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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03335	Mystical babylon, or Papall Rome A treatise vpon those words, Apocal. 18.2. It is fallen, it is fallen Babylon, &c. In which the wicked, and miserable condition of Rome, as shee now is in her present Babylonian estate, and as she shall be in her future ineuitable ruine, is fully discouered: and sundry controuersiall points of religion, betwixt the Protestants, and the Papists, are briefly discussed. By Theophilus Higgons, rector of the parochiall Church of Hunton, neere Maidstone in Kent.	Higgons, Theophilus, 1578?-1659.	1624 (1624)	STC 13455; ESTC S118140	129,351	289

Histories be false then they make nothing against vs. If they bee true yet they make very much for vs. How can this be Because the wickednesse of the Persons doth prooue the sanctitie and perpetuitie of their Seate so that the issue of my labour in shewing their impieties would be the preiudice of my cause Heare therefore the Cardinall speaking in his owne words Nihil est quòd haeretici c. It is to no purpose saith he for the heretickes to take so much paines in searching out the vices of certaine Popes Why so For we confesse that they were not few A good confession though before we heard him speake in another Language Si vera sunt if those things were true Well now they are true now he confesseth the accusation but why For hee hath inuented a new defence of the Seat by the old offences of the persons Heare him therefore againe in his owne words Tantum abest c. This is so farre saith he from obscuring or diminishing the glorie of this Seate that thereby it is rather exceedingly amplified and increased for that thereby we may perceiue that it consisteth by the speciall prouidence of God So he But I perceiue no such matter howbeit I perceiue that nothing was so absurd which some Philosopher would not maintaine and nothing is so true and forcible which these Babylonians will not either denie or elude And farther I perceiue that recitasse confutasse est to recite their opinions is to refute their follies And lastly I perceiue that as it is Gods singular patience to suffer these Monarchs of Babylon a while so there is a time of wrath to come and it cannot bee farre off when the Whore must perish by fire and her Beast must yeeld vnto the Sword For as in this Sermon you haue heard of a Babylon the sinne of Rome in the subiect of my Text so in the next you shall heare of a cecidit the punishment of Rome in predicate of the same Meane while I conclude by due and true remonstrances in the first and second Inquisitions two distinct parts of my discourse the one shewing by good and pregnant reasons that Rome in her present condition is the Babylon in my Text the other declaring the conformitie betwixt the Literall Babylon and Papall Rome and so expressing the congruitie of this title of Babylon applied here vnto Rome that since Rome doth imitate nay much exceed the sinnes of Babylon therefore shee doth iustly and must necessarily beare her name agreeing vnto it in regard of the Church and the Citie as both are vnder one and their common head the Pope This was the cleere intention of the Angell this is the certaine exposition of this Scripture Wherefore as Simeon and Leui are called fratres in malo Gen. 49.5 brethren in euill so Babylon and Rome are sorores in malo sisters in euill like in condition and in qualitie to their owne confusion as the name of the first doth originally import and doth likewise ominate vnto the second Obseruations pertaining to Faith and Manners framed vpon the passages in the two former Inquisitions NOw I come thirdly and lastly vnto such Obseruations according to my promise and proiect in the beginning of this Sermon as doe kindly and proper ensue vpon the precedent passages of my discourse and they are ten which I will prosecute with such conuenient breuitie as the matter of each will particularly beare FIRST then as the Church of God doth stand specially indebted vnto him for this diuine Booke of the Reuelation wherein wee may plainely discouer the prescience of God in things to come and the care of God in the administration of his Church so it being more darke vnto the ancient Fathers so many syllables so many mysteries therein and breeding more admiration then bringing vtilitie vnto them by the great obscuritie thereof so that the Pen-man of this sacred Booke might truly say Scripsi non scripsi I haue written and not written I haue reuealed and yet concealed the future condition of the Church therefore now wee stand bound vnto God in a new and farther obligation for that wee in the successe of time and euent of things haue attained in sundrie particulars of greatest consequence and namely in this mysterie of Babylon vnto such a perspicuous and infallible vnderstanding of this Booke which is the Beniamin of Iesus Christ the principall Author thereof the Sonne of his right hand the last borne in the whole Issue of the Scripture which hee begate vnto his Church the conclusion of that Oracle whence we deriue our Faith This Booke is therefore vnto vs the apparant Seale