found to pretend to be wholy for Christ and yet in every thing he crosseth and opposeth Christ therefore the Pope is the man of sin the true and great Antichrist Fourthly Saint John Rev. 13. having described the Roman State under six of its heads or Governments ver 11. he brings forth the last head viz. Antichrist that beast by himself of him he saith He had two horns like a Lamb spake like a Dragon and exercised the power of the first beafi that was before him How this Description agrees to the Pope you shall see 1. He hath two horns like a Lamb two horns in his Miter two Keys in his hand a twofold Power Sacred and Secular Spiritual and Temporal as being both King and Priest of the Church Boniface the eighth in the year one thousand three hundred who instituted the first Iubile came out one day in his Pontifical habit the next day in his Robes imperial having two swords carried before him he caused the Herald to cry Ecce duo glady behold two Swords he might as well have caused him to have cried Ecce duo cornua Antichristi behold the two horns of Antichrist Secondly as like a Lamb as he looks yet he hath the Dragons tongue in his mouth he speaks like a Dragon i. e. like a raging Devil swelling words of great terror Rev. 13.5 There was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies He. speaks on this wise whosoever will not worship the beast and his Image and receive his mark in their hand or forehead they shall not buy nor sell they shall be killed he will shut heaven against them and pass sentence of Damnation upon them they shall go to Hell That furious Dragon the Devil speaks nothing but terror to Saints hath the Pope a good word for any that do truly fear God He calls them Heretiques he thunders out his Bulls and Excommunications against them he speaks nothing but Inquisitions Blood Death Hell unto them Truly the Pope speaks as like the Dragon as if he had been spate out of his mouth John 12. ult Our Saviour saith of himself Whatsoever I speak even as the Father said unto me so I speak the Pope may take up the words thus Whatsoever I speak even as the Dragon sayd unto me so I speak Thirdly He exerciseth all the Power of the first beast that was before him Look what Power was in the hands of any or all the Roman Governors Kings Consuls Tribunes Decemvirs Dictators Emperours the Pope hath got it all to himself and hereupon is called the Image of the first Beast He hath brought Kingdoms and People under him as the former did Rules over them with as much Pride and Tyranny as the former did hath suppressed the preaching of the Gospel as much as ever they did is as great a hater persecutor shedder of the blood of Saints as ever any or all of them were Lives in as great sensuality pompous glory as any did that were before him So then He who hath two horns like a Lamb speaks like the Dragon and exerciseth the Power of the first beast he is the great Antichrist but the Pope hath two horns like a Lamb speaks like the Dragon and exerciseth the Power of the first beast therefore the Pope is the great Antichrist Fifthly Antichrist shall comfirm his Doctrine Laws Kingdom by Miracles Rev. 13.13 14. He doth great Wonders so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the Earth in the sight of men And deceiveth all them that dwell upon the earth by means of the Miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast c. This none in the World attempts to do beside the Pope Heb. 2.3 4. Christ did sufficiently confirm that Doctrine Gospel Kingdom he set up by Signs Wonders and divers Miracles so that Austin long since said If any man looked for Miracles he himself was a Miracle And therefore t is evident the Pope hath another Doctrine Gospel Kingdom to establish and advance in the World that to perswade men to receive and submit to he must be put to the working of new Miracles Miracles are so in esteem with them that they are made a mark of the true Church and ours is a false Church because we can work no Miracles whereas indeed our Saviour makes them a note of false Christs and false Prophets Mark 13.22 False Christs and false Prophets shall rise and shew signs and wonders to seduce if it were possible even the Elect The Pope hath come as near seducing the Elect as any man did that ever lived And Saint John here makes them a mark of Antichrist and his Church so also doth Paul 2 Thes 2.8 9. Then shall that wicked be revealed even he whose coming is after the working of Satan with all Power and signs and lying wonders In Gregory the great his time when Antichrist was near to be revealed Miracles of all sorts began to be multiplied there were apparitions for confirmation of purgatory praying to Saints praying for the dead I have read many stories of their Miracles which here I will not trouble you with they 'l serve well for winter-tales Onely this one word t is sayed of Pope Hildebrand called Gregory the seventh that he would as oft as he pleased shake fire out of his Gown sleevs to the great terror and astonishment of the People Their own Historians tell us that above twenty of their Popes have been abominable Nigromancers who by their sorceries and divelish wonders have deceived the World so gaining credit to their way But it may be some will ask me what shall we think of the many and great Miracles that are amongst them I 'le tell you Those Miracles Papists say they now do are done with the Antipodes