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A17215 Of the end of the world and iudgement of our Lord Iesus Christe to come, and of the moste perillous dangers of this our moste corrupt age, and by what meanes the godly may auoid the harmes thereof, sermons preached in latin in the assembly of the clergie by Henry Bullinger, and now lately englished by Thomas Potter Bullinger, Heinrich, 1504-1575.; Potter, Thomas, fl. 1580. 1580 (1580) STC 4070; ESTC S109532 41,593 112

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so ouerthrew and rooted vp the kingdome of Lombardy Wherby the third of the thrée Hornes may very wel be said to haue fallen downe But the Citie of Roome was giuē by the ●āe Charles vnto Saint peeter and to the bishop there the successor of Saint Peeter and to the Romain Church And those things which his elders before him had giuen lately the same he enlarged and confirmed But before I procéed to other things partaining to this matter I cannot omit the exposition of Daniel the iudgement of that moste famous and godly man Ebarhardus Archbishop of Salisburge concerning Pope Gregory the ninth and other Bishops of Rome who about the yéer of our Lord 1240. in a common Parlement of the kingdome as it is mentioned by Iohānes Auentinus in his seuenth Book of Cronicles thus said These mightie holy Préests of Babilon desire to reign alone They cannot abide to haue any equall They wil not ceasse til they haue brought all things vnder their subiection and sit in the Temple of God and lifted vp abooue all whatsoeuer is woorshiped Their hunger for riches their thirstinesse for honor is vnsatiable The more thou giuest to a couetous man the more dooth he couet and desire Reach him thy finger and he will couet for thy whole hād We wax the worsse euen all the sorte of vs through immoderate libertie He that is the Seruant of Seruants desireth to be the Lord of Lords euen as though he were God him self He disdaineth the holy assemblies and councels of his bretheren yea of those that be Lords and rulers ouer him Hée is afraid lest he should be cōpelled to yeld account of those things whiche hee dooth daly more and more against the lawes He speaketh great things as though he were a God He imagineth in his hart new deuises to the intent he might establish a Kingdome to him self Hée chaungeth lawes confirmeth his owne defileth robbeth spoyleth defraudeth killeth euen hee that wicked outcast whom they vse to call Antichriste In whose forhed is written the name of blasphemy I am God I cannot erre he sitteth in the temple of God and ruleth far néer But as it is writtē in the secrets of holy Scriptures he that readeth let him vnderstand The learned shall vnderstand but all the wicked shal doo wickedly and shall not vnderstand And by and by after this The maiestie of the people of Roome by whiche in times past the whole world was gouerned is taken away from the Earth and the Empire is returned back into Asia The East shall beare dominion again and the West shal be brought vnder subiection The kingdome was multiplied and the highest gouernment of things is now dispersed in to many cut in sunder diminished I wil not say torn all to péeces Ciuil dissentiōs are sowed abrode for euer And wée sée no end of deadly warres The name of Emperour is but a vain name and but a shadowe only There are now ten Kings at once whiche haue parted amongst them the whole earth béeing héertofore the Romain Empire not to rule and gouern it but to consume it The ten Hornes which seemed incredible to Saint Augustine that is to say The Turcks the Greeks the Egiptians the Africans the Spanyards the Frenchmen the Englishmen the Germaines the Siciliās the Italiās haue in possession the prouinces of Rome and haue rooted out the Romaines that inhabited the same And vnder these grewe vp a litle Horne which had eyes and a mouth speaking presumptuous things He bringeth into subiection vnder him thrée Kingdoms moste cheefly that is to say Sicily Italy Germany and compelleth them to serue him He vexeth the people of Christe and the Saints of God with his intollerable soueraintie He turneth all things vpside down bothe things diuine and humain He attempteth matters horrible excecrable What can be more euident then this Prophecy All the miracles and prodigious wunders of whiche our Hauenly maister did admonish vs read ye the chronicles were wrought a great while ago in which presumption violēce possesse all thinges Good mē are tossed to fro with all reprochefulnes and pouertie All right is confounded and Lawes perish there is no faith in men no peace no gentlenesse no shame no trueth there withall no safetie also no gouernment no rest at all from euil men all the whole earth is in a whurlyburly warres doo rage on euery side all nations are vp in armour assaulting one another Cities néere bordering do fight togither Kingdomes are ouerthrowen and Cities doo vtterly perish not onely with Swoord and fire but also with continuall Earthquakes and ouerflowings of waters and with often diseses and hunger Maruelous wunders happen euery where in all the Elements of the world The aire is infected corrupted and vnholsome through