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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

not our feare of Babylons crueltie increase their hope of our ruine I say then vnto euery souldier of Iesus Christ in this spirituall warfare as the Angell vnto Gedeon The Lord is with thee thou valiant man Iudic. 6.12 The FIFT Comparison betwixt Literall Babylon and Papall Rome THe fift and last point which I now resolue to touch in this comparison is IMPIETIE of life As for the old Babylon she was incurable in her sinfull courses We would haue cured Babylon but shee would not be cured Ierem. 51.9 It followeth therefore Her iudgement is come vp to Heauen It came downe from Heauen also for God stirred vp the spirit of Cyrus to execute his vengeance vpon the Ladie of Kingdomes and the hammer of the World As for the new Babylon shee answereth fully vnto her type for as Rome went before in Babylon so Babylon followeth afterward in Rome I speake not now of the common people nor of any Lay persons of more eminent qualitie I come vnto the Cleargie it selfe and not in the more ignoble sort but in the higher degree of the Cardinalls of whom as Caluin saith truly that Vnà cum suo capite sensim creuerunt these principall members of the Romane Church grew vp by little and little into this amplitude of power and dignitie together with their head so together with the increasing impietie of the Popes they increased also in their impietie of manners The Histories are extant their conditions are knowne I leaue therefore the members and come vnto their head himselfe in comparison of whom the Monarchs of Literall Babylon may seeme to bee iust and holy as God testifieth of Ierusalem that shee had iustified Samaria in all the abominations which shee had done Ezek. 16. Doe you now expect of mee a Catalogue of their names and a repetition of their crimes Platina the Writer of their liues an Authour of their owne that had experience of many matters in Babylon can tell you that which is no lesse odious for you to heare then tedious for me to speake But descend from ancient Writers vnto Baronius though one of the most perfidious and dissolute Historians that euer tooke pen in hand euen their owne Cardinall Baronius and you shall see the tender hearted man melting into teares vpon the recordation of Papall impieties and particularly of Iohn the Twelfth You shall find Baronius lamenting the condition of the Church vnder such Heads and wondering that such an impure and wicked wretch should assume so gracious a name as that is both by signification and by the persons that did sometimes beare the same Wherevpon hee saith that in his opinion the Pope did thereby intend to deceiue the World which might suppose that there was a man sent from God whose name was Iohn So writeth he of that Boy Pope that egregious Varlet who by the meanes of a Whore sate in the Whore of Babylon as a fit Incumbent of that Apostolicall See Now if I would prosecute the Historie of those Popes alone who did vntruly weare the garment of this name which might seeme to couer the turpitude of their liues it were more easie to finde a beginning then an end of my discourse for Babylon had many Iohns besides a Ioane but few of them good and the last of that name Iohn 21. or 23. for the Papists disagree vpon the number of these Popes had such accusations produced and verified by Oath against him for matters of doctrine and of life in the great Councell of Constance vpon the yeare 1414. that as the name of Tarquin was hatefull in Rome so the name of Iohn became execrable in the Church and no Pope delighted to take it vpon him since the time of that Councell But why doe I or rather why should I take fruitlesse paines in this behalfe yea disaduantagious also vnto mine owne cause For now I pray you to obserue diligently with me two passages in Bellarmine very artificially framed the one to preuent our beliefe the other to peruert our iudgement In praefat lib. de Summo Pont. For first being to treate of the impieties of his holy Fathers such so prodigious so innumerable as perhaps no State of Pagans can parallel much lesse of Christians be they Princes or bee they Prelates marke how cunningly hee seeketh to bring his Reader into a suspition of all Histories which he had rather accuse of falshood then wee should accuse his Popes of impious and wicked life Thus therefore writeth the learned Cardinall Quidam parùm probi Pontifices c. Some Popes being of little honestie did sometimes possesse and gouerne the Apostolicall Seate Parùm probi Away with that tearme of diminution improbissimi impijssimi diabolissimi c. were fitter words for such monsters whose villanies no tongue can speake with modestie nor pen describe But let vs proceed Who were those parùm probi He telleth you Stephanus the sixt Leo the fift Christophorus the first Sergius the third Iohannes the twelfth Alexander the sixt Then he addeth alijque non pauci Speake more plainly Bellarmine mince not the matter say not non pauci not a few others but a great multitude of Popes for so there was if their owne Historians may deserue our beliefe But heere the Cardinall casteth