of Gods prouidence a strong bulwarke of our Faith an incurable wound of the Babylonian Monarch a certaine expugnation of the Antichristian Church For though the learned Iesuite Ludouicus ab Alcasar in his copious exposition of this Booke doth so peruert the sense and purpose of the Holy Ghost therein by laying the name of Babylon vpon Rome in her Ethnicall estate alone pretending that this fall is only in a spirituall manner by falling from her ancient Idolatrie vnto the Faith of Christ and therefore concludeth his exposition of this Booke in these brauing words Maximâ sum voluptate perfusus c. I am filled with singular contentation and ioy of heart because through the fauour of God I haue now cleerely discerned how glorious this Booke of the Reuelation is vnto the Romane Church yet wee may contemne his folly or rather commiserate his blindnesse in this case But wee will leaue him vnto the censure of Ribera so well discerning that this Babylon is Rome in another estate succeeding after the intertainment of Christian Religion and that this fall is by a great and finall ruine of that Idolatrous Citie that hee pronounceth them to be worse then very fooles that will not see and confesse this point The truth is this good Christian hearers that though Ribera first and Viegas after him doe confidently deny that Rome is Babylon now or that the Church of Rome euer shall so bee or that the Citie it selfe while shee remaineth in subiection to the Pope shall deserue that name yet by making such a plaine and faire confession which the very euidence of the Text with the due coherence of all circumstances therein did necessarily extort from their pens that Rome is Babylon also in another and ●● second estate and that it shall bee so full of Idolatry at home and communicate it abroad and that shee shall haue great negotiation of Merchants and that shee shall haue another Empire largely patent and greatly potent in the world therefore not onely a strong suspition but a manifest conuiction must fall ineuitably vpon Papall Rome as wee haue deduced by many substantiall proofes against the vaine and poore surmises of Ribera and Viegas to the contrarie the true Babylon of which I haue spoken heretofore that shall come vnto the lamentable fall whereof I shall speake

hereafter This consequence Ludonicus ab Alcasar either well perceiuing or vehemently suspecting it to ensue vpon the said confession of his brethren hath therefore cast a new myst vpon the matter drawne a vayle before our eyes contradicted their exposition wrested the sacred Text vnto his foolish and ridiculous fancie as if the state of this Babylon and her fall were past that so wee might not discerne the true Babylon which is now present nor her certaine fall which is yet to come But let mee here speake a word or two for I am to passe vnto other matters touching this learned grando Ludouicus ab Alcasar If this Babylon be Rome onely in her Ethnicall estate and if Rome haue not any other fall but only a mysticall fall viz. by falling vnto Christian Religion from that estate which estate hath now beene extinct neere vpon the space of one thousand three hundred yeres and yet it appeareth in the frame and tenour of the sacred Booke of the Reuelation that no speciall and notable matter of propheticall prediction therein doth interuene or come betwixt the ruine of Babylon which is described historically Chapter 18. there being a prolepsis only or briefe anticipation thereof Chapter 14.8 and the consummation of the world for after the fall of Babylon Chapter 18. S. Iohn proceedeth Chapter 19. to an applause of the Saints for her destruction then Chapter 20. to a recapitulation of things past with a declaration of the generall Iudgement being then shortly to come then finally Chapter 21. and 22. to a description of the heauenly Ierusalem and the happy condition of the Saints therein c. it must necessarily follow that this voluminous Iesuite of Alcasar this man of the Land of Nod in the tohu and bohu the vanitie and inanitie of his large and copious Commentarie vpon this diuine Booke hath left open so wide a gap of one thousand three hundred yeres or neere vpon that space alreadie past besides that time which is yet to come in the state of the Church and of the world without any sufficient matter of Historicall prediction to fill vp the same And yet who doth not perceiue by the beginning and the ending of this Booke that it doth in the passages thereof generally containe a perpetuall and a continued Historie of the Church in her whole decourse euen from the time of Saint Iohn vnto the end of the world Farewell then gentle Ludouicus ab Alcasar with your little wit and lesse honestie and so I returne my benigne and courteous Auditors vnto you againe Reioyce you therefore in this inestimable Booke embrace it with gratitude conuerse in it with diligence admire what you vnderstand and what you vnderstand not admire it the more search it with industrie enter into it with praier despise not the opinion of others presume not vpon your owne let not the obscuritie of some things yet vnknowne make you neglect the vtilitie of so many things