vnsaciable rain sometime with vnprofitable drought sometime with colde sometime with to-much heats Neither dooth the Earth yéeld any foyson vnto man neither the corne nor trées nor Vines haue any fruteful increace And though in their bloughth they giue great showe yet in Haruest they bring no frute Cattel and beastes dye vppon the earth Birds in the aire and the fishes in the waters Blasing Starres and darknes of the Sun the coloure of the Moone the suddain and vnaccustomable falling of the shooting Starres the heauens ouerspred with blood confoundeth the mindes of men with dreadful terrour through the wrath of God against men there rageth Swoord fire hungar and siknes Neuerthelesse the vngodly acknowledge not the Iustice of God but rather increace more and more in euil In so much that they haue eyes and see not And this haue I resited woord by woord out of the Chronicle of Auentinus whiche if any of you desire to read ye shall finde it in the Copie of Ingolstadius printed in the yéer of our Lord. 1554. in the lefe 684. and 685. c. All these sayings of the Archchbishop agrée very well to our matter and expound the same And it appéereth that I am not alone of this opinion that he putteth other Kingdoms in place of the thrée Hornes Whiche thing I commit to the Iudgement of the reader With my exposition accordeth the number of the beasts name Apoca. 13. of which I haue elswhere discoursed more at large Now let vs return to our Daniell bréefly to expound that also which remaineth But thus by casting down of the thrée hornes that litle horne mentioned by Daniel namely that bace Seruant of Christe and euen the Seruant of Seruants did not onely clime vp to the highest top but also became the moste mightie Prince of that fatall Land of Italy Apoc. 17. and Lord of seuen hilled Room and of the Palaice of Antichriste The which he and his repaired and adorned by the space of seuen hundred and fiftye yéeres so that olde Rome by the help of these woorthy Patriarches may now séeme to be new borne again And héerunto Saint Paule séemeth to haue relation 1. Thessa 2.
end of the world that the Church cleueth only to him honoreth him in Spirite and trueth that the same worshippeth him not in elements or corruptible things but in glory at the right hand of God the father If thou doo thus beleeue doo thus plainly and simply cōfesse thy faith thou shalt be accounted nothing Catholick yea suspected of heresy or rather a very Heretick indéed For héerunto thou must ad that Christe indeed dooth iustifie vs but not fréely For Our merits must come to and so our saluation therby is made perfect And therfore by all menes possible they impugne and persecute this proposition as hereticall namely That Sinners are iustified by onely faith in Christe and not by the vvorks of the lawe Moreouer they teach vs to speake more Catholikly and to frame our talke in this wise namely that men haue their sinnes in déed forgiuen thorow Christe but not without the Key graunted vnto the Préests which is lawfully employed in Confessions That mennes sinnes are indéed pardoned as touching the fault but not as touching the pain which pain say they is taken away or ministred by Satisfaction or by the Popes pardons And the beléeuers are saued indeed but yet their soules must first be wel sodden and purged with Fire and Holy vvater They ad moreouer that in very deed the Gospel of Iesus Christe is the rule of true faith and good life but not altogither perfect But that the want therof is patched vp with liuely Traditions and by the decrees of the councels and Fathers That the rule of Munks are moste alowable and moste perfect because forsooth they are in the state of perfectiō That Christ in déed is the hiest hed in Heauē but that he in earth hath placed in his-sted the Bishop of Rome with fulnes of power to be the hed of his Church So that they which doo not acknowledge this hed cannot inioy Christe in Heauen for that we ought vnder pain of damnation to be subiect to the Bishop of Roome So they graunt that Christe is in déed in Heauen with his Father an intercessor and mediator for the faithful yet they ad by and by But he is not a mediator alone For the same thing also is graūted vnto the merits of the Saints in Heauē so that by their menes also they cause our Lord to extend his mercy vnto sinners calling vpon the names of the Saints So they graunt that Christe is to be worshipped in spirit trueth but yet they affirme that he is neuerthelesse to be worshiped with golde with siluer and all kindes of precioꝰ things Iohn 4. Daniel 11. Acts. 17. that are to be offered and dedicated to the ornament of temples So they say that the faithful doo indéed worship Christe at the right hand of the father in glory but that he neuerthelesse must be adored also and worshipped vnder the forme of bread in their Chappelꝭ in their Alters in their Temples in their store boxes and Pixes when by the power of God and of the woords of consecration the substance of bread and wine is turned yea transubstantiated in to the substance of the body and blood of Christe no one iot of the substance of the bread and wine remaining but onely the very accidents and outward