the Pope became the chiefe Monarch of all the worlde ruled all kyngs and obteyned all authoritie of chusing Bishoppes Also howe that third Periode of fiue hundred yeares about the yeare of our Lord one thousand and sixe hundred should be fully perfect that so without all doubt we may looke for a new Metamorphosis of these things if things to come may well be gathered of things past already And what other I beseech you can we looke for but euen that which was seene and heard of Iohn in his Reuelation from hym which sate on the Throne among the foure and twenty Elders saying Behold I make al things new a newe heauen a newe earth behold the Tabernacle of God with men and he shall dwell with them and they shal be his people and he shall be a God with them euen their God. But when those vngodly Decrees and blasphemies which the Romanes froÌ„ the fifty seuen vnto the thousand one hundred yeare in all the tyme that Henrie the fourth raigned by litle and litle brought in are considered and withall compared with our dayes we shall find all those things continually to haue had as it it were peculiarly their fiue hundred yeares a peece Wherefore in my iudgement by the tymes past and state of things present I am the more confirmed to thinke the full and perfect end of all vngodlynesse to be very nigh at hand after which shall ensue that perpetuall and euerlasting world in which the Lord God shall raigne and rule in iustice truth and mercy for euer In the tyme of Henry as out of histories we gather these Decrees of the Bishoppes were published first that the Emperours shoulde haue no aucthoritie to chuse Bishoppes nor Pope for which cause the Senate of Cardinals to whom was geuen that power was instituted and preferred to great honour then also they tooke vppon them to chuse and refuse Emperours at their pleasure as plainly appeared by Hildebrandes electing of Rodolph and displacing of Henry Moreouer vnder this Emperour that horrible Idolatrie of the woorshippyng and carrying about of the bread came into the Church Lastly in the yeare one thousand nyntie and three al the lawes of Popes were gathered set forth by one Iuon B. of Carnot And therfore no doubt but the Lord God also at his certayne tyme wyll briâ—g to nought cut of and by his commyng to iudgemeâ—t to the perpetuall shame of all papistes vtterly abolish all that impietie and wickednes which the Diuell by his ministers to the reproch of God hath caused increased and confirmed For we haue examples both in the people of the Iewes and Gentiles For when as their superstition and obstinate vngodlynes was come to the top then sprang vp the true doctrine and preaching of the Gospell by which their false doctrine was reproued yet in the meane while through the iust and horrible displeasure of God against them most greeuously were they plagued euen as also happened to the Iewes by Ierusalems destruction and also to other nations and lastly to Rome in the miserable spoyling of the Gothes and vandolles But if the tyme since the preaching of the Gospell were well marked we shâ—ll see most euident beginnings of the ruine and ouerthrow of the Pope and Papacie which perchance eyther shall go before the last end of tyme or els in that third space of fyue hundred yeeres or somwhat after by the Lords comming shall come to naught So doo I perswade my selfe thinke you what you will at your pleasure and yet take heede ye rhinke not falsly But if in other places I erre the matter is not great For it is certayn out of the word of God that this errour shall not long continue For Christ is the very truth and cannot erre But let vs note what hath happened and dayly dooth happen among Christians in this our age and playnly and euidently we shall see all things forespoken to haue and daily to come to passe about this very tyme of fiue hundred yeeres For we haue a notable example hereof in the Electors and states of the Empire which in the yeere one thousand fiue hundred fiftye and eight which was about the fiue hundred yeere after the Popes began their tyranny ouer Kings and Princes did chuse Ferdinandus the Emperor maugre the Pope and for euer disanulled that decree of the Cardinals for the confirmation of his election How I beesech you hath Lotharinge a Guisian Caâ—dinall in Fraunce and Granuellus another Cardinal in Belgia for al their Cardinalshippes preuayled in their laboring to confirme the Popes authoritie and to bring in the Spanishe Inquisition haue not the Frenchmen and Belgians by that meane rather rebelled