respect and seruice vnto the Emperours till the subiect became the Souereigne of his Prince and a spirituall Pastour was changed into a temporall Monarch Likewise for the Church of God the same Saint Peter doth thus instruct all Pastours To feed the flocke of God c. which is an Office now too base for so great a Monarch and then not to comport themselues as if they were Lords ouer the heritage of God as it is 1. Pet. 5.2 3. For what is more contrarie to an Apostolicall spirit then pride exaltation aduancement of themselues with the contempt of others For which cause the Bishops of Britaine vpon the aduise of an holy person in those times reiected Augustine the Monke whom Gregory the Great sent into England and refused to treate with him when they discouered the pride and insolencie which appeared in his demeanure as venerable Beda himselfe though very fauourable to the proceedings of Augustine doth recount in the Historie of our English Church Now let vs obserue the Apostolicall stomacke for what is not Apostolicall in that seat a glorious name to insnare poore seduced soules of the holy Father in Babylon and whether such courses examples rules and ordinances of monstrous Pride were euer knowne or doe remaine vpon the Records of Antiquitie euen from the beginning of the World vnto this present day in any other Monarchie Kingdome or State of whatsoeuer qualitie or degree This Luciferian pride the fittest Epithete for the Papall you must goe into Hell and leaue the Earth if you will finde the like doth appeare in fiue particular instances as being sensible demonstrations of the same FIRST the pride of the holy Father appeareth in the particular facts of certaine Popes vpon the presumed Souereigntie of their Apostolicall seate He was a Pope that crowned and decrowned Henrie the Sixth the Germane Emperour with his foot shewing thereby that as the Imperiall Crowne was vnder the Papall and subiect vnto his Dominion euen vnder his foot so it is in the Popes great power vpon his holy pleasure to giue Kingdomes and to take away Kingdomes to erect Kings and to suppresse them againe as if they were the Tennis balls wherewith his Holinesse doth play He was a Pope who in disdaine of the Imperiall dignitie made Henrie the Fourth attend barelegged and barefoot with his Empresse and their sonne by way of penance in the Winter season at his Apostolicall gates Hee was a Pope that treading vpon the necke of Fredericke Barbarossa the Emperour with his Apostolicall foot insulted gloriously vpon the poore deiected Prince and profanely abused the sacred Scripture to his Apostolicall purpose Thou shalt walke vpon the Lyon and Aspe the young Lyon and the Dragon shalt thou tread vnder thy feet Psal 91.13 It is no maruell then that our King Henry the Second did humble himselfe so farre as to kisse the knee of his Legate whose foote to haue kissed is a matter of speciall grace according to the Constitutions of the Papall Church as you shall immediately perceiue for now wee insist onely vpon the matters of fact whereof I haue made a little remonstrance in a few examples referring you vnto the Histories which yeeld copious testimonies in this kind SECONDLY then this pride appeareth in their owne Ceremoniall Ordinances formally prescribing the courses of humilitie vnto Christian Princes in their attendance of the Apostolicall Father There the Emperour holdeth his bridle when the Pope rideth in Apostolicall pompe there Kings and Princes being marshalled according to the new Herauldry of Babylon march before him in their rankes Sometimes the Pope beeing aduanced vpon mens shoulders in a goodly Chaire of Apostolicall state the Emperour and Kings precede in their due order as so many Vshers of his Holinesse who throweth abroad his Apostolicall benedictions vpon the people with his sacred fingers This pride may yet seeme to be humilitie in comparison of his glorious exaltation in the Church of Saint Peter for vnder his name passeth all this exorbitancie where Monarchs humbling themselues vpon the ground meekly kisse his Apostolicall feet and then are afterwards admitted vnto so great a fauour as to kisse his cheeke All which was performed in the person of Charles the Eighth the French King vnto Alexander the Sixth as Guicciar dine relateth in his first Booke with humble seruice in so great a Prince deserueth the note of base deiection vnto the Triple-crowned Beast But thus the purpled Whore can either inchant with her cup or subdue with her Sword the greatest and most puissant Princes of the World Where is the exemplum dedi from Christ Iesus in this case The Vicar and the Master stand in Diametricall opposition almost in euery point as well as in this the Master kissed the feet of his poore Disciples but heere the Vicar requireth the greatest Monarchs vnto the kisses of his feet he proudly challengeth this submission from them and they basely performe it vnto him that so hee might appeare to bee what hee is euen Antichrist Lifting vp himselfe aboue all that is called God THIRDLY this pride appeareth by his vsurpation ouer the Crownes of Princes and that in different manner Sometimes by a particular interest as hee pretended in Scotland to diuert thence the militarie forces of King Edward the first Sometimes by donation or surrender as he pretended in England by the submission of King Iohn and therefore called his Sonne Henrie the Third by the ignoble stile of his Vassall and so by artificiall insinuations and colourable Titles he intrudeth vpon seuerall Dominions to make some speciall challenge thereunto If no such oblique and sinister course may serue his turne yet he hath two other wayes to come vnto his designed ends and that is either INDIRECTLY and as hee is Pastour of the Church to take Kingdomes from their owners for their offences and to collate them vpon other Princes as for example the Pope stirred vp Charles the Earle of Angeow against Manfredus the King of Sicilia the true Lord and possessour thereof by the gift of his Father Fredericus the Second and also the Pope stirred vp the said Charle against Cunradinus the Sonne of Conradus and Grand-child of the said Fredericus to depriue him of his life and to disseize him of his lawfull inheritance in the Kingdome of Naples both which Kingdomes he bountifully bestowed vpon the said Charles in like manner the Pope dealt with Iohn d' Albret King of Nauarre and with our late renowned Queene Elizabeth of blessed memory and glorious name though not with like euent or else DIRECTLY and as he is Lord of the World from whom all Princes haue their dependent power to bestow them at his pleasure as iust occasion shall mooue and good discretion shall direct his Holyship in this case which last opinion hath a daily growth in Babylon amongst the Parasites of the Court. For you must distinguish with Gerson betwixt Aula and Ecclesia the Court and the Church of Rome This Pride in the
