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power_n	bind_v	heaven_n	loose_v	4,825	5	10.6036	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66982	The fall of Babylon, or, Seasonable reflections on the novelties of Rome with the rise, growth, and final overthrow of Antichrist now at hand, occasioned by the preface to a treatise called Nubes testium, or, A collection of primitive fathers giving testimony to the faith once delivered to the saints, being (as the author stileth it) a full discovery of the sentiments of the ancient fathers in the chief points of controversy at present under debate : written upon the first coming forth of the said treatise (but not permitted to be then made publick) for the benefit of all who abominate the corruptions of the great whore and would not be partakers of her sins of plagues / by B.W.	Woodroffe, Benjamin, 1638-1711.	1690 (1690)	Wing W3467; ESTC R27594	163,329	256

refuse to restore both their Ecclesiastical and Civil Rights He might by Execrations or Censures and Arms be compelled to his Duty Being assisted by this Opportunity some Bishops and Princes of Germany who had been long aggrieved by this wild Beast into the place of Henry who by his great wickedness and forseited the Kingdom chose Duke Rodulphus who with that modesty and integrity which becomes a King forthwith sent Messengers to me by whom I might understand that He was forced to undertake the Government of the Kingdom but however that He was not so desirous of Reigning but that he had rather obey us than those who had promised the Kingdom that He would be always in the Power of God and us and that we might believe that He will do this hath promised to give his Sons Hostages At this Henry began to be incens'd and to beseech us at first that by * * Banning Cursings we would hinder Rudolphus from seizing the Kingdom I said I would see to whom the Right belonged and for that Reason would send Messengers who should take Cognizance of the whole Affair and would judge thereupon whether of them had the better Cause Henry forbad that our Messengers should declare him King and slew many of the Clergy and Laity Robbed and Profaned several Churches and by this means bound himself the faster with the Bonds of an Anathema or Excommunication denounced against him Wherefore trusting in the Judgment and Mercy of God and the Patronage of the Blessed Virgin and supported also with your Authority Henry himself and his Abettors do I bind with the Bonds of an Anathema and the second time deprive him of Royal Authority and forbid all Christians absolved of that Oath whereby Fealty is used to be Sworn to Kings in any thing to obey Henry and that they accept Rudolphus for King whom many of the Princes of the Province or Empire rejecting Henry have chosen to be their good King For 't is fit that as Henry for his Pride and contumacy is deprived of all his Privileges so Rudolphus who is acceptable to all should for his Piety and Religion be endowed with Royal Dignity and Power Go to now therefore ye most most Holy Princes of the Apostles and what I have said interpose your Authority to confirm that all men at length may understand whether you can bind and loose in Heaven and also on Earth are not able to take away or give Empires Kingdoms Principalities or whatever else mortal Men can enjoy For it ye can judge those things which belong to God what are we to think of inferiour and profane things It it belongs to you to judge the Angels who rule over proud Princes what doth it become you to do to their Servants Let Kings and all the Princes of the World now learn by the Example of this Henry what your Power is in Heaven and how great you are with God and let them hereafter dread to contemn the Commands of Holy Church And this Sentence forthwith execute ye on Henry that all may know that 't is not by mere chance but through your Assistance that the Son of Iniquity hath fallen from the Kingdom Only this I would request from you that being led to Repentance He may through your intercession obtain Grace in the Day of Judgment And now And now Whether this be not to have a Mouth speaking great things and Blasphemies Whether this be not to speak as a Dragon let the World judge Nay I was going to say the World hath already judged it For so Aventinus tells us l. 5. p. 352. Annal. Boior that upon this and the great outrages thereon committed by Rudolphus and his Adherents most Men openly as well as privately began to cry out against so great a Villany in publick to curse Gregory and wish all Mischief to this Hildebrand publishing that 't was out of Malice and an intemperate lusting after Rule that he was thus hurried on Headlong and declaring him to be Antichrist Nay farther yet He hath herein judged Himself For was it not hereupon that He undertook to foretel that before the Feast of St. Peter and he did all He could to verifie what he had foretold by tampering with Assassines to murder him Henry should die or lose his Kingdom this He did publickly in a Sermon to the people ascending the Pulpit of St. Peter's and in his Pontifical Habit adding that He would no longer be accounted Pope if this Prophecy should fail as Benno is cited to attest it Histor Magd. Cent. 11. cap. 8. p. 435. Shew any thing like this in any other History whether Civil or Ecclesiastical besides that of Rome and we will give up the Cause and allow any to be Antichrist besides Him whom this concerns we will strike Hildebrand out of the List and He shall not be so much as thought of neither He nor any of his Proud Successors in the day when Babylon is to come into remembrance Rev. 16. 