the name of Constantinople being omitted there remayned the fame and opinion of a woman Bishop and Vniuersall Bishop some began in hatred of the Roman Church to say that that woman had bene Bishop of Rome And it is very like that this fame arose about the tyme of Martin himselfe Certainly Martinus Polonus who first wrote it bringeth no Author but only said It is reported wherfore he only had it by an vncertaine rumour Neither ought it to seeme strange if some feigned this fable in hatred of the Church of Rome that ground of a woman being Bishop supposed and there being so many contentions at that tyme betwixt those which fauoured the Emperours and others which fauoured the Popes for now also we see that the Magdeburgians do feigne more incredible things for wheras Martin only wrote that this was an English woman of Mentz and added nothing of the Parents proper name of the woman and other things the Magdeburgians haue added that the Father of this woman was an English Priest and that she in the beginning was called Gilbert and that she was brought vp in the habite of a man in the Monastery of Fulda and that she wrote bookes of witchcraft which are all meere fancies inuented without witnesse or reason Adde that this Martinue Polonus seemeth to haue bene a most simple man for he writeth many other fables as though they were most authenticall hystories Now that which they obiect of the hollow seate of the womans Statua and the going out of the way is easily solued for as is manifest out of the first booke of sacred Cerimonyes Sect. 2. there were three seates of stone in the Lateran Church in which the new Pope did sit at the tyme of his Coronation The first seate was before the entrance into the Temple which was vile and abiect to which seate the new Pope was first brought and did sit vpon it for a little space that it might be signified by that cerimony that he ascended from a most low place to the highest place that is for lifting him from thence they sung that 1. Reg. 2. Suscitat de puluere egenum de stercore erigit paâ—perem vt sedeat cum Principibus solium gloria teneat and this is the cause why that seate is called Stercoraria Another seate was of Porphiry in the Pallace it selfe and there he sate the second tyme in token of Possession and sitting there he receaued the Keyes of the Church of the Lateran Pallace The third seat was like the second and not farre from it and after sitting a little in it he deliuered the same keyes to him of whome he had receaued them before Perhaps that by that cerimomony he might be admonished of death by which ere long he was to resigne that power to another Of any seate to discouer the sexe there is no mention any where And that Statua of the woman with child without doubt was not of Pope Iohn for if our Aduersaries say that the ancient Historiographers would not make mention of this woman in their bookes in the Popes fauour how is it probable that the Popes themselues would haue memory of it extant in a Statua Besides if it were the Statua of this Iohn it should haue represented a Woman with an infant newly borne but that Image did neither represent a woman nor did carry an infant in her armes but did expresse a good big boy and many yeares old as a seruant going before Wherefore some do coniecture that it was a Status of some heathen Priest prepared to Sacrifice before whom his Minister went Finally it is not in destestation of that cryme why the Popes go not the shorter way to the Lateran but because the way is narrow and steepy and therefore incommodious for the Popes trayne or compaine which alwayes vseth to be very great Adde that as Onuphrius witnesseth there want not Popes who haue oftner then once gone that very way FINIS Omnia Ecclesiae Catholicae Romanae subiecta sunto A TABLE OF THE PARTICVLER MATTERS CONTEYNED IN THIS BOOKE ADORATION of Images the Eucharist vsed before the yeare 606. c. 11. n. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it signifieth in composition cap. 1. nu 3. Antichrist how taken in the Scriptures other Authors c. 1. n. 4. His members somtime open enemies to Christ cap. 2. n. 11. How he shal be an Apostata c. 2. n. 15. How he shall draw men to follow him c. 2. n. 17. His comming and reuelation all one cap. n. 18. He shal be one particuler man cap. 2. per totum He is signifyed by the former beast Apoc. 13 cap. 5 n. 5. His false Prophet is signified by the latter ibid. Whether he be the wounded head Apoc. 13. ibi His persecution most grieuous cap 7. n. 1. Greater then the calamities of the Iewes cap. 7 n 2. It shal be most manifest c 7 n â— In Antichrists time all the Churches enemies shall ioyne to impugne her c. 7. n. 6. The publike and daily sacrifice shall cease cap. 7. n. 7. The last moneth of Antichrists life is not accouÌ„ted in his raigne cap 8. n. â— He shall reigne yeares a halfe cap. 8. per totum He shal be Prince of all the wicked in generall c. 8. n. 3. The tyme of his reigne very short cap. 8. n. 5. He may rayse an vniuersall persecution at one time cap. 8. n. 6. Two degrees of his destruction c. 9. n. 2. Antichrists comming shall not be long before the end of the world c. 9. per totum He cannot be said to come at all but in the last houre cap. 9. n. 3. His name shal be knowne when he is come cap. 9. n. 1. 2. It is yet vnknowne c. 10. n. 4. He shal be a most potent King c 10. n. 7. His Marke or Character but one cap. 11. n. 4. He shall be receaued of the Iewes for their Messias cap 12. n. 4. seq He shal be Iew cap 12. n. 10. His seat shal be at Ierusalem c. 13. n. 1. seq Why those that follow him are called Gentills cap 13. 1. He shall sit in materiall Churches and not in the Church of Christ as a Bishop cap. 13. n. 10. Whosoeuer vsurpeth more dignity then is due to him is his forerunner ib. He is the head of all the proud ib. He shall openly deny Iesus to be Christ c. 14. n. 2. seq How he shall seduce cap. 14. n 3. He shall exceed all heretikes ibid. He shall deny Christ to be so much as the adopted sonne of God c. 14. n. 4. he shall prohibite the signe of the Crosse in Baptisme ib. he shal be the Iewes Captaine ibid. he shall restore all their cerimonies ibid. he shall cause the Sabaoth to be obserued ibid. he will openly affirme himselfe to be Christ c. 14. n. 7. he will openly name himselfe God cap. 14. n. 9. Why how he shall sit in the Temple ibid. He
only within their owne Trib◠for I can assure him that neither the Kings nor the Nobility of England will imitate those of Iuda in this and it will be their only way to get a Law enacted that their generation may succeed them in their Ministry which M. Downam seemeth to wish and to mislike that law not a little which in a parenthesis he telleth vs hath otherwise prouided These are the base and carnall cogitations of these new Ghospellers and yet all will not serue for they shall neuer find a remedy for this their griefe except they returne to the Catholike Church whom◠they may thanke for the liuing they haue But in it God hath prouided for this all other inconueniences that can any way arise and in particuler for the deciding of all questions and controuersies Wherefore if the Protestants and Puritans will haue an end of this of their Bishops and Presbitery they must of necessity stand to the Catholike Churches iudgment in which they shall find Bishops established and yet sometimes by reason of persecution Priestes only without Bishops as now we see in our Country where conformable to that which in their iudgmēt was practised in the Primitiue Church in many places at least for a tyme we haue hitherto only Priestes subordinate to an Arch-Priest but yet we are far from misliking Bishops but do both wish and expect them when our lawfull Superiour who succeedeth the chiefest of the Apostles shall see it conuenient M. C. A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS of this first Part of Antichrist THE disputation of Antichrist is propounded and the first Argument from the name it selfe discussed CHAP. I. That Antichrist shal be a certaine determinate man CHAP. II. That Antichrist is not yet come CHAP. III. The first demonstration That Antichrist is not yet come CHAP. IIII. The second demonstration CHAP. V. The third demonstration CHAP. VI. The fourth demonstration CHAP. VII The fifth demonstration CHAP. VIII The sixt demonstration CHAP. IX Of Antichristes Name CHAP. X. Of Antichristes Character CHAP. XI Of Antichristes Generation CHAP. XII Of Antichristes Seate CHAP. XIII Of Antichristes doctrine CHAP. XIIII Of Antichristes myracles CHAP. XV. Of Antichristes Kingdome warres CHAP. XVI Of Gog and Magog CHAP. XVII The dotages of Heretikes are confuted with which they do not so much proue as impudently affirme that the Pope is Antichrist CHAP. XVIII The trifles of the Smalcaldicall Synod of the Lutheranes are confuted CHAP. XIX Caluins lyes are refuted CHAP. XX. The lyes of Illyricus are refuted CHAP. XXI The fooleryes of Tylemanus are refuted CHAP. XXII The lyes of Chytraeus are refuted CHAP. XXIII The arguments of Caluin and Illyricus are confuted who go about to proue that the Pope is no longer a Bishop where also the fable of Pope Ioane the Woman is confuted CHAP. XXIIII CARDINALL BELLARMINES THIRD BOOKE of the Pope THE FIRST CHAPTER VVherin the disputation of Antichrist is propounded WEE haue demonstrated hitherto saith Bellarmine that the Pope succeedeth S. Peter in the chiefest Princedome of the whole Church It remayneth that wee see whether at any tyme the Pope hath fallen from this degree for that our aduersaries contend that hee is not at this time a true Bishop of Rome whatsoeuer hee was before And Nilus in the end of his booke against the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome speaketh thus But let that be the summe and head of my speach that while the Pope keepeth in the Church a conuenient heauenly and of ancient tyme appoynted order while hee holdeth and defendeth the heauenlie truth while he cleaueth to Christ the chiefe and true Lord and head of the Church I will easilie suffer him to be both the head of the Church the chiefest Priest the successor of Peter or els if he will of all the Apostles that all obey him and that whatsoeuer belongeth to his honour be in nothing diminished but if he be departed from the truth will not returne to it he ought deseruedly to be accounted of as one that is condemned and reiected But he should haue shewed into what errours the Bishops of Rome are fallen and when and by whome they were condemned For we know that in the Generall Lateran Councell vnder Innocentius the third and of Lyons vnder Gregory the tenth and of Florence vnder Eugenius the fourth the Greekes being conuicted of errour returned to the Faith of the Latins and afterward alway returned to their vomit againe and were therefore most grieuouslie punished by God but we neuer read that the Latins came to the Faith of the Greekes Neither can there any Ecclesiasticall iudgmēt be produced against the Latins as wee bring many against the Greekes Now Caluin Lib. 4. cap. 7. § 22. Let saith he all those things be true which notwithstanding wee haue now wrested from them that Peter was by the voice of Christ appointed Head of the vniuersall Church that he left the honour giuen vnto him in the Roman Sea that this was established by the authoritie of the auncient Church confirmed by long vse that the chiefest authoritie was alway due from all to the Bishop of Rome and that he was the iudge of all causes and men that he was subiect to the iudgement of none let them haue more also if they will Yet I answere in one word that nothing of this standeth in force except the Church and Bishop be at Rome And after § 24. Let the Romanists vntie me this knott I deny that their Pope is the Prince of Bishops since that he is not a Bishop And after Let Rome in tymes past haue bin the Mother of all Churches but since she began to become the seate of Antichrist she left to be that which she was And after § 25. VVee seeme to some backbyters and slanderers when wee call the Bishop of Rome Antichrist but they which thinke soe vnderstand not that they accuse Paul of immodesty after whome we speake yea out of whose mouth we speake soe And least any obiect that we wrongfullie wrest Paules wordes against the Pope which perteine to another purpose I will brieflie shew that they cannot be vnderstood otherwise then of the Popedome So he The like teach al the heretikes of this tyme chieflie Luther in supput temporum in assert art 28. 36. and often in other places Likewise the Magdeburgenses Centur. 1. lib. 2. cap. 4. colum 434. sequent and in all the following Centuries cap. 4. 7. 10. Illyricus in lib. de primat Dauid Chrytraus in cap. 9. 13. Apoc. Likewise VVolsgangus Musculus in loc commun tit de Ecclesia Theodor. Beza in Com. 2. Thessal 2. Theodor. Bibliander in Chron. tabul 10. 11. 12. 14. Henricus Pantaleon in Chron. Henricus Bullinger praesat in suas homil ad Apocal. And before all these Iohn VVicklisse art 30. amongst those which are condemned in Concil Constantiensi sess 8. pronounced the Pope to be Antichrist VVherfore that this question may
