church as well which is in Brittanie Germanie France Spaine Africa America and India parts where thou art not as at Rome and yet confine him to heauen as if he were wholly excluded from the earth who is here as present as there But they say againe the Pope claymeth onely as Vicar to Christ O still blaspheamer answer againe what hath a Vicar to doe in the presence of his superiour yea of such a Superiour who filleth heauen and earth and hath bound himself by speciall promise Ier 23. Matth. 28. to be with his church for ever Dost thou not in making thy self his Vicar deny his presence and in denying the presence of our Lord and Saviour Christ in his church deny him to be truly God Quid verba audiam cum facta videam Againe I aske whether thou dost not in this name usurpe the rights of our Saviour and so also declare thy self to be his enimie When the valiant King Edward the third of England intended warr against Phillip the French King he proclaymed himself King of France that was the beginning of the warr so everie Prince taketh it for a denuntiation of war when his neighbour Prince taketh his title And shall not we say that this is a publike proclamation of war by the Pope against our Saviour Christ when he taketh upon him the stile of Pont. Max. that properly belongeth to our Saviour and was never giuen truly to any man but to him yea doth he not exalt himself aboue Christ For Christ did not take it to himself but received it of his Father But the Pope taketh it to himself without the gift of any unlesse it were of Phocas the Murtherer of whom we shall speake hereafter Neyther yet doth he onely take this title to himself but other titles also not inferiour as caput and sponsus ecclesiae c. which onely belong to our Saviour I demand further whom doth he follow in this title Doth he follow Melchisedek or Aaron They were both called High Priests and they were indeede Types of our Saviour Christ the onely true High-Priest and ordeined by God for certeine signes that he should come and so had a lawfull calling But when the truth was come then all types were abolished yea and they also are abolished from Christ fallen from grace whosoever do use them Whereupon the godly Fathers do affirme that the Céremonies of the Law are now not onely mortuae but mortiferae not onely in use dead but to be used deadly And the reason is apparant for that whosoever doth use them doth deny that our Saviour is come in the flesh namely by using those Ceremonies which were Instituted to shew that he was not then come but to be expected But the Pope using the title of High Priest after the order of Melchisedek or of Aaron doth use a Ceremonie instituted to shew that Christ was not come in the flesh but was to be expected Therefore I aske Whether he doth not denye that Christ Iesus is come in the flâ—sh and so also declare himself to be Antichrist But if they will say that in taking this title upon him he followeth our Saviour Christ I aske by what authoritie or who calleth him to it No man sayth the Apostle taketh this title upon him saue he that is called of God as was Aaron And againe the Priesthood of Christ cannot passe from one to another The reason because Christ is God eternall who can haue no successor in his offices and therefore he that will take upon him to succeed Christ doth deny his divinitie as he that will be his Vicar by pretence of his absence Well if the Pope can shew no calling then I ask by what example or precedent if it were a title lawfull to be used why did none of the Apostles nor of the Disciples use it not Tuus not Timothie not Paul nor Peter not Iames the brother of our Lord Bishop of Ierusalem President of the counsell of the Apostles nor yet our Apostle S. Iohn which outlived all the rest and therefore might best do it In a word I finde none to whom this title of Summus or Maximus Pontifex hath any wayes ben applied but either Melchisedek or Aaron or to our Saviour Christ nor any that hath taken it upon them by humain authoritie but onely the Idolatrous Pontifex Maximus that was in Rome of whom I haue spoken before And if the Pope cannot justifie his highest and greatest Pontificalitie by some title from one or other of the three first it will fall out inevitable that he is the true and undoubted successor of the last And that is most consonant and agreeable to the words of our prophecie that Antichrist should be one of the seauen heads of Rome and namely that head of whom S. Iohn sayth He was and is not and yet is as is before proved Probl 2. The same also may be proved by his name Papa whereof divers haue made divers derivations but for my part I thinke none more probable then to say it cometh from one of the titles used or usurped by the old Roman Emperors which upon their coines were wont to stampe Pa. Pa. for Pater Patriae and now the Roman Prelate as he succeedeth them in the name of Pont. Maximus so he taketh that title of Papa likewise