agaynst them cast froÌ„ their shoulders that intollerable yoke of the Popes bondage By which no doubt it is euident that that space of fiue hundred yeeres in which the Cardinals bare the swaye is now passing and will shortly be expired euen as the other peeuish and idolatrous doctrine of the Papistes is well and to their perpetuall prayse banished out of the Dominions of manye good Kings and Princes And now ye Princes deale wisely and with iudgement consider how that Antichrist of Rome hath most shamefully abused your authoritie to the suppressing of the truth and persecuting of innocentes Beare in minde how long you haue been Ministers and slaues to that blooddie beast in crucifying Christ agayne in his members Be learned ye Iudges of the earth be sorye for these things Serue the Lord in feare and reioyce with trembling For the horrible day of the Lord hangs vppon your shoulders Therefore kisse the Sonne least he be angry and so ye perish when his fury shalbè but a little kindled Blessed are all they which trust in the Lord. Now if in that spoken already and other particular lawes the number of fiue hundred yeeres be so rightly filled what shall we iudge of the whole body of all the Popes decrees which afterwarde by Iuon Byshoppe of Carnot after whom Gratian followed in the yeere of the Lord one thousand nintie and three at the commaundement of the Pope was truly collected into one booke as it were by imitating Iustinian the Emperour which by the ayde of Tribonianus and other noble men gathered the Ciuill lawe into an order and made thereof a newe booke But how with absurdities in number infinite blasphemies not to be vttered those decrees of the Pope doo filthily deface the woord of God none of a ryght iudgement is ignorant And yet alas these haue had more aucthoritie now many yeares than the very immutable worde and will of god Which things although they doo agree very well together yet for the sakes of the ignorant we will proue the same both by a Canon of holy Scripture and the Popes decrees manifestly contrarie between themselues Paule sayth to Timothie Spiritus disertè dicit fore c. That is The Spirit saith plainly that in the latter tymes
were the seuen heades of the Beast And therefore he sayth Bestia quam vidisti fuit non est that is The Beast which thou sawest was and is not that is the Romane Empire is but not such an Empyre as that was which came of the stocke of Caesars and decayed when Nerua dyed And now iâ— the tyme of Domitian of those seuen fiue were dead but the seuenth which was Nero was not yet come And cum venerit opportet eum breue tempus manere nec diu imperare wheÌ„ he commeth he must tary a short tyme and gouerne but a whyle which also came to passe because he raigned but one yeere and three monethes But Traian was the eyght a Spaniard no Romane borne and adopted by the seuenth Wherefore to the purpose sayth the Angell to Iohn in this maner Bestia que erat The beast which was to wit the Romane Empire non est and is not the Romane but a Romanspanish Empire is octauus erit that shal be the eight from Neroâ— e septem est and is of the seuenth to wit adopted of Nerua Wherefore because of this alteration in the Empire and mournful countenance of the Church by reason that her cheife Rulers and Apostles were dead we wil here begin to accompt the fyrst fiue hundred yeres euen vnto the dayes of Heraclyus and Phocas which chanced in the .604 and .602 yeere from Christes Natiuitie About which time Boniface the third was confirmed vniuersall Bishop of all the world and manifested the forerunner of Antichrist as likewyse Gregorie the great not many yeeres before had pronounced of the Patriarch of Constantinople which ambitiously sought to be Priuate or chiefe Byshop of the rest About this time the Romane Empire was much weakened and the Turke began to be of power This first periode may well be referred to the Church of Christ in whose beginning as it were shee suffered most greeuous persecution of the Romane Empire that cruell and blooddie beast and had many godly and learned men which entred most dangerous and continuall conflictes for the ouerthrowe of heresies and yet notwithstanding by litle and litle many Ceremonies were brought into the Church by which at length shee was marueilously polluted the chiefest bringer of those ceremonies into the Church was Gregorie the great vntill Boniface by the helpe of Phocas did playnly declare himselfe to be Antichrist in deede From this time vntil the raigne of Henry the fourth