leaue the principall question and refute other particulers altogeather from the present purpose which seemeth to be that which this Mynister desireth now and the whole crew of them are wont to practise in all disputations Wherfore I will end this Chapter requesting my reader to consider attentiuely if it be not euident out of this last proofe that Antichrist is not yet come that the Pope is most contrary to him and that Protestants are his forerunners as Bellarmine inferred THE EIGHT CHAPTER conteyning the fifth Demonstration THE fifth Demonstratiō saith Bellarmine is taken from the continuance of Antichrist Antichrist shall not reigne past three yeares a halfe But the Pope hath already reigned spiritually in the Church aboue 1500. yeares and there cannot be any assigned who hath byn accompted Antichrist who hath raigned precisely three yeares and a halfe Wherfore the Pope is not Antichrist nor Antichrist is yet come Now that Antichrists raigne shal be three yeares and a halfe it is gathered out of Dan. cap. 7. 12. and Apoc. 12. where we read that Antichrists raigne shall indure for a tyme and tymes and halfe a tyme for by a tyme is vnderstood one yeare by tymes two yeares and by halfe a tyme halfe a yeare For so S. Iohn explicateth who Apoc. 11. and 13. saith that Antichrist shall raigne 42. Monthes which rightly make 3. yeares a halfe cap. 11. he saith that Henoch and Helias shall preach 1260. dayes which make the same tyme for the Hebrews did vse the yeares and monthes of the Moone though they did reduce them to those of the Sunne by adding euery sixt yeare one Lunation And three yeares and a halfe of the Moone make iust 42. moneths or 1260. dayes For a full perfect yeare of the Moone cōsisteth of 12. monthes euery one of which hath 30. daies as S. August teacheth l. 15. deciu. Dei c. 14. Neither is it against this that Dan. 12. Antichrist is said to raigne 1290. daies that is 30. daies more then S. Iohn said for S. Iohn speaketh of Henoch and Elias which shal be slain by Antichrist one moneth before he perish To this the Aduersaries āswere in three sorts first Chytraeus in cap. 11. 13. Apoc. saith that these tymes cannot be taken for three yeares and a halfe because it is against experience S. Paul 2. Thess 2. saith that Antichrist shal indure vntill Christs comming Secondly he saith that a certaine tyme is put for an vncertaine and therfore for 42. monthes or 1260. daies there are to be vnderstood more then a 1000. years The same saith Bullenger serm 46. in Apoc. whose reason seemeth to be that which Luther insinuateth in supput temporum because it is manifest Apoc. 20. that the Diuell is to be loosed in the thousand yeare wherfore the comming of Antichrist with the temporall sword was the thousand yeare after Christ therfore now he hath raigned more then fiue hundreth yeares wherfore we must take those 42. monthes for an vncertaine tyme. Thirdly the Magdeburgenses answere cent 1. lib. 2. cap. 4. col 438. that Daniel Iohn take a day for a yeare and therfore by a 1260. daies wee must vnderstand 1260. yeares the reason may be because also Dan. 9. the 70. weekes are vnderstood of all to be weekes of yeares and not of daies Ezech. 4. it is said I haue giuen thee day for a yeare Luc. 13. I must walk to day to morrow the next day that is liue three yeares which reason Chytraus giueth in cap. 11. Apoc. where he saith that these manner of yeares and monthes are called Angelicall and not Humane But against this is the common opinion of the Ancients who affirme by reasō of the places cited that Antichrist shall raigne only three yeares and a halfe S. Hippolytus Martyr in orat de consūmatione mundi Antichrist shall raigne vpon the earth three yeares and a halfe afterward his kingdome and glory shall be taken away S. Iren. lib. 5. in fine He shall raigne three yeares and six moneths and then our Lord shall come from Heauen And S. Hierome in cap. 7. Dan. A tyme signifieth a yeare tymes according to the propriety of the Hebrew speach who haue also the duall number presigure two yeares and halfe a tyme six moneths in which the Saiutes are to be permitted to the power of Antichrist S. Cyril catechesi 25. Antichrist shall raigne only three yeares and a halfe which wee speake not out of Apocriphall bookes but out of the Prophet Dan. And S. Aug. lib. 20. de Ciuitate Dei cap. 23. That Antichrists kingdome against the Church shal be most cruell though to be susteyned for a small space of tyme he that readeth these thinges euen halfe a sleepe is not suffered to doubt for that a tyme tymes and a halfe tyme are one yeare two and one half and consequentlie three yeares and a halfe it is plaine by the number of daies which is put afterward and sometyme it is declared also in the Scripture by the number of moneths The like hath Theodoretus in cap. 7. Dan. Primasius Beda S. Anselme Arethas Richardus Rupertus Secondly it is proued for that the Scriptures say that the tyme of the Diuel being loosed and of Antichrist shal be very short Apoc. 12. VVoe be to the earth and the sea because the Diuill goeth downe to you hauing great anger knowing that he hath a small tyme. And Apoc. 20. hee bound him for a thousand yeares and after this he must be loosed a small tyme. How I pray you shall this be true if Antichrist shall raygne 1260. yeares For so he shall be longer loosed then bound Thirdly because as S. Aug. argueth lib. 20. de ciuitate Dei cap. 8. and S. Gregory lib. 33. moral cap. 12. vnlesse that cruell persecution were most short many would perish which shall not perish Wherefore our Lord saith Matth. 24. vnlesse those dayes had bene abreuiated all flesh should not be safe But how shall it be most short which shall indure aboue a thousand yeares Fourthly Christ preached only three yeares and a halfe therefore it is also decent that Antichrist be not permitted to preach longer Fifthly because the summe of 1260. yeares which the Aduersaries appoynt cannot any way be accommodated to those wordes of Dan. S. Iohn a tyme and tymes and halfe a tyme for by a time without doubt must be vnderstood some one nūber as one day one weeke one moneth one yeare one Lustre one Iubily one age one Millenarie or thousand if wee take this last then Antichrist shall raigne 1500. yeares which the aduer saries admit not if wee take one age Antichrists tyme shal be 350. yeares which likewise they admit not and the same is manifest of a Iubily c. Sixtely because when Dan. 4. wee often read that 7. tymes shall passe in which Nabuchodonosor shal be out of his kingdome by those tymes all vnderstand 7. yeares for if wee would
many Prouinces of the people of Rome S. Hierome maketh mention of this opinion in quaest heb cap. 10. and saith VVhether it be true or no the end of the warre will shew And now doubtlesse the issue of the war hath taught vs that it was not true for neyther hath there followed any renewing of the Church after the warre of the Gothes neither haue all warres ceased The 8. is of S. Hierome himselfe in cap. 38. Ezech. who seeing the difficulty omitting the litterall sense did mystically expound it of the Heretikes for he will haue Gog which in Hebrew signifieth the House top to signify the Heresiarches who like to the toppe of an House are lifted vp and proud and Magog which is interpreted of the toppe of an House to signify them who belieue these Arch-heretikes and are subiect to them as the House to the roofe or toppe This opinion taken for the mysticall sense is most true but not in the litterall for Ezech. cap. 38. saith that Gog shall come in the last yeares and S. Iohn Apoc. 20. saith that the same Gog shal come after a thousand yeares and by the name of a thousand yeares all Catholickes vnderstand all the time which is from Christs cōming to Antichrist Since therfore Gog shall not come but about the end of the world and heresies began in the beginning of the Church while the Apostles liued it is manifest that properly and litterally Gog doth not signifie the Hereticks We must also know that S. Hierome when he saith that Gog is interpreted an house roofe and Magog of an house roofe meaneth not that Gog and Magog in Hebrew are altogeather the same that an house roofe or of an house roofe with vs but he meaneth that it is in a manner the same for properly an house roofe is not Gog but Gog and of an house roofe is not Magog but Miggag The 9. opinion is of S. Augustine lib. 20. de ciuitate Dei cap. 11. who by Gog vnderstandeth the Diuell who is like a great house roofe that is a great house roofe in which all the euill do dwell and by Magog he vnderstandeth the army of Antichrist gathered of the Nations of the whole world which opinion doutbles is most true and to be imbraced in that it referreth Gog and Magog to the tymes of Antichrist aswell because all Catholike Authors which write vpon the Apocalyps do follow it as Arethas Primasius Beda Haym◠Rupertus Richardus Anselmus and others as also because that all which is said by Ezechiel and S. Iohn of Gog and Magog do most rightly agree to Antichrist for then truly shal be the last and greatest persecution and after it shall Ierusalem be renewed that is the Church glorified neither shall there any battailes be heard of after But in that by Gog it vnderstandeth the Diuell it seemeth not true for S. Iohn saith that the Diuell being let loose shall call Gog and Magog to warres wherefore the Diuell is one thing and Gog another Wherefore our opinion which is the 10. conteyneth three thinges First we affirme that the battaile of Gog and Magog is the battaile of Antichrist against the Church as S. Augustine rightly taught Secondly we say that it is very probable that by Gog Antichrist himselfe is signified by Magog his army For Ezechiel alway calleth Gog a Prince and Magog a Land or Nation Thirdly we say that it is probable that Gog is so called of Magog and not contrarywise so that Antichrist is called Gog because he is Prince of that Nation which is called Magog and that the army of Antichrist is called Magog of the Scythian Nation not that it consisteth of those Scythians which the Iewes faygne to be beyond Cancasus and the Caspian Sea but either because a great part of Antichrists army shall consist of Barbarous people which came out of Scythta as Turkes Tartars and the rest or which I rather thinke because it shal be a very terrible and cruell army for we call them Scythians which we would call bloudy For that Magog signifieth the Scythian Nation it is manifest out of Genes 10. where we read that the second sonne of Iaphet was called Magog of whome the Country of Magog was denominated which his posterity inhabited which was Scythia as Iasephus teacheth lib. Amiq. cap. 11. and S. Hierome in quest hebr in Gen. cap. 10. For as from the three sonne of Cham that is Chus Myrami and Chanaham Aethiopia is called Chus Aegipt Myrami and Palestina Chanaham so doubtles Scythia is called Magog of Magog the sonne of Iaphet And that Ezechiel naming Magog had relation to the Nation denominated of Magog the sonne of Iaphet it is manifest because in the same place he addeth as companions to Gog other Nations denominated of other sonnes or nephews of Iaphet as Gomer Togorma Mosoch Tubal c. Wherefore let vs conclude that the battaile of Gog and Magog is the last persecution which Antichrist shall raise in the whole world against the Church Neither is it against vs that Ezech. cap. 38. saith that the weapons of Gog and Magog shal be burnt for the space of 7. yeares wheras notwithstanding it is manifest that after Antichrists death there shall not be past 45. daies to the end of the world as is gathered out of Daniel 12. for Ezechiel speaketh not properly but figuratiuely after the manner of Prophets neither meaneth he that indeed those weapons are to be burned for the space of 7. yeares but that it shal be so notable an ouerthrow that the Launces and Targets of the slaine might suffice a very long tyme to make fires if need were One doubt remaineth whether by reason of the most cruell persecution of Antichrist the Faith and Religion of Christ shal be altogeather extinguished For Dominicus Soto in lib. 4. sent dist 46. q. 1. art 1. thought surely that it would be so The departing saith he and defection from that Seae shal be a signe of the cōsummation of the world And after Faith being extinguished by the departure from that Sea Apostolike the whole world shal be vayne and should without cause continue any longer And after Let therefore men be astonished how pestilent self loue is for thence floweth pussing vp and pryde which vnder the conduct of Antichrist shall at length consume the Citty of God But this opinion in my iudgment cannot be defended for first it is repugnant to S. Augustine who lib. 20. de ciuit Dei cap 11. saith that the Church shall be euer inuincible against Antichrist Neyther shall she saith he forsake her warfare who is called by the name of Tents Secondly it seemeth to me also to be repugnant to the Ghospell for Matth. 16. we read Vpon this Book I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall nor preuayle against her But how shall they not preuaile if they shall wholy extinguish her Likewise Matth. 24. Our Lord saith of the Ministers of Antichrist They shall giue great