perhaps may beare some shew of bloud but wonder at this that Pasce oues meas Feede my Sheepe saith Christ vnto Peter Iohn 21.16 should approue these killing courses in the Pope these violent depositions of Princes these rebellious insurrections of people But it doth so and in whose iudgement euen of Bellarmine himselfe De Rom. Pont. lib. 5. cap. 7. Who thence inferreth a certaine and necessary power in the Pope to depose two sorts of Princes the one hereticall whom he compareth vnto cruell Wolues the other irregular whom hee compareth vnto vnruly Rammes and therefore saith hee since the Pope is Pastour of the vniuersall Church and hath an Office to feed the SHEEPE that is to say all faithfull Christians hee must haue a power to restraine and resist such WOLVES and RAMMES as trouble and infest the flocke So that in conclusion Pasce in Bellarmine and Occide in Baronius according to the new Grammer and Diuinitie of Babylon meet both in one centre of signification and in one issue of sense O skilfull Mercurialists to draw bloud out of the veines of the holy Scripture Yet these are the men that opprobriously and scornfully obiect this textuall folly vnto the Diuines of the Reformed Church in misapplying the Scriptures vnto their misguided fancies But now I proceed to make a sufficient remonstrance of bloudie crueltie in their mysticall Babylon by foure seuerall and inuincible demonstrations thereof FIRST then the crueltie of Babylon appeareth in raysing vp subiects against their naturall Lords to the inualuable expense of Christian bloud England can say some thing in this behalfe not onely in the more ancient times as of King Iohn who with his people suffered much by the instinct and operation of Rome but in these latter times both of King Henrie the Eighth against whom some noble Persons conspired and some meaner Subiects rebelled by the procuration of Rome to the losse of their bloud which shall be found in her and in the Halcyonian dayes of Queene Elizabeth by insurrections in the North by clancular and secret Treasons of damnable Parricides by hostile inuasions resolued against England and in part effected in Ireland all depending vpon Babylon and issuing from her designes which instructed her Priests to seduce the people heere from their iust obedience whence ensued the iust execution of both by the necessary prouision of the Lawes and in the happy Reigne of our most gracious Souereigne Lord King Iames who therefore enacted a speciall and prudent Law by consent of the Peeres and People of this Kingdome to try thereby the alleageance and fidelitie of his subiects which Oath finding so much opposition and impugnation from the Babylonian Monarch did minister an ineuitable necessitie vnto this State to draw some bloud from such Priests as rather obserued and respected the Papall Seate of Babylon then the Royall Crowne of England And this bloud so iustly shed will bee found not in England but in Babylon it selfe But France may speake much more in that generall and bloudie Massacre vnder Charles the Ninth procured by Babylonian operations and therefore when the report thereof came vnto Rome shee like a bloudie Whore so the Scripture calleth her applauded that Thracian or rather Scythian crueltie of her children sang her Te Deum in publique gratulation of that horrible fact disbursed her Indulgences out of her spirituall Treasures for the benefit of the cruell Murtherers and so sent her gifts abroad as reioycing in their ruine Apocal. 10.11 c. France can yet speake more which in the end of the Reigne of Henrie the Third and beginning of the Reigne of Henrie the Fourth opened the veines of her bodie and let forth streames of her owne bloud by the prouocation of Babylon till it was stanched by the vnhappie submission of that great King vnto the Triple-crowne Yet then also hee could not bee secure for some principall Babylonians supposing that the King confessed that with his mouth which hee denied in his heart Iohn Chastell a young Disciple of old Iesuites was suborned to offer violence vpon the sacred Maiestie of the Kings person but could not performe that Tragicall act which Rauilliac did afterwards effectuate with his most wicked hand But I proceed Germany can speake more then any other Nation whose terrible warres stirred continued and supported by the meanes of Babylon for many yeeres in the reigne of sundry Emperours embrued the earth with copious effusion of Christian bloud making it a true Adamah an earth red with bloud and giuing it her originall name againe As for Italy shee cannot be silent in this case if she remember the bloudy faction of her Guelphs and Gibelines with sundry warres raised vp by Papall furie and sometimes managed by their owne persons forgetting that they who take the sword shall perish by the sword Matth. 26.52 What shall I say of the Holy Land it selfe which in tedious and expensiue warres procured enterprised by Papall motions and what the Pope could not performe with his owne temporall meanes to assist this warre hee performed by the Spirituall Exchequer dispensing his Indulgences thence to further and aduance the same consumed much treasure of the Christians and more of their bloud But you will say it was an heroicall and glorious act I answer looke vnto the Popes designes and intentions therin with the issue of that glory You will say it was a pious and a religious act I answer the pretence is more specious then the enterprise is alwayes iust in such a case For it may be disputed Whether or how farre forth it is lawfull for Christian Princes vpon the pure and sole title of Religion to make such warres vpon the Turke who by the power of the sword and by submission of the people and by long possession hath such an interest into those lands the matter of faith and religion neither giuing vnto any Prince nor taking from any the proprietie of his temporall and worldly state Such is the doctrine of the sacred Scripture such was the practise of the ancient Church SECONDLY The crueltie of Babylon appeareth in stirring vp persecution against the professours of Gods eternall and inuincible truth which no policie of man no furie of diuells can possibly extinguish because it is founded vpon the true rock Christ Iesus and not vpon the pretensed rocke or rather stocke of the Apostaticall Seate in Babylon Now if I should here make a particular account of her crueltie in this kind against the persons of many Martyrs it would exceed the proportion of one or many Sermons Or if I would make it yet more generall by a suruey of persecutions in many Countries by sword and by fire which burning zeale yet lodgeth in their Scythian hearts the relation would bee as tedious as it is vnnecessary since the histories of sundry Nations are extant in this behalfe and a great part of them is diligently collected by the industrious pen of Master Fox in his Acts and Monuments of the
