head of the Church of Rome descendeth vnto the members For as the Cardinalls who are the great regotiatours in the publike affaires of the world are the cosins of mightie Kings who salute them by that affable and gracious name as being glad and ambitious of the affection of these purpled Fathers in the Apostolicall Court so the whole bodie of the shaued Clergy pretendeth an exemption from the lawfull iurisdiction of their naturall Lords as being subiects secundum quid after a certaine manner or measure and a body rather collected and vnited vnder the Pope then vnder their owne Souereignes in whose Lands they receiued their first breath and vnder whose protection they enioy their liuelyhood with the preseruation of their liues FOVRTHLY this pride appeareth in his domination ouer the whole Church as first that all spirituall power of order and iurisdiction is deriued from his Apostolicall Seate that hee can depriue suspend excommunicate such as withstand his pleasure that appellations may be made and in some cases must be made vnto him from the sentences and censures of Bishops in all places of the world that he may demand and receiue a supply of monyes and necessaries for the vse and benefit of his Apostolicall greatnesse that hee is answerable to no power in the Church or State that hee may by reseruations and prouisions bestow Ecclesiasticall benefices vpon whom hee will in any part of the Christian world that he is greater then all the Church and is in truth and effect the very Church which being essentially in the whole societie of Christians is representatiuely in a lawfull Councell and virtually in the Pope so that finally the Church their Mother is the Pope their Father who is the Lord the Head the Guide the Pastour the Vniuersall Bishop of the Church Which insolencies and oppressions in the Holy Father made Gerson bitterly to complaine That the Head of the Church was growen too heauy for the whole bodie thereof and our learned Countrey-man Bishop Grosthead to pronounce That the Church would neuer be freed from the yoake of her Aegyptian bondage but by the dint and edge of a bloudie sword FIFTHLY and lastly his pride appeareth in his great and glorious titles taken vp partly by himselfe and partly ascribed vnto him by others with gratefull appobation of the Apostolicall Seate As for example hee is a Vice-God as in that inscription Paulo Quinto Vice-deo where the numerall letters V. L. V. I. V. C. D. make vp the fatall number of 666. containing the mysterie of Antichrist his name Apocal 13.18 but this is too little therefore hee is plainly a God nay that is too little also he is our Lord God as I shewed you once before and yet sometimes Nec Deus es nec homo sed neuter es inter vtrumque Thou ô Souereigne of the World art neither God nor man therefore Antichrist for Christ is both but art betwixt both neither the one nor the other Hee is Dominus dominorum quoad potestatem the Lord of Lords in regard of his power though Seruus seruorum quoad humilitatem saith bald Baldus the Seruant of Seruants and be it so but in the sense of Noah in his malediction of Canaan Genes 9.25 in regard of his meekenesse O meeke and humble Saint whose ordinarie title hath beene his Holinesse his Blessednesse more compatible with his Apostolicall office then his Maiestie which is indeed the pleasing and acceptable stile vnto which their proud and tyrannicall vsurpations doe aspire And therefore this was well attibuted vnto Paulus the fifth by Ludouicus ab Alcasar the Iesuite in his dedicatorie Epistle prefixed before his miserable exposition of this mysticall booke Yet thou wast more wise and circumspect ô noble and victorious Iulius Caesar that diddest refuse the title of a King and thou wast more modest ô Princely Augustus that diddest reiect the title of a Lord. But behold here is a greater then both which accepteth all alloweth all as indeed challenging a great deale more Let him then take one title more to furnish vp his glorious stile hee is Lucifer in his pride ambition and insultation ouer all States Ciuill Ecclesiasticall as the pretended Lord of both The THIRD Comparison betwixt Literall Babylon and Papall Rome THe third point wherein this comparison doth stand is INIVRIOVS VIOLENCE against the Crowne Imperiall and Estates of Souereigne Princes in which tempestuous courses the Spirituall Babylon of Rome doth exceed the Literall in Chaldea and the rather because the later had a speciall commission in this behalfe which the former doth vainely pretend by lame deductions and inferences but cannot prooue directly by the testimonie of any Scripture The commission of Nebuchadnezzer was vnder the warrant of God himselfe as being the executioner of his seuere Iustice and therefore God affoordeth him the title of his Seruant not onely for his expedition against Tyrus Ezek. 29.18 but against his owne people Ierem. 