¶ A SERMON preached at Hampton Court on Sonday being the. 12. day of Nouember in the yeare of our Lord. 1570. VVherein is plainly proued Babylon to be Rome both by Scriptures and Doctors Preached by VVilliam Fulke Bacheler of Diuinity and fellow of S. Iohns Colledge in Cambridge APOCALIPS 14. ¶ She is fallen she is fallen euen Babylon that great Citie for of the wyne of the furie of her fornication she hath made all nations to drinke Imprinted at London by Iohn Awdely ⧠TO THE RIGHT honorable vertuous lord Ambrose Dudley Earle of Varwike Maister of the Queenes Maiesties Ordinance and Knight of the most noble order of the Garter WHERE as it pleased your Honor to requyre a copy of my Sermon which I preached last in your Honors hearing so far as my memory would serue me to repeate it I thought it my dutie to satisfie your godly desire Not that I count it worthye of longer remembraunce in respect of any great skyl or diligence of myne shewed therein althoughe in regard of the matter I would it myght neuer be forgotten but because I acknowledge my selfe so much bound to your Honor that whersoeuer I may perceiue that my poore seruice may be accepted of the same I would in no wyse be slacke to offer it much lesse refuse to yelde it when it pleaseth your Lordship so earnestly to require it In which request albeit the singuler good wyll that your Honour beareth toward me moueth you to think better oâ— my simple doinges then they deserue in deede Yet your godlye zeale to the glorye of GOD and the detestation of Papistrie may appeare to all men as it is throughly knowen to those that daylye haue experience of your honorable disposition VVherfore I addressed my selfe to put in writyng that which before I had vttered in speaking obseruyng as neare as I could not onelye the substance of matter but also the phrase of wordes which I then vsed as by reading your Honor can best iudge VVhich after I had sent to a friend of myne in London to be written out at my next repayre to the Citie I found that it was already committed to a Printer who had vndertaken to set it out in prynt For which cause I thought good to set this Preface before it most humbly beseeching your Honor to take it in good part and for the delay of tyme to hold me excused seing it shall come otherwyse into your Lordships handes then of me at the first was purposed The Lord of Lords encrease al honorable godly vertues in your Lordship with prosperitie in this life to his diuine pleasure after the course of this time ended perpetuall ioy and felicitie Your Honors to commaund alwaies in the Lord William Fulke A sermon preached at hampton Court the. 12. of Nouember 1570. THat I may speake to the glory of God and the edifiyng of the CongregatioÌ„ here gathered in his name I shall desire you all right honorable worshipfull and welbeloued in our sauiour Christ to ioyne with me in faithfull and earnest prayer And in this praier c. It is written in the 14. chapter of the Reuelation of s. Iohn the 8. verse She is fallen she is fallen euen Babylon that great City for of the wyne of the fury of her fornication she hath in 〈◊〉 all nations to drinke The holy Euangeliâ—â— s. Luke right honorable welbeloued in Christ in the. 4. chapter of his Gospel recordeth that on a time when our sauiour came into the Sinagoge at Nazareth to rede as his custome was ther was deliuered to him a booke containing the Prophecy of the Prophet Esay Which after he had opened at the first be found the place wher it was written in these words The spirite of the Lord is vpon me because he hath annoynted me that I should preach the Gospell to the poore he hath sent me that I should heale the broken in hart that I should preach deliuerance to the Captiues and sight to the blinde that I should set at liberty them that are brused to preach the acceptable yeare of the Lord. Then after he had closed the booke and deliuered it to the Minister he sat downe to preach and the eyes of all them that wer in the Congregation wer bent vpon him Then he opened his mouth spake vnto theÌ„ these words This dai is this scripture fulfilled in your eares and they all gaue him testimony that it was so In like maner may I say concerning this place of scripture which I haue read vnto you In your eyes and eares is this scripture this day fulfilled And I pray God you may all likewise beare witnes with me that it is so The last time that I spake in this auditory I entreated of the floorishing prosperous 〈◊〉 of Ierusalem which is the Church of 〈◊〉 forth in the. 122. Psalme and therfore good order now requireth that I shuld speake of the dâ—cay ouerthrow of the enemy of Ierusalem which is Babylon the See church of Antichrist And for that purpose principally haue I chosen this text of scripture to speake of That by the one we might bee enflamed with loue of the true church of Christ by the other be moued to the hatred of that false church of Antichrist Now this text of