signs so that the elect also shal be led into error if it be possible Where our Lord would signify that there shall be many elect at that tyme who shall not suffer themselues to be seduced by the myracles of Antichrist Finally all Wryters who speake of Antichrists persecution as Ezechiel Daniel S. Paul S. Iohn all the Fathers alleaged before say that the victory of that war or persecution shall at length be the Churches And surely reason it selfe teacheth the same For who can belieue that in that Battaile in which with their whole Campes God and the Diuell Christ and Antichrist shall fight God shal be ouercome by the Diuell and Christ by Antichrist M. Dovvnams Ansvvere confuted 1. THvs farre Bellarmine In which M. Downam is fully confuted For the reasons which Bellarmine vseth against the first part of Biblianders opinion do euidently conuince that Ezechiel speaketh not of the Seleucidae nor of their warres against the Iewes and that which M. Downam addeth that S. Iohn speaketh of the enemyes of the Church which Sathan incited after he was loosed is the same in effect which Bellarmine affirmeth For we haue proued before that Antichrist shal be in the world when Sathan is loosed and not before Wherfore it remayneth euident that this Battaile of Gog and Magog belongeth to Antichrist and not to the Pope and therfore that the Pope is not Antichrist as M. Downam and his Mates most impudently impiously dare to affirme THE EIGHTEENTH CHAPTER The Dotages of the Heretikes are refuted with which they do not so much proue as impudently affirme that the Pope is Antichrist ALTHOVGH saith Bellarmine those things which we haue hitherto treated of Antichrist might suffice since that we haue euidently shewed that none of those things agree to the Pope which the diuine Scriptures attribute to Antichrist yet least any thing should be wanting and that the impudency of our Aduersaries may be made manifest I will briefly propose and confute those arguments which Luther Libellus Smalcaldicus Caluin Illyricus Tilemanus Chytraus bring to proue that the Pope is Antichrist And first Luther although euery where he calleth the Pope the chiefest Antichrist and chiefly in his booke de captiuieate Babylonica lib. contra execr abilem Bullam Antichristi in assert articulorum lib. cont Ambros Cathar notwithstanding I could only find one argument of his with which he endeauoureth to proue it for in asser art 27. he speaketh thus Daniel foretold cap. 8. that Antichrist shal be a King with an impudent face that is as the Hebrew hath mighty in shewes pomps and cerimonyes of outward workes the spirit of saith in the â—eare tyme being extinguished as we haue seene in fulfilled with so many Religions Orders Colleages Rites Garments Habites Buildings Constitutions Rules Obseruances so that thou canst hardly rehearse the number of their names And these same faces of Antichrist as he calleth theÌ„ he recounteth and explicateth at large lib. cont Ambros Cathar de visione Danielis But this argument of Luther hath three faultes The first is in the Foundation it selfe for the Hebrew wordes sabbagim verbatim signify Robâ—stus facie and according to the Hebrew phrase an unpudent fellow who can not blush for first so the 70. translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inuerecundus facie so doth S. Hierome translate so Theodoretus readeth so out of the rules of the Rabbyns expoundeth it Franciseus Vatablus Fortis facie faith he is he that blusheth not and who is no ashamed Finally the same is gathered out of the like wordes Ezech. 3. the house of Israel hath a worne forehead and an hard hart behould I haue giuen thy face more forcible then their faces and thy forehead adwarder then their foreheads Where in the Hebrew it is The house of Israell haue a strong forehead and I haue giuen thy face stronger then their faces which haue no other sense then this â—s S. Hierome rightly explicateth they are impudent indeed but thou shalt not yield to their impudency and if they do euill bouldly and without shame thou shalt reprehend them bouldly and without shame which since it is so let Luther looke least he hath an impudent face if he will preferre his owne interpretation before the Rabbyus Theodoretus S. Hierome the 70. Interpreters and Ezechiel himselfe The second fault of Luthers argument is because it cannot be rightly gathered out of this sentence that the Pope is Antichrist whatsoeuer it signifieth for though it were manifest that Antichrist shal be potent in outward pompes and cerimonyes yet it could not forthwith be gathered that whosoeuer is mighty in outward pompes and cerimonyes is Antichrist for as the Logicians teach nothing is gathered out of particuler affirmatiues otherwise also Moyses was Antichrist who instituted so many Cerimonyes in Exodus and Leuiticus that they can searsly be numbred And when in the same place it is said of Antiochus and in his figure of Antichrist that he shall vnderstand Aenigma's or darke speaches if Luthers argument were good it would follow that all they who can solue Aenigma's were Antichrists which certainely is false and ridiculous The third fault is that he attributeth to the Pope the Institution of all Orders and Ecclesiasticall Cerimonies whereas notwithstanding it is manifest that many of them were not instituted by the Pope but by other holy Fathers for the Greeke Church euer had and hath still Monasteries rites obseruations cerimonies which they receaued from S. Basil S. Paconius and other Greeke Fathers and not from the Bishop of Rome See Cassianus his booke de Institutis renuntiantium and S. Basilij Constitutiones In the West also the Orders of S. Benedict S. Romualdus S. Bruno S. Dominick and S. Francis were indeed approued by the Pope but inuented and instituted by those holy men whome the holy Ghost instructed So that if these orders belong to Antichrists face rather those holy Fathers are to be called Antichrists then the Pope Adde lastly that the words of Daniel agree more fitly to no man excepting the true Antichrist who is to be reuealed in his tyme then to Luther for he aboue all others had an impudent face for being a Priest and a Monke he marryedopenly a Nunne of which there can be no example giuen in all Antiquity Likewise he wrote lyes without any number which are noted and published in wryting by many Ioannes Cochlaeus in act Lutheri anno 1523. wryteth that out of one of Luthers bookes there were noted by one 50. lyes and that by another Luther was conuinced of 874. lyes Finally what an impudency was that when in lib. cont Bullam Leonis X. the same Luther durst excommunicate his Bishop togeather with the whole Church that adhereth to him Who euer heard that a Bishop could be excoÌ„municated by a Priest The Councell of Chalcedon in tymes past trembled at the audaciousnes of Dioscorus who presiding in the second Ephesine Councell presumed to excommunicate Pope Leo. But what comparison can
certaine that the day of oppression hath begun to be ouer our heades and the end of the world and tyme of Antichrist is approached S. Hierome ep ad Ageruchiam de Monogamia He which did hould is in making out of the way and doe we not vnderstand that Antichrist approacheth S. Gregorie lib 4. ep 38. All thinges which haue bene foretould are in doing the King of Pride is neere And in his Homylies vpō the Ghospells he doth bouldly pronounce that the end of the world draweth neere but these were suspicions and not errors For these Holy Fathers durst not set downe any certaine tyme. Others more bouldlie appointed a certaine tyme. One Iudas as S. Hierome relateth l. de Viris Illust thought that Antichrist should haue come and the world ended the two hundreth yeare after Christ who as is manifest was deceiued Lactantius l. 7. cap. 25. diuin Instit saith That all expectation seemeth to be for no more then two hundred yeares c. Where he teacheth that Antichrist was to come and the world to end within two hundred yeares after his tyme and he liued in Constātines tyme in the three hundreth yeare after Christ so that he thought the worldes end should haue bene the fiue hundreth yeare after Christ But he also was deceaued as experience witnesseth S. Augustine lib. 18. de ciuitate Dei cap. 53. mentioneth the errour of some others which said that the world should be ended the foure hundreth yeare after our Lords Ascēsion and of others which appointed the thousandth yeare who were all deceaued as it happened also to the Pagans who as S. Augustine witnesseth in the same place out of the answere of some Oracle gathered that Christian religion should endure only three hundred threescore and fiue years There was also a Bishop of Florence about the yeare of our Lord a thousand an hundreth and fiue who affirmed that Antichrist was then borne and therefore that the worldes end was at hand For which cause there was a Councell of three hundred and fourty Bishops gathered at Florence by Paschalis the second Pope of that name See the Chronicle of Matthew Palmer and Platina in the life of Paschalis the second Lastly it hath alway byn a famous opinion of many which affirme that the world shall last six thousand yeares since God created the world in six daies and a thousand yeares are with God as one daie So teach S. Iustine Martyr q. 71. ad Gentes S. Irenaeus lib. 5. Lactantius l. 7. cap. 14. S. Hilar. in cap. 17. Matth. S. Hierom. in Psal 89. ad Cyprianum with which doth also agree the opinion of the Thalmudists who say that they haue a Prophesy out of the Prophet Hely by which it is affirmed that the world shall endure six thousād yeares This opinion cannot yet be refuted by experience for according to the true Chronologie or accompt of times there are about fiue thousand and six hundreth yeares past since the world was made Wherfore S. Ambrose who l. 7. in Luc. cap. 2. reiecteth this opinion affirming that in his time there were 6. thousand yeares past is manyfestly deceaued S. Augustines moderation is very good who thought this opinion probable and followed it as probable l. 20. de Ciuit. Dei c. 7. Neither doth it follow from hence that we doe know the tyme of the last daie for we say that it is probable that the world will not endure aboue 6. thousand yeares but we doe not say that it is certaine Wherfore S. Augustine sharpely rebuketh those who affirme that the world shal be ended at some certaine tyme since our Lord said Act. 1. that it doth not belong to vs to know the tymes and moments which the Father hath put in his owne power See S. Augustine epist 80. ad Hesychium in Psal 89. lib. 18. de ciuitate Dei cap. 53. But omitting these let vs come to the Heretikes Wheras all the Heretikes of this tyme doe teach that the Bishop of Rome is Antichrist and that he hath appeared already is now in the world notwithstanding they doe not agree among themselues of the tyme when he appeared for there be six opinions of theirs The first is of the Samosatenes which liue in Hungary and Transiluania who in a certaine booke which they intitle Forewarnings of Christ and the Apostles of the abolishing the true Christ by Antichrist do teach that Antichrist appeared a little after the Apostles time to wit when that doctrine began first to be preached that Christ is the euerlasting Sonne of God for they thinke that Christ is only man and that in God there is only one person and that this faith was preached by Christ and his Apostles but that a little after the Apostles death the Roman Antichrist came and hauing abolished the true Christ which was only man brought in another eternall Christ and made a threefould God and a twofould Christ This opinion besides the arguments which afterward we will bring against all Heretikes is most easilie refuted in two sortes First for that Antichrist when he commeth shall make himselfe God and not any other as the Apostle saith 2. Thess 2. but the Bishop of Rome as they themselues say hath not made himselfe God but preached Christ and of only man hath made him God Secondly because they saie that straight after the death of Christ and his Apostles the true faith of Christ was wholy extinguished by Antichrist and afterward in the whole world Christ was adored for God But Christ foretould that the gates of hell should not preuaile against his Church Matth. 16. and the Angell fortould that Christs Kingdome should endure for euer Luc. 1. and Dauid foretould that all Kinges should serue Christ Psal 71. how therefore is it true that in the very beginning the Church being yet but newly borne was destroyed by Antichrist The second opinion is of Illyricus who in his Catalogue of witnesses teacheth that Antichrist came when the Roman Empire began to incline to destruction but it is manifest that the Roman Empire began to decline after the tenth yeare of Honorius when Rome was first taken that is in the yeare foure hundreth and twelue as Blondus doth shew in the first booke of the first Decade of Histories from the declination of the Roman Empire But Illyricus doth seeme to vnderstand this of the conception not of the natiuitie of Antichrist for he himselfe Cent. 6. Cap. 1. in the beginning saith that Anchrist was conceaued after a certaine manner in the beginning of the 400. yeare after quickned formed and nourished in his Mothers wombe about the fiue hundreth yeare and lastlie borne the 6. hundreth and sixt yeare to wit when Phocas graunted to the B. of Rome that he should be called the head of the whole Church Againe cent 1. l. 2. cap. 4. colum 438. he affirmeth that Antichrist should reigne tyranize with the spirituall sword a thousand two hundred and threescore yeares and with
the Cittie of Constantinople haue as wee wish her glorie and Gods right hand protecting her let her enioy a long reigne of your Clemencie Alia tamen ratio est rerum saecularium alia diuinarum c. Yet worldly and diuine thinges haue different reasons neither will any other building be firme and stable besides that rock which our Lord hath put in the foundation He looseth his owne who desireth those thinges which are not his due Let it suffice that by the foresaid help of your Pietie and by the consent of my sauour he hath obteyned the Bishoprick of so great a Cittie non dedignetur Regiam Ciuitatem quam Apostolicā non potest facere Sedem let him not disdaine a Kinglie Cittie which he cannot make an Apostolicall Sea So that M. Downam in S. Leo his iudgment confoundeth worldlie and diuine thinges by going about to make vs belieue that Rome had the preheminēce of an Apostolicall Sea because it was the chiefe Citty which as you see S. Leo saith by no meanes can be Likwise Bellarmine bringeth the authoritie of Gelasius Epistola ad Episcopos Dardaniae who likewise reasoneth thus Millan Rauenna Syrmiū Treuers and Nicomedia were the Seates of the Empire many tymes and yet the Fathers neuer gaue any preheminence or Primacy to those Bishops as neither they would haue done to Rome only for that respect And as for the authority of the two Councells M. Downam must know if he be ignorant of it that the first of Chalcedon was not confirmed by S. Leo but only in matters of The Coūcell of Chalcedō See Paralelus Tortiac Tortoris cap. 4. The Canons of the 6. generall Councell Fayth and in this poynt was by him expresly reiected as may be seene in the Epistle already recited in diuers others ad Anatolium ad Pulcheriam ad Maximum ad Iuuenalē In which likewise as also in the 16. Act of the Councell it selfe it appeareth that this Decree was made in the absence of the Popes Legates who had the chiefe place in that Councell and that they did afterward openly gainesay and resist it And if by the Councell of Constantinople he meaneth the Canons commonly called the Canons of the sixt Generall Councell as it seemes he doth he must likwise be tould that those Canons are of no accompt as not made by that Councell but by certaine Bishops which afterward met priuately togeather as appeareth by the beginning of the Canons thēselues and by the confession of Tharasius Bishop of Constantinople in the 7. generall Councell Act. 4. and Bede calleth them Erraticam Synodum an erring Synode moreouer writeth that Sergius then Pope reiected them lib. 6. de sex atatibus in Iustiniano Iuniore And all this and