25.9 Now our Babylonian Monarch not by the authoritie of Gods Word not by any cleere euidence of reason founded vpon the same not by any example of his predecessors or of any other Bishop in the more pure and innocent state of the Church but out of his owne appetite and desire of temporall power which Christ gaue him not which the ancient Popes challenged not which they durst not pretend nor could they execute till the decadencie and expiration of the Romane Monarchy in these occidentall parts hath often thrust the sickle of his forged authoritie into the haruest of other mens Kingdomes Witnesse the distressed King of Nauarre Iohn d' Albret mentioned before sententially deposed by the Pope and a part of his Kingdome thereupon inuaded by his neighbour the King of Spaine Witnesse my deare Countrey of England in the time of that vnfortunate Prince King Iohn whose Kingdome was by Papall authoritie exposed vnto the furie of the French the King himselfe being compelled like a silly man to surrender his Crowne vpon his knees into the hands of an Apostolicall insolent Legate and so remaining for the space of fiue daies without a Crowne committed now vnto the benignitie of the Church hee receiued it againe vpon such base and ignoble termes as it pleased my Lord the Legate to impose vpon him one whereof was if the Babylonians say true that he should hold it by fealtie from the Church of Rome and for acknowledgement thereof pay an annuall tribute vnto the Pope so wise and skilfull are these men to fish in troubled waters being now not fishers of men but fishers of Kingdomes Witnesse England againe in the time of King Henry the eight who by a Papall processe of Paul the third was depriued of his Kingdome and his subiects commanded by force and armes to eiect him out of the confines therof the successe whereof was for a time troublesome to the King but in the end inglorious to the Pope the tenour of whose roaring Bull and Capitoline thunderbolt deserueth your speciall
Councells by Fathers by Reasons framed out of the grounds of Scripture and Religion but in a new obscure intricate course of Positions Suppositions Conclusions vaine Opinions of darke and obscure Schoolemen c. which made the learned Doctor Raynolds say that till hee saw this Treatise of Indulgences hee tooke Bellarmine to be a man of some conscience and that hee wrote out of his perswasion but now hee conceiued of him otherwise But I proceed and hasten vnto a conclusion of this point This Babylonian ware of Indulgences is that traffique of the Church of Rome whereby shee keepeth her intimate correspondencie and participation with all her members tying thereby their consciences by a secret and strong obligation vnto the Pontificiall Seate it being also of singular vse in the manner of her proceedings For as this Merchandize is the daughter of many false doctrines Supererogations Merits euen the hatefull and dangerous merit of Condignitie of an Ecclesiasticall treasure arising out of the merits of Christ and also of the Saints the same being more then they were bound vnto and therefore being not rewarded vnto them in heauen may bee communicated to the poore soules in Purgatorie and the dispensation of this mysticall treasure is committed vnto the Pope by vertue of his keyes c. so it is the mother of many wicked practises for the aduantage of their Church as being the very bellowes which blow the fire of treason against the Persons and States of Princes This is the ware wherby Babylon bewitcheth not onely priuate men but great Kings for her Merchants are the great men of the earth Apocal. 18.3 Therefore infinite store of this Babylonian trumperie was transported vnto the poore Indians for the pretended benefit of their soules but for the intended benefit of a Princes worldly estate This is the ware which Leo the tenth so freely and bountifully dispensed for the redemption of soules out of the Purgatorian fire which keepeth warme the kitchin of his Holy-ship in the compassion of his charitable heart and fulnesse of his Papall power Said I freely Forgiue mee this wrong it was for the commoditie and reliefe of his sister Magdalen as Guicciardine a Popish Historian doth relate lib. 13. who had her Factors to distract and vent this Babylonish ware whence Magdalen the sister had the gaine but Leo the brother had the losse for vpon this occasion no lesse iust before God then acceptable to the Christian world Martin Luther began that course which hath succeeded so happily to the further discouery of Babylon and scandall of her wares for since that time her brocage hath suffered a great decay Finally this is that ware whereby this merchandizing Babylon doth principally subsist in honour authoritie riches and applause of the world inebriated with such incantations of her whorish cup and deluded with the vaine hope of these miserable helpes What should I speake of the Pedlery of Meddalls Beades Graines Holy Water Images certayne peculiar Churches Chappels and other places of blind deuotion vnto which sundry Pardons are appendant as being the meanes and instuments of Papall benignitie thereby to dispense and communicate Indulgences vnto poore seduced soules euen as certaine Fryers receiuing temporall reliefe from their deuoted followers pretend to communicate the