scripture She is fallen she is fallen euen Babylon that great City for of the wine of the fury of her fornication she hath geuen all Nations to drinke offereth me thrée speciall things to be considered First what Babylon is secondly what is become of her and thirdly what is the cause of her heauy decay In the first part by the assistance of God and your honorable pacience I shal plainly shew proue that Babylon is Rome In the secend the Babylon or Rome by the iust iudgemeÌ„t of God is fallen yea she is fallen In the last the reason of this so sharpe sentence of God against her because she hath deceiued al the world with dronkeÌ„nes and whoredome Within the câ—mpasse of these thrée propositions I will kéepe my selfe in all my discourse Sauing that by your fauour forasmuch as this is the myddle voyce of thrée Angels that speake in this chapter for 〈◊〉 I wil vse the voyce of the first Angel of whose preaching this my text is a coÌ„sequent anâ— in the stéede of a conclusion I wil touch the voyce of the third Angel which is a consequent of this the myddle Angels voyce Concerning the Preface it shal be this in few words After that s. Iohn had described the preseruation vnity of the church of god in Christ their head euen in the midst of the fury of Antichrist vnder the figure of the Lambe standing on mouÌ„t Syon with 144000. of his chast worshippers Next he declareth that God would bring the same againe into the sight of the world by preaching of the Gospel and the ouerthrow of the kingdome of Antichrist Wherefore he sendeth an Angell flying in
vnto the custome of the popish Clergy who vse to weare long héere and to shaue their beardes thought he would draw it at the least if it would not come by faire meanes to maintaine the lawdable custome of the popishe Clergy and by exposition of one word he maketh the whole Canon to serue his turne Therfore Statuimus saith he which is we decrée is to be expounded for Abrogamus which is we disanul or abrogate and so the sence afterward falleth out very plaine for the popish Priestes thus We disanul that Priests should go with out long héere or vnshauen beards A right cuÌ„ning interpretation and proper for the place such in effect are all those that serue for the maintenance of the Popes authority the religion of popery Therfore he that is of so sharpe iudgement that he wil mislyke refuse those playne expositions which I haue brought of the places before alledged except against them as enforâ—ed constrained and far fetched let hym lyke of prayse magnify and admire these interpretations which are sought out to vphold establish the Popes throne his religion as rightly faithfully truly collected Atque idem iungat Vulpes mulgeat Hircos and by as good reason let him ioyne for hys plough not Oxes but Foxes and mylke for his payle not shée Goates but hée Goates as the Poet saith Now that I haue proued Babylon to be Rome by autorite of scripture it foloweth that I must shew for the same the consent of auncient Doctors And as in my former probatioÌ„ I touched onely such places as did plainly directly manifestly set forth my purpose so in this behalfe I wil deale with the Doctors Not such as they are woont to alledge against vs names in déede of great and reuerent antiquity but workes of mere falsehood and forgery bewraying theyr Authors not to be such as they are fathered vpon but such as out of the body of blindnes and superstition of much latter time haue begotten them Such are the decretal Epistels of the old Bishops of Rome Linus ClemeÌ„s Anacletus c Of which Clemens writing to s. Iames forsooth in his second Epistle chargeth him very earnestly that the Pixe be cleanly kept so that ther appere no Myse doong or any other filthynes among the fragments of the body of Christ with many other apostolical coÌ„maundements The impudence of whose Authors appeareth notably in this that wheras they were ignorant Buzards that could not write true latin they would ascribe their couÌ„terfet Epistles to so learned fathers as though at that time when womeÌ„ and children spake latin naturally as their mother tong the bishops were so vnlearned that they did write so barbarously and were not able to vtter their minde in true latin But leauyng those delicates for such as long after them I wyl vse no authority for this purpose but such as they cannot refuse but that it is auncient catholike authentical I wil begyn therefore with Irenaeus one of the most auncient and authentical writers that the Church hath Who in the fift booke of his treatise agaynst all heresies speaking of the Sée of Antichrist vpon the last verse vpon the 13. chapter of this Reuelation where it is sayde that the number of the Beastes name is sixe hundred sixtye and sixe sheweth that the opinion of many in hys time was that seing this name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in English The Latineman or Romane in the numerall Greeke letters containeth thys number