IAMES lately Lord Bishop of Winton whose kind entertainement of mee in priuate and fauourable testimonie of mee in publike were more sufficient arguments of his loue then of my desert For I may truely say by the certaine experience of sundrie occurrents in my life that I haue tasted a little of Gods deserued wrath but a great deale more of his vndeserued grace whereof I account this no small part that hee hath giuen mee so much interest in the good opinion and affection of sundrie persons of eminent qualitie and particularly of your Honorable Selfe whom I beseech the Lord of all mercies to blesse in your owne Person and in your noble Posteritie with the temporall blessings of this life and the eternall of the life to come through Iesus Christ our Lord in whom I am and will euer remaine Your Honours most humble and truly deuoted Seruant THEOPHILVS HIGGONS London Ian. 27. 1623. THE PREFACE OF THE AVTHOR VNTO THE CRHISTIAN READER COurteous and ingenuous Reader Since no man can enter well into the roomes of any Treatise but by the doore of a Preface therefore I commend these ensuing Obseruations vnto thee to prepare thee the better thereby vnto the reading of this Discourse First though sundry Expositions are extant vpon this part of Scripture as likewise vpon the whole Booke of the sacred Reuelation and certain Sermons haue beene preached vpon it and then commended vnto the Presse yet I confesse that opening my heart vnto God by prayer to illustrate my vnderstanding with a true and sufficient knowledge thereof I followed chiefly such generall notions touching the same as were layd vp formerly in my mind and willingly sequestred from mee the helpe of other mens labours in this kind excepting such as I shall presently name least I should build vpon another mans foundation and so drowne the discourse of my vnderstanding in the conceits of other learned men with whom I had a resolution not to consult before I had finished the impression of this Treatise Mistake not my meaning and purpose good Reader for I doe not intend hereby to arrogate any thing vnto my selfe aboue other men since I am conscious of mine owne infirmities but to preuent their exceptions who may suppose or pretend that I haue framed a collection onely in this Treatise out of the Sermons or Bookes of other men Secondly whatsoeuer I may seeme to owe vnto any Author of our side I confesse it to bee due principally vnto the learned and indicious Pen of our gracious Souereigne Lord King IAMES in his Paraphrase vpon this Booke as thou wilt easily obserue gentle Reader in certaine passages of my Discourse As for Authors on the Aduersaries part I had no small aduantage and furtherance out of the writings of two learned Iesuites Ribera and Viegas of whom therefore I make frequent mention as seruing in many things exactly for my purpose Thirdly if any acerbitie of stile appeare in this Discourse know that it is drawne from me rather by the necessitie of the matter it selfe which could not be well expressed otherwise then that it came out of the disposition of my mind which hating the errours of Babylon doth yet pittie and loue the persons of all and specially of some that are insnared with the same wishing and desiring their saluation from my heart in Iesus Christ Fourthly I enter vpon this disputation not out of contention but out of conscience with a secure and certaine perswasion of truth and soliditie therein whereof because I make some larger mention hereafter I will say the lesse in this place Fifthly though this Booke in all the pages thereof beareth the title of a first and of a second Sermon yet vnderstand that after I had preached two Sermons at Maidstone in Kent to this purpose and had recollected my meditations I framed them afterward more copiously into the body of a Treatise which therefore I present vnto thee rather vnder this name as exceeding the proportion and in some things differing perhaps from the qualitie of Sermons Sixthly and lastly if it shall please any of the Romane side to stand against me in the defence of his Mother-Church of Rome and to make answere vnto my Discourse vnto which businesse as I challenge no man so I feare not the performance of any man in this kind he must follow me in his answere as I haue gone before him in this Treatise not flying vp and downe without order nor concealing my proofes and reasons but from point to point making a cleere and a substantiall refutation thereof As for bitter words and calumnious writing though I can steepe my Pen in Vineger and Worme-wood as well as they yet I resolue not to follow any aduersarie in this course but as Tertullian saith in his disputation against Hermogenes Viderit Persona cum Doctrina mihi quaestio est so I will leaue the person and come vnto the matter it selfe An Aduertisement WHereas some of my Brethren in this Church of England and some of my Aduersaries in the Church of Rome expect of me an Answere vnto mine owne Booke of Purgatorie and Prayer for the dead sometimes published by mee in forreine parts I assure them both that I had made a collection of sundry notes for this intent and that they were growing into the proportion of a Book had not the necessitie of publishing this Discourse so soone preuented my desire in the other which yet may follow in due time if it shall please God to grant me better health of bodie the state of it being much attenuated by infirmities with the accession of such helpes as are requisite for them that enter vpon this controuersiall kind for want of which necessary meanes together with my bad health in the priuate and rusticane course of my life I may be compelled to desist wholy from the same contenting my selfe hereafter with the exercise of my Pastorall Office in that little Congregation which it hath pleased GOD to commit vnto my charge Farewell THE PRINTER to the Reader GOod Reader thou shalt find the Errata or Faults which are committed in the Impression obserued and amended in the end of this Booke where the principall errours are noted with this marke * because they chiefly aboue the rest require a correction by thy Pen before thou entrest into the reading of this Treatise As for the lesser errours viz. in Points in Orthographie in defect of some Letters in placing small Letters in steed of capitall c. they are left vnto thy prudent and ingenious censure MYSTICALL BABYLON OR PAPALL ROME The first Sermon APOCAL. 18.2 It is fallen it is fallen Babylon THis Text is little in words but great in consequence as Benjamin was a little Tribe but great in dominion Psal 68.27 It is part of a Proclamation made from Heauen and three things inuite vs vnto a serious attention therof FIRST The Person proclaiming an Angell verse 1. euen Christ Iesus himselfe as some conceiue amongst whom I