to proue himself their undoubted Successor I will not therefore stand here further to confute their pretence and claime to be Vicarius Christi although I might say that it cannot stand with the celsitude of a Pontifex max. to be but a Vicar neither can a Vicar dispense with the lawes of his superiour nor will I answer to Tu es Petrus and such like which haue been so many times answered by our learned divines neither do I think my self bound to refute the immoderate titles giuen to the Pope by S. Barnard or other late Doctors a pointe of this weight is not to be carried away with swelling phrases of Rhetorick but by evident testimonies of undoubted truth Certain it is that he who said Tu es Petrus never sayd Tu eris Pontifex Maximus nor Tu eris meus vicarius Chrysost no nor super hunc Petrum aedificabo c. neither did he giue any keyes to him more then to the rest of the Apostles But if I may speak my opinion this name Pontifex max. is the verie name of blasphemie written in the forehead of that purple whore euen that Antichrist c. So much therefore be spoken of this name of Pontifex Max. which the Pope taketh to himself A third title is Servus servorum Dei This attribute the Pope also and he alone accepteth acknowledgeth and useth it But this title was never giuen to any but by the godly prophet and patriarch Noah to the cursed Canaan whose Father was the scorner of that godly patriarch and his posteritie the mortall enimies of our Saviour Christ in his Church of Israell and so a type
shall ascend to his high exaltation of power and dignitie out of the same place from whence the Seauen headed Beast was raysed or to speak plainly it shall be exalted to the highest by the divell who gaue to the first Beast his power For this cannot be meant of his first rising because it is expressely sayd in the text that this beast was before And so it seemeth that all the difficulties may be cleared touching this seuenth Head which as it is evident in the Text is sometimes called the Beast And now for a breathing I desire to know whether any person monarchie or kingdome can be found in the world or whether any can be imagined to come hereafter to whom all these Prophesies can be so fitly applyed I come to the next remarkeable circumstance which is the ten crowned hornes That the Roman Empire as well in the time of their Consuls as of their Cesars had many kings at their commaund is evident by their Histories and I haue partly proved before But in this Revelation Probl. â— and specially in the 17 chap. there are divers singularities to be observed in the description of these hornes whereof in Daniell there is no mention First because it is said that at the time of this Revelation they had not received a a kingdome 2 But they shall receaue power at one hour with the beast 3. They are crowned 4. They haue one minde to giue their power and authoritie to the Beast 5. They shall fight against Christ 6. They shall be overcome by him 7. And then they shall hate the whore and make her desolate and naked shall eate her flesh and burne her with fire Not one of these things can be truly applyed to the kings that were under the ancient Roman Empire which are indeede spoken of by Daniel For they had receaved their kingdoms before and were not to expect it in time to come 2. They are not sayd to be crowned because perhaps they held their crowns but as tenants at sufferance 3. They did not giue their power to the Romans but were conquered and subdued We do not read that they did professedly fight against Christ although they were Pagans or that they were overcome by him neither can it be said that they did hate the whore or burne her with fire Massinissa Prusias and Ptolomee gaue their kingdoms to Rome but they had receaved them long before S. Iohns time and did never hate the whore nor make her desolate or burne her with fire The Goths Vandales did burn Rome but they never gaue their power authoritie to the Romans The like differences may be shewed of all other kings that were in the time of the Roman Empire or before These ten hornes therefore spoken of in the 17 chap. of the Revelation cannot be understood of those ten which were spoken of by Daniel although they may haue somewhat in common with them But where now shall we finde these kings Look over all the world and see where they may be found When shall they receaue their kingdome and how long shall we looke for them The impediment of the Roman Empire is long since removed by the testimonies See Probl. 