in the furthest parts of the world for my part I am resolved I will not go to disprove them I believe the most of them are meer fained lyes or else they are but mira not miracula as applying activa passivis may produce very wonderful effects sometimes the senses of men are bemisted add deceived as Pharoahs Magicians did their Spectators Many times the fancy is deluded they perswade some People they are possessed and then perswade them they are dispossessed but they do it by Holy-water Crosses Exorcisme not by the Power of the word as Christ did and Christ did cast out divels by day-light before many witnesses yea his very Enemies but Priests cast them out closely in their chambers in the night and will have no spectators but such as are their sworn friends Our Saviour did other Miracles He gave legs to the lame eyes to the blind he raised the dead to life but these can do nothing but only this about devils therefore I am assured there is some gross delusion or other in it But well gloria Miraculorum is their badge and t is most evident if Saint John may be believed t is a mark of Antichrist and
decree concerning the order of transactions For that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed the Son of perdition The text branches it self thus 1. The delay of Christs last coming that day shall not come 2. A preceding general defection from the faith Except there come a falling away first 3. The unmasking the detection of the great Antichrist or ringleader of that Apostacy The man of sin revealed 4. His doom The Son of Perdition For that day shall not come except c. My purpose is not to speak any things concerning Christs putting off his last coming to judgement nor yet to give you the Common-place of Apostacy but that which I aim at is to discover Antichrist to you in his own colours for all writers both Popish and Protestant say that by Man of sin here is meant the great Antichrist by Son of Perdition his most remarkabe destruction Well then without any more ado the point I hold forth and undertake by Gods assistance to make good to you is this The Popes of Rome are the revealed man of sin the now well known Antichrist of Whom Daniel Paul and the Apostle John have spoken such vile and fearfull things I say in all they have said of the great Antichrist they have pointed the singer at the Popes of Rome To make this good first thus Daniel in Chap. 7. ver 2. saw the four windes of heaven strive upon the great Sea i. e. great commotions in the States of the World out of which there came four great beasts the first like a Lion shadowing forth the Babylonish Monarchy with its Pride and Violence the second like a Bear of a churlish and ravenous disposition such a one was the Persian Monarchy the third like a Leopard having upon his back four wings very subtle and very swift upon the prey such was the Grecian Monarchy set up by Alexander the great but he saw a fourth exceeding terrible and dreadful having Iron teeth and it devoured and brake in pieces and stamped the residue with his feet and 't was diverse from all the rest and had ten hons upon his head Who these beasts were you have the Angels interpretation Dan. 7 17. These great beasts Which are four are four Kings Which shall arise out of the Earth but so monstrous was the fourth that Daniel would needs know the truth of him the Angel speaks to that ver 22. and 24. The fourth beast shall be a fourth Kingdom upon Earth which shall be diverse from all Kingdoms and shall devour the whole Earth and shall tread it down and break it in peices and the ten horns out of this Kingdom are ten Kings that shall arise and another shall arise c. 'T is well known that the Roman Monarchy hath been the fourth great Kingdom of the World then in its greatness and glory of domination when Saint John writ his Revelation who will tell you yet more of this beast and business Rev. 17.3 I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast having seven heads and ten horns ver 9 the seven heads are seven Mountains the Palatine Capitoline Aventine Esquiline Quirinal Viminal and Janicular Mountains upon which Rome in its greatness stood And the seven heads are expounded also to be seven Kings ver 10. There are seven Kings five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come and when he cometh he must continue a short space Seven Kings i. e. seven Supream Kings or forms of governments in Rome which made good the saying of Daniel that the last beast was diverse from all the rest Now saies St. John five are already fallen Kings Consuls Tribunes Decemvirs Dictators these five were all fallen and gone in Saint Johns dayes one is viz government by Emperors which made up the sixt head of the beast The other is not yet come he doth not say the seventh but the other as one hath very well observed pointing doubtless at the Christian Emperors who did not differ from the Heathen Emperors as a distinct form of Government but onely in the quality of their persons the one persecuting destroying Christianity the other protecting advancing Christianity and when he comes he must continue a short space for the Christian Emperors did not reign in their full strength and greatness above seventy or eighty years as Historians make it evident It follows ver 11. And the beast that was and is not even he is the eighth and is of the seven The beast that was The Papacy was in respect of