderings the cala­mity of Tempests, and all stormy spirits by the noise and sound thereof may depart and go far a­way, and all the lying await of the enemy may be far put back, that the beating of the Hail, the storm of Winds, the violence of Tempests may be mi­tigated and asswaged; moreover that the fierce thundering and boystrous storms may be so mea­sured that they do no harm, or hurt his creatures; [Page 6]in fine, that the powers of the air hearing this bel may tremble and shake for fear, and flee before the Banner of the holy Crosse, and that when the sound of the bell pierceth through the clouds that the hands of the Angels may keep the congrega­tion; yea, they ascribe such power unto the bells, as when the walls of Ierico fell to the ground, and would make the people believe that the presence of God is in them to work wonders, as at the di­viding of the sea and turning back of the waters of Iordan, and say when it is demanded, where­fore? it may be answered, the earth was moved at the face of the Lord, at the face of the God of Iacob, which turned the hard rocks into rivers of waters, & the flint stones into watry streams; and thereupon say, that when this present bell, (as the other vessels of the Altar) is touched with the holy chrisom; and anointed with holy oil all they that come & draw near to the sound & noise thereof, may be free from all temptations of the enemies; and they ascribe salvation to t [...]os [...] b [...]w [...]tch­ing creatures, as if there were power in them to deliver their souls from hell & cause them to passe into heaven: Thus God is dishonoured, his my steries mocked, his creatures abused, superstition and idolatry upheld, the poor people deceived, O therefore make hast, vote them down, down with them, down with them to the very ground, for God hath a controver­sie with them, and with all them that cry them up, and let them not be exalted any more to the heaven, but bring them down and destroy them, for if you will not demolish them, God himself will do it some other way, either by sending some other power to do it, or else by proceeding as he hath begun with Lightning [Page 7]and Thunder to destroy them, notwithstanding all their prayers to be delivered from such judgements, the bels you see can't deliver themselves, and of all places in their Churches, Gods lightning lighteth upon the Belfraies, so that in divers countries the bells are melted, by the vehemency of the flames of I A H, and many people killed outright this year, as well as heretofore, and others dangerously hurt, in so much as we see THE FINGER OF GOD pointing at them, directing you to destroy them.

Moreover, what abundace of good chear these bels with the Dragons Priests have devoured by the great Gosshops feasts, which were made at the bap­tizing thereof! What gifts & offerings to the great impoverishing of the inhabitants, whosoever rea­deth the book of Martyrs may see, where it is com­plained of. I would add sōething more, how the Lords name is dishonored, the Sabboth prophaned, drunkēness upheld, and many other vices by the continuation of these ungodly trinkets, and how much money is day­ly raised by the ringing of the bells for the dead, and mocking of many people, by making them pray for the dead, as if they were alive and dying! But what hath been said and done is enough, unless you would have God speak and do more then he hath.

If you doubt whether they belong to the Common­wealth, assure your selves that whatsoever ammuniti­on is sent to the enemy (if it be taken) it's lawfull prize, & belōgeth of right to the Cōmonwealth; so these trin­kets being devoted to the service of Antichrist, do properly belong to the Common wealth, to do by them as Asa, Iehosaphat, Hezekiah, and Iosia, did by such idolatrous dedicated things, without any further dis­pute or asking leave of the idolatrous propriators, [Page 8]and as many high places were abolished by King Henery the Eight, and many Crosses from of the Steeples and May-poles and superstitious signs by the Parliament were taken down. Yea, their Or­gans in their Churches were destroyed also by or­der of Parliament, although they were never so tu­nable & delectable to the ear & heart, & had multi­plicities of notes, and all the flats and sharps ther­unto belonging, were full of divisions, subdivisions and varieties of parts, far exceeding the bravest Bag-pipes, or the lustiest Lancashire Horn pipes with all their drones, none of all which properties the bels in any one of your Steeple & have, and the Or­gans required not so many to be occupied in the setting them on work as the bels, one was enough to blow and an Organist to play, which was done with lesse toil and sweating then the ringing of bels, some bels requiring sixteen men to ring each of them, and at the best are but novelties in compa­rison of the Organs, which is of four thousand years standing, the bels being brought in by Pope Sa­binianus in Anno 603. yet you have broken the Organs to pieces, and the rails of the Communi­on Tables, and the Founts, although some Pa­rishes and persons claimed a peculiar interest, and property therein; even so ought you to destroy these abominable bels, and this is a general maxime, that whatsoever is devoted to superstition and idolatry, is forfeited to the Common-wealth, and you ought to seiz upon the same, as of the goods of Traytors, which is devoted to the enemy, and if you take not the oppor­tunity now God hath put a prize in your hand, your neglect wil be as a dead flie in the Oyntmēt of the A­pochecary: If the ignorāt people alledg that the noise [Page 9]of the bell is heard a far off, and how shall they know when to go to Church, if they be al taken down? Wot you not that in a Market one bell is enough to give warning to the people? and Tread not that God ordained any bells for his Church, but what were made of Gold, and they were not for the assembling of the Congregation neither, but when they were assembled, but indeed God ordained silver Trumpets for the assembling of his con­gregation, and Trumpets of Rams horns, at the throwing down the walls of Ierico, instead whereof the Papists have ordained bells telling us, they are good to clear the air, but if these bauling bells, were metamorphosed into roring Canons, and charged with Gun-powder and flying bullets, against the gates of our enemies, they would clear the air better, and make a better noise then now they do, and be a better recreation; therefore I pray delay not to abolish them: now make an end where God hath begun, lest he prevent you; for out of heaven hath he thun­dred upon them, and his judgements findeth them out in the val­leys as well as on the hills.

If you say that you fear the People, I answer, They are but an arm of flesh and you need not fear them at all, for now you have no enemy in the Land in arms against you; but when you threw down the Crosses and May-poles, and other monu­ments of idolatry, you had the late King and his forces, and an unconquered people to oppose you, yet you went on and the Lord prosper'd you: now you are strong but then you were weak; now the government is setled in the way of a Commonwealth, but then it was not setled; you had the King, and Lords, and their Armies to oppose you; And who can harm you if you are followers of that which is good? When you demolished the Ca­thedral at Leighfield, by the late Order, who opposed you? When King Asa threw down the high places, and abolished the Idols, it is said, the land was quiet before him. Do but you your duty, and I'le warrant you wil do wel enough, the people wil not harm you; GOD can cause his fear and terrer to fal upon them, and thunder upon them by his power, so that if they wil contemp­tuously stand to Plead for Baal, they shall certainly perish, and fall; and if they will have the Idol Bel, they must have the Dra­gon too.