merits of all the Saints of their owne order vnto them for their helpe and some Lay-men by wearing a Franciscans Girdle and vsing certaine Ceremonies according to the Rites of the Papall Church are made partakers of the merits of Saint Francis and of all the brethren of that religious Order All which and many more Wares come originally out of the Store-house of Rome To conclude then vnto these Indulgences some of them being for an hundred thousand yeeres so liberall is the holy Father I may adde other spirituall ware of Babylon as of Agnus Dei which is a ware of speciall vertue and force but chiefly of Dispensations which are sometimes the dissipations of diuine and humane right of naturall and morall bands as full of great presumption against the Lawes of God and Nature to tye some Princes in vnlawfull Mariages and to vntye many subiects from lawfull obedience as of singular art thereby to intangle Souereignes and subiects in the obedience of that predominant See and to keepe them vnder the captiuitie of the Triple Crowne Therefore the Pope doth greatly applaud his owne felicitie when Princes insnared with the loue or terrified with the greatnesse or oppressed by the power of this Apostaticall Seat will humbly sue vnto him for Dispensations or accept such gracious fauours kindly at his hands whereby hee gaineth ground vpon them still to keepe them more securely within the obedience of the Church which they shall not dare to offend without the perill of their liues and states And now since this Romish ware is Spirituall and of the Church and for soules not temporall not of the Citie and for this life I conclude the second proofe of my assertion namely that this Babylon in my Text is the Church of Rome or Papall Rome or Ecclesiasticall Rome wherein the greatest Monarch doth reigne next vnder the King of Heauen aboue all the Kings of the Earth as we know by their owne pretenses challenges doctrines and vsurpations in this behalfe And so I proceed vnto a new and the third proofe of my said assertion THIRDLY therefore I proue my assertion to be true because the whole World as the Iesuites say perhaps they meane the Romane World according to the phrase of Scripture Luc. 2.1 and the sense of the ancient Fathers or some great part thereof and specially in Europe shall bee vnder the gouernment of Rome and so she shall make a generall communication of her Idolatry vnto the same Now in this great dependencie of the World vpon Babylon and in this vniuersall reference of Nations vnto her how can this be verified of the Citie How should the Citie arriue vnto such a large Dominion in the World and specially in so little a time as the Babylonians doe prescribe You haue heard the difficultie proposed lately by Ribera himselfe and how hee resolueth it by a poore coniecture But the truth is cleere and easily seene where God doth open the eye namely that Rome had this generall Dominion once in and by her Imperiall State not onely vnder the Emperours succeeding Iulius Caesar but while the dignitie of Rome remayned in the Senate and the authoritie in the people During this Imperiall State Rome receiued Idolatry from all Nations as Leo sometimes Bishop of Rome doth speake Serm. 1. in Natal Petri Pauli and the ciuill Stories of Liuie Plutarch and others doe sufficiently declare how ambitious rather then zealous or how senselesse rather then religious the old Ethnicall Rome was in bringing forreine Gods and extraneous Idolatrie into her bosome for the publike honour and safetie of that blinded Citie Therefore Rome had once her Pantheon a Temple of all the Gods conuerted since into a Church of
all the Saints This former Dominion was lost this imperiall State was dissolued but behold a second Beast of whome I haue spoken much before but you shall heare more fully of him anon entring by little and little into and vpon the place of the former with a pretense of greater authoritie carried with a new forme and vnder another colour and in this Papall State Rome hath sent and communicated her Idolatries vnto the World hauing a cup of gold in her hands full of abomination and filthinesse of her fornication Apoc. 18.4 which she doth not now receiue from others as in her Ethnicall condition but others receiue it from her by her Papall incantations and by the venditation of her sacred power Hence it is that Babylon hath such dominion in the World extensiuè by such a large dilatation and intensiué by so strong an operation thereof Therefore Apocal. 