shewes that appéer Therfore that Christe is to be worshipped héer euen héer on the earth and vnder the elements and outwarde creatures they doo ernestly affirme by the traditions of the Popes Innocencius Honorius and Vrbanus and doo euen poynt him out as it were with the finger in the earth heere and there moreouer in the desert in the secret places in their Clausters in those their monasteries Yea farthermore to th' intent that the admonition of Iesus Christe our Lord might not be obscure or dark saying in the Gospel They shall saye vnto you beholde heere is Christe beholde he is there beholde he is in the desert beholde he is in the store boxes or in the secret places roūd about the Pix or litle Sacrament box they write in great golden letters Heer vvorship thou God If in any place out of Roome they doo open their Romain pilgremage Ein Romfart that is to say if any where they happen to lay out those their indulgences and Pardons to sale for merchandise then again in the forefrunt of their Scrips satchels boxes and shops of pardons they write in great golden letters Heer is ful remission of all sinnes and these things truely are wel knowen to all men throughout Christendome But what dooth Christe our Lord ad moreouer vnto those things Go not forth do not beleeue them beholde I haue tolde you before Furthermore we haue heard and séene in more then a thousand places great fearful Miracles to haue beē wrought before dum Images and before the bread turned into God And all things were doon to this end that these new Doctor like decrées of the trāsubstantiatiō of the bread of the worshipping of Images of the inuocation of Saints and the purchasing the merits of Saints The persecution of the Church of Christe might be set foorth commēded to the faithful But he that wil not beléeue these things or shall in any iot speake against them is by and by snatched vp to prison to execucion of death We haue learned out of histories that there hath béen neuer at any time stirred vp against the people of God any persecution more greeuous of longer continuance and finally also more cruel then this last by Antichrist The affliction of the people of God in Egipt continued not abooue two hundred yeres It is written in déed that they were in Egipt and on their iourney iij. hundred yeeres But all this time is not ascribed to the persecution of the Israelits But the persecutions which they sustained vnder the Iudges and Kings were very short The captiuitie of Babilon was ended within the space of lxx yeeres The affliction of Antioche and Greece was contained within certain bonds Moreouer the ten persecutions of the primatiue church lasted thrée hundred yéeres euen to the reign of Constantine the great And they had in the mean while certain breathing spaces certain respits and quiet times But since the time in which the Bishop of Rome inuaded the kingdom of Christe began vsurpingly to take vpon him the rule of the Church and lastly to chalenge to him self the fulnes of power there was then no rest at the end of lxx yéeres abooue None or very short truces but continuall laying of trappes and snares perpetuall practises and torments as it were euerlasting The sharp and cruel Inquisicion was written with the blood of the faithful that is to say a more rigorus way to enquire against the faithful then euer was practised by the Emperour Dioclesian such as was neuer séen in any age or time from the beginning of the world Heervnto is mixed Excommunication the strong sinew of persecution This kinde of persecution hath
ad vom braemen vstrumen vnd be schissen with which it hath been a raging enemye against the whole worlde bothe spiritually and corporally Assuredly all historyes doo witnesse that our Lord God bare a singuler great fauour vnto the Citie of Constantinople One matter onely will I resite After the decay of the Romain Monarchie how soeuer the whole world run togither with mutuall warres amonge them selues most kingdomes tasted of meruelous alterations yet neuertheles the kingdom of Constantinople remained stedfast and vnmoouable giuing often repulse vnto barbarous nations and also to the very Sarasines beeing enemyes otherwise moste mightie fierce But at the length beeing vtterly void of Gods protection it was laid open to be spoyled and trodden vnder foote by the Turks at what time the Princes of Constantinople béeing deceiued by Eugenius the Pope to the great calamitie of moste mightie Princes For at that season by the vnhappy councel of Amurathe he ouerthrew Ladislaus the moste victorious King of Hungary and Polonia with all his whole hoste departing in the councell of Florence from their true head Christe acknowledged the Pope of Roome to be the true Vicar of Christe on earth and the lawful successor of Peeter I reherse the woords of Platina to occupy the chéefest and highest place in the world whom the Church bothe of the East and also of the West ought of duty to obey But séeing that these things haue happened to this moste noble ond moste ancient Citie through the iust iudgement of God let men take héed in these dayes what they doo that béeing deliuered thorow the tuicion and diligence of good