and particularly this mysterie of Babylon alreadie knowne therein Read it reuerence it repute it as it is the sacred Oracle of God committed vnto his Church to sustaine her patience and to confirme her faith SECONDLY wee haue great cause to commend Gods goodnesse and to applaud our owne happinesse in the certaine and cleere discouerie of Babylon in this diuine and mysticall Booke For as the Starre did lead the Wise-men to find out Bethlehem where Christ was borne so this Scripture doth guide and conduct vs vnto the knowledge of Babylon wherein Antichrist doth reigne Rome shall not therefore infatuate vs with her glorious title of the Mother-Church for now wee know her to bee the Mother of Fornications shee shall not insult with the faire priuiledge of the Apostolicall Seate for now wee know her to be an Apostaticall Synagogue shee shall not beare vs downe with the supremacie of a Papall Head-ship for now wee know who is the Second Beast intruding vpon the Seate and Dominion of the former with a larger challenge of power extensiuè in place and intensiuè in degree now we know who hee is that aduanceth himselfe ouer Kings and Emperours ouer States and Crownes ouer Church and Common-wealth by his false Keyes and pretensed Swords THIRDLY whereas this Romish Babylon cryeth out vpon our separation from her Societie wee are warranted nay wee are commanded thereunto by the voyce of God himselfe Goe out of her my people and the reason is not there taken only from her sinnes in that shee is Babylon but from her punishment also in that shee shall fall for so it followeth that you bee not partakers in her sinnes and that you receiue not of her plagues of which I am to treate when I come vnto the predicate of my Text. Meane while you may obserue that this Exodus this departure out of Babylon is Corporall and not spirituall onely unto sch as haue Locall communion with her and dwell within her walls but it is Spirituall onely and not corporall vnto such as dwelling in England France c. haue doctrinall communion with her and are members depending vpon her head so that this word her goe out of her importeth not onely her site and place but her societie and errours Goe then specially out of these ô you his people whether within or without her walls whether you bee in Rome where God hath some people euen by the testimony of the Text or whether in any other part of the world And since shee casteth you out of her societie desire it not for it is vnto your owne danger shee doth that for you which God requireth you to doe for your selues And now let mee in a few words addresse my speech vnto rhetoricall Campian insulting vpon the Protestants with his termes of derision and contempt Audito nomine Ecclesiae hostis expalluit saith hee our aduersarie waxed pale when hee heard the very name of the Church as if the Protestant could produce no Catalogue of names for any visible existencie and lawfull succession of his Church which Rome onely hath and the Protestant hath not How shallow weake malicious and vnlearned a pretence this is either against vs or for themselues it is now no conuenient time nor proper occasion to dispute I will attend both as it shall please God in his prouidence to direct mee in this behalfe But vnto Campian I returne my answere truely fairely and pertinently by the verdict of my Text. Audito nomine Babylonis hostis expalluit our aduersarie waxed pale vpon the very name of Babylon it troubled his wit it vexed his heart it is a terrour vnto his soule for hee liueth in that from which hee ought to flye if hee haue any part in Gods people Now as the cause of our separation from Rome is necessarie in many respects and is grounded here vpon such a principle as cannot bee denied so wee need not depart from Rome but because she is Babylon and as she is Babylon as she is departed

IAMES lately Lord Bishop of Winton whose kind entertainement of mee in priuate and fauourable testimonie of mee in publike were more sufficient arguments of his loue then of my desert For I may truely say by the certaine experience of sundrie occurrents in my life that I haue tasted a little of Gods deserued wrath but a great deale more of his vndeserued grace whereof I account this no small part that hee hath giuen mee so much interest in the good opinion and affection of sundrie persons of eminent qualitie and particularly of your Honorable Selfe whom I beseech the Lord of all mercies to blesse in your owne Person and in your noble Posteritie with the temporall blessings of this life and the eternall of the life to come through Iesus Christ our Lord in whom I am and will euer remaine Your Honours most humble and truly deuoted Seruant THEOPHILVS HIGGONS London Ian. 27. 