19. It may seem a long Digression what we have here run but it being of so high import towards the clearing up so great a part of the Book of the Revelation as what relates to Antichrist in his Rise Progress and full Growth is I could not well pass by what is here said of Hildebrand especially considering How at the same time that we erre no longer in the Person 't is decreed by the third Roman Council under Him Ut Papae nomen Unicum esset in Universo orbe Christiano nec liceret alicui seipsum vel alium eo nomine appellare that there should be but one who should have the Name of POPE in the whole Christian World and that it should not be lawful for any other to call himself or any one else by that Name so then here 's the mark of the Beast the Name and Number of his Name all concurring in One Anno 1076. For then it was viz. in the same Council in which Hildebrand and depos'd the Emperor that this Name was thus appropriated to the Bishop of Rome As Longus à Coriolano relates p. 317. And 't is very observable what we meet with to this purpose in Aventinus Annal. Boior l. 7. p. 420 421. where the Covetousness Luxury Strife Hatred Envy Ambition c. of the Romish Chair is most highly inveighed against in opposition to the Humility Meekness Patience Charity which the great Shepherd of our Souls gave as the Rules of his Religion and was Himself the great Pattern of them And in particular this Hildebrand of whom we have been speaking is pitcht upon as most guilty of the contrary Vices and that under the express stile of Antichrist the Person who there charges Him is the Chief Priest of Juvavia his words are Hildebrandus ante annos centum atque septuaginta primus specie Religionis Antichristi imperii fundamenta jecit Hoc bellum nefandum speaking of what opposition the Emperors had constantly found from the Popes after

and shall be given up to Eternal Blasphemy bitter Execrations and Cursings the lot of the Damned and being Cursed for Ever But when this shall be will be still the great Enquiry and what to answer to it is difficult for as Christ speaks when the Elders of the People and the chief Priests and the Scribes asked him Art thou the Christ If I tell you shall I say I say it not but if God if Christ if the Holy-Ghost should tell you you will not Believe Luke 22. 67. For it is God it is Christ it is the Holy-Ghost who have already told it it is declared with all the certainty that a Mystery can be declared in this Book of the Revelation The Rise the Progress the Downfal of Antichrist is foretold and yet forsooth we must be tender in the Point and not so much as dare to say that Antichrist is come who or what he is and where is his Seat The Angel may tell John Rev. 17. 7. c the mystery of the Woman and the Beast that carrieth her which hath the seven Heads and ten Horns may shew the place from whence he cometh and whither he goeth ver 8. With all the particularities of his Reign may shew what the seven Heads and ten Horns are when and where to arise ver 9. 11 12. And for whom to drudge ver 13 14. may shew the Extent of the Beast's Empire over Peoples Multitudes Nations and Tongues ver 15. And lest after all any mistake should be about his Seat may so point out the City of his Residence that but one City in the World can answer the Description And that is the City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth and the City that so Reigned when John saw the Vision the City that hath ever since so Reigned is Rome the Angel I say may thus tell John the Mystery of the Woman and of the Beast but we must be sure to let it be a Mystery still and fix it any where but where it is Oh the shame of the Cowardize of the Christian Oh the reproach of those who have Eyes and will not see But are they willing who ask the question to have it resolved What can be plainer than that 1260 Years is the date of Antichrists Reign This being the time that is allotted to the little Horn Dan. 7. 25. This the time Set for the giving theoutward Court to the Gentiles and the treading the Holy Cities under Foot Rev. 11. 2. This Being the time for the two Witnesses to Prophecy in Sackcloath ver 3. This Being the time that is set for the Flight of the Woman cloathed with the Sun into the Wilderness Rev. 12. 1 6. This being the time in particular for the Beast with seven heads and ten Horns to make War with the Saints Rev. 13. 