the body of the Empire but is not in respect of any present being for it was not in Saint Johns time Even he is the eighth if you reckon the Christian Emperors for one but in that you ought not so to reckon He is indeed of the seven or one of the seven for there have not been eight but seven forms of Governmnt at Rome the last whereof is called the beast by way of eminency the great whore the false Prophet Antichrist himself So then find out the last head to the Roman Empire and you may say of him this is the man of sin the great Antichrist Now who is he why le ts reckon again the Kings had their time of Governing that 's one the Consulls theirs that 's two Tribunes theirs that 's three Decemvirs theirs that 's four Dictators theirs that 's five Emperors theirs that 's six All these are fallen and gone and if I should put the question in this Congregation who is the seventh head of that beast or who since Emperors have Governed Rome I am perswaded the most ignorant man or woman could tell me they are Popes therefore ye Popes of Rome are the man of sin and the great Antichrist And with this agrees that of the Apostle Paul a little after my text 2 Thes 2.6.7.8 Ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time For the mystery of iniquity doth already work only he who now letteth will let till he be taken out of the way And then shall that wicked be revealed That the Papacy was working in St. Johns time is evident if you search Scriptures what errors were then taught and what Doctrines the Church of Rome doth now teach Antichrists Limbs and Joynts were then a framing a knitting the Pope was then a young Embrio and was still growing in the womb but could not break forth till the Emperors had made way for him by removing from Rome and seating themselves at Bizantium or Constantinople Tertullian Hierom Chrysostom and the more judicious of the ancient Fathers have still thus expounded this place When Constantine had endowed Churchmen with indeed too much temporal greatness especially the Bishops of Rome they then began every day to look more and more like Popes i. e. like the great Antichrist and play Rex which you know they could not do while the Emperors seat was at Rome the Imperial presence
and greatness withheld them but when the hand of Providence took them out of the way then they became Popes and manifested themselves to be the seventh distinct Roman Government the last head of that beast Thus you see how both Saint John and Saint Paul were guided by one Spirit when they describe Antichrist to point the finger at the Popes of Rome Take it thus He that succeeds the Emperors in the Government of the Roman State or he that is seventh head of Daniels fourth beast he is the great Antichrist but the Popes of Rome succeed the Emperors in the Government of the Roman state or they are the seventh head of the fourth great beast therefore the Popes of Rome are the great Antichrist Secondly Antichrist is the man that sets himself above all Rule and all authority 2. Thes 2.8 then shall the wicked be revealed that 's our translation but the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lawless man v. 4. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God How must men forfeit their Intellectuals to fasten all this anywhere but upon the popes For first they are Church-men their seat is in the Temple or reputed Church of God The great Turk let his pride and domination be what it will yet he sits not in the Temple he 's no Church-man but the Pope is Secondly he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lawless man PopeGratian in his decrees reckons up several Laws publike private Laws the Laws of Nature and Nations written and unwritten Laws civil and canonical the Laws both of God and man but the conclusion of all he makes is this that they are all subject to the Popes interpretation and dispensation and that he is the spiritual man who judgeth all things and himself is judged of none He allows such marriages as God hath forbidden You all know he allowed Henry the eighth of England to have his brother Arthurs wife which God expresly forbids Levit. 18.16 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brothers wife And when the sinfullness of it was discovered he would not untye the knot or allow a divorce though it got him nothing and so justified the sin of uncleanness and the trangression of Gods Law He absolves people from the Laws of obedience to the Powers that God hath set over them contrary to that Let every soul be subject to the High powers so the Greeks or the Powers that are set up on high Rom. 13 To kill a Protestant is no murther to blow up a Parliament is meritorious nay though he carry plures animarum currus ad tartara none may say unto him cur ita facis Thus he puts all Rule and Law under his feet Thirdly He apposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or is Worshipped meaning all civil Powers and Rulers of this World the beast hath lift up his paw at them all yea and fetched them under too Rev. 17.12.13 The ten horns are ten Kings those have one mind and give their power and strength to the beast i. e. he had conquered them and they yeilded themselves his slaves their power their strength their all should be at his service vigorously to promote his designs Bellarm in his fifth Book de Rom. Pontif. hath these words Omnes Imperatores Pontifici Romano debent suum