1623. THE PREFACE OF THE AVTHOR VNTO THE CRHISTIAN READER COurteous and ingenuous Reader Since no man can enter well into the roomes of any Treatise but by the doore of a Preface therefore I commend these ensuing Obseruations vnto thee to prepare thee the better thereby vnto the reading of this Discourse First though sundry Expositions are extant vpon this part of Scripture as likewise vpon the whole Booke of the sacred Reuelation and certain Sermons haue beene preached vpon it and then commended vnto the Presse yet I confesse that opening my heart vnto God by prayer to illustrate my vnderstanding with a true and sufficient knowledge thereof I followed chiefly such generall notions touching the same as were layd vp formerly in my mind and willingly sequestred from mee the helpe of other mens labours in this kind excepting such as I shall presently name least I should build vpon another mans foundation and so drowne the discourse of my vnderstanding in the conceits of other learned men with whom I had a resolution not to consult before I had finished the impression of this Treatise Mistake not my meaning and purpose good Reader for I doe not intend hereby to arrogate any thing vnto my selfe aboue other men since I am conscious of mine owne infirmities but to preuent their exceptions who may suppose or pretend that I haue framed a collection onely in this Treatise out of the Sermons or Bookes of other men Secondly whatsoeuer I may seeme to owe vnto any Author of our side I confesse it to bee due principally vnto the learned and indicious Pen of our gracious Souereigne Lord King IAMES in his Paraphrase vpon this Booke as thou wilt easily obserue gentle Reader in certaine passages of my Discourse As for Authors on the Aduersaries part I had no small aduantage and furtherance out of the writings of two learned Iesuites Ribera and Viegas of whom therefore I make frequent mention as seruing in many things exactly for my purpose Thirdly if any acerbitie of stile appeare in this Discourse know that it is drawne from me rather by the necessitie of the matter it selfe which could not be well expressed otherwise then that it came out of the disposition of my mind which hating the errours of Babylon doth yet pittie and loue the persons of all and specially of some that are insnared with the same wishing and desiring their saluation from my heart in Iesus Christ Fourthly I enter vpon this disputation not out of contention but out of conscience with a secure and certaine perswasion of truth and soliditie therein whereof because I make some larger mention hereafter I will say the lesse in this place Fifthly though this Booke in all the pages thereof beareth the title of a first and of a second Sermon yet vnderstand that after I had preached two Sermons at Maidstone in Kent to this purpose and had recollected my meditations I framed them afterward more copiously into the body of a Treatise which therefore I present vnto thee rather vnder this name as exceeding the proportion and in some things differing perhaps from the qualitie of Sermons Sixthly and lastly if it shall please any of the Romane side to stand against me in the defence of his Mother-Church of Rome and to make answere vnto my Discourse vnto which businesse as I challenge no man so I feare not the performance of any man in this kind he must follow me in his answere as I haue gone before him in this Treatise not flying vp and downe without order nor concealing my proofes and reasons but from point to point making a cleere and a substantiall refutation thereof As for bitter words and calumnious writing though I can steepe my Pen in Vineger and Worme-wood as well as they yet I resolue not to follow any aduersarie in this course but as Tertullian saith in his disputation against Hermogenes Viderit Persona cum Doctrina mihi quaestio est so I will leaue the person and come vnto the matter it selfe An Aduertisement WHereas some of my Brethren in this Church of England and some of my Aduersaries in the Church of Rome expect of me an Answere vnto mine owne Booke of Purgatorie and Prayer for the dead sometimes published by mee in forreine parts I assure them both that I had made a collection of sundry notes for this intent and that they were growing into the proportion of a Book had not the necessitie of publishing this Discourse so soone preuented my desire in the other which yet may follow in due time if it shall please God to grant me better health of bodie the state of it being much attenuated by infirmities with the accession of such helpes as are requisite for them that enter vpon this controuersiall kind for want of which necessary meanes together with my bad health in the priuate and rusticane course of my life I may be compelled to desist wholy from the same contenting my selfe hereafter with the exercise of my Pastorall Office in that little Congregation which it hath pleased GOD to commit vnto my charge Farewell THE PRINTER to the Reader GOod Reader thou shalt find the Errata or Faults which are committed in the Impression obserued and amended in the end of this Booke where the principall errours are noted with this marke * because they chiefly aboue the rest require a correction by thy Pen before thou entrest into the reading of this Treatise As for the lesser errours viz. in Points in Orthographie in defect of some Letters in placing small Letters in steed of capitall c. they are left vnto thy prudent and ingenious censure MYSTICALL BABYLON OR PAPALL ROME The first Sermon APOCAL. 18.2 It is fallen it is fallen Babylon THis Text is little in words but great in consequence as Benjamin was a little Tribe but great in dominion Psal 68.27 It is part of a Proclamation made from Heauen and three things inuite vs vnto a serious attention therof FIRST The Person proclaiming an Angell verse 1. euen Christ Iesus himselfe as some conceiue amongst whom I