we recken the second periode of fiue hundred yeares in which all Papisticall superstitions Idolatrie blasphemie orders of Monkes power of the Pope wyth the chiefe Senate of Cardinals dyd aboue measure encrease and in the tyme of Henry that impietie came to ripenes euen as also afterward did the Turkes tyrannie and blasphemie Before about a two hundred and fiftie yeares numbring from Phocas the Emperour which also haue their ende to wit in the dayes of the Emperours the Pope of Rome was licensed to be a ciuill Magistrate receyued his chiefe aucthoritie from Pipine and afterwardes from Charles the Great and Lodouike the Godly and was endued with many Prouinces and adorned with double power or with both Swordes both of ruling the Spiritualtie as they saye and Laitie which he obtained vnder the pretence of Religion and therefore Iohn in his Reuelation gyueth to this Beast two hornes like vnto the Lambe About which tyme both the Turkish Empire as in his place it is sayd dayly increased and the olde Romane Empire continually decayed and was diuidâ—d in the Orientall and Occidentall Empire Yet notwithstanding the Occidentall Emperours in respect of the others had full power to create and confirme what Byshops they would But in the tyme of Henrie the fourth that order was altogether chaunged Because the Byshops at the length had brought vnto themselues all power and aucthoritie both of ordaining and choosing Byshops and Emperours to and made a newe Ecclesiasticall or Cardinals Senate to the which was giuen full power to choose whom they would to the Papacie the Pope beyng dead and reserued to themselues all aucthoritie of choosing and crowning Emperours Against this vnspeakable ambition and mightie power of the Pope dyd for the maintaining of his Emperiall aucthoritie according to the decree of his father Henry the Blacke though in other things he dyd ouermuch submit himself to the Popes aucthoritie Henry the fourth stoutely as became a good Emperour resiste For which cause afterward Pope Hildebrande otherwise called Gregorie the seuenrh a wicked and infamous Magician dyd excommunicate him and raised great and greuous wars against him by others in so much that he displacing him chose a newe Emperour named Ralfe to whom he sent a crowne of Gold with this inscription Petra dedit Petro Petrus diadema Radolpho but at length vanquished by Henry hauing lost his right hand he died miserablie But Henry being dead when as now the second Period of fiue hundred yeares from the tyme of Phocas was perfeâ—tly finished the vngodly Pope by his craft and subtiltie at the beginnyng of his raigne obtayned easily of Henry the fift too wicked a sonne for so godly a father all his dâ—sire So that that diuine Reuelation of Iohn dyd fully take effect bicause that Image of the Beast with two hornes dooth exercise al the power of the former beast and calleth al kings his sonnes and slaues and earnestly dooth keepe the manner of the Gentiles in all kynd of Idolatrie only hauyng altered the names of things Lastly also to this Image of the Beast by the Dragon bycause he speaketh like a Dragon that power is gyuen that he may quicken the other image of the Beaste that is this Germanicall Empire which rather ought to be termed a shadowe of the old Empire than an image of the same For the Pope did giue life to the image of the Beast by his election For vnlesse the Pope did confirme the election none was worthy of the name of an Emperour Therfore vnder the preteÌ„ce of the keies of the kindoÌ„ of heaueÌ„ this vngratious felow hath marueilusly abused this power of the Dragon which power now by the preaching of the Gospell through the grace of God doth threaten an vtter and last destruction whose longest terme of fiue huÌ„dred yeres about the yere a thousand sixe hundred or there about is fully finished Wherefore sith this damnable childe and the image of the Beast with the Dragon in that perfect wickednes must be cut of and cast hedlong into hell a great and infallible argument is it and agreeing to Gods word and to the course of time that this certaine computation of yeeres doth signifie the Lords comming to be very nigh at hand ¶ Of things past already things to come are marueilously gathered BY that which hath ben spoken as wel as a briefe annotation of tymes and thyngs that haue been done could shewe it after a sort appeareth how after the death of Henry the fourth
