have power over the estate of the life to come 1. Over Heaven Hee claimes transcendent power in that and doth abuse that place in Mat. 16. 19. To thee will I give the keyes of the Kingdome of heaven that whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Therefore he can open the gates of Heaven to them that are dead 2. They have power over Purgatory Upon so much done and given they can help them out of Purgatory They make account the torments of Purgatory are equall to the paines of Hell but that Hell is for ever and Purgatory but till the last Judgment 3. They have power over Hell they have not absolute power to deliver out of Hell only Gregory is said to have delivered Trajans soul out of Hell but though they cannot deliver out of Hell yet they can ease the torment The witnesses of this will hardly owne it but it is the judgment of the most devout to that Sea So that he gave to the Catholick church his power of signs and lying wonders of all kinds of efficacy of delusions and power of making Warre and he gave him great authority over the Scriptures over mens Consciences over the treasures of the Church over Kingdomes and Princes and Powers of the world to come and over Purgatory and Hell And therefore consider if this be not a vast power which is here given and acknowledged to be given by himselfe to the Catholick visible Roman Church You must not wonder that the Catholick Church did not claim all this at first but came to this by degrees and more faster grew to this especially at that time when this second Beast that received in spiritualls his power speaking like a Dragon had got all this transcendant power In the mean time from the very first you shal find this power in the representative Catholick Church They quartered them into severall Jurisdictions into Bishopricks and when they had done that they rested not till they had set one over the rest and that was this of Rome And besides this was devillish Authority to make Laws to bind all Christian Congregations to take their Government from them 3ly In every Councell they devised some new Doctrine and some new form of worship and Government which was the seed out of which this transcendant power was hatched For the reason of the point you may aske how hee should give all this power which he never had himself how he should give that which never was his to a Beast so as to carry all things with that transcendant power for divine power he had not himself he was cast out from it how then could hee give this to any State in the world First from Gods divine Justice and heavy Judgment upon the unthankfull world That look as God in former times did give up the Roman Pagan world to be ruled by Satan as the god of it and therefore he is called in 2 Cor. 4. 4. the God of the world So now God gave up the Roman Christian world as he did the Pagan world before the Scripture tells us so 2 Thes 2. 8 9 10 11 12. Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved he gave them up to efficacy of delusions to believe lies That they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse They loved not the simplicity of the Apostles Institutions concerning Churches and Laws and Doctrine and Apostolick government but did affect high preferments and setled endowments and carnall excellency Now the Lord therefore gives Satan wonderfull power that as of old he was once the God of Pagan Rome so now in the Church he gives them Church-power that what he could not retaine in his owne hands that he substitutes and gives to the Roman Catholick Church to carry it along with great successe and that 's the first Reason the judgment of God upon the unthankfull world A second Reason is taken from the effectuall means which Satan used to advance the Roman Church by to exalt his Church above all others what were the means The means were these First Ignorance raising a smoak out of the bottomlesse Pit darkning all the light of the Church Rev. 9. 2. The Sun and the Aire were darkned by reason of it There was a mighty dark mist as it were They regarded not the love of the truth they studyed it not and so the Lord left them to palpable grosse ignorance in so much that at that time when the second beast arose had we seene any that lived in the former time of Religion and that lived now we would not have thought they had been the same men such palpable darkness were they left unto of ignorance Now palpable ignorance is the mother of all Superstition and Idolatry and the misguidance of all things in the Church A second means which he used was terror of Conscience which he set on effectually by the Locusts Rev. 9. 