7. as well of Divines as Chronologers If the beast or these kings be not yet come when will they come Out of Rome I say again as it is said or the Roman Empire Vide Abb. demonst Antic c. 4. there note the words of the Synod cited out of Aventin ann 7 it is in vain to seeke And if these kings which shall giue their power and Authoritie to Rome haue not yet receaved their kingdome nor given it to the beast when shall they receaue it or giue it to him or when shall we see the accomplishment of this Prophecie shall we looke for it as the Iewes looke for their Messias But it is the opinion of the best soundest Interpreters Our most excellent learned Soverain king Iames holdeth this opinion in Ep. Admonit So Napier in Apo. Rensuer in Isag c. that these ten hornes do signifie the ten chief Provinces subject to the Roman Empire which at one time with the beast namely upon removing the power of the Empire receaved their power and by degrees grew up into kingdoms about the same time when also the Pope began to take upon him the title of Pontifex Max. namely about the yeare of our Lord 700 or within an hundred yeares after As it may be these Graecia Germania Gallia Brittania Asturia or Leon. Whereunto now is joyned Spaine Pannonia or Hungaria Polonia Suetia Dania and Norvegia Greece you may say was before True as a Roman Province but upon the translation of the state it became a Monarchie in it self which was not absolute as long as the chief title was giuen to Rome Now if this be so when shall we see this performed if it be not alreadie When we see that all these great Princes of Christendome heretofore did yeeld their authoritie power to the Roman Pontifex And now many of them haue forsaken him as England Scotland Denmark Sweden and others of Germanie A great parte of the Dutch Swisses and divers other which are fallen away from Rome France and Venice wavering is it to be imagined that they will againe giue their power authoritie to Rome or ever come againe to giue their power and authoritie to any other Therefore I say that this prophecie is now fulfilled or never to be expected For if we consider well the times forepast we may see that all the great kingdoms of Europe which were before subject to the Roman Empire did arise and begin to take upon them absolute soveranitie and power of the sword upon the remoue and decay of the Roman Empire which was the time foreshewed for the revealing of Antichrist And did all giue their power and authoritie to the Roman Pontifex they did all fight against Christ Iesus in persecuting the professors of his word and Scriptures by the incitement and instigation of the Pope And all those which are fallen from the Pope haue been overcome by the scripture word of God which is called the sword of Christ Iesus If these things be so then why should we looke for any other accomplishment of these Prophecies or how should we understand that they can be fulfilled if not alreadie Can it be denied but all Christian kings gaue their power and authoritie and some gaue their lands and territories also to Rome Constantine they say gaue to the Pope his diadem with the pallace of Lateran and imperiall seat Arithpertus otherwise called Herebertus the Lombard gaue the Cottia Alpes wherein standeth Genua Pipin and Charles of France gaue the principallitie of Ravenna with the Duchie of Beneventum and Spoletium Henry the IIII Emperour of Germanie and Iohn king of England gaue up their crownes to whom but to the Pope of Rome Can it be denied All the Christian kings of that part
as easie to be intreated now in heauen as he was upon earth when he did not reject Marie Magdalen that had seauen divels the woman of Canaan whom he rebuked by the name of a dog nor the man possessed with a legion Secondly how do they acknowledg him to be full of truth when they say that his H. word doth not contain all truth but it must be pieced out with the traditions Canons and expositions of their Church 3. How do they acknowledg him to be our wisdome Scriptura seipsam exponit Chris Aug 2 Tim. 3. when they will not haue his word to be sufficient to interpret it self and to instruct us make us perfect in all good works but we must resort to the Church and receiue her judgment from the mouth of their Pope 4 How do they acknowledge our Saviour Christ by himself to haue purged all our sinnes when they say that we must satisfie by good works in our life and after our death we must go to Purgatorie 5 How do they acknowledg him to be our justification when they say that we are justified before God by our good works and not onely by faith in his death and passion although it be written if thou confesse with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and belieue in thy heart Rom. 10. Hebr. 10. that God raysed him from the dead thou shalt be saved 6 How do they confesse him to be our sanctification or that by one sacrifice he hath consecrated for ever them that are sanctified when as they teach that there must be offered up dayly sacrifices for us in the Masse And lastly how do they accept him for their Redeemer which affirm that our poenarie works Concil Trid. ses 14. Bellarm. de paenitent l. 4. truly properly do satisfie God for the guilt of our punishment which after the fault forgiuen remaineth to be expiated But these points with many others which may be produced to proue