5 7. Only when these 1260 Years were to begin seems the Difficulty but neither is that so obscure but we may easily point at it I speak not so as to point to the Day or Year because 1. It may be we have no such exact Chronology that we can depend upon for such express and minute Particulars Or 2. Supposing the Masters in this Art should not fail yet we must consider that all great Transactions have a time to come to their Maturity or End and it will be hard for us to fix the very Critical Minute where matters are to be accomplished by Degrees As I do not think that the Fall of Antichrist will be in a Moment no there is to be a Harvest and Vintage Rev. 14. 15. 18. A time to begin to put in the Sickle and may not that have been at the Reformation 'T was certainly a considerable Harvest was then reaped and a time to reap all down This being observed I make no doubt but that it will not be so obscure but we may point at it and as our Lord said Mark 13. 30. may boldly pronounce so near are we to the Completion of these Prophesies this Generation shall not pass till all these things be done And first as to the outward Court of the Temple being given to the Gentiles and treading down the Holy Cities under Foot when could that be but when the Gentile or Heathen-Worship first crept into the Church And as to that if we consult History we shall find reason to fix it not but that it was sooner offering at as we have already observed in the fifth Century it being then as we noted out of Theodoret that the Worship of Saints the Doctrine of second Intercessors and Relicks c. was so far advanced It being then also that Leo the first began so far to exalt his See above those of other Bishops as to call it Cathedram Petri qui appellatur Petra fundamentum the Chair of Peter who is called a Rock and Foundation and to call Peter the Doorkeeper of Heaven the Arbiter and Judge of who were to be bound who to be loosed and then ascribes the Power and Authority of St. Peter to his own Chair and is angry that in the Case of Eutyches as is before there observed they did not reserve the matter to him and therefore pretends he was not rightly Condemned calls himself Ecclesiae Catholicae Episcopum Urbis Romae the Bishop of the Catholick Church of the City of Rome with many other the like Excesses which certainly may be one sense of treading the Holy City under Foot thus to exalt him above all others And then for the tme of the two Witnesses Prophesying in Sackcloth where can we begin that better than in the Testimony which from that time those who were sound in the Faith bore against these and the like Excesses Rather from the time that the two Testamennts God's faithful Wisnesses the Holy Bible began in its Authority to be deprest and and the Fancies and Inventions of Men to take place This was their putting on Sackcloth but so as from that time they never did nor ever shall cease to Prophecy in it till they have Prophesied down all their Enemies Rev. 11. 3 c. The Word of God in the Mouth of his faithful Servants hath and must always witness for him and that with those Effects which are there ascribed to these i. e. of being the Instruments to denounce God's Judgments on those who despise the Warning but in their Witnessing there is another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Test and that is let their Prophesying in Sackcloth begin when it will yet it must end when the Beast which ascendeth out of the bottomless Pit shall have made War against them have overcome and killed them Rev. 11. 7. i. e. Whenever Antichrist shall have so much Power to banish true Religion as to all outward appearance quite to ruin and destroy the sincere Professors of it so that there is no longer the Face of a Church or any publickly to bear Witness as Christ saith Luke 21. 28. When those things begin to come to

God shewing himself that he is God It is of you Dread Soveraigns it is said in the Scripture Ye are Gods Psal 82. 1. 6. John 10. 34. 'T is of you all that is Worshipt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Stile of most August is to be understood It is of one usurping to himself all Power in the Church to bind or loose to pardon or damn sitting as God in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God is most aptly Construed and it is not hard now to point out the Beast by his own Mark You have seen what hath been his aim from his first Rise What the Principles and Maxims by which he acts What the Scorn and Contempt he hath been for so many Ages together casting upon you You have seen what changes and interruptions what Faction and Sedition what turmoils what stirs and troubles he hath been fomenting in your Kingdoms How precariously he would have you hold your Crowns what Power he usurps over you and your Subjects here and in case you refuse him that Obedience that Vassallage he expects what power he invests himself with of shutting the Gates of Heaven against you hereafter Your Histories will inform you what your Royal Progenitors and Predecessors have done for him what the Designs and Projects he hath put them upon what the Dangers they have so often incurred and how he hath returned the obligation your selves are best able to Judge And what is it now at last he and his busy Agents require from you as the Complement of that Zeal that hath been so much abused What is it they would requite all you have done for them with but let me use the Words of the Holy-Ghost in the sixth Vial under which I doubt not we now are in gathering you to the Battle of that great day of God Almighty Rev. 16. 