may particularly name our profoundly learned Souereigne in his iudicious and well composed Paraphrase vpon this mysticall booke who is described here by his excellency he had great power and by his operation the earth was lightned with his glory SECONDLY The manner of his proclamation He cried out mightily with a loude voice verse 2. with a voice more then Stentorian and no maruell for it was Verbum à Verbo a word from the Word a word powerfully spoken by the Word ineffably begotten THIRDLY The matter it selfe It is fallen it is fallen Babylon the place is considerable for it is Babylon by qualitie and name also a great Citie by amplitude of place and power The ruine of it is markable for it is a fall extreme and finall and it is fallen in the time past though it be yet to come by an enallage of the tense and againe it is fallen by an anadiplôsis the one and the other shewing an infallible certainty of euent Thus now my Text is like Rebeccaes wombe it hath twinnes in it Cecidit cecidit as if the ruine of Babylon were sounded forth by the two siluer trumpets Num. 10.2 It is a double voice of ruine fall vpon fall so that I may vse the words of the Psalme God hath spoken it once or twice Psal 62.11 And as my Text is double here by the ingemination of one word so it is double by the repetition of the same sentence elsewhere viz. Apoc. 14.8 Againe that which in both these places is spoken of mysticall Babylon Rome as an one you shall heare is foretold by prophecie and we haue seene it verified by experience of literall Babylon the renowned Citie of Chaldaea in the Praedictions of Esay 21.9 Babel is fallen it is fallen This consonancie is in the Scriptures this resemblance in sinne and ruine betwixt the old Babylon and the new For Babylon ●s the first Rome and Rome is the second Babylon I come to the words of my Text wherein there is a fatall coniunction of two things Culpa and Poena the Sinne of Rome implyed in her name Babylon and the punishment of Rome annexed or prefixed rather it is fallen it is fallen We may Logically therefore make this partition of my Text heere is the SVBIECT Babylon and heere is the PRAEDICATE it is fallen In order of the words as they stand herein my Text Babylon is last but in order of sense it is first For in Grammer the nominatiue case goeth before the Verbe In Logicke the Subiect goeth before the Praedicate and in Diuinitie the Sinne goeth before the Punishment Pride goeth before Destruction Pro. 16.18 Wherefore in the prosecution of my Text I will change the place of the words and as Iacob gaue the prioritie to Ephraim Gen. 48.14 in the aduised imposition of his hands so I will giue the precedency to Babylon the last word in my Text and then I will reflect duely vpon her fall expressed in the first place thereof The FIRST part concerning the Subiect and Sinne in the Text BABYLON THough I haue affirmed this Babylon to be Rome yet I require not your suddaine beliefe without a substantiall proofe So that to deduce this matter fairely and cleerely to your vnderstandings I must propose a double inquisition in pursuit whereof we shall come securely vnto the hauen of my desire and then arriue happily vpon the coast vnto which I direct my thoughts First What is this Babylon in my Text. Secondly Why this name is imposed vpon that place which is thereby signified vnto vs. These two points being sufficiently discussed for the true explication of my Text and illustration of this name I will conclude the first part of my Text with such obseruations as shall kindly and properly ensue vpon the same The FIRST Inquisition What is this Babylon in my Text. THis Babylon is not literally to be vnderstood neither for that ancient Citie in Chaldaea nor for that famous Citie in Egypt once called by the name of Memphis and now of Cair since the generall scope and purpose of this booke doth not intend any such sense and many circumstances therein doe sufficiently refute it and finally not any Author in former or later times no Father in the ancient Church no Doctor in succeeding ages did euer so conceiue of this place This Babylon therefore is mystically to be vnderstood according to the common and vsuall tenour of this booke That whole booke of the Reuelation of Saint Iohn is spiritually to be vnderstood by the iudgement of Saint Hierome Epist 148. And hence it is that Dionysius sometimes Bishop of Alexandria confesseth of this obscure and profound booke that it cannot be vnderstood according to the first and obuious sense thereof as Eusebius relateth Histor Eccles l. 7. c. 24. but that there are deepe and hidden mysteries in the same Deepe I confesse and hidden till that Time the mother of truth in the successe and euent of things was the midwife to helpe the Church of God which trauelled long in bringing forth the true and proper sense thereof For as Sampson was directed and guided by his seruant vnto the pillars vpon which the house did stand Iudic. 