that the Pope and his Church if not expresly yet by consequence which is equivalent doth deny the fulnes of all graces to be in our Saviour Christ I leaue to our learned Divines of whom some haue urged these things alreadie and others I doubt not will prosecute them more at large hereafter The summe of all this may be reduced to this Problem Whether any may more properly be called Antichrist or may be called an adversarie to Christ then he that thus denieth the graces of our Saviour Let us come to that which is not onely easie to our understanding but evident to our senses which may be seen with our eyes and felt with our hands For if we take the name of Christ here as he is in the sacrament who hath been a greater enimie to Christ theÌ„ the Popes one of them poysoning it another casting it into the fire all changing adding or diminishing it But take the name as it is communicated to Kings Priests and Prophets and so Antichrist to be an enimie to them I demand who hath in secret as Antichrist must be deceiueable been a greater enimie to all christian kings and Princes then the Popes sometimes incensing them to fight with Pagans and Saracens abroad as de did Godfry of Bulleyn many Princes with him in the meane space neglecting their Christian subjects at home our king Richard the first and the Emperor Frederike sometimes stirring up seditions and rebellions at home as he did against the Emperor Henry the IIII. Henry the IIII. king of France and Queen Elizabeth sometimes ministring occasions to make wars betwixt themselues as Pope Iohn did by crowning another Emperor while the first was living sometimes by giving away their kingdomes as Navarre and England sometimes leaving them destitute of succour and open to the universall professed enimie of all Christians the Turke as they did the Grecian Emperors sometimes setting secret Traitors to murder them and sometimes procuring open enimies to invade them ever excommunicating cursing and interdicting one or other of them Let the histories of late times be perused and see whether their ende and drift hath not been continually for these 900 yeeres and upwards to maintaine and advance their own power riches jurisdiction and preeminence by holding christian princes alwaies obnoxious to them and to make them obnoxious and to keepe them under awe by such meanes as aforesaid So likewise for Priests and Prophets is he not an adversarie to all that will not submit themselues unto him as namely to the Greek Church and all the bishops and learned pastors of the same to the godly Valdenses Albigenses Wicklevites and others Lastly if we take the name of Christ here for his mysticall body which is the Church this is also a speciall note of Antichrist For so it is plainly said that the woman was drunke with the bloud of Saints and Martyrs And who hath shed more bloud of godly men professing the word of Christ Iesus then the Popes haue done for these last nine hundred yeares I referre my self to the histories and Chronicles of those times See Abbâ—t demonst antich In that one warr which they caused Christian Princes to undertake for Ierusalem under Godfry of Bollen it is recorded that there were slayn two thousand millions of Christians In Merindall Cabriers and other places held by the poore Valdois they murdered all men women and sucking children In the Massacre of France Anno 1572 within eight daies were murdered a hundred thousand beside many other at other times in England and else where So that howsoever we take the name of Antichrist either as Vicar to Christ or as adversarie eyther denying his graces or suppressing his Liuetenants and ministers or persecuting his members I finde this name most agreeable to Rome and I demand Whether it can be so well applied unto any other But here will be demanded of me a question how this name Ho Antichristos that Antichrist as they expound the Greeke Article which they would perswade is to be understood of one man can be applied to a succession of men especially seeing some of the Fathers seeme to speake of him but as one man For the Fathers to clear that first it must be confessed that quaestionibus non dum motis Pâ—â—k in Prob. they spake sometimes impropriè incautius as Bellarm. confesseth or securius as S. August sometimes Rhetoricè as S. Ierom. sometimes populariter as others do affirm This question concerning Antichrist was not appointed for them but for us upon whom it must needs be confessed that the uttermost ends of the world are fallen neither did they much labour in it And yet we see not all of them runne in one straine Hilarie seemeth to speak more largely He that refuseth the judgment of the Scriptures Antichristus est Chrysoft in opere imperfecto doth not restraine himself to one man but we sayth he videmus abominationem desolationis jam stantem in loco sancto id est populum Antichristi in