14. That Battle in which none can engage and prosper And let me upon the Prospect of what that portends once more repeat it Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the Earth But there are among you Great Soveraigns who seem not to be so much concerned in this those I mean who having left the corrupt Communion of the Church of Rome yet have not fully pursued or acted agreeable to that Reformation which is to bring on or succeed the Fall of Babylon To such is it I have to add that they would please to consider it will not suffice that you are contented to be called Protestants and enjoy the Interest of that Name unless you are what that Name speaks And it is your highest Concern so to be the time growing on when Success and Victory shall go along with Truth and Piety Have you been so happy to throw off her Yoak to disclaim her Errors to despise her Vsurpations let then none of her Principles none of her Practices mix with your Politicks act Glorious Princes act bravely and openly for God and that Religion you Prosess It is but to lessen your Strength to think when God is doing his own Work that nothing but the Arm of Flesh can save you Why should you think he cannot defend his own Cause without listing his Enemies in the Service Is it not he who hath said not by Might nor by Power but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts Zechar. 4. 6. No let Princes and People consider that it is the holiness and purity of Religion God will establish in the World let them consider how hitherto in all the signal Deliverances of his People himself hath stept in and asserted the Glory of the Success and let them but reform to that Holiness that Purity there needs no farther force to beat her down for where these are Babylon is fallen Amen For the Reverend D. W. L. Mart. 7. 1686. Reverend Sir I Return you many Thanks not only for the Honour but the benefit of perusing your Learned Tract and am sorry I must make so unsuitable a Requital as to trouble you with my Excuse for not Licensing it However I hope when you have considered it you will allow it to be reasonable I will not alledge though I might do it that I have all along declined medling with Discourses of this Nature which have been offered me by those I had great reason to esteem But the Truth in short is that a large Book on this Subject and a very accurate one as I am told was lately not for the performance but the Matters sake sent back from hence without an Imprimatur I believe you have hinted the reason out of St. Chrysostome where he says that St. Paul would not plainly say what the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which withholdeth was that was to be taken away lest he should incurr unnecessary Enmity and unprofitable Danger The predicting the Fall of the Roman Church now may be as ungrateful those to whose Interests are ingaged in it as the foretelling the Ruin of the Roman Empire could be then and the Cases being so like it may perhaps be thought seasonable to observe the same Rule that St. Paul then did Sir I hope you will take this freedom in good part from one who to the utmost of his Power is desirous to approve himself Reverend Sir Your most faithful and Humble Servant THE PREFACE TO THE READER WHAT it was that hath so long made these Animadversions abortive will appear by the Letter on the preceding Page and therefore without any farther appeal to other Witnesses to shew that what is here published is no more done to serve a turn now than it was then written for it What I have to request from every Beader is that it may be received with the same Sincerity with which it was first Penned which was in the retirement of a long Sickness when I was sequestred from my family the best part of it being upon other occasions absent from me and had only God and his good Spirit and my own Conscience to confer with that Conscience which notwithstanding the Prejudice with which some then and since have loaded me as if I had been less sound in our Holy Reformed Religion suffered me not then to temporize with those who sate at the Helm to the greatest of whom I could have had as easy access as any others of my Brethren that Conscience I say which suffered me not then to temporize and I thank my God makes me still above all sordid Flattery and I desire to bless his Holy Name I hope what I shall here publish will be the freer from all carnal Interest who hath in his Providence made me in some degree a Martyr both then and now For if I have since suffered as I am sensible I have for being thought to be one whom my Great Master then favoured I suffered no less then for being thought what I was and shall always endeavour to acquit my self therein one of the most firm and unshaken Protestants No I am bold to say whatever