that Antichrist must be sought at Rome His woordes are these Sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no men sexcentorum sexaginta sex numerorum c. et valde veresimile est quoniam verissimam regnum hoc habet vocabulum Latini enim sunt qui nunc regnant Also sayth he thys name Latemos contayning the number of 666 is thought to be the name of Antichrist and it is very like so to be for that which most vndoubtedly is a kingdome hath that name for they be Latines which now doo raigne You sée by this testimony of Iraeneus that this prophecy of old time was vnderstood of Rome and therefore it is no new interpretacioÌ„ that Babylon is Rome and that the number of the Beasts name is to be found in one that beareth rule at Rome If this exposition or explication of that Beasts name had bene deuised by Luther Zwynglius or Caluine it might haue bene suspected as a thyng imagined of spight and enuy against the church of Rome but wheÌ„ it is brought forth by so auncient a Doctor which liued not many yeres after this Reuelation was geuen as he himselfe saith it was but a litle before his tyme vnder Domitiane the Emperor which died 13. hundred yeres before Luther was borne we must néedes iudge it both to be very auncient voyd of all partiallity Wherfore I wyll passe ouer diuers other applications of that number to other names whych neuertheles hyt Babylon home because they haue bene sought out of late by such as beare yll wyll vnto Rome For I think this is sufficient with all reasonable men of equal iudgemeÌ„t to proue that this is no new opinion to séeke the See of Antichrist at Rome They them selues to prooue their doctrine catholike alledge autority of a 11. or 12. hundred yeres antiquity behold this opinion is 13. or 14 hundred yeres old that Antichrist should be a Romane that the See of his tyraÌ„ny is at Rome The second witnes of this assertion that Babylon is Rome is Tertullianus a very auncient writer also Who in plaine woords affirmeth that Babylon signifieth Rome in that third booke against Martion which denyed that Christ had a true body Wherfore Tertulliane vseth this reasoÌ„ against him That thing which hath a figure of it must be a thing of truth so discoursing of many things figured the figures of them coÌ„meth to these words Sie et Babylon apud Iohannem nostrum Romanae vrbis figuram portat perinde magnae regno superbae sanctorum debellatricis That is to say Euen so doth Babylon in the Apocalips of our s. Iohn beare the figure of the city of Rome which is altogether as great and as proud in raigne as great a persecuter of the Sayntes as Babilon was You see therfore most clearly and plainly that Tertulliane w al his learning could not interprete these things that be written in this Reuelation concerning Babylon to be applied to any other city then Rome And he is also a witnes voyd of al partiallity or affection to either part of them that striue in our dayes For he departed nere about xiij hundred yeres before our tyme why should we not then bée credited in this case Well next vnto hym I wyll ioyne Chrysostome in his CoÌ„mentary vpon the second Epistle to the Thessalonians the second chapter in his fourth Homely Where as s. Paule speaking of the manifestation of Antichrist sayth they knew what
was the stay that he was not presently reuealed But when that stay is taken away he shuld be reuealed in his due time Chrysostome expouÌ„deth this stay to be the Romane Empire which must geue place vnto Antichrist That like as the Persians came in place of the Chaldeans the Grecians in place of the Percians and the Romanes in place of the Graecians euen so Antichrist should inuade the Empire of the Romanes Vacantem imperij principatum inuadet tentabit ad se capere hominum Dei imperium Antichrist sayth he shal inuade the vacant principallity of the Empire shal assay to draw vnto him self the Empires both of God men And is it not manifest that the Papacie grew tooke increase by the decay of the Empire at the fall of the Monarchy challenged full possession of all dominion both spirituall and temporall Of the same iudgement is s. Ierome writing vpon the same place of Paule vnto Algasia in the eleuenth question whose wordes are these Nec vult aperte dicere Romanum imperium de struendum quod ipsi qui imperant aeternum putant vnde secundum Apocalypsim IohaÌ„nis in fronte purpuratae meretricis scriptum est nomen blasphemiae id est Romae aeternae c. that is Neither wil he openly say that the Romane Empire should be destroyed which they that gouerne it thinke to be euerlasting whereforâ— according to the Reuelation of s. Iohn in the forehead of the purple whore ther is written a name of blasphemi which is Rome euerlasting Loe here another witnes of good antiquity and sufficient credit which not onely agreeeth plainly with Chrysostome that Antichrist should take possession of the Romane Empire when it should be decayed in the Emperours but also most plainly agréeing