16.26 so the successe of things conspiring with the Oracles of this booke hath conueighed vs vnto a sound and euident knowledge of many mysteries therein vnknowne to former ages but reuealed in this in regard whereof this booke doth now more fully answere vnto its name for now it is a Reuelation indeed as it was before in title Since therefore this Babylon is heere so called by a Mysterie we will passe along by a gradation through foure seuerall interpretations thereof that so wee may discouer in this point how farre the ancient Church digressed from the marke then how neerely at the last the Romish Church is come vnto it and thereby to know her selfe and then finally how the Reformed Church hath directly hit the marke as the Beniamites could sling stones at an haire breadth and not fayle Iudic. 20.16 The FIRST Interpretation THe first interpretation is framed by S. Augustine whom many follow in this and sundry other points rather for the reason of his authoritie then for the authoritie of his reason and therefore are carried into errour by the venerable estimation of his name Hee confesseth that Rome is another Babylon de ciuit Dei l. 16. c. 17. and that shee is the daughter of Babylon l. 18. c. 22. but not in regard of her sinne and ruine as it is now in my Text which things that greatly learned Father neuer seemed to suspect and therefore teaching truly that there are two Cities in this world mixed together in outward things but seuered in their inward qualities and tending consequently vnto different ends he assumeth falsly that this Babylon out of which wee must flye Apoc. 18.4 is onely the generall Citie of the Deuill and his members whereas the other Citie is a Spirituall Ierusalem and the Citie of God Read S. Augustine

essence exclude the nature of beliefe Two things therefore here by the way are fit for our instruction to know them and for our meditation to contemplate and ruminate thereupon FIRST the excellencie of Faith in it selfe it maketh vs secure in things to come as if they were alreadie past or at the least it maketh them present vnto vs by bringing and presenting them inwardly vnto our mindes Wherein Faith differeth from Hope for as Faith exceedeth Hope in the extent of the obiect Hope looketh onely vpon things desirable and good Faith vpon all things generally that are reuealed by God so where they meet in one obiect the same thing being belieued by Faith and desired by Hope as life eternall c. they haue a different relation thereunto for that is present vnto Faith which is future vnto Hope Hope carrieth vs vnto the things Faith bringeth the things vnto vs. For as Dauids Worthies brake through the Host of their Enemies and brought water out of the Well of Bethlehem vnto him for which hee longed so Faith ascendeth into all places bee they neuer so high descendeth into them be they neuer so deepe flieth vnto them be they neuer so remote pierceth into them bee they neuer so close and bringeth vs the thing which wee long for by an effectuall liuely and forcible demonstration thereof vnto the soule Hope therefore doth comfortably attend Faith doth infallibly assure Hope sustayneth vs in the expectation Faith putteth vs in the possession SECONDLY the benefit of Faith vnto vs it is the eye of a Christian soule and as Luther well obserued the reason of a Christian man Credo Domine I beleeue O Lord Marke 9.24 To which purpose well speaketh one of the Ancients Fides credat intelligentia non requirat Let Faith beleeue let not the Vnderstanding seeke Nay Credendo intelligimus non intelligendo credimus wee beleeue not by vnderstanding but we vnderstand by beleeuing By this is Abraham iustified Rom. 4.17 for aboue Hope the hope of humane reason he beleeued vnder Hope the Hope of diuine Faith By this Saint Paul doth liue I liue by Faith in the Sonne of God Gal. 2.20 By this Saint Iohn conquereth all worldly things this is the victorie that ouercommeth the World euen our Faith 1. Iohn 5.4 To conclude therefore according to the subiect of my speech Let Babylon extoll her selfe and oppresse others let her aduance her selfe and deiect others let her proceed in her Crueltie Idolatry and Pride c. Yet for all these things God shall bring her to iudgement I beleeue it I am certaine of it for hee assureth mee that she is alreadie fallen Faint not then O Religious and Christian hearts vnder her tyrānie but comfort your selues in her assured and infallible ruine which God doth certifie and Faith doth apprehend and time shall manifest at the last but beleeue this for if you beleeue not you shall not be established Esay 7.9 Therefore I say vnto all my brethren as Iehoshaphat vnto his subiects Put your trust in the Lord your God beleeue his Prophets and you shall prosper 2. Chron. 