Divines Fox and Paraeus So also Dux Cleri by the godly Walter Brute a scholer of Wicleue our Country-man Vicarius Dei generalis in terris in Latin taking onely the numerall letters Ecclesia Italica in Greek letters And what shall we say to the names of divers Popes conteyning the same letters in effect sound which are used to expresse the said number of 666 in the Apocalyps In the name of Calixtus is there not the perfect sound of all those Greeke letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And may not the same be easily conceited in the name of Sixtus And was not Calixtus whom they call the second but indeed the first of that name that was called Summus Pontifex he that forbad mariage to Priests which S. Paul calleth the Doctrine of Divels The ancient verse may serue for a sufficient testimonie O bone Calixte nunc totus Clerus odit te O lim Presbyteri poterant uxoribus uti Hoc destruxisti postquam tu Papa fuisti And was not Calixtus the second of that name that was called Pont. Max. he that made such a terrible and solemn vow to persecute the Turkes by war curses c. and by colour thereof levied a tenth of the Clergie put all into his purse And when as afterwards the noble Vaivod of Hungarie Hunniades had obteyned a glorious victorie against that publike enemie at Belgrade was it Calixtus that ever helped to advance the Christian cause or to prosecute such a good beginning Or did he not rather set his minde upon his own profit by drawing to himself not onely the chiefe Bishopriks but the whole kingdome of Naples after the death of Alfonsus and so labour to disinherit his sonne Frederike if the incomparable Prince Scanderbeg had not assisted him And what shall we say of Sixtus Do not the Latin letters X. T. being joyned together yeeld the same sound as all the said three numerall letters would do if they were put in the same place And was not Sixtus who by them is called the fourth but indeed the first that was called Pont. Max. for those before him were called Xisti had no greater title then bishop of Rome was not that he that raised so many wars in Italie to advance his kinred and in stead of a church or Hospitall built the famous Lupanar the bitcherie house at Rome Vtrique Veneri for which cause Agrippa called him the great bawde Was it not he that upon a Petition exhibited unto him for the use of Sodomie Homicus Agrippa subscribed Fiat ut petitur Let be as is desired and raised the rents of the Stewes to so high a Rate that it is now accounted for a principall revennue of their church O excellent Father and chast Vicar of Christ The Primitiue Christians were half perswaded that Nero was to come againe and be Antichrist And haue not we reason to belieue that this is he of whom also it is written for his Elogium Gaude Prisce Nero vincit te crimine Sixtus Paedico insignis praedo fucosus Adulter Qui moriens nullos credidit esse Deos. And was not Sixtus the 2. who is by them called the 5. he that sent out his blasphemous Bulles against the late King of France Henrie the third who was shortly after most villanously murdered by one of their breeding And was not he the same Sixtus who most highly commended that wicked Parracide in a solemne Panegyrick before his Cardinals Was not he the same that excommunicated the noble Henry the fourth of France when he was but King of Navarre who was afterwards also murdered by one of their Sectaries Was not he the same who animated the Spaniards to invade this kingdome of England in the year 1588 In setting forth of which action it is worth the Observation Cicarell in vita Sixti how carefull the Parasite is to perswade us that the English and the Spaniards never came ad justam pagnam to a just fight as if the English did affirm any such matter No Cicarella Farre be it from us to challenge the glorie of that victorie to our selues That God who gaue us the grace upon the newes of the approch of that navie to humble our selues before him with fasting and prayer a thing howsoever neglected or forgotten by some of our Historians yet most true and registred by others and remembred by many yet living witnesses That God who detected and defeated the Treasons and Rebellions of Sanders Parrie Ballard Lopas the Powderplot and many others was he that fought for us as he did sometimes against Sisera and for Theodosius and Sic conjurati venere ad classica venti Witnesse our most excellent Soveraine a witnesse aboue all exception in his Sonnet worthie to be remembred The Nations banded gainst the Lord of might Prepar'd a force and set them in the way Mars drest himself in such an awfull plight The like whereof was never seen they say They forward came in such a strange array Both sea and land beset us everie where Their brags did threat our ruine and decay What came thereof the issue did declare The windes began to tosse them here and there The sea began in foaming waues to swell The number that escapt it fell them faire The rest were swallowed up in gulfes of hell But how were all