3 5. There came out of the smoak Locusts and unto them was given power as the scorpions of the Earth have power They had such a notable power to sting the Consciences of men that men would seek for death and could not finde it and take desperate courses drowning or hanging or any thing rather then to live in that terrour They that shall read Parsons Resolutions Granatensis shall find what terrible threats there are applyed to terrifie but never shewed them the way to come to Christ to binde up such broken souls Now the Conscience broken and not healed is fit to sow any superstition in A third means was the superstition and hypocrisie of the votaries and of all afflicted but unsetled consciences Terror of conscience makes them greatly devout They tell them of a state of perfection and that they shall shrowd themselves in such a Monastery and there they should live devoutly and be kept from the pollutions of the world Many Princes have been thus taken and have given large endowments to pray for their souls their consciences being wounded A fourth meanes was the subtilty and sophistry of the School-men suppressing the reading of the Scriptures and mixing Philosophy with Divinity that they might as well have studied a point of Aristotle as their divinity and make as good use of the one as of the other They left studying of Scriptures and read Peter Lombard which was mentioned in Latine and this was a notable meanes A fifth meanes was the policy of the Canonists who had gathered together all those Canons that tended to Christs powerfull Government and fastned them upon the Catholick Church and the Bishop of Rome being head he had it all committed to him a notable means to bring in Tyranny Last of all lying miracles 2 Thes 2. 9. Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signes lying wonders Thus you see the means how the
that might be felt From the ninth Centuary to the tenth both Protestant and Popish Divines complaine that had not some lived in the 800. year and in the thousand yeare after Christ they should not have known what had beene done in the nine hundred a whole hundred years together Men were so full of darknesse and ignorance that scarce any set pen to paper to tell us what was done in those dark times that men did not know what were principles of Christianity much lesse were able to discern of Cases of Church-government or the misterie of godlinesse which requires more diligent attendance And thence it was that they were so taken with the pretended claymes of the Catholick visible Church that it would not erre because it was built upon a Rock and had the keys of Peter and he had the keys of heaven What he bound on earth was bound in heaven and what he loosed on earth was loosed in heaven that had there not been palpable grosse ignorance it had not been possible such grosse things should have been suffered to come in And a second thing that moved them was the strange successe of the Beast in recovering of his wounded head for that made them wonder after the Beast when they saw such a mortall wound so throughly healed They thought had it not been above the power of mortall men it had not been possible it should have been healed but certainly there was a power above mortall men in it and that is the reason in the Text to give him a mouth to speak great things to speak what hee would And a third reason why Princes gave this power was their devout superstition many were convinced by Matchivilian policy of their great sins and they had in those dayes a notable dexterity to apply the Law of God and to sting mens consciences like a Cockatrice Rev. 9. 5. and then they would do any thing for ease out of the bondage they lay under and this was a great meanes Then they directed them to give so much to such a Monastery or to goe a Pilgrimage or fast such a time and such devotion which a mans own unsanctified heart could reach That when this Beast speaks great things that he can pardon sinne and his Shavelings will take a course for redeeming souls and preserving them out of hel this was such satisfaction to them that you need not wonder if all Princes gave their Kingdomes to the Beast And so having advanced him as supream over them all he hath a mouth he may speak what he will Princes may make Laws on this hand or on that but if they do not suite with him they are disannulled And they must be reconciled to the mother Church and so this Harlot gives them all to her and hath a mouth speaking great things and therewithall great blasphemieâ— Thus have you the point and the reasons of it For the use of it I might from hence first speak to this point that it were therefore a necessary counsell to all Roman Catholicks to consider diligently the grounds of the great priviledges of the visible Catholick Church they stretch their authority beyond all degrees of Churches beyond all Temporall States or particular Churches Now necessary it were for them to reverse all the great things which are delivered and which the Pope hath set open his mouth to speak though they be delivered with never such fulnesse and boldnesse and plentitude of power It behoves men to consider whether all these great words be not the words of a Beast and blasphemies which the head of the Beast had taken upon him to utter for it is not enough that they are spoken boldly and confidently and with good advisement and grave Counsell Provinciall Decretals and Decrees for they are distinct things It behoves Catholicks not to be gulled with Titles and great things for it is not alwayes that power which God in mercy gives to men when they dare speak great things they think the Pope is not Antichrist but when Antichrist comes will he do greater things then these as they sayd of Christ when Christ comes will he doe greater workes then these And so when Antichrist comes can he speak grater things then these And if I were to speak to Lay-men as they say in their Religion I might advise them to take heed they be not taken with the confidence of their Priests that speak with good advisement even to impudency and with such resolute courage that many thousands are carryed away with it and say certainly men would never be so bold if they were