imperium all Kings and Emperors owe their Crowns and Scepters to the Bishop of Rome And hereupon the Pope stiles himself Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium King of Kings Lord of Lords and 't is not bare words but he acts accordingly in deposing Kings and giving away their Kingdoms Pope Innocent the third deposed King John of England and gave this Land to Philip Augustus King of France but at last he absolved him upon condition he would hold his Kingdom in Fee of the Church of Rome and that he should pay yearly a thousand Marks of silver in token of his subjection Pope Alexander the sixth gave the West Indies to the Spaniard the East Indies to the Portugal and set them their Limits Pope Pius the fifth pronounced the sentence of degradation and deposition against Queen Elizabeth The Monks whipt Henry the second of England upon the death of Becket and when he spoke some angry words to them Domine say they noli mirarii nos enim nullas minas timemus qui de tali curia sumus quae consuevit imperare Regibus Imperatoribus never threaten us we fear no threats we are of such a Court as ruleth our kings and Emperors I think I could have furnished you with a hundred stories of like nature Fourthly he sits in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God Non ait dicens sed ostendens says one hoc est operibus signis miraculis nitens ostendere quod sit Deus He doth not say it in words at length that he 's God but his carriage and the prerogatives Royal he claims are such as if he were God himself This they stick not to speak out idem est dominium Dei Papae the Rule of God and the Pope are the same Jus ecclesiasticum est jus divinum their ecclesiastical Law is Divine and must bind the conscience as well as any Laws of God Hereupon one expounds it meethinks very well in templo conscientiarum he sits in the Temple of mens consciences He forgives sin as God doth he makes Articles of faith as God doth he takes to himself the Names and Titles that God doth the Councel of Lateran stiles him tu es alter Deus in terris another God upon Earth Dominus Deus noster para our Lord God the Pope he takes Divine worship to himself as God doth they bow before him and kiss his feet which an Angel of heaven would not receive of John Rev. 22. see you do it not Worship God Nay he takes upon him to do that which God will not do to dispense with Laws moral and natural as I said before to give Indulgences to sin for time to come there have been Leases granted for years Schoolemen affirm Deum non magis homini indulgere posse ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sese gerat quam justitiae suae ordinem overtere seipsum negare God can as soon destroy his order and course of Justice yea deny himself as give men Indulgences to transgress his Laws to walk disorderly but the Pope hath not so bound his own hands he can be Dominus Deus and yet upon good consideration and advantages indulge men to violate any or all the laws of God and Nature He takes upon him to deliver souls out of Purgatory to Canonize Saints at his pleasure so that what is said of God is said of the Pope and more also Take the summ of all thus He who is the great Churchman above all Law and above all Earthly
that But further Suppose we grant a necessity of a Successour in that Dignity and Office did it not of right fall to S. John who was an Apostle and lived many years after S. Peters death The Apostle whom Jesus so loved Certainly if any one could have been found fit and worthy to have been left Vniversal head of the Church 't was he but Peter did not at his death confer it upon him willing the Church of Rome to signifie so mcuh to him and bring him to that See for surely Peter was acquinted with no such office much less necessity of such a Succession Whereunto add but this one word They themselves confess an Apostle to have been above any Bishop t is a truth more clear then could ever yet be denyed now how could Linus if he succeeded Peter in the place of universal Supremacyship but be above the Apostle Iohn and yet with the same breath they say an Apostle is above a Bishop But you know it is a Mystery of Lying Iniquity abovo admalum from the root to the very fag end of it But well In the last place the Pope will needs be Successor to an Apostle I confess I think he is but 't is to Iudas and my reasons are these following 1. The Pope continued a great while in the Church undiscerned a close Hypocrite but a real hater of that he did professe to love as Iudas did 2. He 's a Theif as Iudas was and bears the bag too I told you how he first came to possess himself of Rome and all Italy and presently after of all Ravenna just as a thief gets a purse on the high way Do I need to tell you what vast Treasures of wealth their Sorceries and Legerdemain of Pardons Indulgencies Purgatory Canonization and the like have brought them in yearly they make Merchandize of mens souls Vendit Alexander claves Altaria Christum and what is this but mear cheating and thievery Iudas you know was such a thief and lover of the bag that he grudged his Master the Oyntment the good woman poured on him the Pope t is the grief and vexation of his heart that a drop of mercy or comfort falls upon Christ in any of his Members 3. He is as perfect at Hail Master and kissing Christ and then betraying him in his Truths Worship Saints Discipline Kingdom to be spit on reviled