Princes from this Romain beast outragious proud insatiable in blood and riches filthy and deceiuable yet wil again throwe down thē selues to be stamped vnder his féet and to be ouerwhelmed Sith all kinds of legerdemain But now I return to Daniel It appéereth out of histories as I was about to tel that in the West within Roome and Italy beeing the auncient seat of the empire there was no Caesar or Emperour all the time from the desolation of the West Empire vnto the dayes of Charles the great which was thrée hundred yéeres and more For the Hornes that grue vp by the diuision of the Romain Empire béeing diuers and many did fiercely fight togither and slew one another So that Roome and Italy was gouerned now by the west Gothes afterward by the VVandalles after that by the Saxons so by the East Gothes then by the Greeks and at the length the Lombards also and Frenchmen attained to the Empire And during this vnhappy time while the frantick Prinres slewe one another with mutuall wounds there sprung vp in the middest of this contention that base and despised litle Horne that Daniel speaketh of namely a parish Préest of Roome who a litle before this time through moste wicked deuises practises began to be in authoritie which helped him exceedingly to the attainment of the Empire For now he was accounted almoste of all men in the west parts for the vniuersall pastor as Bishop of that place which after long contention had first with the Churches of Africa and afterwarde of Constantinople Phocas the Emperour altogither an infamous and vnfortunate Prince commaunded to be chéefest and head of all Churches in the world Therfore now the Popes iudgements and decrées were of great authoritie among princes as of a man altogither Apostolike who neuerthelesse hitherto was equall with other Bishops and had no princely superioritie and therfore was a base and despised litle horne And Daniel dooth not let to tel by what meanes that base person not accounted of who was once vnder the subiection of the Romain Princes is now started vp to so great a dignitie power The little horne ouerthroweth iii. hornes namly by the ouerthrowe of thrée Hornes in that sharp conflict of the other Hornes And héer I would haue you to note dilygētly how that Daniel in declaring of this matter vsed not one ōly woord but thrée For he saith that the Hornes were pluct a way brought lowe fel down Namely that one of the thrée hornes was pluckt awaye an other brought lowe and the third fel down For Grigory Bishop of Room the second of that name a Cirian born and a man very wittie and subtile did excomunicate Leo Isauricus Emperour of Constantinople béeing a good and other wise a strong Prince for taking away the Images out of the temples of Christians whom also he plucked away and draue him out of Italy Héerin reigned the Saxons and Ostgothes men barbarous about Clxxv yéeres But these were subdued by Bellisarius a mā very expert in the affaires of war And Narses a skilful and mightie warrier béeing sent by the princes of Constantinople draue them clean out of Italy and he him self ruled Italy as Liuetenant for the Prince of Constantinople After this Longinus brought a new kinde of gouernmēt into Italy called the Exarchate The Exarchate af Rauenna such a one as was the Deputy and Viceroy in Italy in place of the Prince of Constantinople He was termed Exarchus who had his seat at Rauenna and not at Roome because it remained very filthy and as it were desolate by meanes of the waste destruction doon by the Gothes And after Narces and Basilius Rome had neuer Consuls nor senat lawfully assembled But the Romain state béeing vtterly wasted was gouerned a long time by the rule of a Grecian whō the Exarchus sent from Rauenna And it was not called the Exarchate of Roome but of Rauenna But after that Leo the Gréek Emperour was excōmunicated and Gregory the Pope had perswaded all the Cities of Italy to reuolt they began to chuse them Dukes to rule ouer them Wherby it came to passe immediatly that casting away the gouernment of the Exarchate they slew through sedition Paule the Exarchus togither with his Sonne at Rauenna and expelled the Grecians out of Italy And so this horn was plucked away Moreouer Pope Zacharias wheras he was falsely esteemed by the Frenchmen and other nations to be the true Apostolike and vniuersall bishop on earth was chosen vmpire to pronounce whether were more worthy of the kingdome Hildericus or Pipin the dwarf But he brought lowe the true King Hildericus in place of whom hée exalted Pipine béeing the chéef ruler of his house Wherfore Stephen the successor of Zacharie second of that name the repulse béeing giuen to the Lombards and also in despite of the Greeks receiued for a reward of his wicked fact the Exarchate of Rauenna lately made desolate by the practises of the Pope And so another of the thrée Hornes was brought lowe and the litle horne was exalted into a higher estate Furthermore now after these commeth Charles the great the sonne of Pipin the dwarf who beeing called foorth by Pope Adrian in to Italy against the Lumhards at Papia or Ticinum ' beséeged and took Desiderius the last king of the Lombards in Italy