not possessed with the goodnesse of their cause Let them not be deluded the Beast hath power to speak great things and he opens his mouth with all courage and confidence and whispers it not but speaks with impudency and abundance of resolution Secondly This may serve to teach us the danger of allowing to any mortall man an inordinate measure of power to speak great things to allow to any man uncontrollâ—bleness of speech you see the desperate â—â—â—ger of it Let all the world learn to give mortall men no greater power then they are content they shall use for use is they will and unlesse they be better taught of God they will use it ever and anon it may be make it the passage of their proceeding to speake what they will And they that have liberty to speak great things you will finde it to be true they will speak great blasphemies No man would think what desperate deceit and wickednesse there is in the hearts of men And that was the reason why the Beast did speak such great things hee might speak and no body might controll him What saith the Lord in Jer. 3. 5. Thou hast spoken and done evill things as thou couldst If a Church or head of a Church could have done worse he would have done it This is one of the straines of nature it affects boundlesse liberty and to runne to the utmost extent What ever power he hath received he hath a corrupt nature that will improve it in one thing or other if he have liberty he will think why may he not use it Set up the Pope as Lord Paramount over Kings and Princes and they shall know that he hath power over them he will take liberty to depose one and set up another Give him power to make Laws and he will approve and disprove as he list what he approves is Canonicall what hee disproves is rejected Give him that power and he will so order it at length he will make such a State of Religion that he that so lives and dyes shall never be saved and all this springs from the vast power that is given to him and from the deep depravation of nature Hee will open his mouth His tongue is his owne who is Lord over him Psal 12. 3 4. It is therefore most wholsome for Magistrates and Officers in Church and Common-wealth never to affect
is such power as is far above the reach of man None of them all have such power as he not those that are called Gods So they admire his power what he can do to inward or outward man to publique or private States And they do not only admire the Catholick Church and the head of it and adore them but in both these they adore the Dragon that gave all this power to the Beast The meaning may be exprest in two branches 1. The Dragon is expressed as animating heathen Rome for that hath seven heads and ten horns which are the armes both of heathen Rome and of this Beast Now he is called the Dragon as he acted heathen Rome and as he was Lord of heathen Rome he gave all this power to the Pope For they thought it meet since it was the Imperiall City when it was Pagan that therefore it should be the mother of all Churches And being the Imperial City it was the bloud-sucker of many millions of the souls of Gods servants that caused the Dragon to put that honour upon Rome 2. But that is not all There is another branch comes neerer the full meaning of the Text that was for the honouring of the Bishop of Rome and of the Catholick Church viz. taking another doctrine for the Gospell their Idolatry for pure worship their Government for the discipline of Christ their pardons for Justification of sinne by Christ In all this they doe indeed give true worship to the Dragon for what are all these but Images they are none of Gods Ordinances if you referre them to the heads of Scripture they are but Images of Christ In stead of the Ministery of Christ you have doctrines of men In stead of justification by the righteousnesse of Christ you have justification by works In stead of pardon of Sin from Christ you have it from the Pope All things are in another forme an Image of another forme set up devised contrary to what the word establisheth Now you shall finde this to be true if you doe vary from the kingdome of God and Christ then you worship the Dragon You read in 2 Chron. 11. 15. Jeroboam ordained him Priests for the high places and for the Devils and for the Calves which he had made he had no Preists but for the golden Calves and what were they they were but Images and his intendment was not to bring in another object of worship but another manner of worship Jeroboam worshiped Jehovah in Images which God had not appointed and so he worshipped the Divill and not God And you shall read when the Turke was brought in to revenge the Idolatry of Christendome Rev. 9. 20. It is said The people that were not cut off with the plague they repented not of the worke of their hands that they should not worship Devils and Idols of Gold and Silver and brasse and Stone and of wood which neither can see nor hear nor walk which shews that when men worship Images that is God in Images it is not God that is so worshipped but the Divill and all such worship doth not advance the kingdome of God but the kingdome of the Devill therefore it is reall honour to him and therefore this their taking all this vast honour all Churches receiving all from them is none of Gods Institution but the Devils practice for it was the Devill that gave him his power and great authority Therefore saith the holy Ghost they worshiped the Dragon who gave power unto the Beast and they worshipped the beast This worship of the beast they gave it all to him that gave this power to him which was to the Dragon and therfore you read that he had the key of the bottomlesse pit Rev. 9. 