in his doubt Si vera sunt que de eorum vita rebus gestis apud historicos eorum temporum scripta leguntur If saith he those things be true which the Histories of those times record concerning the liues and actions of these Popes If they be true His desire was to denie all the accusations but hauing not abilitie to disprooue the matters he draweth the Histories into question and breedeth a secret dubitation in the minde of his Reader This is the first passage in Bellarmine and he is more ingenuous and modest in this case then Baronius is often in the like not only drawing an obscuritie or some doubt vpon such Histories as distaste his palate and are against his purpose but sometimes disclayming them correcting them at his pleasure forging others without any apparant euidence with many such indirect and preposterous courses which the Venetian Authours while the controuersie depended betwixt their State and Paul the fift doe carefully note in that dishonest Authour whom the Spaniards the Benedictines the said Venetians and sundrie Romane Catholickes vpon seuerall occasions all tending to one crime of iniurious falsitie doe brand most deeply in this behalfe And thus hauing spoken some thing of these two Cardinall Brethren the Castor and Pollux of the Romane Church I will end with him with whom I did first begin His second passage therefore is of more excellent note Hee would discredit the Histories as false hee could not behold now a greater aduantage vnto his Church if they be true How can that bee Is hee so skilfull a Workeman that hee can make a Mercurie out of euery blocke be it neuer so crooked and knottie He is for marke his dilemma If those

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

causes vnto the vassals of the POPE let them contemne the imposition of it though they cannot auoid it but yet they shall neuer decline this title which the sacred Scripture it selfe so anciently so notably so ineuitably doth fasten vpon them to their outward shame and inward griefe Let them glorie in Rome which the Scripture declareth to be Babylon if it be any glorie to triumph in her that from exaltation as the name of Rome doth signifie in the holy tongue shall come to confusion as the name of Babylon doth import the name is changed Rome into Babylon the state is changed glorie into shame Know then O vnhappie children of the Romane Synagogue that you are Babylonians carrying the name of your Mother according to the verdict of Scripture as well as Papists carrying the name of your Father according to the proofe of reason So then we will speake with the Scripture and not with Luther you are Babylonians this is your name answere vnto it for by it you stand indicted at the Barre of the diuine iudgement SEVENTHLY if Rome be Babylon and we must goe out of it why doe some men perswade you to goe vnto her or at the least to meete her As if the differences in Religion betwixt you and her were not so materiall but that you may relinquish your opinions or else not so reall but that you and shee by the aduise of some Modificators and temperate men might bee reconciled together But I will discouer the impossibilitie of their deuise by foure euident and perspicuous Reasons First there are many points which admit no reconciliation especially such as concerne the Subiect namely whether the thing vpon which we dispute simply bee or bee not at all As for example the Papists dispute amongst themselues whether Purgatorie bee in Hell whether it haue a corporall fire whether Deuills be the Tormentors whether a soule bee in it for ten or one hundred yeares c. but they dispute not among themselues by way of doubt whether there bee a Purgatorie or not for they differ onely about the Praedicata or attributes thereof whereas they all agree concerning the Subiect that there is an estate of soules in temporall paine Now wee denie the Subiect it selfe and therefore the question proposed betwixt vs and them is Whether there be any PVRGATORIE or not Which either is or it is not and so there is no reconciliation in the differences of this nature betwixt vs and them for betwixt est and non est it is and it is not there is no middle thing But if the question be de Praedicato how this or that agreeth vnto the subiect as namely what reall presence of Christs bodie is in the Sacrament heere perhaps some reconciliation might haue beene deuised in this behalfe had not they in this and so in many other points excluded all meanes of reconciliation also by their definitions resolutions and modifications of the Praedicate in such a manner as cannot consist with the truth of Gods Word and euident principles of reason As namely they haue defined the reall presence to be by Transubstantiation of the Elements into the bodie and bloud of Christ hauing an inuisible existencie vnder the formes of Bread and Wine This modification beeing thus concluded by them and now reputed an essentiall Article of Faith there is no meanes of reconciliation in this case also nor in many other points of like qualitie and condition vnto this for what communion hath light with darknesse Secondly therefore they haue by certaine Councels the