20.20 Now therefore since Faith is of this excellencie in it selfe and bringeth this benefit vnto vs as that by it wee enioy things yet to come by it wee behold things farre distant by it wee are risen againe before we be dead by it we are ascended into Heauen while wee are yet in the Earth by it wee are happie though we be yet in the vale of miserie let vs make three vses of this incomparable gift of God First to prayse God for this grace and particularly in this subiect whereof I now intreat that as hee hath reuealed vnto vs the ruine of our capitall enemie BABYLON in his holy word and by his owne sonne so hee hath giuen vs an assurance of Faith to beleeue it confidently and so strengthened our faith by the certaintie of the prediction as if we had seene it alreadie fulfilled with our eyes Therefore against her power and glorie and dominion and reputation and all outward splendour and finally the concurrencie of her friends or slaues to support her greatnesse whereby she may seeme to subsist by a solid and inconcussible foundation of her estate the same being strengthened by the depth of policie and adorned with all varietie of Learning as Saint Gregorie himselfe did foresee that the Ministers of Antichrist were the Locusts Apocal. 9.7 10. hauing Crownes on their heads signifying literature and knowledge hauing also stings in their tayles signifying power and abilitie I still oppose Gods purpose reuealed in his Word that cannot be frustrate and my Faith founded vpon his Word which cannot be erroneous For as Saint Augustine doth ingeniously and grauely collect out of the Prophet Daniel that the resurrection of the dead so cleerely foretold by him shall certainly be effectuated in due time because other things in that Prophet so long before set downe in his Prophesie haue had their reall and actuall accomplishment according to his prediction which being true in the rest cannot faile in this so my Faith is established firmely here in this point by diligent obseruation of all othet passages in this Booke once very obscure but now daily more and more cleere because other things being so notably discouered in their euent and the predictions of this mysticall Scripture being made so apparant in the successe of time I may not I will not I cannot doubt of the adimpletion of this particular but that Romish Babylon shall finally come vnto her fatall ruine as shee is alreadie fallen in Gods certaine Preuision eternall Counsell and immutable Decree Secondly we ought to nourish this faith by all possible meanes especially by reading the holy Scriptures and conferring one place thereof with another which is a singular key to open vnto vs their sense and meaning according to the prescription of the two learned Fathers Saint Hierome contra Pelag. lib. 1. c. 4. and August de doctr Christ lib. 2. c. 9. lib. 3. c. 26. So this particular the collation and comparison of the Scriptures one part of the Reuelation with another the predictions of Saint Paul with the Visions of Saint Iohn together with the obseruation of manifold occurrences in the Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall state from time to time since the declination of the Empire and corruption of the Church as the Histories of each may sufficiently deduce vnto our knowledge doth notably discouer this Babylonian Mysterie vnto vs with the beginning progresse and decadencie of her estate THIRDLY since Faith is the speciall gift of God who sanctifieth vnto vs the outward meanes to increase and confirme the same wee must humbly sue vnto God by deuout and earnest Prayer with the Kingly Prophet Dauid Psal 119.18 Open mine eyes O Lord that I may see the wonderfull things in thy Law Otherwise as the Iewes reade the old Testament and yet cannot find Christ therein so men may may reade the new and cannot see see

Antichrist therein Why because their hearts are hardned their vnderstandings are forestalled with preiudice the veile is ouer their eyes they walke in darknesse and will not see the light For such I will pray that God would open their hearts that they may entertaine his sauing Truth But for my selfe and others who haue bin in the like condition with mee whose eyes were blinded with the glorie of Babylon for as Zebul said vnto Gaal Iudic 9.36 the shadow of the Mountaynes seeme men vnto thee so the shadow of many things seemed a substance of verity vnto vs I will thanke God for that he hath opened our eyes to see this mysterie and misery of Babylon that she is fallen that she is gone into perdition that God hath destroyed her for euer Credo Domine O Lord I beleeue thy Word not my owne reason which I captiuate into the obedience of faith and therefore I pray with thine Apostles O Lord increase our faith Luke 17.5 that we may beleeue thy Word And thus much bee spoken concerning the first cause why the Fall of Babylon which is yet to come is expressed by a time alreadie past SECONDLY by this forme and tenour of speech God doth euidently declare vnto his Church the truth and certaintie of his promise in the destruction of Babylon that we may repose securely in this expectation of her ruine his dixit is a fecit it is spoken and it is done in regard of his infallible Word and constant promise And that wee may more cleerely vnderstand this point we must obserue a double kinde of Prophesie in the holy Scriptures The FIRST is a Prophesie of Commination as God did threaten the fall of Niniueh