if this be not Idolatry Yea Gregorie himselfe disapprouing the fact of Serenus doth yet reprehend the popular adoration of Images in that time which certainly did not exceed if it did equall the Papisticall in our dayes And though Doctor Carrier who seemed not therein to vnderstand the Papists or not himselfe pretendeth gloriously in his Letter to the Kings most excellent Maiesty that the point of Images and the worship thereof is a small matter of none offence c. yet my eyes my heart do teach me otherwise and therefore notwithstanding all their sophisticall distinctions I must resolue with Erasmus It is more easie to take Images out of the Church then to define by what reasons they may stand therein Finally their doctrine in this point is so false contrary to Gods Word to the iudgement of the ancient Fathers to the opinion of many former Papists also and their practise so wicked that in this odious and execrable Idolatry you may see the old Babylon reuiued in the new which varying from the Scripture from the Church yea from her selfe commeth more neerely vnto the patterne of Babylon whose name she beareth and as you may easily see shee beareth it not in vaine but the daughter daily going forward in the courses of her Idolatry wil at the last excell her Mother notwithstanding all her distinctions to which she may adde this viz. There is a double Idolatry Ethnicall and Christian or rather Antichristian as wee shall yet more euidently discerne The THIRD instance concerneth their exorbitant and irregular adoration of the Pope For howsoeuer they delay the heate of the matter with the coole water of a moyst and emptie distinction as the oppressed Emperour Barbarossa spake vnder the feet of the insulting Pope non tibi sed Petro not to thee but vnto Peter I submit my selfe euen to this base conculcation to whom the Pope answered againe Et mihi Petro it is vnto Peter and also vnto me or else by some other euasion of ciuill religious and diuine worship or the like yet if wee consider with what opinion of his excellency which they attribute vnto this Babylonian Idoll they adore the Pope what Diuinitie in regard of his pretensed office they ascribe vnto his insolent person and lastly with what power and authoritie they inuest him we may well perceiue that this is Idolatry and not of the meanest degree Hence it is that immediately vpon his election so soone as euer he is now Sanctissimus the most holy Lord howsoeuer wicked before the Cardinalls come to their seruice of adoration for so is the very terme imposed vpon this solemne action and with most kisses of his sacred feet for he is greater then Kings who vouchsafe vs the kisses of their hands euery Cardinall doth performe his homage in signe of subiection vnto the new aspiring Potentate of the earth And because this action should better expresse their Idolatry in this point his new Holyship is aduanced vpon an Altar the place of the God of their Masse the Idoll of bread and as I haue vnderstood by the relation of others he is there or thence adored as the God of the Church the God of the World of which presumptuous Titles I shal speak more in a more conuenient place of my discourse And the truth is though this adoration may seeme too much yet it is the lesse to be admired in them if we consider that in the opinion of his Babylonian vassals he is a pardoner of sin and a deliuerer from paine that can by his Pontificial authority draw soules out of Purgatorie that can depose Kings that can dispose Kingdomes that can absolue subiects from the strong obligations of Oath and Nature that can absolue Princes from the bond of a iust and necessary Oath made vnto their Subiects as in the case of our King Henry the Third whence ensued the publike calamitie of this Kingdome that can dispense against the Scriptures that can define matters of faith as infallibly as the Scriptures yea saith Gregory de Valentia a Iesuite for who but a Iesuite were a fit Author for so strange a speech that cannot erre that must bee beleeued in his Pontificiall definitions Whether he vse diligence or not in vnderstanding and determining the point for wee beleeue that if hee will pastorally define any thing with purpose to bind the Church vnto his definition he shall not hee cannot erre therein So writeth the Iesuite in his Analysis fidei O sure anchor of their Religion the rocke their petra vpon which Christ buildeth his Church and they their faith Doe you maruell then at the outragious title ascribed vnto him by a Canonist the same being printed and re-printed and neuer corrected that this second Beast in Babylon should beare the the stile of Dominus noster Deus Papa Our Lord God the Pope And doe you maruell that whom they so extoll in dignitie more then all Kings they should so adore with worship no lesse then a God If this be not Idolatry what is Idolatry and what doth deserue that name The child humbleth himselfe vnto his Father the subiect vnto his Prince and this honour is due If you will call it adoration though the word be not receiued publiquely into such vse I will admit it because it is a ciuill action founded vpon the Word of God and warranted by the examples of his Saints in regard of a certaine diuine authoritie which by Gods holy ordinance doth shine in their persons But since the Pope assumeth this honour of an higher and different nature also without the warrant of Gods Word and against the rule of Gods Word with immoderate exaltation as Gerson spake of Popes in his time volunt adorari vt Dij they will be adored as Gods yea by Kings also who are the Gods of this earth by Gods owne approbation for so hee speaketh also of inferiour Magistrates Psal 82.1 vnto which as he hath no proper right by any warrant from God so no mortall man the greatest Souereigne that is or euer was were he the onely Lord of all the World as the Pope doth gladly beleeue of himselfe and there are sundry Babylonian Parasites that applaud his insolencie in this kind can haue right by Gods Word vnto the like I conclude therefore that this adoration of the Pope the God of Babylon is Idolatry and such as is not to bee found any where but in Rome where the Pope sitteth in the Temple of God lifting vp himselfe aboue all that is called God Saint Paul saith not that which Is God to wit in nature for so the Pope pretendeth a subiection vnto Christ but that which is called God to wit in title and office as Kings are most properly for aboue all such Gods this man of sinne doth exalt himselfe as you haue heard a little now but shall heare more anon howbeit also it is true that he exalteth himselfe aboue the God of Heauen and earth while he maketh the