infallible and irreuocable Oracles of their Religion so defined and so resolued these and many other things that if wee cannot come to them in their points in regard of certaine falshood or of vncertaine truth in them they cannot come to vs in our points in regard of their owne principles from which if they once depart they renuerse and ouerthrow the very foundation of all their faith standing wholy vpon their late Councels and Popes Whence it is that they giue vs no leaue to speake dogmatically and problematically of the meanest point in their Religion as of Purgatorie Indulgences c. in such a manner as that the point may haue a supposed truth or that it may haue a possible falshood but they bind vs to receiue it indisputably as to be beleeued by necessitie and vpon the certaine perill of saluation and the reason is because as Bellarmine teacheth De Laicis cap. 19. § Quintò There is one and but one rule of faith whereby wee beleeue all and euery point of faith namely the Word of God expounded by the Church meaning their late Romane Church Therefore it is all one danger to deny all their Articles or to deny but any one Article Indulgences or the like resolued by a Councell and so propounded by their Church which if shee had a certaintie of errour in one point should haue an vncertainetie of truth in all Where then is the meanes of reconciliation or what reconciliation can you make while they insist in this course You must come wholy to them for they will not come in any one part or parcell vnto you and that were not a reconciliation with Rome but a submission vnto her Thirdly the Babylonians haue assumed vnto themselues the onely power of calling Councells the most proper meanes to determine all matters of Religion by the verdict of Gods Word and testimony of his Church the onely suffrages to define the onely authoritie of doing and proceeding after their owne pleasure and finally an vnquestionable infallibilitie to oblige vs vnto that which they canonically resolue and conclude Where then is the meanes of reconciliation If they could retrograde and goe backe from any point alreadie determined by them or from this course of determination it would bee as great a miracle vnto vs as the retrocession or going backe of the Sun in the dyall of Ahaz Fourthly and lastly the Babylonians themselues defie this businesse of reconciliation they scorne it as ridiculous they detest it as odious they reiect it as impossible Therefore when Cassander as being a moderate Pontifician entred vpon this designe the rigid and more seuere Babylonians as namely Iohannes à Louanio wrote vehemently and sharply against this attempt whom Bellarmine de Laicis cap. 19. doth follow insisting in the same steps Whence it is that Master Robert Parsons the Iesuite writeth in his Treatise of Mitigation precisely in this manner Wee agree with the Protestants in this that there can bee no agreement betwixt vs and them in Religion Chap. 2. num 5. Wherefore I may well approoue the aduised and iudicious answere of Beza vnto the late vnhappy French King Henrie the fourth That hee would endeauour to reconcile the persons Protestants and Papists but not their Religions the first being a charitable office the second an impossible worke To conclude this obseruation then be not deceiued by the pretenders of Reconciliation who would intangle your mindes with

opposition of Philippus Pulcher to his great disgrace So Sixtus the Fift that subtile and insolent Beast disdayned the Workes of their Learned Bellarmine himselfe because he did not attribute this direct Omnipotencie vnto the Pope as a true and lawfull Superiour of all Kings and therefore did conceiue a purpose to suppresse and extinguish his Writings that seemed to limit and circumscribe the transcendencie of his power as D. Barkley a Pontifician in other points doth relate in his very impugnation of Bellarmines opinion that being also false scandalous and dangerous vnto the state of Christian Princes and in some respects more absurd then the other which Bellarmine did before reiect though in his Reply vnto D. Barkley hee seemeth to incline like a Cardinall now vnto the challenge of his holy Father Sixtus and from an indirect power groweth toward a direct which doctrine passeth freely amongst the Canonists is much imbraced by the Iesuites is diligently furthered by the Popes and doth daily gather strength in Babylon No maruell then if as the proportion of Hercules his bodie was collected by the quantitie of his foot so by these foote-steps of Antichristianity Christian Princes doe now beginne to discerne and discouer the second Beast himselfe and to be excited iustly vnto the ruine and perdition of his estate Secondly Babylon hath treasonable practises against the liues and states of Princes and these same issuing also out of her very doctrines by a powerfull incantation of bewitched soules as namely out of Purgatorie Indulgences Merit Satisfaction and the like besides a blind and vnquestionable obedience whereby many stand more specially deuoted and also obliged vnto this Beast Now therefore though it bee so that Christian Princes should be more iealous of