much more to the purpose might Downam seemeth not to haue read so much of Bellarm. as he impugneth M. Downam haue learned out of Bellarmine himselfe if he would haue taken the paines to haue read him ouer or at least so much as he meant to impugne as it was good reasō he should haue done before he had gone about to answere him Neither shall I need to spend any more tyme in this matter since his chiefest authorities are out of these two Councels For what he meaneth by that which happened tempore Mauritij I cannot yet coniecture for it were too absurd for him to defend Iohn of Cōstantinople against S. Gregory as likewise the Bishops of Rauenna whose arrogancy ambition is condēned cōtemned also by the whole world But it is no meruaile though in so bad a cause M. Downam can find no better Patrons 5. Concerning the comming of Antichrist with the temporall sword which is the second degree M. Downam goeth about to iuggle with vs after a strange manner For wheras Bellarmine in the confutation of Luther confuteth three groundes which Luther built his opinion vpon I. the deposition of the Emperour Henry the 4. II. the hauing temporall dominion III the making of warre by shewing that all these three Actes had bene exercised by the Pope before this tyme putting Downams seely iugling particuler examples of euery one M. Downam very cunningly as he thought but indeed very seelily as it will appeare now that he is taken with the manner answereth that true it is that the Popes had a temporall dominion before but not generall and so with granting one part he thinkes he may safely deny the other without euer troubling himselfe to examine Bellarmines instance any further But we must put him in mind that when Gregory the second depriued Leo the Emperour of the Kingdome of Italy he did not only shew himselfe to haue right to the patrimony of S. Peter which could only haue warranted him to haue kept that from the Emperour but The pope hath power to depose Princes for the spirituall good of Christs Church likewise to haue a generall authority to depriue Princes of their owne dominions in some cases and for some causes which he could not do but by a generall power though we will not much stand with M. Downam about the name of Temporall power for that we rather thinke it to be spirituall therfore cānot be exercised by the Pope but for the spirituall good of Christs Church as M. Downam may see largely explicated by Bellarm. in his 5. booke where also he shall find diuers other examples to this purpose to which it will not be inough for him to oppose his hereticall author Auentinus Of Auentine See part 2. Chap. 3. n. 6. for we will at any tyme take M. Downams owne word so soone as any other of his mind except they bring better profs then he doth And this is all which M. Downam hath to saie against Bellarmine wherfore he concludeth in these wordes And thus haue I answered whatsoeuer is in his 3. Chapter pertinent to the matter in hand omitting as my manner is his other wranglings as being altogeather either impertinēt or merely personal Where I wil only craue the Iudicious Reader to looke ouer Bellarmines whole discourse and if he findeth nothing in it but which directly impugneth the opinions and not the persons which he alleageth and withall that he doth it so inuincibly that there can be no euasion as I verily perswade my selfe any Downams māner to omit that which he cannot answere indifferēt man will easily see then let him know that whatsoeuer M. Downam hath omitted was because he could by no meanes make so much as any shew of answering it as he hath gone about to doe in this which we haue examined and withall let him know also that this is M. Downams manner as he himselfe affirmeth and make accompt of the Man accordingly THE FOVRTH CHAPTER In which is explicated the first demonstration that Antichrist is not yet come WHEREFORE the true opinion is saith Bellarmine that Antichrist hath neither begun to raigne nor is yet come but is to come and to raigne about the end of
his owne person But certainely we haue experienced no such thing from the yeare 600. or 1000. The Heretikes indeed say that they suffer great persecution by Antichrist because sometime some of their number are burnt but what comparison is there betwixt such a persecution and that of Nero Domitian Decius Dioclesian and others since that for one heretike which is burnt there were in times past a thousand Christians put to death and that in the whole Roman Empire not in one only Prouince wheras now the greatest punishmēt is to be burnt then there were incredible and innumerable torments of which see Cornelius Tacitus in Nerone and Eusebius in his Ecclesiasticall History S. Damasus in the life of S. Marcellinus writeth that there were aboue 17. thousād Christiās put to death by Dioclesiā Eusebius who liued at that tyme writeth lib. 8. cap. 6. hist that al prisōs were so full of Martyrs that there was no place for offenders and in all that booke he affirmeth that there were so many put to death within the space of two yeares that it is impossible to number them Besides the heretikes of our tymes haue put to death more Catholikes within these 20. or 30. yeares in France and Flanders then the Inquisitors haue burnt heretikes perhaps these hundred yeares Wherfore they cannot call this a persecution but rather a ciuill warre for as S. Augustine teacheth ep 80. ad Hesychium when the true persecution of Antichrist shall come only the children of the Church shal be in tribulation and not their persecutours as in the tyme of Dioclesian and the former Princes only Christians were persecuted but did not persecute againe And if this be to be called a persecution rather Catholikes suffer it then Lutherans and Caluinists for Catholikes are cast out of many Prouinces and haue lost their Churches their Inheritance and their Country it selfe these new Ministers of this Ghospell intruding themselues into other mens possessions and as we said may be seene in the Commentaryes of Laurence Surius and other Historiographers of our tyme the fury of Caluinists consumed more Catholikes in few yeares then there haue bene Heretikes punnished by the iudgement of Catholike Princes for denying their Faith Now that the persecution of Antichrist shal be most manifest and knowne S. Aug. proueth lib. 20. de ciuitate Dei cap. 11. out of those wordes of the Apoc. 20. And they compassed the tents of the Saintes and the beloued Citty for by these wordes it is signified that all the wicked shal be togeather in Antichrists army and shall with open warre impuge all the Church of Saintes for now there are many faigned in the Church which hiding their malice are in hart out of the Church and in it only in bodie But thē all shall break forth sayth S. Augustine into open persecution out of their lurking corners of hatred This surely is so farre of from being fulfilled at this tyme that there was neuer almost a greater number of false brethren and faygned Christians and this persecution is so farre of from being knowne and manifest that neither they which say they suffer it nor wee that are said to cause it can tell whē it began Certainly the persecutiōs of Nero Dominā other Romā Princes were diligently noted by Eusebius Orosius Sulpitius there is no doubt whē they began whē they ended as likewise the comming of Christ because it was true manifest we know verie well when it was and to whome first manifested and there is no diuersitie of opinions among vs concerning this matter But the heretikes which say that Antichrist is come and hath persecuted so long cannot produce one author who hath noted the tyme whē Antichrist came or to whome he first appeared or when he began his persecution and they disagree so among themselues that one saith he came in the yeare 200. another in the yeare 606. another in the yeare 773. another in the yeare 1000. another 1200. So that they seeme rather to dreame in their sleepe then to speake waking Finallie that in Antichrists tyme the publique and dailie office and Sacrifice of the Church shall cease by reason of the greatnes of the persecution Daniel plainely teacheth cap. 12. from the tyme that the continuall Sacrifice shal be taken away M. CC. XC dayes where by the consent of all he speaketh of Antichrists tyme and as S. Irenaeus lib 5. S. Hierome and Theodoretus vpon that place S. Hippolytus Martyr in orat de consūmatione mundi and Primasius in cap. 11. Apoc. expound it the is sense is that Antichrist shall forbid all the diuine worship which is now exercised in the Christian Churches and especiallie the holie Sacrifice of the Eucharist but that this signe is not yet fulfilled experience teacheth Out of which three thinges may be gathered First that Antichrist is not yet come since the continuall Sacrifice is still in vse Secondlie that the Bishop of Rome is not Antichrist but most contrarie to him since he doth chiefly adorne and defend the Sacrifice which Antichrist shall take away Thirdlie that the heretikes of this tyme aboue all others are the forerunners of Antichrist since they wish nothing more earnestly then vtterly to abolish the Sacrifice of the Eucharist M. Dovvnams Ansvvere confuted 1. MAISTER Downam verie courteously admitteth that Antichrists persecution was to be verie grieuous but alloweth not of Bellarmines proofes affirming that The persecution of Antichrist most grieuous the great tribulation which our Sauiour speaketh of Matth. 24. is no other then the calamyties which at the destruction of Hierusalem by the Romans the Iewes susteyned which how true it is may be sufficiently seene by that which hath bene said in the 4. chapter Now it is sufficient that we agree in the cōclusion 2. Wherefore all his long discourse about the thousand yeares Apoc. 20. is altogeather impertinent and foolish also in that he vnderstandeth those 1000. yeares definitely The 1000 yeares Apoc. 20. are to be takē indefinitely which indefinitely signify all the yeares and space from Christs Passion when the Deuill was bound vntill Antichrists time when he shall be loosed and it is false that any were put to death by the chiefe Antichrist within those thousand yeares For how could that be since he was not to come before they were expired as all but Heretikes agree But all this as also the question of Gog and Magog is from the present purpose which M. Downā could not choose but see though he were content to cast this mist before the Readers eyes that he might not see the force of Bellarmines argument which consisteth in this that the persecution of Antichrist is to be most grieuous which he is content to The persecution of Antichrist shal be greater then the calamities of the Iewes graunt because he cannot deny it would help to prooue it also though verie simplie God wot but wee will accept his good will since his meaning
others and of causing both themselues and many others to be most easily seduced by Antichrist For when he shall come and haue another name then they perswade themselues he shall haue he shall not be held by them to be Antichrist and consequently shall not be auoyded All which inconueniences will doubtles happen to the Lutherans and especially this last for because they haue perswaded themselues that the Pope is Antichrist when that true Antichrist shall come he will not easily be discerned by them and therefore not auoyded But heere we must note that Antichrists name wil be most manifest when he is come for likewise before Christ came the Iewes knew not certainely how he should be called although the Prophets had foretould many thinges of his name Yea one of the Sybills as we find in the first booke of their verses had noted the number of Christs name and said that it was 888. as S. Iohn wrote of Antichrist that the number of his name is 666. And yet vntill Christs comming men knew not that he was to be called Iesus But since Christs comming all controuersy is taken away and all know that he is called Iesus The Sybills verses are these Sed quae sit numeri totius summa docebo Namque octo monadas totidem decadas super ista atque hecatontadas octo infidis significabit Humanis nomen tu verò mente teneto ι. 10. η. 8. σ. 200. ο. 70. Ï…. 400. Ï‚. 200.  