1 2. And he opened the bottomlesse pit and there arose a smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace and there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth There went out Monks Friars and a rabble of all superstition Now if you shall aske the reason why people upon the healing of this wound did so mightily admire both the visible Catholick Church and the head of it and adore both and Satan himselfe in both The reason was First from the wrong Interpretation of some Scriptures which were very frequent with them in those dayes and are still and that was that the Catholick Roman Church was builded upon a rock and that rock was the Bishop of Rome and into his hand the Lord Jesus by Peter had given the keys of the kingdome of Heaven and these keys had absolute universall power to binde on Earth and upon his binding on earth Christ would bind in heaven this was an error in judgment that did so possesse their hearts that upon the healing of this wounded head all the world did admire him Therefore Bellarmine makes a large discourse Behold I lay in Zion a chief corner stone and they that trust in him shall never be confounded and so never was there any man that was an enemy to the Catholick Church but was confounded nor never did any man stand for the Catholick Church but was preserved and so they did admire him A great inundation of barbarous Nations were all driven out by the piety of the Bishop of Rome they were able to overturn the Emperors of the East and it was overturned and bring them to his feet and all to be at his disposing This was some confirmation to them that he was the successor of Peter that now whoever is saved it must be by the power of this key or else never look for any saving in this world A second reason may be taken from the correspondency and plausablenesse of such a kinde of Religion and Government to carnall reason especially when it is subdued by any terrors of consceence for it was a season and that held many years together wherein the Priests Friers and Monks had marvellous power to sting the consciences of men with the loathsomnesse of their sinne in the sight of God and they had admirable dexterity therein These foure things were all the matter of their Sermons Vertue and vice Heaven and Hell If you be vertuous then you shall go to Heaven If you be vicious then you must go to Hell Now they would so convince mens consciences and upon conviction binde the conscience under terror as eternally shut out of Heaven for want of virtue which they had not that indeed when these mens consciences are thus perplexed and wounded here is a Religion that findes them so many salves and medicines as ease the power but not remove the cause of the disease that is they set men a course well though you be vicious and though Hell be dreadfull yet Purgatory may ease you by Prayer and you may be dispensed with from going to Hell especially by the Popes pardon or by your own workes by your confessions by selfe-whippings and scourgings or by going a Pilgrimage you may be
the government of the Pope and that is no other but the Roman Catholick visible Church to which all the description you have heard opened doth naturally belong Now that being the first beast what is this second beast This is apparantly distinct from it and it is not so proper to say that the first beast was the Pope as he had soveraign authority in Temporalls and that he is the second Beast as he hath supream power in Spiritualls for he had his Temporall power lâ—st and therefore that would not agree to the Pâ—pâ—ll State he first had supream power in Spirituals before he had supream power in Temporals Now the beast here being not the Roman Catholick Church what is it then It is the head of that Church and what is that It is no other but the Pope of Rome The heads of the Roman Catholique visible Church from one succession to another they are this second beâ—st and that will appeare in a double note which will both cleare that and the rest of the Text. First then take this note That the Bishop or Pope of Rome is in the sight of God and of his Saints no better then a wilde beast for his Originall arising out of the earth for his resemblance like to a Lamb in his borns like to a Dragon in his speech like to the whole Roman Catholick Church in his power This is the former part of the description by his Adjunct by his Similitude and by his Originall However he seems to Catholicks a holy Father and a god on earth yet in the sight of God and of his Saints he is no better theâ— a wilde Beast whose off-spring is from the earth who though he have horns like a Lamb yet speaks like a Dragon and thus John guided by the holy Ghost saw him Let me shortly open these points 1. He is here described to be a wilde beast The word so signifies that is to say not so tame a beast as those in Isa 11 6. to 9. that a child may lead them Wolves or Leopards or Lyons that can sleep with Kids and Calves and little children and they may play on the hole of the Aspe and put their hand on the Cockatrice den He is not so tame that hee can be tamed by the word of Truth or by the censures of the Church no nor by the power of Princes he is above them all and beyond them all a wild beast he is therefore For his Originall He ariseth out of the earth That implyeth he hath it not from Heaven but from below not from Christ but from Satan You are from beneath saith Christ I am from above John 8. 