Gods honour then their owne state of his glorie then their owne safetie of his truth then their owne liues and certainly for these causes God shall raise them vp vnto this sacred expedition against Babylon and her Beast yet now their own cause shall incite them forward to the same their state safetie and liues being in danger by the basest Vassall of this Purpled Whore For if his Holy-ship may iustly depose a Prince from his Royall Seat by a Papall sentence and if execution thereof cannot otherwise proceed then that may well follow which Mariana a learned but a wicked Iesuite doth prescribe in this case namely that such a Prince may bee lawfully empoysoned if it were in their very Sacrament it selfe Papists know the practice of this villany or by some clandestine and secret meanes depriued of his life And the truth is that if the generall and current doctrine of Babylon for deposition of Princes bee sound and substantiall then such practises and specially for defect of some other course to put the Papall sentence in execution are by the verdict of good reason and by faire consequence of that doctrine to bee maintayned and to bee performed which horrible and damnable impietie is conuinced by the testimonie of Gods Word by the pietie of the ancient Church and by the iudgement of sundrie Papists themselues not so deeply and dangerously infected with the leauen of Babylon in this point and therefore lesse neere and deare vnto the Triple-crowned Beast And thus you haue a decision of the second point namely the causes with the seuerall branches thereof why these ten Kings shall conspire in this action for the fall of Babylon and therefore I will now proceed vnto the third The THIRD Question THIRDLY then if you require of me when the ten Kings these glorious starres in the firmament of the World shall meete in this coniunction which shall be so fatall vnto Rome I answere it is a curiositie to enquire the time and temeritie to define it For who can looke without his perill into the Arke of the Diuine prouidence Wherefore in an vncertaine point I will follow the greatest certaintie which the Scripture itselfe and my best obseruation will direct mee vnto in so doubtfull a case The points which I tender vnto your consideration are foure FIRST this fall of Rome described Chap. 18. is not long before the period and conclusion of the World for as I noted in my former Sermon the Saints reioyce for her ruine Chap. 19. then Chap. 20. there is a recapitulation of things past in the state of the Church with a description of the generall Iudgement then in the two last Chapters ensueth a description of celestiall Hierusalem and the happie condition of the Triumphant Church the state of the Militant being now consummate and ended as it seemeth in or vpon the fall of Babylon as being one of the last glorious and obseruable Acts preceding the generall Resurrection of the dead Howbeit I cannot determinately affirme with Lactant. lib. 7. cap. 25. that the World shall receiue her end immediately vpon this vastation of Rome which as he falsly supposed should be performed by the great Antichrist and consequently according to his account and the generall opinion of the Ancients the World cannot stand longer then the space of three yeares or therevpon after the fall of Rome since he and they did generally conceiue that the Reigne of Antichrist was confined within the compasse of three yeeres and an halfe But as their speculations in this kinde had no sufficient ground and the very courses of times with the successe of things therein besides the more cleere and certaine exposition of Propheticall Scriptures in this later Age doe foundly conuince the same so they inferre with them this palpable absurditie that they who see this extinction and ruine of Babylon shall haue an infallible knowledge that the World shall determine and end within the space of such a time the fire in Romes destruction giuing them this light which consequence as it is euident vpon their ground so it needeth no refutation since it implyeth sundry points of markeable errour which I leaue vnto your prudent censure SECONDLY her fall attendeth the complement and full number of her sinnes according to a semblable case Gen. 15.16 When the sinnes of the Amorites are full c. when the latter times of Rome haue filled vp the measure of her iniquities when this Haruest is ripe then commeth the Sickle of Gods vengeance or to follow the very words of GODS Spirit this fall shall come vnto Rome when the words of God are fulfilled Apoc. 17.17 concerning her tyrannie pride and insolencie which must haue their due course before her fatall end THIRDLY then we may reasonably conclude that the time of her fall is neere at hand for what can future Rome adde vnto the sinnes of the former eadem facient cupientque minores as the ingenious Poet spake of Imperiall Rome vpon fifteen hundred yeeres agoe they that come after shall desire and doe the same things with them that went before What Tyrannie what Oppression what Persecution what Antichristian Pride what Insolencie against Princes what Delusions what Impostures can wee expect from Rome hereafter