888. To this we may adde that it is common to all Prophesies to be doubtfull and obscure till they be fulfilled as S. Irenaeus rightly teacheth and proueth lib. 4. c. 43. Hence we may take an insoluble argument to proue that the Pope is not Antichrist and that Antichrist is not yet come For if Antichrist were come and were the B. of Rome there would be no question of his name foretould by S. Iohn as because our Christ is come there is now no question euen amonst the Turkes Iewes and Pagans how he is called But there is very great Controuersy about the name of Antichrist as is manifest by so many opinions as we haue rehearsed and refuted Wherefore the Prophesy of S. Iohn is not yet fulfilled and consequently Antichrist is not yet come neither is the Pope Antichrist Adde a confirmation out of the confession of Augustinâ—â— Marloratus who in his great explication vpon the new Testament gathered out of diuers Lutheran and Calumist wryters saith thus of this place There are almost as many expositions as expositours of this place by which it appeareth that it is most obscure and darke Thus he But if this Prophesy be still most obscure and darke it is not yet fulfilled wherefore Antichrist is not yet come for all Prophesies are made most cleere when they are fulfilled Why then doest thou Marloratus brag in thy Preface vpon the Apoc. that it is so manifest thee the Pope is Antichrist that if you held your peace the stones would exclaâ—me M. Dovvnams Ansvvere confuted 1. FOR answere First M. Downam deemeth that this name of Antichrist shal be commonly knowne so soone as he is come and he giueth his reason because the name of Antichrist cannot be knowne as the name of Antichrist vntill Antichrist himselfe be knowne and acknowledged which was not to be at his first comming for then he could not be able to seduce many few or none beeing so desperately mad as to follow him whome they know to be Antichrist But M. Downam should haue considered that Antichrists name shal be known when he is come Bellarmine speaketh not of any secret comming of Antichrist but of his reuelation and raigne which M. Downam and his crew affirme to haue happened many hundred yeares since and Bellarmine confuteth them by this argument that if it were so Antichrists name would be well knowne as we see Christs is and yet many are so mad as to refuse Christ though they know his name and in like manner no doubt many will imbrace Antichrist after that his name shal be certaynely knowne 2. Secondly M. Downam telleth vs that in the similitude taken from Christ there is no likenesse because Christ was ore particuler man but Antichrist is not but a State which cannot haue a proper name which as you see is no answere at all if Antichrist shal be See chap. 2. one particuler man as hath ben proued in due place to which I remit my Reader and besides I see no reason why a State may not haue a proper name also Yet M. Downam giueth vs another difference for that Christ comming to saue his name Iesus the name of the Sauiour was to be made knowne that he might the rather be imbraced Antichrist comming to deceaue and to destroy M. Downams iugling was according to his diuellish policy to conceale that name whereby he should be knowne to be Antichrist where you must marke how cunningly M. Downam concealeth the diligence which the Diuell vsed to obscure the name of Christ and likewise the power and wisdome of God to make Antichrist knowne for otherwise his Reader would very easily haue conceyued how God is as able to manifest Antichrists name that he may be auoyded as he was to make our Sauiours name knowne that he might be imbraced And besides it is more then probable that Antichrist will not be so humble but that he will desire to haue his name knowne for this is the great and powerfull wisdome of God to ouerthrow the wicked by their owne courses Wherefore it is not certayn that Antichrist shall either know or make accompt of this Prophesy nor reflect vpon his name whether it conteyneth this number or no. But though all this should be so yet he will thinke to ouercome this difficulty aswell as the rest especially when he is come to that height of pryde to extoll himselfe aboue all that is called God And sure we are that by one meanes or other his name shal be manifest for otherwise this reuelation of S. Iohn concerning it would serue to small purpose After this M. Downam maketh a litle digression from his purpose to tell vs that the Sybil did not only foretell that our Sauiours name should conteyne the number 888. but also by certayne Acrostiches foretould that he should be Iesus Christ the sonne of God and Sauieur But of Antichrist she speaketh nothing so playnly howbeit she calleth Rome Babylon as Io. doth And in the 8. booke describing Antichrist as some thinke she calleth him a Prince with many heads which The Sybills verses of Adrian are expounded M. Downam will haue to be vnderstood either by a Metonymie for the Popes triple crowne or by a Synechdoche for the succession of Popes Likewise the Sybil addeth that he shall haue a name neere to Ponti that is Pontisex the Pope saith M. Downam Now how Rone is Babylon we shall see afterward And as for that thought of some it is euident that not Antichrist but Adrian the
Emperour is spoken of in those verses in which See Florimond Reymond of Antichrist cap. 22. among other things his little God Antinâ—â—â— is described Neither is he called a Prince with many heads as M. Downam supposeth but is only sayd to haue one white or gray head as Spartianus testifieth in his life that Adrian had and that either by these verses of the Sybil or by those of Virgil â—n which he describeth Numa Pompilius by his gray head also Nosco crines incanaque menta Adrian prognosticated that he Aeneid 6. should come to be Emperour Bullenger and Castalio differ from M. Downam and the truth also for they will not haue it to be a white head but a white hat or helmet deriuing it rather from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contrary to the common vse of such compounds But euen by Castalio his consent he that in this 8. booke is by the Sybil called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the fifth booke is also named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which place he is expressely sayd to succeed Traian as Adrian did And in both places he is sayd to haue a name neare to the sea which in greeke is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of the Adriatike sea which was denominated of a Citty called Adria neere Venice in which this Emperour was also borne and from thence had his name Adrianus That other conceypt of M. Downam who thinketh that this name neere to Ponti is Pontifex is very farre fetched for what connexion is there betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in greeke and Pons in latin especially since that Pontifex is no greeke word and the Sybil wrote in that language and consequently the name which she spake of must not be only among Latins Finally if we should admit this fond conceipt yet all might be applyed to this Emperour who as Platina writeth in vita Alexandri repayred one bridge at Athens and built another at Rome of his owne name and besides was consecrated Bishop of Ceres but this refuge is needlesse since we haue the former most manifest explication I haue stood longer vpon this then was necessary since that M. Downam confesseth that it is from the purpose to which now he promiseth to returne 3. And he goeth about to answere Bellarmines other proofe which is that Prophesies are obscure till they be fulfilled and cleere when they are fulfilled and his answere is that although they become more cleere after then before yet many tymes they remayne darke and obscure to very many And he exemplifieth in the Prophesies of Christ which are cleere to good Christians but not to the Iewes and confesseth that many Prophesies concerning Antichrist are plainely vnderstood of the true Professors yet they seeme darke and obscure to the followers of Antichrist Where me thinkes he granteth all that which he denyed before viz. that the name of Antichrist being once come shall be aswell knowne as that of Christ and besides he openly gainsayeth Marloratus who affirmeth that euen among M. Downams true Professors there are as many expositions as expositors of M. Downam contradicteth himselfe Marloratus this place And besides Bellarmine sheweth that euen the Iewes Turkes and Pagans graunt that the name of our Christ is Iesus which manifestly conteyneth the number 888. But all Catholikes and others are far from thinking that the Pope is to be called Romanus and Latinus except something els be added and besides these names conteyne not iustly the number 666. as Bellarmine proueth Hauing thus put off the Argument M. Downam maketh another digression taking hould of the former part of Bellarmines proposition that prophesies till they be fulfilled are for the most part darke and ambiguous and heereupon he inferreth that therefore the writinges of the Fathers who lyued before Antichrist were most vncertayne ghesses in their expositions of the Prophesies concerning him which illation we deny and rather inferre the quyte contrary that since the Prophesies are The necessity of the Fathers expositions obscure and ambiguous we had the more need to take some light and certainty from the Fathers writings who receaued their expositions from the light of Gods spirit and the certainty of the Apostles Traditions But M. Downam proueth his inferrence by Bellarmines confession euen in this Chapter and cyteth his wordes in the margent Sed necisti Patres voluerunt sententias illas suas alio loco haberi quà m suspicionum coÌ„iecturarum Neither would these Fathers haue those their opinions otherwise accompted of then as suspicions and coniectures which assertion of Bellarmine commeth far short of M. Downams position for he speaketh only of two Fathers Rupertus and Beda M. Downam speaketh in generall of all the Fathers Bellarmine calleth only those two particuler opinions of theirs suspicions and coniectures M. Downam would proue that all the opinions of all the Fathers concerning Downam proueth an vniuersall by a particuler prophesies not fulfilled are but ghesses which is to proue an vniuersall by a particuler a fit argument for M. Downams Diuinity if not for his Logick which perhappes the badnes of his Diuinity maketh him either to forget or forsake The like fault he committeth againe in alleaging S. Irenaeus who only speaketh of this one prophesy of Antichrists name and Andraeas maketh as little to his purpose only affirming with Bellarmine that experience will make manyfest to them that are vigilant both the exact computation of this number and all other thinges which are written of Antichrist which M. Downam seemed before to deny and now is as far The auctority of the Fathers from prouing that the Fathers expositions when they all agree make not a Prophesy certainely to be vnderstood though when they are deuyded their expositions be but probable and therefore because they were so in this place we see that Bellarmine grounded not his argument vpon any of them but vpon another certayne rule which they all agree in and M. Downam himselfe cannot choose but confesse in great part 4. Thus much for this digression Now M. Downam commeth againe to the purpose goeth about to answere Bellarmines Assumption which is that Antichrists name is Antichrists name yet vnknowne yet vnknowne where M. Downam distinguisheth confessing that in the Church of Rome it is not knowne of the ignorant nor acknowledged of the obstinate but in the true Church of God Antichrist is knowne and his name acknowledged But Marloratus affirmeth the contrary and M. Downam insinuateth as much saying that to the opinions which Bellarmine alleadgeth many more Downam contradicteth him selfe and Marloratus might be added which he will hardly make good except he haue recourse to his new Ghospellers who though they be vnited in malyee against the Pope yet their proud heads cannot agree in the exposition of this or almost any other place of Scripture And besides the agreement of Protestants in this or in any thing els must needs
with many other concerning the consummation of the world to which the comming of Antichrist doth belong And this both the text it selfe and S. Hierome and all other Ecclesiasticall Wryters perswade vs and therfore we must needs thinke so vntill M. Downam conuinceth euidently the contrary which I am affraid he will very hardly doe But let vs see what he can say for himselfe Secondly therfore he faith that Daniels Prophesies concerne either such terrestriall Kingdomes vnto whose Tyranny the Iewes were subiect before the comming of the Messias or else the spirituall Kingdome of Christ before Downam contradicteth himselfe which all the former Kingdomes were to haue an end But this seemeth somwhat contrary to that he said before when he confessed that Daniels Prophesie reacheth to the finall destruction of Ierusalem by the Romans and consequently there must needes in his opinion be mention in Dan. of the terrestriall Kingdome of the Romans which without doubt was not ended before the comming of Christ well we will not vrge him too far with this but rather consider The King domes where of Daniel speaketh were not to be ended before Christ how he proueth that all the terrestriall Kingdomes of which Daniel speaketh were to haue an end before the spirituall Kingdome of Christ for it seemeth somewhat contrary to Daniel himselfe who affirmeth that the Kingdome of Christ should be raised by God in the daies of those Kingdomes wherof he spake In diebus autem Regnorum illorum suscitabit Deus Cali Regnum quod in aeternum c. But yet M. Downam bringeth for the contrary Dan. 2. 4. 35. and 7. 11. and ver Dan. 2. 26. 37. The first of which places is a little misprinted for that 4. should be 34. in which and the following verse it is said that the stone which was cut out of the Mountayne without handes that is our Sauiour borne of our Blessed Lady by the holy Ghost without the seed of man should strike the Statua vpon the yron feet and breake them and by that meanes the whole should be dissolued and come to nothing But I cannot see how this proueth M. Downams intent but rather the quite contrary for if our Sauiour shall destroy these Kingdomes surely they were not to be ended before his comming and at least the feet and the ten toes must remayne and be stroken by this stone as indeed they shall at his second comming when he shall ouercome the ten Kinges among whom the Roman Empyre shal be diuided who shall fight against him as S. Iohn recordeth Apoc. 17. both before the comming of Antichrist and after also so many and so long as they shall continue When our Sauiour is to destroy the Kingdomes signified by the Statua of Nabuchodonosor Neither may it seeme hard that Nabuchodonosor in his dreame related by Daniel did see the stone first strike the Statua after become so great that it filled the whole world for this is to be atributed to the obscurity of Prophesies and therefore Daniel in his explication standeth not vpon that circumstance but rather insinuateth the contrary explicating first the stability and perpetuity of Christs Kingdome in this world and then how he should destroy all the Kingdomes of this world and finally reigne for euer in the next The second place cap. 7. 11. is most plainely against M. Downam for in the two precedent verses is described Da◠7. the comming of God to iudgement before which no doubt all these Kingdomes and Kinges together with Antichrist himselfe shall haue an end and the same is as plainely repeated v. 26. in which is declared both the comming of God to Iudgement and the finall ouerthrow and destruction of the wicked and v. 27. the amplitude and perpetuity of the Kingdome of Christ and his Saintes which is chiefly to be vnderstood of the next world and only When Christ began spiritually to ouerthrow those Kingdomes spiritually in this after which manner Christ began to ouerthrow all the Kingdomes of the world from the beginning by rooting out Idolatry and planting his Church through the whole world Those other places which M. Downam quoteth concerning the comming of Christ into this world and the destruction of Ierusalem make nothing against vs though some of them are not very fitly applied by him as the Reader will easily discerne of those which he bringeth out of the new Testament But I will let them passe and only note that which maketh a little Matth. 