from God and from his truth standing vpon his Word and as she is departed from her selfe as she was in the more pure and ancient times in which no Catalogue of names can bee produced to iustifie any succession in those doctrines wherein wee iustly dissent from them and they vniustly from the Primitiue Church O how gladly would we returne vnto Rome if shee would returne vnto her selfe Shee will not doe the one therefore wee cannot doe the other To conclude this point since the iniudicious auoydance of one errour draweth vs into the danger of another Arrius was in opposition vnto Sabellius and Eutyches vnto Nestorius but all in errour let men be well and soundly aduised in their departure from this Babylon lest they erect a new Babylon compounded of their owne fancies by Anabaptisticall furie and Anarchicall paritie through a misprision of things vpon false vnlearned and dangerous principles namely that the way to come neerest to the truth is to goe farthest from the Pope that the Church of Christ must stand in an vniuersall contrarietie vnto Rome that the meanes to bring things vnto a medietie and proper state is to runne into an opposite and contrarie course as to bring a crooked sticke vnto streightnesse you must wreathe and force it the other and the contrary way Which instance being made to this purpose by a learned man standing in the tearmes of inconformitie to the Church of England Master Hooker that Oracle of Theologie made answere vnto him very well that the Church of England was alreadie come to her medietie and setled estate but by this instance it seemeth that the said learned man with some others running a way of extreame opposition were yet to come vnto some other medietie and condition after they had thus bowed things vnto a contrarie course And to say the truth vpon certaine experience to auoyde the Scylla of one shipwracke some men runne indiscreetly vpon the Charybdis of another being so transported with intemperate Zeale that without Learning Wisdome or Conscience they impute the name of Poperie vnto any thing that they ignorantly distast and cast the aspersion of a Papist vpon any person that they maliciously disaffect Such ciuill warres in the Church haue their end without triumph of which point I shall speake more anon FOVRTHLY great is the happinesse of our Church and State being deliuered from the yoake and tyrannie of Babylon which held them both in seruitude and captiuitie for many yeeres For if any Land may iustly complaine that cruell Lords haue had the dominion ouer them ENGLAND might complaine of this indignitie and did often complaine of it with many and bitter teares and particularly in the Reigne of King Henrie the Third whom as Matthew Paris doth relate the Babylonian Monarch stiled his Vassall and England his Iade for shee did beare his burthens of oppression in sundry expilations and deepe exhaustions of her Treasure Afterward in the reigne of his Sonne King Edward the first hee sent forth peremptory interdictions vnto all the Cleargie of this Land requiring them vpon vertue of their obedience vnto the Apostolicall Seat not to contribute their Subsidies and iust reliefe vnto their Souereigne Lord the King directly and cleerly against the prescription of Saint Paul vnto all Christian subiects though vnder vnbeleeuing Princes instructing them to giue tribute vnto whom they owe tribute Rom. 13. O the rare Diuinitie of Babylon The Cleargie of England must giue monies vnto the Pope if hee require them but not vnto the King if he forbid them Vpon this occasion ensued a rebellious opposition in the Archbishop of Canterburie Peckham by name against his lawfull Souereigne that victorious and puissant King as indeed the Pope seldome wanted a Prelate in that See to concurre with him against the King to the iust prouocation of his Royall displeasure and no small inconuenience of the whole Cleargie in this Land But leauing temporall things wherein this Iland suffered great calamitie and vexation by the Babylonian Monarchs drawing monies out of mens purses and withdrawing their obedience from their naturall Lords and Kings I come vnto spirituall things wherein your deliuerance from Babylon pertaineth vnto the soule and ministreth vnto you matter of higher contemplation as namely that you are freed from dangerous errous of false doctrines from the oppression of conscience wherein the Pope did reigne and tyrannize from the vncomfortable and ridiculous seruice of God in an vnknowne tongue from prostitution of the bodie and soule vnto stocks and stones from Idolatrous adoration of a breaden God from the vexing feare of fained Purgatorie from the vaine hope of Babylonian Pardons and finally in a word from the vanitie of vncertaine traditions with a number of superstitions and fopperies whose obseruation was with great difficultie and little profit yea rather with singular detriment vnto the glorie of God and perfection of his Church Which things being iustly cast out of this Church as Christ expelled abuses out of the Temple Iohn 2.15 you haue a peaceable state of conscience toward God in the sweet libertie of his truth vnder a gracious and learned Souereigne a sincere Professour and a constant Protectour of the same FIFTLY they beare a speciall obligation to God for his singular mercie whom hee hath drawne out of the societie of Babylon and from the contagion of her cup which with Circaean intantations metamorphizeth men into beasts intoxicating them with her venimous dregges till God of his meere grace seeking them who had lost themselues take away the veile of errour from their eyes and make them vnderstand from whence Apoc. 2.5 and to what they are fallen Though they wanted his preuenient grace and therefore fell yet they had his excitant grace and therefore rose againe and if they haue assistant grace none are more humble in their minds none are more carefull of their wayes none are more gratefull vnto God none are more seruiceable vnto the Church Let not the elder brother repine at the reuersion and entertainment of the younger why should man shew his enuie where God doth shew his pittie Acknowledge thy owne infirmitie in thy brothers fall commend Gods grace in his restitution to his estate the neerer he was to Hell the neerer he may be to Heauen SIXTLY whereas many out of the insufficiencie of knowledge or weaknesse of iudgement or neutralitie of Religion setting vp the saile of their conscience vnto the wind of time incline strongly vnto Rome or prostitute themselues wholy vnto her communion let them consider that it is BABYLON hated of God and ordained to destruction which they embrace and though they liue corporally in England France c. that yet they liue spiritually in her that they are members of this Citie and that therefore they must weare the liuerie of her name they are BABYLONIANS in their true and proper title Let them then reiect the name of a PAPIST the inuention they say of LVTHER but well accommodated for many