these things so strangely done God lookt on them from out his heauenly Throne This Sonnet publisht with the consent and applause of all the ancient Brittain Nation inhabitants of this kingdome truly euen of verie ancient time Polydore both by a king and a Saint intituled the kingdome of God shall be an everlasting testimonie for us that we never challenged the glorie of that action to our selues The same also will be confirmed by the ordinarie remembrances and thanksgivings which our Preachers usually make thereof in their prayers and Sermons The same also is proved by the Paper lately set forth so well accepted and bought up by all sorts of people amongst us wherein the defeating of that invincible Armada and the Powderplot is represented expressed Behold then you Iesuites Romanists against whom you fight and who it is that fights for us It was God who then pleaded the cause of Religion against superstition of Pietie against Idolatrie of Christ against Antichrist It was he onely for he onely searcheth ruleth and moveth the Hearts who then put it into the heart of our Zenobia and of her servants to send out those Peti-fierbotes that made the grear Sea-castles to cut their cables loose their Anchors and flye away It was he that stirred up the courage of our seamen and inflamed the hearts of our nation with incredible loue and zeale to defend their Countrie religion Now also our drummes and trumpets sound nothing else against you but God and Christ Iesus our Martiall cryes are nothing else but Christ Iesus our gunnes thunder out nothing but Christ Iesus against you For him we fight in
common notice may be the cause why our Prophet did so much ingeminate that article to shew that he spake of a city well inough knowen to be such viz. Great and Imperiall And if this be cleare and evident that by the name of the Great cittie and of Babylon in this Revelation Rome and onely Rome is meant this I hope will serue to illustrate other places As for example the second place Rev. 11. where it is said that the beast shall make warre against the two witnesses of God and shall overcome them and kill them And their dead bodies shall ly in the streets of the great City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egipt where also our Lord was crucified Although some doubt might be conceived of the names of Egypt and Sodom in this place and where our Lord was crucified yet the name of the Great cittie ought by the reasons authorities aforesaid to hold us fast to Rome For none else was then great nor worthie to be so called as I haue shewed before Let us see then how these names Sodome and Egypt may be applied to Rome and therein first what it is to be spiritually called There be many spirits mentioned in the scriptures but here I think that spirit is meant which is spoken of by our Lord in the Gospell Ioh. 14 17. 16 13. euen the spirit of truth which shall lead us into all truth and so to be spiritually called is to be truly so called according to their works effects and fruits as the spirit of truth teacheth us to call things Whether doth not the Prophet Ieremie explain this in altering the name of Pashur Ier. 20 3. whether doth not our Saviour explain it Matth. 7. when he sayth Ye shall know them by their fruits do men gather grapes of thornes or figs of thistles as if he should say men do not call that a thorne of which they gather grapes nor that a thistle of which they gather figges but that is called a vine and this a fig-tree For it is not an evill tree that bringeth forth good fruits nor a good tree that bringeth forth evill fruits Luc. 6 46. And why do ye call me Master and do not the things that I speak if I be a master where is my fear Mal. 1 6. sayth the Lord If a father where is my loue And who art thou Iohn 1. say the Pharises to Iohn Baptist The voice of him that cryeth in the wildernes Make straite the wayes of the Lord sayth S. Iohn Matth. 11. as if he should say I am the preacher of repentance against the coming of the Messiah Art thou he that should come saith he again go tell him saith our Saviour The deaf heare the blinde receaue sight the lame walk the leapers are cleansed c. if I do the works of the Messiah I am he and if ye were Abrahams children Iohn 8. ye would do the works of Abraham Whereupon I aske what is the meaning of all these places but to teach us to judge and speak of men by their works as we doe of trees by their fruits So then where we finde the works of Sodom and Egypt that must be called Sodom Egypt spiritually that is truly Esa 1 10. as the spirit of truth hath taught us to speak Ezech 16. and as the Prophets use to speak Now the workes of Sodom and Egypt were beastly filthines Gen. 19. 12 15. 