2. 3. Mar. 1. 10. to our purpose that M. Downam misinterpreteth Dan. 7. 13. of the ascension of our Sauiour wheras it is euident by the text that it is to be vnderstood of his comming to Iudgement of which it is said v. 10. Iudicium sedit libri aperti Dan. 7. sunt that God the Father did fit in Iudgment and the bookes were opened that is it was the tyme of Iudgement when Daniel did see our Sauiour come to him After this M. Downam only reciteth his exposition of the 4. beast cap. 7. and the leggs and feete of the Statua cap. 2. which he will needes haue to be the Kingdome of the Seleucidae and Lagidae but Dan. 2. 7. how foolishly we shall see after when he commeth to his proofes for now he only affirmeth it vpon his bare word which with vs hath no credit at all and I thinke will not haue much with any man els at least if he be any thing indifferent and will vouchsafe to read this discourse 6. Well M. Downam goeth forward with his exposition such as it is especially of the 11. Chapter of Dan. in which he saith many thinges called in question by none Dan. 11. and others denied by all of the first sort I need say nothing and the other are so apparently false and foolish that it wil be inough to touch them briefly as first when he saith The 4. Kingdomes into which that of Alexāder was deuided belong to the 3. beast described Dan. 7. not to the 4. that in the 8. and 11. chap. the 3. latter and especially the last Kingdome spoken of cap. 2. and 7. is prophesied of who seeth not the absurdity of this assertion for what can be more plaine then that the foure Kingdomes into which Alexanders Kingdome was deuided after his death belong to the same Monarchy signified by the 3. beast cap. 7. which for this cause is said to haue 4. heads in that place and in the 8. chap. the same are signified by the 4. hornes and they all were Greeks as M. Downam confesseth nu 10. and is euident out of the same 8. Chapter and of the Seleucide the same appeareth 1. Machab. 11. and besides all these 4. Kingdomes were ended before the comming of our Sauiour who notwithstanding is said to ouerthrow the 4. beast and consequently all the rest in him since that he had succeded in their places Porphiry did see this difficulty
the Kingdome of Gog shal be extolled But it is manifest that in the infancy of Christ no Kingdome was extolled but that of the Romans But without doubt the edition of the 70. is corrupted in this place for in Hebrew it is not Gog but Agag veâ—arom meagag malcho tolletur propter Agag vel prae Agag Rex etus And his King shal be taken away for Agag or in respect of Agag and the sense is according to S. Hierome in cap. 38. Ezech. and Saul the first King of Israel shall be taken away for Agag that is because he shall sinne not killing Agag or according to others Saul shal be extolled before Agag that is he shall preuayle and ouercome Agag Both are true And it is certaine that that place of Numer is vnderstood of the Kingdome of the Iewes and not of Christ or the Romans for it beginneth How faire are thy Tabernacles ó Iacob thy Tents ô Israel c. The fourth opinion is of others who by Gog and Magog vnderstand the battayles of the Diuell and his Angells long since past in Heauen with the good Angells which S. Hierome confuteth as destroying the letter in cap. 38. Ezechiel The 5. opinion of Theodorus Bibliander whom Chytraeus followeth in his Commentary vpon Apoc. 20. wherfore Bibliander Tab. 14. suae Chronologia where he treateth exactly of Gog and Magog and at length teacheth that the Prophesy of Ezechiel and S. Iohn pertayneth not to the same tyme but that the Prophesy of Ezechiel was fulfilled in the tyme of the Machabees and that Gog and Magog were Alexander the Great and his successors the Kinges of Egypt and Syria who fought many battayles with the Iewes and were at length ouercome by the Machabees and that the Prophesy of S. Iohn was fulfilled in the tyme of Gregory the 7. and of some ensuing Popes and that the Popes were Gog and Magog and the other Princes and armyes of Christians who fought a long tyme against the Saracens for the recouery of the holy Land and our Lords Sepulcher The first part of this opinion is also of Theodoretus in cap. 38. Ezech. but it cannot be defended First because without doubt the Prophesy of Ezechiel and S. Iohn is one and the same and therefore both are to be fulfilled after the comming of Christ for first S. Iohn saith that the army of Gog shall come from the foure corners of the earth and the same saith Ezechiel namely expressing that in the army of Gog there shal be Persians from the East Aethiopians from the South Tubal that is Spanyardes from the VVest and â—ogorma that is Phrygians from the coasts of the North. Secondly S. Iohn saith that this army shal be destroyed by fier sent from Heauen and the same affirmeth Ezechiel in the end of the 38. Chapter I will rayne saith he fier and brimstone vpon him and his Army Finally S. Iohn after this battaile presently addeth the renewing of Ierusalem that is the glorification of the Church and likewise Ezechiel from chap. 40. to the end of his booke treateth of nothing els but of the wonderfull renewing of Ierusalem Besides Secondly it is proued that the Prophesy of Ezechiel was not fulfilled in the tyme of the Machabees for Ezech. 38. it is said to Gog Thou shalt come in the last yeares but Alexander the Great with his came in the middle yeares Likewise Ezechiel expresly saith that in the army of Gog there shal be Aethiopians Lybians Spaniards Cappadocians c. which notwithstanding neuer fought against Ierusalem and chiefly in the tyme of the Machabees for only the Syrians and the Aegyptians fought against the Machabees Finally Ezechiel describeth such a victory against Gog and Magog that afterward no enemies were to be feared but all battayles should be ended but the victory of the Machabees was not such against the Kinges of Syria and Egypt for nether the Iewes did euer altogeather ouercome the Kinges of Syria and Egypt and a little after the Iewes were vexed and subdued againe by the Romans neither did they euer deliuer themselues out of their handes as S. Augustine deduceth and proueth lib. 18. de ciuitate Dei cap. 45. therefore the Prophesy of Ezechiel was not fulfilled before Christs tyme. The other part of Biblianders opinion which is his owne and peculiar to him is not only false but also impious for first S. Iohn saith that the battaile of Gog and Magog shal be against the Camp of the Saints and the beloued Citty that is against Gods true Church But the warre of the Christians for the recouery of the Holy Land was wholy against the Saracen Mahometans vnlesse perhaps Bibliander would haue the Mahometans to be the true Church and camp of the Saints Secondly S. Iohn saith that there shal be in the army of Gog men out of the 4. corners of the earth But in the Army of the Christians there were only out of the West and North that is French Germans Italians Besides S. Iohn saith that the warre of Gog and Magog being ended Hierusalem shall forthwith be renewed and glorified and that the Diuell Antichrist and the false Prophets shal be throwne into euerlasting fire But the warre of Christians for the Holy Land is long since ended and yet we see not any Hierusalem renewed nor the Diuell and the false Prophets cast into hell for now as our Aduersaries also confesse the Diuell and false Prophets most of all flourish Furthermore God himselfe by manifest signes and wonders aswell at Antioch of Syria as in other places manifestly shewed that that warre was acceptable vnto him of which see Gulielm Tyriâ—s lib. 6. de bello sacro and Paulus Aemilius lib. 4. de rebus Francorum Finally S. Bernard whom Bibliander calleth a Saint in Chronico where he treateth of the tymes of Eugenius the 3. besides other holy men was one of the chiefest Authors of this warre for he both by wordes and myracles perswaded an infinite multitude of French and Germans to go to that war as he himselfe sheweth initio lib. 2. de Consid and the author of his life lib. 2. cap. 4. writeth that S. Bernard after the battaile was ended restored a blind man to his sight in testimony that he had preached that warre in the name of God The 6. opinion is of the Magdeburgenses cent 1. lib. 2. cap. 4. column 435. where they teach that Gog Magog is the Kingdome of the Saracens or Turkes which opinion is wholy opposite to the opinion of Bibliander therfore it is better or rather lesse euill But yet absolutely it is falsâ— for Gog shall come in the last yeares and shall not endure long as it is plainly gathered out of S. Iohn Ezechiel But the Kingdome of the Saracens began long since and hath endured hitherto almost a thousand yeares which doubtlesse cannot be called a little tyme. The 7. is of S. Ambrose lib. 2. de fide cap. vlt. that Gog are the Gothes who destroyed
thing contrary to our opinion for that which Isaias and S. Iames say that our King Iudge Law-giuer is one certainly is not repugnaÌ„t to those words Prou. 8. By me Kings do raigne and the makers of Lawes do discerneiust things and with those Psal 2. And now Kings vnderstand be instructed you who iudge the earth and with 600. other of the same kind Wherfore Isayas and S. Iames do not make God the only King Iudge Law-giuer in whatsoeuer manner but only in that sort that he only is so King Iudge Law-giuer that he ought to giue accouÌ„t to none other that he dependeth of none that he raigneth and iudgeth and maketh Lawes by his owne authority that is not receaued from another and finally that he alone can also with effect destroy and saue as S. Iames saith For we attribute none of these things to the Pope or other Princes THE XXI CHAPTER The lyes of Illyricus are refuted NOvv Illyricus in the booke which he wryteth against the Popes Primacy saith thus But among other arguments that must we hould most firmly which hath bene most truly and clearly proued by many in this tyme that the Pope teacheth and desendeth impious Doctrine and that he is the very Antichrist himselfe the reasons wherof I will heere repeate Ioan. 1. epist 2. defineth that Antichrist is he who denyeth Iesus to be Christ That the Pope plainly doth not in words but in deed For Meschias in Hebrew in Greeke Christ is a Person sent by God to be the perpotuall Priest and King of the people It is the office of a Priest to teach pray and sacrifice but it is a Kings office to gouerne and defend So he Now let vs heare how he proueth that the Pope hath taken away these offices from Christ and what testimonies what reasons he bringeth But if I be not deceaued we shall only heare vayne words Thus then he goeth forward VVherfore the Pope taketh away the Priesthood from Christ for he will not only haue the beloued Sonne heard but rather himselfe and his false Apostles who bring another Ghospell Likewise because he substituteth to vs many other Mediatours in Heauen for Christ who may make intercession for vs before the Father Christ the seuere Iudge being neglected Likewise because he hath substituted infinite petty Sacrificers for Christ who may appease God to mankind to whom he saith that the Priesthood was translated from Christ by Peter Finally because he will haue vs saued by the meritts of his spirituall men and Saintes Behould with what cleere testimonies of Scripture Illyricus conuinceth vs what if we demonstrate that all these are meere lyes For where I pray you haue you read that the Pope had rather haue himselfe heard then Christ We deny it proue it for we contrarywise see that the Scriptures are greatly honored by the Pope and that they are accompted heretikes who haue taught any thing against the Scriptures Besides is it not a most manifest lye that the Pope hath substituted Mediators for Christ and that he would haue them make intercession to the Father Christ being neglected Do not our Litanies begin thus Kyrie Eleison Christe Eleison Are not all the praiers of our Church which we read in the Masse and Ecclesiastcall office directed to God and ended by Christ our Lord Doe we not acknowledg the mediation and intercession of Christ since that whatsoeuer we aske of God or we desire to be asked for vs by the Saintes we aske it all by the merits of Christ For we haue not the Saintes in the place of God or Christ but we desire of them that they will ioyne their prayers with ours that in this sort we may obtayne more easily of God by Christ whatsoeuer we will haue In like manner it is a lye that we say that the Pope hath substituted petty Sacrificers for Christ and that the Preisthood of Christ is translated by S. Peter to petty Sacrificers for you neither proue neither euer will be able to proue any of these thinges Neither can there be any doubt but that if you had any thing you would produce it but this is it which we say that Christ who is a Priest for euer alway liueth to make intercession for vs hath offred himselfe once to God an hoast of pacification by his death of the Crosse and that now he offereth himselfe by the hands of the Priestes againe and againe in Mystery And as though many baptize in this tyme notwithstanding that is true which we read Ioan 1. This is he who baptizeth in the Holy Ghost for the office of Christ is not translated from Christ to Priests but it is he who alway baptizeth by the Ministrie of Priests so also though many Priestes at this day offer Christ in the venerable Mysteries notwithstanding he is the principall Priest and truly the chiefest Bishop who offereth himselfe by the Ministry of all Priests The workes saith S. Chrysostome hom 83. in Matth. are not of humane vertue He that did it then in that supper he worketh now also he finisheth it we hould the order of Ministeries But I would willingly learne or thee Illyricus since that all the ancyent writers aswell Greeke as Latin make mention of the Sacrifice of the Eucharist and of Christian Priestes which no man denieth but such as haue not read them why doest thou attribute this only to the Bishop of Rome that he hath transferred the Priesthood of Christ to petty Sacrificers but let vs go on to the rest That which thou addest in the last place he will haue vs saued by the merits of his spirituall men and Saints is only a notable lye otherwise produce a place where the Pope said so for we belieue to be saued by the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ as also our Fathers were saued as S. Peter saith Act. 15. Neither do we acknowledg any other Sauiour but Iesus and him crucified who gaue himselfe a redemption for all 1. Tim. 2. Now that the merites and prayers of the Saints do profit vs in their manner cannot be denied but by him who knoweth not or belieueth not that there is communication and connexion betwixt the members of the body of the Church of which thing since we haue treated els where it shall suffice to haue added two testimonies in this place Wherefore S. Aug. quaest 149. in Exod. saith thus That by that meanes we might be admonished when our owne merites had oppressed vs so that we are not loued of God that we may be relieued by him by the merites of them whome God loueth And againe lib. 21. de ciuitate Dei cap. 17. he diuers tymes repeateth that some obteyne pardon by the merites of Saints and that this was signified by our Lord when he said Make you friends of Mammon of iniquity that when they faile they may receaue you into euerlasting Tabermacles Luc. 16. And as we haue also experienced saith S. Leaser 1. 〈…〉 Apostolâ—â—um