men liuyng So that all mistrust and vnbeliefe the Quagmyre of all maner of wickednesse in which many men lye tâ— great slumber and sleepe securely may earnestly be cast away true fayth in diuine promises may be râ—ised our hope of attaynyng an happy life and deliuerance from all troubles may be nourished and we the more vigilant least vpon a sodaine that great day of the Lord horrible to the vngodly but to the godly comfortable vnawares oppresse vs and the spouse find vs sober wise and prepared to the feast not without oyle in our Lampes For his commyng in this last age of the world without doubt is not farre and maketh great hast and wyll not as many suppose linger Wherfore in this litle woorke I haue determined by some euident places of the Scripture first to proue that there shal be one day a generall destruction of this world and an vniuersall and last iudgement of our Lord Iesus Christ the sonne of God in which all the promises of God shall to the vttermost be fulfilled and his great threates shall take effect Then by the testimonies of holy Scripture we wil shew that the age of this world shall not be more then sixe thousand yeres that the sixt thousand in which we now liue whose tyme is more than halfe past because of intollerable wickednesse and shamelesse securitie of men shall not be fully finished And to this shal be added certaine singuler signes by course of tyme and yeares woonderfully agreeing with the inclinations of the Starres if credit may be geuen to Mathematicians which things notwithstaÌ„ding I referre to the iudgement of the Church and doctors of more discretioÌ„ Last of al certain proofes out of Scripture shal be brought of the maner of Christ his commyng and of the effect of the last iudgement with an exhortation to watchfulnesse for that most ioyful commyng of our bridegrome ¶ That there shal be a destruction of this worlde a resurrection of the fleshe and a generall iudgement of all mankynde ESpecialy setting apart al other darke significations of the world which in holy Scripture are to be founde euerye where in this place talkyng of his destruction we take the same as Aristotle dooth in his booke of the World for a knittyng togeather of celestiall and inferiour bodyes disposed by Arte which dooth containe liuing creatures and all other things which are ingendred and remaine in euery part And because in the same is to be seene a wonderfull shewe therfore doo the Latines very well take his denomination from fayrenes so that they cal the world as the Grecians doo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a goodly shew or ornament from the perfect excellencie therof as Plinie writeth which woonderful peece of woorke as appeareth by the manner of his creation and holy Scripture dooth plainly and sufficiently auouch the same was only to that ende buylded that it should be a house or dwelling place for mankinde For when our most mighty and eternall God by his woord of power had created of nothing all things as wel senslesse as hauyng life at length he made Adam whom he appoynted Lord of al creatures and possessor of Paradise situated in the mydst of this goodly and glorious world and fashioned him also vpright and innocent according to his owne likenesse that the Lord God of him might worthely be worshipped Here the vnspeakeable loue of God towards mankind is most diligently to be considered For if the Lorde God for our sakes hâ—th erected this famous and excellent peece of woorke to be an abiding place for mankynd of which he would gather to hym selfe a perpetual Church howe fayre and glorious shal we thinke that euerlasting Temple to be which he hath prepared for his elect in Christ and for his heauenly and celestial warriours In which place we shall enioy the sight of our euerlasting God and shal knowe hym in maiestie and glory euen as he is Truely no comparison of excellencie betwene these can so much as in imagination be conceyued although the beautie of this world and vniuersitie be such as mans wit cannot sufficiently thinke of the same Because as betwene the creature and the creator there is no equality so great is the oddes betweene visible things created and supercelestiall to vs altogether inuisible where the sonne of God wyth all Sainctes in the circuite of all Angels with God the father hath his eternall seate and continuall abiding But all men through the fall of Adam are become vnworthy of that place which was appoynted for Adam being pure from sinne and vnspotted Neither had the world any more borne him according to this immutable senteÌ„ce of God at what tyme thou shalt eate of the tree of