23. Hee springs from the earth especially from earthly and carnall policy that for keeping of good agreement in the Churches they must be folded up into certain Metropolitans or Patriarchs and to keep unity you must have one over them all and that was the Bishop of Rome for all unity they say springs from â—nits if you have more then one Governour you will have no peace Now this being a carnall principle some carnall reason being the ground for the preservation of the Church of Rome for that the Emperours thought if the Bishop of Rome were advanced it would be a means to strengthen them against the barbarous Nations that come against them this carnall reason brought him to be exalted And though his Originall was earthly for the cause yet he ascended above the earth to Ecclesiasticall power And 2. He arose out of the Earth because he rose up insensibly by degrees he makes no great noyse As any thing that comes out of the earth it makes no great noyse in its growing but at length comes to a vast height So it was with the Bishop of Rome this is his descent out of the Earth For his resemblance He hath horns like a Lamb. Horns expresse his power Like a Lamb that is like the Lamb of God Church-power he claims directly no other at least for a long time The power of binding and loosing were his two horns to bind all and loose all and that lay in the closet of his own breast when to put it forth this is but the power of the Lamb. But he spake like a Dragon You have two or three severall speeches of the Dragon In Rev. 12. 9. The old Serpent is called the Dragon What did hee speak 1. Venomous words to our first Parents You shall not dye at all Gen. 3. 4. And so the Pope he draws the hearts of men from conscience of the word 2. The speech of the Dragon it is imperious and arrogant All the kingdomes of the earth will I give thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me Luk. 4. 6 7. And that is the speech of the Pope in Jer. 1. 10. I have set theâ— this day over the Nations and over the kingdomes to roote out and to pull downe and to destroy and to throw downe and to build and to plant And the Pope sends a Crown with this inscription to Frederick the Emperour Christ gave this power to Peter and Peter gave it to the Pope this is Imperiall State And 3. The Dragon hath a devouring and ravenous mouth whereby he speaks â—avenous words Whoever will not worship the Image that I have set up shall be cast into a hot fiery furnace and who is that God that is able to deliver you Dan. 3. 15. And you have heard what worship the Pope claymes and what he threatens if it be neglected Thus you see in Gods account and in the sight of John the Pope is a wild Beast and the holy Ghost as he inspâ—red John he directs him what to say The holy Apostle he stood upon the sand of the Sea and few two beasts one arisiâ—g out of the Sea of corruption in doctrine c. And another out of the earth out of earthly pretences He sees no holinesse in this Beast nothing but beastly cruelty and beastly blasphemy nothing but argues a wilde beast that will not be tamed neither by the Church of God nor by the word of God nor by Princes and States He sees him rising out of â—â—ire pretences pretending nothing but Lamb-like power but â—ee speakes like a Dragon venomous and devouâ—ing words Damnable heresies as being spewed out of the Dragons mouth such a volume of false worship and doctrine and government as destroys the faith of the Church and subverts the foundation of the Church This is the very state of the Pope as John beheld it as he was wrap't up in a vision by the Spirit and he judged of it as hee saw it Now because I cannot so well make use of this before I have spoken of the rest because they are co-incident take this for a second Note and so make use of both together The note is long but it is but the collection of the sum of these verses the words of the Text will bring the Doctrine easily to remembrance This then
is the note The Bishop of Rome exerciseth all the Authority of the first Beast that is of the Roman visible Catholick Church he causeth all that dwell on the Earth to worship that Church he doth worke wonders even to the fetching of fire from Heaven and by his wonders procures all christian States to make an Image to the first Beast and gives such life and power to the Image of the Beast that it is able to speak and it shall cause such as do not worship it to be put to death and finally he leaves an impression or imprints a character upon all sorts of christians and will suffer none to enjoy spirituall or civill communion with them unlesse such as will receive either his marke or his name or the number of his name I put them into a doctrinall frame because they are the sum of the words of the Text. Let me breifly open them all First He doth exercise all the Authority of the first Beast Let all that are acquainted either with the writings of the Romanists or of our Divines that bear witnesse against Rome be testimonies in this case what is there that the Catholick Church claimes but the Pope can do it all There are six or seven trascendant â—cts of power which that Church