not plainely inough signify that he was greater then Apollo and his other coadiutours Moreouer Io. 20. it is said indeed to all the Apostles Behould I send you and whose sinnes you remit c. notwithstanding cap. 21. all the Apostles and the rest of the faithfull are subiected to S. Peter as sheep to their Pastour when it is said by our Lord to S. Peter alone in the presence of other Apostles feed my sheep Finally although Matth. 18. it be said to all the Apostles VVhatsoeuer you shall bind c. notwithstanding Matth. 16. it is said to Peter alone To thee I will giue the keyes of the Kingdome of Heauen c. and without doubt our Lord would not promise him any thing singulerly vnlesse also he would giue him some singuler thing but of these we haue said many thinges before lib. 1. cap. 12. 13. 14. To that which thou obiectest of both the Swordes against the Extrauagant of Bonifacius 8. where thou also laughest at the Popes arguments I will only answere in this place that they are all taken out of S. Bernard whome Caluin Melancthon and other of your crew are wont to call an holy man and to alleadge him oftener then once See lib. 2. 4. de Consider or if thou pleasest see what we haue treated of this very matter in our last Booke de Pontifice And this shall suffice of thy Antithesis or opposition in this place Now it remayneth that we shew that this very vision of S. Iohn doth best agree to Luther and Lutherans for first it is plaine that Luther may be signifyed by that starre which fell from heauen to earth seeing that he became of a religious man a secular of a continent a marryed and of poore rich and changed his sober and slender fare with plentifull and dainty cheere For what else is this then to haue fallen from heauenly to earthly conuersation Now he that feeleth not the smoke of the bottomlesse pitte which hath ensued vpon his fall is altogeather blind and stupide for before Luther fell from the Catholike Church almost all the West was of the same faith and religion and whithersoeuer a man went he presently acknowledged his brethren for they were all in light But aâ—ter Luthers fall there arose such a smoke of Errours Sects and Schismes that now one cannot know another in the same Prouince yeâ— not in the same Citty or house This smoke hath also darkened the Sunne and the Ayre as it is said in the Apocalyps for both we and our Aduersaries do vnderstand by the Sunne Christ and by the Ayre the Scriptures by which we after a certaine sort breath in this life And truly how vehemently this smoke hath obscured Christ Transiluania and the Countreys therabout do testify where Christs Diuinity is openly denyed Germany also witnesseth where the Anabaptists plainly and the Vbiquists more obscurely deny Christs Humanity And though there were in tymes past many heretikes which did likewise impugne Christ yet none more impudently then the heretikes of our time for many of them doe not only deny Christ to be God but they adde that he cannot be inuocated nor knoweth what we do It is an horrour to heare or read with what temerity the mysteries of Christ are disputed of at this tyme. Likewise it is incredible how vehemently this smoke hath obscured the Scriptures for now there are so many Translations and Commentaryes contrary one to another that those thinges which in times past were most cleere seeme now most obscure What can be said more plainly then that which S. Paul saith 1. Corinth 7. Of Virgius I haue not the precept of our Lord but I giue counsaile And yet all the heretikes of this tyme do constantly deny that there is any counsaile of Virginity and that S. Paul meant not to giue any counsaile to imbrace Virginity in that place but rather to terrify men from it What can be more plainely spoken then that word of our Lord This is my Body and yet there is nothing more obscure at this time What should I say of those of Transiluania who haue so peruerted with their Commentaries the Ghospell of S. Iohn which is well knowne to haue bene chiefly written against Cerinthus and Ebion who denyed Christs Diuinity that they most of all proue out of it that Christ is not God Let vs come to the Locusts which went out of the smoke of the pyt Chytraeus by the Locusts vnderstandeth the Bishops Clerkes and Monkes in the Church before S. Gregoryes tyme and yet these wonderfull Locusts were not yet risen But all which S. Iohn saith of the Locusts do most aptly agree to the Lutherans and the other heretikes of this tyme. For first the Locusts are wont alway to come in great multitude and to go in flocks Prou. 30. the Locust hath no King and they all go out by their swarmes so the Lutherans properly haue not one Head because they deny that there ought to be one Head of the whole Church Notwithstanding in a very short tyme they haue increased to a huge multitude neither is it any meruaile for they haue opened the gate to all vicious men the gluttons run to them because the Lutherans haue no certaine fasts the incontinent because among them all vowes of continency are disliked and Monks Priests NuÌ„nes are permitted to marry Likewise all Apostataes because among them all Cloysters are opened and conuerted into Pallaces couetous and ambitious Princes because both Ecclesiasticall goods and persons are subiected to their power the idle and the enemies of good workes because among them only Faith is sufficient good workes are not necessary Finally all sinfull and wicked people because all necessity of confessing their sinnes and giuing account to their owne Pastour which is wont to be a very great bridle to sinners is taken away among them Hence therfore are the Locusts so multiplyed Now these Locusts are strangely described by S. Iohn for they are said to haue a mans face yea a womans the taile of scorpions the body of Locusts Likewise they weare vpon their heads a crowne as it were of gould they haue the teeth of Lions and their brest armed with an iron plate Finally they seemed to be as horses prepared to the warre and the sound of their winges was heard as the noyse of chariots running to warre and they had for King ouer them an Angell or the bottomelesse pytte who is called an Exterminatour Their smoth face signifieth the beginning of their preaching which alway beginneth from the Ghospell for they promise to say nothing but the most pure word of God so they most easily allure the simple The scorpions taile signifieth the poysoned and deadly euent for after they haue proposed the word of God they depraue it with their peruerse interpretation and in that sort as it were writhing their taile they strike in their sting and infuse their deadly poyson The Locusts body which is in a manner nothing but
belly for the locust hath a great belly and therefore it can neither go nor fly well but skippeth a little vp and presently falleth downe to the ground againe signifieth that the heretikes of this tyme are men addicted to their bellies enemies of fasting and continency and therefore they can neither go by the way of the commandements nor fly to the contemplation of heauenly thinges They indeauour indeed sometyme to erect themselues and amend their manners but they presently fall to the earth againe like Locusts of which the Saxonicall Visitation may serue for an example For when Luther cōsidered that by reason of the Euangelicall liberty which he preached and the abrogation of all Ecclesiasticall lawes the people did runne into all vices without a bridle he ordayned a Visitation and admonished the Pastors that they should preach pennance the feare of God obedience good workes c. but it profited nothing See Cochlaeus in vita actis Lutheri anno 1527. In like manner they endeauour to fly by contemplation and they write euery where bookes of the Trinity of the Incarnation and of such other mysteries but they fall into most grieuous errours yea most pernicious heresies as is manifest of the Vbiquists who destroy the whole mystery of the Incarnation and Trinity The Crownes vpon the heads of the Locusts signify the arrogancy and pride with which they extoll themselues aboue all men There is a booke of Luthers extant to Duke George In it he saith thus From the tyme of the Apostles no Doctor or VViter no Deuine or Lawyer hath so notably and cleerely confirmed instructed and comforted the consciences of secular states as I haue done By the singular grace of God I know this certainely that neither Augustine nor Ambrose which notwithstanding are the best in this assayre are equall to me in this What that not only Luther and Caluin do set nothing by a 1000. Cyprians and Augustines but also euery paltry Minister accompt all Papists asses and blocks Now these Crownes were as it were of gould that is they seemed of gould but they were not because they faigne that they are moued to that which they say with the zeale of Gods honour and charity whereas notwithstanding they know nothing lesse then the zeale of God The Lions teeth signify the detractions with which both in writing speaches they teare the fame of Bishops Clerkes Monkes and of the very Saints themselues which reigne happily with God And surely they seeme to be nourished with detraction and they say so many thinges which neither are or haue bene and perhaps shall neuer be that they seeme to haue cast of all conscience this is manifest inough aswell by other thinges which are euery where read in their bookes as by those which we cited a little before out of the Smalchaldicall Synod Illyricus Tilemanus Caluin and Chytraeus The brest armed with an iron plate signifieth their obstinacy for they are so obdurate that though they be most plainely conuinced yet they neuer yeild and many tymes they had rather die then leaue their obstinacy The likenes of horses which seemed prepartd to warre signifieth their bouldnes and temerity for they most bouldly prouoke all to warre whereas notwithstanding afterwards for the most part they bring only lyes for arguments Luther in assertione art 25. Come hither saith he all you Papists togeather ioyne all your studies if perhaps you can vndoe this knot In which manner do almost all the rest speake Now the similitude of the flying chariots signifieth the swiftnes which this new heresy vseth in taking possession of diuers Countries for in short tyme it hath not only inuaded many Kingdomes in the North partes but also durst runne out to the Indians although God permitted not that is could stay there for that new and tender Church of Christ did not deserue so great a scourge Finally the Angell of the bottomelesse pit is said to be the King of these Locusts for although the Locusts haue not a visible King as we said before yet they cannot want an inuisible King that is the Diuell for he is King ouer all the children of Pride Iob. 41. Now the King of the Locusts is called an Exterminatour because the Diuell neuer so destroyed and wasted the Church by any heresie or persecution as he hath done by the Lutherans for other heresies for the most part destroyed one or two articles but did not wholy ouerthow the whole order and discipline of the Church But the Lutheran Heresie partly by herselfe and partly by her ofspring the Anabaptists Caluinists Trinitarians Libertines hath destroyed all the good thinges which the Church had in the places where it could preuayle for it hath taken from God the Trinity by the new Samosatenes the Deity from Christ by the same men and his Humanity by the Anabaptists from all the Angells and Saintes all worship and inuocation from Purgatory the suffrages of the liuing yea it hath exterminated Purgatory it selfe From the Church which is in earth it hath taken away many bookes of diuine Scripture in a manner all Sacraments all Traditions the Priesthood the Sacrifice Vowes Fasts Holy-dayes Temples Atars Reliques Crosses Images all Monuments of piety Likewise all Ecclesiasticall lawes all discipline and order But perhaps she hath spared hell least she should wrong her King the Angell of the bottomlesse pitte She hath not For many of the Lutherans do also deny the true and locall hell and feygne I know not what imaginary hell as we shewed before in the disputation of Christs descending into hell Truely therfore this may be called an exterminating heresie and worthy of that Captaine who is called in Hebrew anaddoch in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latin Exterminator And surely it were a wonder if the Lutherans themselues did not admire this extermination vnlesse they were altogeather blinded with the smoke of which we spake before But amidst so many euills there is one consolation that as S. Iohn saith these Locusts hurt not the greene herbs and trees but only those men that haue not the signe of the liuing God for since that this heresie is wholy carnall it cannot easily deceaue good men and those in whose minds religion and piety is greene and doth flourish So we see that it hath seldome or neuer happened that any hath fallen from the Church to the Lutherans who began not first to be of a corrupt and loose life among Catholiks But thus much of this THE XXIIII CHAPTER The arguments of Caluin and Illyricus are confuted who go about to proue that the Pope is no longer a Bishop where also the fable of Pope Ioane the Woman is confuted THERE remaineth that which we propounded in the last place viz. that we shew that the Bishop of Rome is not only not Antichrist but that he hath not lost his Bishoprick by any other meanes for Caluin and Illyricus the one with a reason the other with a certaine coniecture go about