39 13. and bloudie crueltie as we read in the scripture and besides Exod. 1.14 in Egypt also we finde infinite Idolatrie whereof there are sufficient testimonies in the scripture Num. 3 3. besides that which heathen men do write to the same purpose Ier. 43. namely Herodotus Iuvenal Diod. Sic. Anaxandrid and Plutarch Esa 30. And were not these the works of Rome in S. Iohns time Read their own Authors Tacitus Sueton Virgil. and he rest that I cited before concerning their horrible filthines and Idolatrie Read the Ecclesiastick Histories of their persecutions and their best Historians Tacitus Suetonius of their tyrannies crueltie Are they not still the works of Rome in these later times Read Petrach Mantuan Platina Blesensis Roma est jam tota lupanar sayth one It is notorious that almost all the Cardinals of Rome haue their Manfrones Cinaedos sayth another who by authorities and arguments drawn out of Iacobatius other authors of the Romanists without exception fully proveth that there is not now nor hath beene for many yeares past any true Pope nor lawfull Cardinall but that they are all Intruders Simoniakes Sodomites c. and so haue been of long time and therefore by the sentence of the Pope himself Dist. 23. in the Decree declared to be Antichrist The abhominable acts of Iulius the III that made his Ganymede a Cardinall created Iohannes Casa Archb. of Beneventum Legate à Latere who set forth a book in commendation of that crying sin are not yet forgotten and that booke also passed currant a long time amongst them without controule The bloudy actions of Aluisius Borgia Diazius Minerius Gardner Bonner the murdering Dominican in France and the Pouder-traitors in England and many others were not onely not disallowed by them but praised and commended yet Qui non vetat peccare cum pâ—ssit jubet saith the Pagan I desire to know whether any man ever saw read or heard of any nation Christian Iew or Turke Saracen or Savage wherein Sodomie hath been so publiquely practised allowed as in Rome Their Idols and images also are knowen to be innumerable whereof we shall speake more hereafter What shall we say then of the fourth note of this place where also our Lord was crucified In Ierusalem sayth the Babylonian but Ierusalem at the time of the writing of this Apocalyps was so far from being a great cittie that it was no cittie at all for it was utterly destroyed before by Titus And if it had been then a cittie yet was it far from being great or bearing rule over kings and although Ierusalem be some time called the holy cittie yet is it never called the great cittie Hierom. Hierusalem sanctior locus rupe tarpeìa c. See more in the Epistle of S. Hierom to Marcella inviting her to come to Bethleem and likewise in his Epistle written in the name of Paula and Eustochia to the same Marcella to the same purpose wherein he proveth that this name of the great cittie could not be giuen to Hierusalem c. but rather to Rome or to the world c. the chief cittie whereof is Rome Neyther yet are we directed to the name of Hierusalem but to that place wherein it is spiritually sayd that our Lord was crucified Ierusalem is not spoken of in the text neither indeed was our Lord crucified in Hierusalem but extra portas without the gates as the Apostle speaketh Hebr. 13 12. Let them
person hath built such Stewes and Brothelhouses for Venerie and Sodomy Wherein whores Sodomites and Fornicators are dayly bred cherished increased and multiplied None but they haue granted pardons faculties and dispensations for such things And if any had done or should do the like may we thinke it possible or credible that he should obteyne such absolute power and reputation of Holynes as the Pope hath to be credited and beleeved in the same Was there ever any Sodomite Aegyptian Babylonian Iew Turke or Infidell so desperately impudent as the Romans haue been not onely in doing such things but in boasting of them and setting forth bookes thereof as of old Virgil Ovid Tibullus Catullus Propertius and of late Casa the noble Archbishop of Sodom Boccate their Conceits upon Orlando Baptista de Albertis Petrus Haedus and manie others Cornel. Agr. de van Sci. cap. 63 64. Vidi ego nuper Italica lingua editum Dialogum utriusque Veneris omnium flagitiosissimum And againe Flagitiosissimi Lenones scelestissimaeque Lenae saepe sub Religionum pellibus delitescunt And hereupon againe I aske Whether this can be applied to any Prince Potentate State or person and whether these prophecies can be otherwise fulfilled The sixth note also is evident She is druncken with the bloud of the Saints and Martyrs of Christ Iesus Peruse the Histories of the Christian Church likewise of all Iewes Turkes Infidels and Pagans that haue been since the beginning of the world and shew me whether ever any nation haue shed so much Christian bloud or haue caused so much to be shed as the Romans haue done To omitt those ten Primitiue Persecutions which remaine without parallell of any other How many millions were slayne in those sacred warres stirred up by the Popes to recover Palestina in the civill warres of Germanie and France How many were massacred in France in