shape or colour so I will in silence admire and I would condole it also but that I find the Saints reioyce thereat Cap. 19. 1. 2 3. this fall I say of Rome and thus by silence as wanting all words I shall speake more that if I could deliuer the nature of it in many Thus now at the last I haue made an interpretation of this fall comparing it with other falls which were some shadowes of it Rome being her owne type herein Howbeit as the Prophet Esay 9.1 calleth it a light affliction of some Tribes of Israel by Tiglah Piesar in comparison of the greater captiuitie afterward vnder Shalmaneser so the former fals of Rome were light in comparison of this fall nay rather they were concussions and shakes this onely is the fall and ruine thereof Consider therefore the very words of the Text wherewith I will finish this part of my Discourse Chap. 18. It is become an habitation of Deuils reward her as she hath rewarded you fill her the Cup double her plagues shall come in one day death sorrow and famine shee shall be burnt with fire no man buyeth her ware any more her Merchants shall howle and cry c. Then Chapter 19.3 her smoake rose vp for euermore And so much of the fall namely for the manner and qualitie of the same Whereby you may perceiue the simple subtiltie of some learned Papists who suppose this fall of Rome to bee meerely spirituall in falling from Ethnicall Idolatry vnto Christian Religion and not a materiall fall by outward ruine as Ludouicus ab Alcasar doth vainly dreame standing in a foolish opposition heerein vnto the iudicious resolution of Viegas and Ribera his more ingenious and exact compeeres Now for conclusion of this whole matter I must take notice of foure Questions which are appendant and belonging vnto this fall by faire discussion wherof I shall exempt and take out of your minds certayne Doubts which may arise and perhaps are alreadie risen in your apprehension of this fall The FIRST Question FIrst therefore if you desire to vnderstand by whose meanes and operation Babylon shall thus fall and who shall bee the instruments of Gods vindictiue Iustice in this behalfe I answere from the sacred Oracle of God himselfe that it shall bee executed by the vniforme and powerfull concurrencie of many Kings and States concerning whom three things are markeably deliuered in this Propheticall Word of God First there is obserued their beginning and exaltation Apoc. 17.12 The tenne hornes to wit of the Beast Verse 3. which is the second Beast in Babylon succeeding in the place of the first Apoc. 13.11 are ten Kings which yet haue not receiued a Kingdome to wit in the time of Saint Iohn but shall receiue power as Kings at one houre with the Beast For as the seuerall Dominions of the Kings and States in Europe were members of the great and mightie bodie of the Romane Empire which was dissolued afterward into these parts of which it was formerly compounded and made so these Kings and States arose neere vpon the same time which is here called one houre not in an exact measure of time but in a conuenient propinquitie and neernesse of time according to the phrase of holy Writ wherein the word houre is taken in this sense as 1. Thes 2.17 Wee were kept from you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for an houre and Philem. 15. Onesimus departed from Philemon his Master 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for an houre and Saint Iohn 1.2.18 Little children it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the last houre c. It followeth that they receiued this power at one houre with the Beast beause as the Imperiall dignitie and glory did decay by fraction partition of the potent Empire so the second Beast in Babylon the Papall State beganne to aduance it selfe and to succeed by a pretense of Ecclesiasticall Supremacie in the place of the former Beast the State Imperial as he began to decrease according to the prediction of S. Paul which I haue touched before in the precedent Sermon vnto which I must therefore remit you for the more cleere vnderstanding of this point But now you may see what these Kings are whence when with whome and from whom they tooke their Royall dignitie and power Secondly there is obserued the subiection and submission of their power vnto this second Beast whose Ecclesiasticall glorie and estimation did insnare the ciuill Dominion of these Kings for so it followeth Verse 13. They shall giue their power and authoritie vnto the Beast vpon which he cunningly intruded by faire pretenses of his succession vnto the Prince of the Apostles and of his immediate function vnder Iesus Christ whose name hee abused to the corruption and suppression of his Euangelicall Truth Thus these Kings became his instruments also to serue his turne in the oppugnation of Christs Doctrine and in the persecution of his members as the prediction in the fourteenth Verse doth truly beare and the euent of things doth notably declare And now they were made the hornes of this second Beast that is to say his strength and corroboration as this word horne doth often signifie in the Scriptures but more specially in the Booke of Psalmes as in the Prophecies of Daniel whereby hee should subsist in power honour and command for all these things shall decay in the Beast when these Kings shall withdraw their obedience from him and resume their owne power which as they did fondly submit vnto him so hee doth proudly vendicate vnto himselfe for so hee was foretold by Saint Paul that he should lift vp himselfe aboue all that is called God Thirdly there ensueth their action of hostilitie and enterprize of warre against Babylon wherein this Beast doth reigne for so it is written Verse 16. The ten hornes which thou sawest vpon the Beast are they that shall hate the Whore what are they like Amnon whose loue to Tamar turned into hatred and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eate her flesh and burne her with fire the old punishment which in the Law of Nature was inflicted vpon Whores Genes 38.24 Here is a strange Metamorphosis Friends changed into Enemies setters vp into pullers downe Defenders into Expugnators Babylons louers into her haters the strength of the Beast into his ruine This is the Lords doing as you shall heare anon and it is meruailous in our eyes Meanewhile I cannot passe forward vnto the discussion of other points without a serious consideration of this namely that these Kings thus submitting their Royall power vnto the Beast partly to take a Crowne by his donation partly to hold it ratified by his confirmation partly to hold it vpon tearmes of fealtie to him partly to acknowledge all their Dominion to be deriued from his plenitude of power partly to suffer him to execute forreigne iurisdiction in their Realmes partly to stand in awe of his sentententiall deposition partly to suffer an expilation of the goods and