crucified as ever Iudas was 4. Our Saviour calls Iudas the son of perdition Joh. 17.12 which very expression the Holy Ghost here takes up and calls him also the Son of perdition It is said Iudas went to his own place Act. 1. The same is said of the Pope Rev. 17.11 He goeth into perdition And Rev. 19.20 The false Prophet was taken and cast alive into the Lake The Pope in the pride and baseness of his heart makes himself S. Peters Successor but God in Wisedome an Justice declares him to be Iudas Successor and this indeed is the true foundation upon which the present Rome or stately Babel of Papacie is built Ve I shall now make some improvement of the point by Application and first be informed That as the Iews have framed a Messias to themselves so the Popish Clergy have framed an Anti-Christ that God never made mention of for the Descriptions they give of him when applyed to the True One are all of them most false and frivilous 1. One of them is this That the Great Antichrist must be a single individual person as the Article o e denotes therefore the Pope cannot be he for there have been many Popes Reader it thou thinkest there is any thing in this be pleased to take better information The Article o e doth not enforce any such thing Mark 2.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not Man for the Sabbath Luke 4.4 It is written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Man doth not live by bread alone 2 Tim. 3.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Man of God may be perfect Will any one who is Master of Common Reason say that the Aricle o e in these places denotes an individual single Person Therefore the prefixed Article cannot enforce it upon us that Antichrist is one single man 2. All the Rulers of the four great Monarchies are set out by Daniel as if every Kingdom had had but one Dan 7.17 These great beasts which are four are four Kings whereas we know there were more in every one of them The last Beast or Kingdom had seven heads or Rulers seven Kings make up the first and they are all called one head and so one The Emperours S. Iohn moulds them all into one Five are fallen and One is speaking of government by Emperours The seventh head of this fourth Beast is the Great Antichrist and why should he be thought a single person rather then any of the other six As each of the former must be taken Collectively so doubtless must this be unless better reasons be given against it then Bellarmine or any other of his way have yet held forth 3. Jesuits themselves call the whole bulk and succession of Popes One visible head of Christs Church therefore give us leave to learn of them and call the whole bulk and succession of them that one Antichrist or one head of the Antichristian Church which was arising in S. Paul and S. Iohns time and is not yet fallen and tell me what single person can be head of a body of such continuance The second thing they fancy of Anti-Christ is That his Seat must be at Ierusalem T is needless to speak much to this can any man read the 17. chap. of Rev. where the Angel tells Iohn That his Seat is the City built upon seven Mountains and that hath seven distinct forms of Government and the great City which in S. Iohns time Ruled over the Kings of the earth Of courtesie tell me can any man understand this of Ierusalem was Ierusalem built upon seven Mountains had ever Ierusalem seven heads or distinct forms of Government did Ierusalem in S. Iohns time raign over the Kings of the earth or was it not rather it self in Vassalage 2. Whereas it is said 'T is the City where our Lord was crucified Revel 11. this will not carry it in their sense For first Let them reconcile this to the former description which I am confident they can never do 2. Antichrists seat is called Ierusalem Spiritually or Mystically as 't is also called Sodom and Egypt Erroneous Prophane Murtherous Ierusalem take it in that state or posture and Ierusalem was a Type or Shadow of Rome Antichristian Antichrists seat is at Ierusalem not Literally but Mystically 3. When Christ was crucified Ierusalem was one of the streets of Rome for there you should hear the fear of Caesar swaying all If you let this man go you are not Caesars friend You should see a Roman Judge Roman Souldiers a Roman Death and all Canaan within Romes boundary and so upon the matter Christ was Crucified at
Island fled away and the mountains were not found Nothing so remote as the Islands nothing so strong as the Mountains but the Antichristian Islands fled and perished before the stroak of Christ the Mountains were beaten to dust Christ will not leave Papacy so much as a Mountain to flie to or an Island to hide itself in he 'l leave no peice of the frame of Antichristianisme standing in any part of the World And yet still he goes on ver 21. There fell upon men a great hail out of heaven every stone about the weight of a Talent and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great Here is an Allusion to Ezek. 13.11 to 16. I conceive the genuine sense of the verse to be this Those ten Kings or Supream powers who follow Jesus Christ in this Expedition have Commissions or Commands from the God of Heaven though Rome be burnt yea and the great battell of God Almighty fought and finished to go on with their braining destroying judgements upon all those everywhere wo are found to have had any interest in the Popes cause or Kingdom