within fortie dayes but hee threatned her fall that she might not fall for the effect of such a Prophesie dependeth vpon our comportment and carriage thereupon toward God by Repentance and therefore it hath a condition implyed here though not expressed as sometimes it is Ieremie 18.7 8. vpon which the execution doth stay or go forth according as we performe or neglect the same So that this Prophesie is conditionall and not absolute it contayneth Gods sentence and not his Decree and therefore it is expressed in the future tense Nineueh shall fall In this case the Prophesie is changeable if we be changed and therefore God calleth vs to Repentance that we may escape his iudgements And though this kind of Prophesie be not now particularly directed against thy Countrey nor thy person as in the holy Scriptures it is often so directed against such a Nation such a Citie and such a man yet as the generall comminations of God against sinners doe include vs and will take hold vpon vs if wee returne not vnto God with the teares of true repentance so the particular examples of his comminations denounced and executed against some Cities and some persons doe by equall reason and a like cause appertaine vnto vs according to the rule and obseruation of our blessed Sauiour Except you amend your liues you shall likewise perish Luk. 13.3 5. When Nineueh is threatned by Ionah England is threatned when her ruine is declared by Nahum how can England be secure Pares culpâ cur impares poena why is she vnlike to Nineueh in punishment who is so like to her in sinne wee feare the destruction and not the sinne the effect and not the cause But it is the Lords Mercies that wee are not consumed The SECOND is a Prophesie of Predestination as I may call it depending indeed vpon our sinne but yet resolued by God as well as declared in which respect it is absolute and not conditionall once decreed and neuer reuoked concluded in Gods immutable counsell foreseene in his infallible prescience and it is rather pronounced then denounced by him Therefore it is expressed either in the time past as heere in my Text and Esay 21.9 or in the time present though the effect doe not yet appeare For wee may obserue that in the Prophesie of Ionah there being a commination against her at that time it is deliuered in the future tense Nineueh shall fall but in the Prophesie of Nahum there being now a resolution of God declared concerning her subuersion it is deliuered in the present tense the Horseman lifteth vp the bright Sword a multitude is slaine they stumble vpon their corpses Chap. 3.3 and then in the seuenth Verse Nineueh is destroyed So that in this kind of Prophesie these two tenses to wit the present and the preterperfect haue a coincident sense and purpose concerning an infallibilitie of the euent Whence it is that the Prophet Esay ioyneth them both together in the Passion of Christ and Mysterie of our Redemption saying of him that he is despised he is a man full of sorrowes he is brought as a sheepe vnto the slaughter Esay 53.3.7 as well as hee was oppressed he was afflicted c. Thus wee see by the conference of Scriptures that the fall of Babylon here certified vnto vs in the time past it is fallen doth truly import an ineuitable euent a sentence neuer to bee recalled proceeding from a decree neuer to bee changed because God hereby doth insinuate vnto our knowledge that shee would not bee renewed by repentance and that hee would not conferre that grace vpon her but leaue her to perish in the course of her owne sinnes And this truth is farther assured and amplified by al the circumstances preceding her ruine accompanying her ruine following her ruine in three seueral chapters 17.18.19 in such large and ample termes that the very Image of Babylon in all these things is effectually and liuely exhibited thereby vnto our eyes as a matter of present action rather then future accomplishment rather to be seene then to be beleeued Wherefore the promise of God being thus verified vnto vs in this forme and manner of speech let vs by the way make a little reflection vpon this point for our vse and obseruation as being of so great consequence for the benefit of Gods children and aduancement of his truth First then the fidelitie of Gods promise herein doth exclude and confute their errour who suppose that this is a prophecie of Commination onely and not of Resolution against Romish Babylon as though shee might turne from her sinnes and consequently God might turne from his wrath In which opinion S. Hierome himselfe was involued as it appeareth in his darke vncertaine and perplexed discourse touching Babylon and her ruine in the conclusion of his second book against Iovinian whose errors did then begin to possesse many in Rome and to intangle them in his snare composed artificially out of sundry passages of the Scripture Wherevpon S. Hierome maketh a patheticall Apostrophe vnto Rome in this manner I will speake vnto thee O Rome which by the confession of Christ hast blotted out of thy forehead the blasphemy written therein There the name Babylon is laid vpon Ethnicall Rome as if Rome were afterward to bee discharged