meritorious cause of her fall Apoc. 17.2 The Kings of the earth haue committed fornication with her and the Inhabitants of the earth are drunken with the wine of her fornication to wit in her Ecclesiasticall State Then secondly we heare of the efficient cause of her fall v. 17. God hath put in the hearts of the ten Kings to fulfill his will and to doe with one consent for to giue their Kingdome vnto the Beast How long Vntill the words of God bee fulfilled What then They shall hate the whore and make her desolate and naked and burne her with fire Vpon what motion From God as the Text doth plainly beare And therefore our most learned and prudent Souereigne doth truly and aptly obserue in this place The hearts of the greatest Kings as well as of the smallest subiects are in the hands of the Lord to make them his instruments and to turne them as it shall please him to employ them Here then I note three things FIRST though Kings may bee carried by their proper motion of malice or auarice or of some other affection in their warres against some people and in bringing them to ruine yet therein we may obserue and must confesse that it is digitus Dei Gods finger or rather Gods hand in this worke So Nebuchadnezzar himselfe a cruell proud insolent Prince in his warres did so performe the will and purpose of God therein that God himselfe giueth him the title of his seruant and commendeth his seruice done vnto him not only against his enemies a people that knew not his Lawes as it is Ezekiel 29.18 but also against his owne people Ieremy 25.9 And so in his sacred expugnation of Babylon these Kings are Gods seruants they doe their worke from him and hee doth his worke by them Therefore Saint Ambrose or whosoeuer is the Author of that Commentarie vpon the Reuelation doth ingeniously deliuer his iudgement vpon the words of my Text Babylon is fallen it being here the voyce of God to declare it the hand of God to effect it that in this case dixisse Dei fecisse est dixit enim cecidisse Babylonem quia ipse fecit vt caderet The speech of God is the worke of God for hee said that Babylon is fallen because he brought it to passe that Babylon should fall SECONDLY we may heere consider that as there is mercie in God to receiue vs vnto grace so there is Iustice in him to punish our sinnes Marciâ— knew not this but because of different operations proceeding from God hee made a diuersitie of Gods one good another iust or rather cruell one the maker of the body another of the soule one whom he would loue another whom he would feare one in the Law another in the Gospell But wee know one God alone onely good onely wise onely gracious whose mercie is free and proceedeth from himselfe whose iustice is right and is prouoked by vs for as wee haue malum culpae to offend him so hee hath malum poenae to afflict vs. Amos 3.6 Esay 45.7 THIRDLY and lastly though Reason may seeme to perswade vs as it perswadeth Babylon her selfe that she is so strengthened by the confederacy of Princes as in many dangers shee hath not neglected the tearmes of prudencie in this behalfe by the amitie of her Friends by the diligence of her Negotiators by the policie of her Counsellours by the art of her Learning by the abundance of her Riches and finally by a generall confluence of all outward meanes for the supportation of her Estate that shee shall neuer fall for so she saith in her heart I sit being a Queene and am no Widdow and shall see no mourning Apoc. 18.7 yet Faith assureth me that her owne Friends her owne Vp-holders her hornes these ten Kings her old Louers shall bring her downe to the Earth to fall so low that shee can fall no lower I meane not in place and situation but in condition and estate Now if Rome aske or if my owne reason demand of me how can this be I answere God hath said it and hee will doe it I haue heard his Word and now I doe expect his Worke. Away then with quomodo how can this or how can that bee when God speaketh and God assureth vs and God reuealeth his Will vnto vs. This Word commeth in with incredulitie and want of faith as the diuine Preacher Saint Chrysostome doth excellently note vpon the question of the Iewes Iohn 6.52 How can this man giue vs his flesh to eate Therefore I rest vpon the truth of God that is it which I beleeue and I am no farther scrupulous in regard of many improbabilities and difficulties which reason suggesteth and presenteth vnto me in this point If I haue as now I haue Gods Word that this Worke shall be performed I am not curious to inquire of the manner and meanes how hee will bring the same to passe And so much concerning the second cause of the fall of Babylon by the cooperation of these Kings The THIRD is an excitant cause inward in respect of the iust wrath of these Kings but outward in respect of the prouocation thereof by the indignities and iniuries of Babylon against the Potentates of the Earth Now as in the first and second causes I had the plaine testimonie of Scripture so heere in this third I haue the certaine assurance of strong reason to confirme and settle my iudgement therein for now I beginne to discouer some impulsiue cause arising from Babylon that stirreth vp these Kings vnto the execution of Gods Worke. First therefore Babylon hath treasonable doctrines against the state and dignitie of Kings though they were the hornes and strength of the second Beast therein as namely to depose Kings from their royall seates yea to take away the faire Titles wherewith she had inuested them before as this Beast had once taken vpon him to depriue Francis the French King of his Title of the most Christian King and to translate it vnto Henry the Eighth of England as Guicciardine their owne Historian doth record though afterward with greater furie and indignation hee proceeded against the same Henry who had beene a principall horne to corroborate and confirme the Maiestie of the Triple Crowne Againe this Babylon exposeth the persons of Princes vnto priuate violences and publike impugnation by their owne subiects as well as their States vnto the Rapine and Inuasion of forreigne power Lastly this Babylon doth aduance her Beast aboue all ciuil Lords and Souereignes not onely by an indirect authoritie ouer them in case of Heresie and for spirituall ends to which opinion onely and no farther a multitude of Babylonians doe incline though with the peremptorie censure of the Beast himselfe and violent oppugnation of his chiefe Adherents in that behalfe but by a direct and superiour authoritie ouer them as Lord of Lords and King of Kings So Boniface the Eighth intruded vpon the Crowne of France but found the strong