neither to which we likewise willingly agree for the tyme was and that An inuisible persecution of an inuisible Congregation within these hundred yeares when there was no Protestant in the world to persecute so that this is an inuisible persecution of an inuisible Congregation which he maketh so much adoe about and will needes haue it to be the great persecution of Antichrist Finally he would willingly bring his brethren to an agreement about the time of Antichrists comming but he laboureth in vaine and bringeth nothing but that which is already confuted in the third chapter VVherfore it remayneth cleere and manifest that the persecution of Antichrist is not yet come 8. The third part of this Demonstration was that in The publike daily office and Sacrifice of the Church shall cease in Antichrists tyme the tyme of Antichrists persecution the publike and daily office and sacrifice of the Church shall cease which M. Downam denieth flatly but yet would seeme to moderate it by adding that at least it shall not be so at his first coÌ„ming theÌ„ setteth downe certayne degrees inuented by himselfe of Antichrists appearing which so far as they make any way against vs haue and shal be sufficientlie confuted But now wee must intreat M. Downam not to go from the difficultie but to answere directly to Bellarmines argumeÌ„t takeÌ„ out of an expresse place of Scripture ioyned with the exposition of the Fathers whome hee easilie reiecteth in few wordes saying Downam reiecteth the Fathers the hee needeth not runne with Bellarmine to the Fathers for the exposition of this place but I am afraid wee shall find him running to worse men who will leade him into most absurd errours for that is most true which S. Hierome writeth in the end of Dan. 11. hauing learnedly confuted M. DownaÌ„s chief Captaine in the exposition of this whole place which wee haue now in hand Hoc ideo prolixiùs posui saith he vt Prophyrij ostendam calumniam qui haec omnia ignorauit aut nescire se finxit Scripturae sanctae difficultatem cuius intelligentiam absque Dei gratia doctrina maiorum sibi imperitissimè vel maximè vendicant I haue put downe this the more at large both to shew Prophyries calumny who either was ignorant The difficultie of the Scripture why many erre in the interpretation thereof of these thinges or saygned that he knew theÌ„ not also the difficultie of holy Scripture the vnderstanding of which the most vnskillfull aboue all others challeng to themselues without Gods grace and their Ancestors learning And may not M. Downam be ashamed to defeÌ„d this very calumny and to shew himselfe as ignorant or malicious as wicked Prophyrie himselfe and consequently to be without Gods grace which S. Hierome ioyneth with the learning of our elders whome M. Downam professeth to set litle by and so by S. Hieromes iudgement is a graceles impudent most vnlearned heretike And will any man be so mad as to aduenture his saluation vpon the conduct of such blind giudes But yet let vs discouer his follie more fully that if it be possible he may by shame be brought to leaue it or at least others which are not so farre ingaged may see it and abhore it Wherefore S. Hierome in the same 11. Chapter Dan. 11. vpon those wordes Et saciet iuxta voluntatem suam Rex c. sheweth that now not onlie all Christians but euen the Downam followeth Prophyry an Anpostata against both Christians and Iewes very Iewes themselues who before had their particuler interpretations agreed that from that place the Prophet was to be vnderstood of Antichrist Ab hoc loco saith he Iudai de Antichristo diciputant And a little after Quod quidem not de Antichristo intelligimus Prophyrius antem caeteri qui sequuntur eum de Antiocho Epiphane dici arbitrantur From this place the Iewes thinke that Antichrist is spoken of which truly we also vnderstand of Antichrist but Prophyrie and those which follow him among whome M. Downam will needes make one suppose it to be spoken of Antiochus Epiphanes But comming to the 12. Chap. out of which Bellarmine alleadged Dan. 12. his testimony S. Hierome writeth thus Hactenus Prophyrius vtcumque setenuit tam nostrorum imperitis quà m suorum malè eruditis inposuit De hoc capitulo quid dicturus est in quo mortuorum describitur resurrectio alijs suscitat is in vitam aternam alijs in opprobrium sempiternum Nec potest dicere quifuerint sub Antiocho fulgentes quasi splender firm amenti alij quasi stella in perpetuas aeternitates Sed quid non facit pertinacia Quasi contritus coluber cleuat caput moriturus in eos quimorturi sunt venena diffundit Hitherto in some sort Prophyrie hath defended himselfe and deceaued aswell the vnlearned among vs as the euill learned among them What will hee say of this Chapter in which the resurrectioÌ„ of the dead is described some being raised to life euerlasting others to euerlasting reproach Neither can he tell vs who vnder Antiochus they were that shined as the brightenes of the firmament and others as starres for euerlasting eternities But what doth not pertinacie She listeth vp her head like a brused snake dying spitteth out her venom DownaÌ„s and Prophyries pertinacy vpon them which are likewise to dy And will M. Downam ioyne with Prophyrie in his pertinacie Will he needes be one of these brused-dying-snakes and still continue to spit out his hereticall persidious poison If he be thus obstinate yet I beseech my Readers yea all my Countreymen to fly from him least he kill them with his venemous tongue For if they will not approach too neere they may perhaps heare him hisse like a goose but sting them he caÌ„not But let vs heare what S. Hierome writeth vpon the very words which Bellarmine citeth Hos mille ducentos nonaginta dies Porphyrius in tempore Antiochi in desolatione Templidicit completos quam Iosephus Machabeorum liber tribus tantùm annis fuisse commemorat Ex quo perspicâ—â—â—â— est tres istos semis annos de Antichristi dici temperibus quitribus semis annis hoc est mille ducento nonaginta diebus Sanctos persecuturus est Postea corrâ—iturus in mâ—nte inâ—â—yâ—o sancto A tempore igitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod nos interpretari sumus Iuge sacrificium quando Antichristus orbem obtinens Dei cultum interdixerit vsque ad internâ—cionem eius tres semis anni id est mille ducento nonaginta dies complebuntur These thousand two hundreth and ninetie daies Porphyrie saith were fulfilled in the tyme of Antiochus and in the desolation of the Temple which both Iosephus and the booke of the Machabees mention to haue bene only three yeares By which it is manifest that these thret yeares and a halfe are spoken of Antichrists
tymes who shal persecuie the Saints three yeares and a halfe that is a thousand two hundreth ninety daies and after shall perish in the famous and holy Mountayne From the tyme therfore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we haue traÌ„slated the coÌ„tinuall sacrifice wheÌ„ Antichrist coÌ„quering the world shal forbid the worship of God vntill his destructioÌ„ three yeares a halfe that is a thousand two hundreth and nynety dayes Thus farre S. Hierome where we haue not only his opinion but also his proofes euen out of the conference with scripture which M. S. Hierom confuteth Porphiry and Downam Downam appealeth vnto but perhaps he meaneth only if we giue him leaueÌ„ to choose the places make the conference himself But we must know him better before we giue him so much liberty except it be reseruing the like to our selues so that after we haue heard what he can say we may confer it with other surer principles then his expositions are and only admit of that which we find agreable to them And vpon this condition we will see how well he conferreth in this place First then he conferreth this place with Chapter 7. where he saith that the tyme from the interruption of Gods seruice to the first restitution therof by Iudas Machabaeus which was three yeares and ten dayes namely from the 15. of the moneth Casleu in the 145. yeare of the Seleucidae 1. Machab. 1. 57. vnto the 25. Dan. 7. of the moneth of Casleu in the yeare 148. 1. Machab. 4. 52. is called by Daniel a tyme and tymes and partell of a tyme. But now wee DownaÌ„s petitio principij returne to the same difficulty wherfore not to be too tedious remitting my Reader for the rest to that which hath byn said about this 7. Chapter of Daniel in the 5. Chapter I will only recyte S. Hierome vpon these very words in controuersy Tempus annuÌ„ significat saith he tempora iuxta Haebraici sermonis proprietatem qui ipsi dualem numerum habent duos aÌ„nos praefigurant dimidium autem temporis sex menses quibus Sancti potestati Antichristi permittendi sunt vt condemnentur Iudaei qui non credentes veritati susceperunt mendacium de quo tempore Saluator in Euangelio loquitur Nisi abbrâ—â—iati essent dies illi nequaquam salua esset omnis caro Non conuenire haec tempora a Antiocho in extrema visione dicemus A tyme signifieth a yeare tymes according to the propriety of the hebrew speach which haue also the duall number prefigure two yeares and halfe a tyme six monthes in which the Saintes are to be permitted to Antichrists power that the Iewes may be condemned who not belieuing the truth receaued a lye of which tyme our Sauiour also in the Ghospell saith Except those daies should be shortned all slesh thould not be safe That these tymes agree not to Antiochus we will teach in the last vision Thus farre S. Hierome Where we see that both these places are to be vnderstood of Antichrist and neither of Antiochus which appeareth also by that in this Chapter aswell as in the 12. there is expresse mention made of the last iudgment as S. Hierome noted in The interruptioÌ„ of the Iewes Sacrifice was only three yeares the place which I alleaged before So that his computation of the times out of 1. Machab. are not to the purpose and besides as S. Hierome also noreth that time is only three yeares for so it is rather to be accompted froÌ„ the 25. day of the moneth Casleu when 1. Machah 1. it is expressed that the Gentiles first sacrificed super aram quae erat contra altare vpon the Are which was against the Altar and so the Scripture it selfe accompteth in the place alleadged by M. Downam 1. Machab. 4. secundum tempus secundum diem in qua contaminauerunt illud gentes according to the tyme and according to the day in which the Gentills defiled it and by this reckoning M. Downam hath lost his ten dayes which he made so great accompt of that hee was not afraid to corrupt the wordes of Scripture Downam corrupteth the Scripture by changing halfe a tyme into a parcell of a tyme as though because halfe is not the whole but a parcell therefore euery parcell had bene halfe But now by the Scripture and S. Hieromes accompt he hath neither halfe nor parcell aboue three yeares and yet they must haue an entyre halfe of M. Downam or els he is like to smart for it one day And is not this a strange conferring of Scripture thinke you to alleadge a place of Scripture against himselfe and then to change it because otherwise it will not serue his turne wheras indeed if it had bene as he would haue it a parcell and not halfe it had byn least of all to the purpose except by that parcell we should haue vnderstood an halfe for otherwise it had bene cleere that these two places were DownaÌ„s conferring of Scripture spoken of diuers thinges And this M. Downam did in some sort see wherefore he telleth vs that vnto the victory obteyned by the Machabees wherby the forces of Antiochus were expelled out of Iury and therby the restitution before begun established were 3. yeares and a halfe as Iosephus testifieth But this maketh nothing to the purpose as neither his other accomptes of 1260. dayes to the striking of Antiochus and 1335. vnto his death for which two later he neither citeth Scripture or other Author for See the next Chapter heere is no conference of Scripture at all and besides if all this were so which wee can hardly belieue till it be better proued it only sheweth a wonderfull correspondence betwixt Antiochus the figure and Antichrist whom he figured but no way proueth that in the places of Dan. 7. and 12. there is any mention of Antiochus which S. Hierome hath euidently disproued and much lesse that they were only to be Antiochus not spoken of at all Dan. 7. 12. vnderstood of him which is that which it behooueth M. Downam to demonstrate for otherwise Bellarmines argument hath his full force and much more now that there is no mention of Antiochus This then being so I doubt not any discreet and indifferent Reader will graunt that not only the Iewes but also the Christians were to haue a continuall sacrifice and worship of God which was not wholie to be interrupted vntill Antichrists tyme and against all M. Downams rayling I need to oppose no other argument but only this place which is sufficient to conuince any but obstinate heretikes And he bringeth not any one argument but only affirmeth many blasphemies without all proofe and therefore at this tyme the discreet Reader must expect no more but a bare Downam his fellow Ministers their manner of disputing denyall to a bare affirmation for otherwise wee should neuer make an end of iangling if whensoeuer he will blaspheme I should