kâ—owâ—ledge of good and euill thou shalt die the death had not that ouer merciful God through his deep secrete counsayle receyued him al the elect into fauor by the promised seed of the woman by Christ the sonne of God which was to come in the flesh And therfore if the world haue hitherto and as yet shall continue it is onely done for their sakes which are chosen in Christ whose number being full the world must of necessitie fayle and fall downe flat for which cause the Lord hath a certayne tyme of the worlds destruction because by the sinne and wickednes of vngodly men being marueilously polluted and accursed it dooth together wyth all other creatures as Saynt Paule sayth subiect to the same corruption desire a deliuerance from euil And therefore that this vniuersall world maye be brought to his former integritie it must of necessitie be consumed and burne with fyre in the comming of the Lord as Esay witnesseth saying Beholde the Lorde wyll come in fire and his chariot shal be like a whyrlewynde that he may render his indignation in heate and his correction in flames of fire because the Lord wyll iudge in fire And S. Peter saith The day of the Lord wyll come like a thiefe at which tyme the heauens with great speede shall vanish the Elementes with that heate shal be dissolued and the earth with all contayned in the same shal be consumed with fire No marueile then though Ethnikes and most famous Philosophers folowing the deuises of their owne braine straungers altogeather and ignorant in Scripture haue had very many prophane cogitations of the world Aristotle the Prince of Philosophers dreameth that the world neuer had beginnyng because as he saith the gods in this infinite eternitie haue not been idle But Plato beyng of another mynde will that the world was made yet he thinketh the same to be Animal immortale A creature which shall not dye but remayne for euer Plinie beleeueth the world to be an eternall and vnmeasurable godhead neither begotten at any tyme nor shal be destroyed Others as Epicures imagine that there is not one world onely but infinite whereof some take place as others auoyde Plato also iestingly sayth that
And what other change may we looke for I pray you But euen the vtter destruction of the world and the triumphant appearing of the lord For the sixe thousand yeere which is the last daye draweth to the euening course of tymes and their foretold agreement declare the end to be at hand the preaching of the Gospell shineth the Pope of Rome by the breath of the Lord perisheth and we are in Religion colde carelesse and contemne his preachers which the Lord God cannot suffer long to go vnpunished Also this fearfull inclination of the Starres the dayly talke of warres the direful ciuill contentions the cruell dissention in Religion the great plagues the miserable hunger the straunge tempestes the woonderfull risings of the Sea and other signes which many tymes haue come after the preaching of the Gospell and dayly do more increase are out of doubt the euident signes of the worldes speedy ouerthrow and hasty commyng of our Lord Iesus Christ the sonne of God to iudge the quicke and the dead ¶ Of the fifteene hundred yeares after the Apostles tyme vntyl the last iudgement THere are besides these many other sweete and verye probable coniectures of the suddaine comming of the Lord to iudgement Which containe many and profitable instructions and will be wonderful and strauÌ„ge perchaunce to many for the small consideratioÌ„ they haue of them which if they were well wayed myght bring vs into a great admiration of Gods prouidence It is well knowen to all the learned and not doubted but that all gouernments according to the Princes of Philosophie Platoes and Aristotles doctrine haue their certaine conclusions and it may be for truth that euery fiue hundred yeares there happen wonderfull alterations both in Religion and common Weales as there appeared three in Moses Kingdome For from the comming out of Egypt vnto Salomon there was about fiue hundred yeares from thence vnto the captiuitie at Babylon other fiue hundred and from the returning vnto the last subuersion fiue hundred moe which last periode doth greatly agree with those seueÌ„ weekes of Daniell because they are in number foure hundred foure score and tenne And therfore by a briefe marking of the tymes and things brought to passe we will make it euident that the last fiue hundred yeares from the Apostles tyme fully shal be expired in this Monarchie of the Pope which now