beareth rule therein as in the very Seate and Center of his Dominion The SECOND obseruation which from thence I frame and tender vnto your religious hearts is a Morall truth namely that God doth often punish our sinnes by such meanes and instruments as were seruiceable vnto vs therein to the accomplishment of our desires So wee read Ezek. 16.37.39 c. that whereas the Iewes committed spirituall fornication with the Idols of Aegypt and Assyria and reapposed more in the helpe of the Aegyptians and Assyrians sometimes then in the protection of God therefore he threatneth to giue them into their hands who being instruments of their sinnes against him should bee also instruments of his iudgements against them Sundry are the examples in this kind which I cannot now produce but leauing the ponderation of this point vnto your owne hearts I aduise you in the tender feare of God so to please him in all your wayes that not onely all men but all his creatures may bee disposed and inclined by him to our incolunitie and preseruation So saith the Wiseman When the wayes of a man please the Lord hee will also make his enemies at peace with him Prou. 16.7 To this purpose spake Eliphaz in Iob. 5.23 The stones of the field shall bee in league with thee and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee But if wee sinne impenitently against him euery creature in heauen and earth is readie prest by his instinct and motion to reuenge the iniurie done vnto him who is the Creator of heauen and earth And so much concerning the first question I come therefore vnto the second The SECOND Question SECONDLY if you require of me what are the causes for which these ten Kings shall take vp their Armes against Babylon I answere partly out of the euidence of the Scripture and partly out of the demonstration of reason that three principall causes concurre in this behalfe The FIRST is a meritorious cause by congruitie and condignitie as they vse to speake of the merit of their workes in regard of her sinnes which I haue touched heretofore in the comparisons betwixt the Misticall and the Literall Babylon which being a burthen vnto the earth cry for vengeance vnto heauen And now here is a collection of her sinnes the old and the new come into one reckoning and account They were past in act but remained in guilt wherefore it is said Apoc. 18.5 Her sins are come vp vnto heauen and God hath remembred her iniquities for though hee alwayes remembred them in his prouidence and knowledge yet now hee declareth his remembrance by the execution of his Iustice Thus we perceiue that God hath a time to permit sinnes and a time to punish sinnes the former and the latter sinnes together of any state or of any person when our repentance bindeth not vp the hands of his iustice but our continuance addition and renouation of sinne draw the sword out of the scabbard and compell him vnto the manifestation of his wrath as it is here in the fall of Babylon whose sins are bound vp together in this great and fearefull iudgement But since she will make no benefit of this instruction as being obdurate in the course of her sinnes and prepared for destruction let vs obserue it brethren for our owne vse since wee know the iust seueritie of God which leadeth vs vnto speedie repentance least he arraigne vs at the barre of his Iustice for our ancient for our latter sins This obseruation pertaineth first vnto a Kingdome and State hee doth not forger her sins though he remember them not presently in iudgement After many hundred yeeres he called Amalek vnto an account I remember saith he vnto Saul what Amalek did vnto Israel how they laid wait for them in the way as they came vp out of Egypt therefore he sent Saul vpon an expedition against the Amalekites to destroy them from the face of the earth O that my natiue Countrey would take notice of this at the heart and not adde sin vnto sin new vnto the old prouoking God vnto great indignation against her But two things comfort me here the one that God will spare the Land because hee hath many faithfull seruants therein that mourne for the sins of England and that as Eliphaz speaketh in Iob 22.30 the innocent shall deliuer the Iland For it is not the Sea that can defend vs from inuasion it is not any Castle that can saue vs from the enemy and sin within the Land is of greater force to destroy it then any foe without but some righteous men are in the Iland and God doth spare it for their sake The other is that according to Dauids option and choyce wee shall rather fall into the hands of the Lord then of men for the punishment and castigation of this Land This obseruation pertaineth secondly vnto the Church which falling in her inward puritie cannot stand long as Gregorie noted in her outward glory If wee haue not a place in the conscience of men by our effectuall doctrine and our exemplarie life that wee haue a mansion in their very hearts then the Law our Gouernment our Temporalties all outward prouision for the Ministers of the Church shall make them but a weake consistencie and a feeble station in the world Let not our sins preuaile against vs to prouoke God and we shall not feare the complotments of any mortall man whose breath is in his nostrills This obseruation pertaineth thirdly vnto euery particular person of whatsoeuer qualitie or condition rich or poore high or low For for if thou addest the sins of thy age vnto the sins of thy youth for which Dauid intreateth pardon of God Psalm 25.7 and makest an accumulation of thine iniquities of latter vnto former without remorse of thy conscience and feare of Gods displeasure saying I shall haue peace although I walke according to the stubbornenesse of mine owne heart thus adding drunkennesse to thirst know then that the Lord will not be mercifull vnto thee but then the wrath of the Lord and his iealousie shall smoake against thee and euery curse that is written in his booke shall light vpon thee and the Lord shall put out thy name from vnder heauen Deut. 29.19 20. yea out of heauen also that is hee shall declare that thy name was neuer written there according to that in the Psalme Let them be put out of the booke of life Psa 69.28 And so much concerning the first cause why these ten Kings assemble against Babylon to worke her fall The SECOND is an efficient cause and that is God by his iustice his iustice being prouoked by her sins according to that of the Prophet Esay 42.24 Who gaue Iacob to the spoile and Israel to the robbers Did not the Lord because wee haue sinned against him Thus we haue a connexion of the first and second cause in this one sentence which meete in Babylons case For first wee heare of the