in worshipping the Beast or any way been engaged for his preservation and defence They shall be pursued and destroyed with such plagues and judgements as that it shall be evident they are from God and that heaven it self fights against them to root out that accursed race to the last man from off the Earth I suppose by this time you are all willing and ready to set your seals to this truth that The Pope who is the great Antichrist and his Kingdom shall be destroyed with most remarkable destruction But now I know the first Quaere you l make within your selves upon what hath been delivered and desire some satisfaction in wil be that of the Disciples Mat. 24.3 tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of their comming I confess these are marvellous hard Questions but I shall freely tell you my thoughts upon them I find the time of Antichrists reign set down Rev. 11.2 The Holy city shall he tread under foot forty two months also Rev. 13.5 and it was given him to continue forty and two moneths by the way let me tell you his reign is reckoned by the moon which rules the night to hint thus much to us that Antichrists works are night works his whole reign is a reign of darkness but to the thing itself Forty and two months allowing thirty dayes to a moneth for they are Lunar moneths I told you make up a thousand two hundred and thereescore days the just time of the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth Rev. 11. or three years and a half First I understand these numbers of a certain and determinate time because every one of them is a broken number round numbers as we call them ten a hundred a thousand are put most times indeterminately a certain for an uncertain number but this is not a round but a broken number 2. These 42. months or three years and a half cannot be taken strictly for 42. of our months or three of our years and a half because as I shewed you before t is an utter impossibility that the Rise and Growth the Glory and all the business of his Kingdome should be compassed in so short a time Therefore Thirdly they must be taken according to that Ezek. 4.6 I have appointed thee each day for a year Every day in these 42 months being put for a year the whole amounts to 1260 years the just raign of Antichrist But when the time of his raign did begin confident I am there is no man alive without extraordinary Revelation can speak certainly and to a day and hereupon it is that all divines are at a loss as to a punctual certainty for his fall and ruin Concerning the time of the seetting forth of this Giant to run his course there are two or three opinions and I shall quickly tell them unto you 1. Some begin it as high as Constantine when he left Rome about the 19. year of his raign and seated in the East 2. Others place it as low as about the year 455. when Gensericus the Vandal took and burnt Rome at which time the Empire was broken all to pieces and utterly extinct There are a third sort who pitch it about the year 410. or 412. when Alaricus the Goth came and conquered and ransacked Rome Now they who say his 1260 years began when Constantine left Rome pitch his fall about Luthers time something above 100 years ago They who say it began at 455. make his fall and ruin 65. years yet to come They who affirm it began 410. or 412. lay him on his Death bed about twenty years hence It may be you will ask me my opinion amongst these Truly in a business of this abstruseness t would be wisedom to put you off with other mens judgements and conceal my own but I still finde that the sigleness of my spirit gets the predominancy of my Politicks 1. I like their opinion well who reckoning from Constantine pitch his fall in Luthers time for indeed Luther laid the foundation of his manifest ruin It is not unusual with Scripture to say a work is done if it be of God when t is but begun Revel 16.17 for it shall be as certainly done as if it were done already God calls things that are not as if they were 2. I think their Conclusion may be right who counting from 455. spin out his life to threescore years hence and upward but sure t is to be understood of that great battel of God Almighty mentioned Rev. 19.19 20. I verily perswade my self they who live threescore and ten or fourscore years hence shall neither see Pope nor form of Popery established by a law defended by a power in any Kingdome in the world 3. They most take with me who counting from 410. pitch his fall 20. years hence for about the year 410. or 412. the ten Horns or Kingdoms as Historians generally tell us were fairly appearing and surely the sixt head was going off at least if not quite off when some of the horns that grew on the seventh head were so visible The Pope must of necessity be before them for he is the seventh head upon which those horns grew it is said Rev. 17.12 They receive power one hour or as the Original might be better rendred the first hour with the beast But some read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not with but somewhat after the beast And indeed about this time the Popes shewed themselves openly to all the world and spake out what they wounld have that the censures of Bishops and all other causes of moment ought to be reserved to the Audience of the Bishop of Rome calling themselves the Father of Fathers and Firmament of Bishops When the Councel of Carthage in the year 413. sent and acquainted