with Tertulliane calleth that Babylonicall strumpet which is described in the 17. chapter of this Apocalips that purple whore of Rome the name of the blasphemye to be Rome euerlasting As though hee had heard the Pope brag of the eternity of his Sée which he saith is the Rocke against which the gates of hel caÌ„not preuaile But he is fowly be giled for Rome the Sée of his Popedome is by s. Ieromes iudgement that Babylon of whoÌ„ the Angel preacheth the howsoeuer the boast of her eternity She is fallen she is fallen euen Babylon that great city neuer shal rise againe They cry out agaynst vs that we rayle and speake coÌ„tumeliously of the holy Sée of the Pope when we call Rome the whore of Babilon but when the old Doctours to whose iudgement they themselues appeale from the authority of the scripture feare not so plainly in their writings to paynt out the Babylonycall strumpet in her right coulors in flat words to say she is Rome the mother of al abominacions the Sée of Antichrist why should we be blamed for saying as we are taught by them And especially of those men that make so great vauntes that the iudgement is altogether on their side by whom they offer to be tryed when they dare not abide the iudgement of the Scriptures Againe consider I pray you of the old Doctors before Antichrist were openly reuealed did vnderstand by the scriptures that he should â—yt at Rome what thinke you would they haue said and written if they had lyued in these dayes knowen and sene all that was prophecied to be fulfilled in him wyth what confidence suppose ye they wold haue inueyed against him With how open mouthes would they haue cryed out vpon him At least wyse do you not thinke in your conscience that when they had considered the autority of the Pope his wholesome doctrine they would haue chaunged their minds and recanted their writings against Rome and repented that euer they had called her the purple whore of Babylon seing she is the holy mother church of Rome the Sée of the most holy father the Pope the head of the same church I must néedes say thus much in your behalfe O ye Papists as yll as I loue you that if Hierome Tertulliane and the rest of the Doctors dyd so account of Rome as you affirme of them they were much to blame to defame her wyth such odious names as to call her the purple whore of Babylon which must néedes make her vehemently suspected to be the church of Antichrist and not of christ For what Papist in these dayes dare say that which Hierome sayd that Rome is that purple harlot Babylon which S. Iohn speaketh of in the Apocalips The same Hierome in his 13. booke of CoÌ„mentaries of the prophecy of Esay vpon the 47 chap. writeth in this maner Licet ex co quod iuxta 70 scriptuÌ„ est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est filia Babylonis noÌ„ ipsum Babylonem quidam sed Romanam vrbem interpretantur quae in Apocalypsi Iohannis Epistola Petri Babylon specialliter appellatur c. That is For as much as the seuenty Interpreters write not the daughter Babylon but the Daughter of Babylon some doe interprete therof not Babylon in Chaldea but the City of Rome which in the Reuelation of saint Iohn the Epistle of Peter is specially called Babylon Note that Hierome in this place accoÌ„pted Rome to be Babylon the yonger daughter of Babylon the elder And secondly that this was not his opinion onely but the consent of many other in his time and namely of such as vsed to interprete the Prophet Esay Thirdly and especially coÌ„sider that he affirmeth Rome in the Apocalips to be specially called Babilon So that Babylon in the Apocalips by his iudgement cannot be vnderstood for nothing els but Rome because Rome is there specially figured by Babylon What meaneth Hierome so often to beate in this naile that Babylon is Rome If it had slipped out of his pen but once he myght haue bene pardoned for his ouersight but wheÌ„ he hath neuer done writing that Rome is Babylon and in the Reuelation specially called Babylon why should we accompt him any longer for a Catholike For in hys Preface vnto the booke of Didimus De spiritu sancto which he translated out of Gréeke into Latin writing to Pauinianus he vttereth these wordes Cum in Babylone versarer purpuratae meretricis essem Colonus iure Quiritum viuerem c. Of late saith he when I was in Babylon and was an inhabitant of the purple harlot liued after the lawes of the Romanes I thought to intreate somewhat of the holy Ghost What néeded Hierome in this place so odiously contumeliously to call Rome by the name of Babilon but that he could neuer consider Rome otherwise but to be that See appointed for Antichrist for in other places wher he interpreteth that scriptures Prophecies concerning Antichrist we may lesse maruel if he interprete Babylon for Rome because no reason could leade him to expound it otherwise But here talking pleasaÌ„tly with his friend what necessitys compelled him to vse such descriptions of Rome