the yeare 1572 and not long before in Merindall and Cabrieres How many Reverend Bishops and godly Preachers were burned in England with Men women Children and Infants under pretence of their fierie zeale How many thousands did their great Champion the Duke of Alva destroy in few yeares in the Netherlands what by his Soldjors what by his Hangmen and executioners How many haue they swallowed up in their bloudie Inquisitions To speake nothing of those which they count but viles animas as the Valdenses Hugunots Gewses Lutherans and Calvinists how many Princes and Noblemen haue they made away Egmond Horne and the Prince of Orenge in the Low Countries The Admirall Chastillon Count Rochfocault Teligni the Queene of Navarre and two Kings in France In Spaine Prince Charles besides many others But what talke I of particulars Let all Princes of the world joyne together against the Lord and his Christ as the Iewes and Romans did against our Saviour Yea let the greate Turke and great Divell joyne with them and raigne but three yeares and an half or but for a mans life and spend all that time in murdering the Saints of Christ Iesus and I will yet aske Whether any man can imagine that in so short a time they be able to kill so many godly Christians as haue been murdered and slayne by the power practises and procurement of these Pontifices Max. since they got that Antichristian title And if men will not confesse the truth I will againe appeale to the Earth and aske Whether she in so short a time be able to bring forth so many to be martired And if the Consciences of men be not more dull and dead then the earth I will demand againe of them Whether all these Pontifices maximi and everie one of them be not guiltie of all the Bloudsheds of their Predecessors by Consent Approbation Imitation and prosecution And whether the like can be sayd of any State Potentate prince or person in the world besides Let us yet cast our eyes a litle more abroad and consider of the great destructions of Christian men by Turkes and Saracens It cannot be denyed but these open and professed enemies of Christ haue shedde much Christian bloud yet I thinke if Histories be diligently searched and compared together it may be proved that since the sayd yeare of our Lord 700. the Popes and their Sectaries haue been verie Great if not the chiefest meanes and causes eyther by procurement Qui non defendit nec obsistit si potest infuriae tant est in vitio quam si parentes aut patriaÌ„ aut sucios deserat Cic. lf Offi. or destitution of the Effusion of all or the most part of the Christian bloud that hath been shed by those Miscreants in Europe For what was the meanes whereby the Saracens first prevailed in Asia but the weaknes of the Graecian Empire And what caused that weaknes but the Revolt of Italie and other westerne Countries from the Empire procured by the Pope Whereby the Graecian princes were not onely deprived of many mightie Christian kingdomes but distracted by Rebells at home from defending their subjects abroad And what then brought the Turke into Europe but the weakenes of the same princes when they were neither able to hold their Provinces which they had in Asia nor to suppresse the factions in Graecia Who stirred up the Christian Princes of Britayn Germanie and France to spend their subjects bloud in Syria where so many millions of Christians were slayne and then left them succourlesse to their enemies and sometimes rewarded them with excommunications seditions stirred up against them at home whereby their subjects rebelled and their enemies prevailed Who moved our noble King Richard the first to enter into that Saracenicall warre where he lost so many men Math. Fariâ—â— and yet when he was taken Prisoner by a Christian Prince in his Returne what meanes did the Pope make for his libertie Blesensis for all the pittifull letters of his mother when in the mean space his kingdome was most greevously oppressed and spoyled What help had the Grecian Emperors In conc Lugdun ann 1275. in concil Bouon circa 1439. a'ter which within 16 yeres the Turk tooke Constantinople when with most humble submissions supplications they sollicited the Pope to assist them being Christians against the Turke being the common enemie of our fayth Who was the cause of that wofull and never sufficiently deplored slaughter of Christians at Varna but the persidious Pope and his Cardinall Iulian causing the poore seduced King to violate his oath and league with the Turke What helpe or succour did the Popes giue or procure to those two Invincible Soldjours of Christ Iesus Hunniades and Scanderbeg Historia Scanderb against the Turke though this later with all humilitie in person desired it offering to driue that publike enimie out of Europe if he might haue assistance It is sayd indeed that Pius the second gathered an armie such as it was to help him but nothing came of it and perhaps he lost nothing by the Bargain And