claymes and the Pope familiarly exerciseth them all 1. The Pope hath power to convent generall Councels or if the Emperours will call a general Councel it shall not stand in â—oâ—ce unlesse the Catholick Church and the Bishops meet in a representative Synod it concludes with their determination this he pleads for to this day it belongs not to the Emperors nor to Christian Princes but to the Bishop of Rome It is one of Bellarmines affirmations that one Church shall have power to call all Churches be it to Florence or Basseil thether they must go whether he will 2. As the Catholick Roman Church did usurpe power to make Laws and Canons to binde all Churches So the Pope doth challenge the same power to make Laws to binde all Churches he pleads for it and will not be content without it 3. Look as the Catholick visible Roman Church doth claime Authority of ratifying Scriptures if they put in the Apocrypha it shall be good Scripture and if the Church do not approve the Gospel of Matthew in Greek but in Hebrew it shall be that or if they refuse both them and take the vulgar Latine that shall stand This power the Catholick Church challengeth power to do and the same doth the Pope 4. If the Roman Catholick visible Church challenge a power of interpreting Scripture and judging of controversies with infalibility of judgement The Pope challengeth that to himselfe when he interprets Scripture or decides controversies about Religion he cannot erre and so they make account he is a fit Judge therein 5. Look as you see the Roman Catholick visible Church had power of binding and loosing challengeth all applealâ— and great things they will do by that priveledge excommunicate some of many Churches that are absent some they excommunicate for seven years some to their death that the shall not be reconciled All this the Pope challengeth in a larger measure then the old Roman visible Church did challenge This the Roman Bishop challengeth to binde conscience to loose oathes and covenants between Prince and people between man and wife to loose vows and oaths and natural relations between parents and children if they will shrowd themselves in a Monastery and will dispence against the Apostle Paul in case of incest this is such a power to loose the bonds of Gods commandments and Gods oaths and relations to God and his servants it is such Transcendant power the Roman visible Catholick Church never challenged greater 6. The Roman visible Catholick Church never challenged so great power till it was animated and acknowledged by the Pope to take upon them to set up one King and to take down another King John in England Frederick the first and Frederick the second Henery the fourth and Henery the fifth he crowns and discrowns whom he will and this out of the plentitude of his power And lastly he doth challenge this beyond the Church it selfe Immunity and Impunity from all Civill and Ecclesiastical power and judicature The Church is above all jâ—dicial power and the Pope the head of it is above it and therefore may not be brought into order by any censure of any Church nor by the civil sword And therefore he 〈◊〉 well called one that exerciseth all the power of the first Beast and rather puts more power to it whatever the Catholick Church may do that he can do where they can dispence and make Laws where they can bind or loose c. So farre as they may go he can go and he doth all in the name and sight of the Church And he causeth all that dwell on the Earth That is carnal christians whose conversation is not in Heaven To worship the first Beast How to worship He speaks of divine worship not civil adoration This is an aberation from a Church but a beastly Church it is a monster The Church of the first institution was of one particular congregation and for all the Churches of the world to be subject to one Cathedral it is far beyond all comprehension of rule Now he causeth all that dwell on the Earth to worship that Beast Wherein are they to worship him 1. It is made a matter of necessity to salvation to be reconciled to that Church and more care is had of being reconciled to that Church then of being reconciled to God in Christ All pleas of being reconciled to Christ will not stand in their judgment unlesse you be reconciled to them 2. Except you be bound in conscience to that state he will allow you no communion he will have all the decrees of the Church as binding the conscience 3. This is divine worship you shall take no doctrine but that is of his stamp nor worship nor Government but of his acknowledgment nor no dispensation of them but according to his Canons And all that dwell on the Earth must worship him all run upon the Beast the Pope doth not so much challenge it to himselfe as to the Church and that which is given to the Church he takes to himselfe Thirdly He doth great wonders so that he makes fire come from Heaven on the Earth in the sight of men And it is said Antichrist shall come in all power of signes and lying wonders 2 Thes 2. 8 9. Their Legions are full of these wonders And in particular for this point of causing fire to come down from Heaven It is an allusion sure to the fire that the old Prophet fetched from Heaven As Eliah fetched fire from Heaven to consume the sacrifice 1 Kings 18. 38 39. And that was a fire that expressed Gods gracious acceptance that made all the people cry the Lord he is God But this the Pope did not fetch