threateneth a great ruine and perchance an vtter downefall about the eightie eyght and ninetie three yeere the former inclinations of the starres and other ensuing foreshewing dyrefull thinges euen vntill the sixe thousand and a hundred yeere Which Monarchie is called of Iohn in his Reuelation the image of the beast by reason of a certaine likenes it hath wyth the olde Monarchie which by a like tyrannie against the Christians and manner of gouernment by their ecclesiasticall Senate and by the secular power as they saye to the satisfying of their myndes in oppressing the Christian veritie through all the world they doo exercise So that by a great and infallible supposition it may be gathered that the noble comming of the Sonne of God is nygh at hande sith the preaching of the Gospell now goeth before by which this Monarchie hauing his aucthoritie from the Dragon at the length ruinous beginneth to stoupe but cannot vtterly be abolished according to Paules doctrine vntyll the Lord come for altogether For by histories we know Iohn the Euangelist to haue lyued longer time than any of the Apostles to haue written his Gospel at Ephesus and afterward when as none of the Apostles were no not many dayes before liuing it is well knowen that he was sent of Domitian into the Iland Pathmos where he committed his Reuelation to writing and that was about the dayes of Traian the Emperour which the hundred yeare from Christs natiuitie beyng adopted by Nerua came to the Imperiall throne from whom for causes ensuing I will begin to recite three notable chaunges and alterations both in Religion and in the Empire which differ one from another according to the true accompt of yeares but fiue hundred yeares a peece Now these hundred yeares from the birth of Christ vnto the tyme of Traian beyng expired so straunge things and myraculous both in the Church and common Weales happened as from the beginning of the worlde such and so great neyther haue neither shall come to passe except onely in the last comming of the Lorde at what tyme he shall call the dead before hys tribunall seate that so the whole vngracious worlde may be brought vnto perpetuall shame and the vertuous to euerlasting glory for first oâ—r Lord and Sauiour Christ was borne of a virgin perfect man the Messias promised to the Patriarches the sonne of one substance with his eternall father by whom God hath made of nothing al things both in heauen aboue and in earth belowe and redeemed mankynd which was fallen from sinne and wickednes for in the behalfe of vs all he hath suffred a most reprochfull death of the Crosse to that ende that death and the Diuell beyng vanquished he myght rid all beleeuers from eternall death and the intolerable yoke of Satan He hath also rysen lyke a conquerour in glory from the dead and ascended into heauen that he myght prepare a waye for vs to his almightie father whose anger by his righteousnes he had appeased and reconciled him vnto vs. Finally also at the feast of Penticost God miraculously and without meane according as it was long before promised by the Prophetes did powre out his holy spirit full of all grace and goodnes vppon his Apostles that in all Nations they myght be able to glorify God and by euery speache declare their message of glad tydings as also Mangre the diuel and his Adherentes the same notwithstaÌ„ding the outragious cruelty of Nero and Diomitian was preached published throughout all the world Lastly what wonderfull things haue happened from the byrth of Christ vnto the hundred yeere after the same at which tyme Traiane fyrst receyued the Emperiall Diâ—deme I mynde not to prosecute euery thing particulerly least by that meanes contrary to my purpose I proceede Amongst other things those woordes forespoken of Christ and the Prophets teaching the ouerthrowe and vtter destruction of the Iewes and Hierusalem take effect and also vnder Traiane the Emperour there happened a great alteration in religion For although the Empyre was of Rome yet was not the Emperour a Romane borne but a Spaniard and adopted to that dignitie of Nerua which was a Romane And therfore by these it plainely doth appeare that the Apostles beyng dead there was now a new face of the Church and that nothing so beautifull as the former and also new state of Empire presignifyed of Iohn in his Reuelation Because that Traian was the eyght from the seuenth who was Nerua which was the seuenth from Nerc the last of the stocke of Caesars from whom Iohn beginneth to number the seuen Kings which