13.11 the second beast appeared like a Lambe as the Pope entred vpon this dominion with a faire pretense of a Catholike Pastor a Successour of Saint Peter a Vicar of Christ c. and hee had two hornes which word horne signifieth power very frequently in the Scripture so that his two hornes are indeed two powers which this second Beast with his humble stile of Seruus seruorum Dei doth pretend whence Babylon hath gained so great authoritie and veneration in the World The first power which he did originally pretend was onely Spirituall the power of the KEYES and therefore the Pope doth arrogate all this power in the whole Church vnto himselfe and saith that from him it is deriued vnto the inferiour Pastors there of as the power of Order and the power of Iurisdiction which all Bishops and others in the Cleargie hold immediately or mediately from his Apostolicall feate as the true proper and onely fountaine thereof From hence all Dispensations doe flow to it all Appellations doe tend she hath all fulnesse of power from Christ others haue a part of it from her nay if we may beleeue her principall Doctors her Peter gaue their Pastorall authoritie vnto the other Apostles else Rome could not be the mother-Mother-church in Bellarmines iudgement de Rom. Pont. l. 1. c. 23. and therefore as all Ecclesiasticall power was deduced onely from S. Peter at the first so now it is deduced onely from his personall Successours in this Apostolicall seate Now vnto this Spirituall power in the Church they subiect all temporall power in the State as I will presently declare as being of greater excellencie and vertue And it is true indeed that the spirituall power of the Church excelleth the temporall in the State but how ratione finis because the end of the Churches power is eternall life and ratione medij because the courses whereby shee worketh are spirituall meanes namely such as are contained in the Word of God conducing vnto this end But yet this her spirituall power excelleth not the temporall power of Princes in dominion command sublimitie and glorie which are properly appendant to their Crownes The second power which Babylon doth challenge by her second Beast is Temporall which her Popes haue affected with many insinuations and sometimes with open vendication thereof and her neerest friends aduance it with the best art which wit and learning can minister in this behalfe And certainly this is the opinion which daily increaseth in Babylon and which they will indeuour to support with might and mayne though some more moderate Babylonians doe not yet giue way vnto this highest Antichristian course For I finde three seuerall Opinions in the Church of Rome vpon this point 1. The first giueth all temporall dominion directly vnto the Pope as the principall Souereigne of the World from whom all Princes dependently hold their Crownes These are true Babylonians indeed but all such are actuall Traytors against the dignitie and supreame honour of the Crownes of Princes vnder whom they liue 2. The second giueth all spirituall power not temporall to the Pope but yet indirectly drawing on a temporall power ouer Princes in ordine ad spiritualia in ordine ad Deum c. viz. that the Pope may depose an hereticall or an irregular Prince from his Crowne as hauing authoritie ouer him in this case to depriue him of his estate All such Babylonians are habituall Traytors disposed and alwayes resolued in preparation of heart to execute any Papall sentence of deposition as far as they can against their owne naturall Lords and Souereigne Princes 3. The third opinion denying the second of these as the second denieth the first giueth a meere spirituall authoritie vnto the Pope to excommunicate a Prince for his correction and saluation and to bring him to a penitent submission vnto God and his Church but without any such temporall effect as the second opinion doth inforce And hence it is that the Oath of Alleageance in this Kingdome so wisely deuised and necessarily enacted though it subuert and contradict the first and second Opinions yet it leaueth this last and third Opinion vntouched neither affirming nor denying it because all moderate Papists that treate of the Popes power as namely Doctor Barkley and the more milde Babylonians in England denying it in the first and second degree doe yet constantly affirme it in the third But these men find least grace in Babylon which is more delighted with the second Opinion and chiefly with the first and therefore we see that as the first groweth daily more strong in Rome so the second hath lately gotten more aduantage in France in the minoritie of the King by the subtile Oration of Cardinall Peron which our most excellent Souereigne hath cleerly refuted by his diuine and learned Pen. To conclude now the third proofe of my assertion you may perceiue that the large Dominion of Babylon which the Iesuits truly find in Rome but falsely conceiue it to be there within a very little time onely before her ruine doth appertaine vnto the CHVRCH and not vnto the Citie but so far forth as it is the place wherein the Pope doth reigne so that in it his Successors must continue euen vntill the time of Antichrist when they shall be expelled out of the confines thereof and there they shall exercise their domination not onely with Saint Peters Keyes but also with his two Swords This is the power of Babylon which the Reuelation doth truly foretell and which these Iesuites could not discerne therein But as humane reason disapproueth their idle conceits and naked coniectures so certaine experience ioyned with diuine prediction doth confirme our assertion in this point And so I come vnto a fourth and a more important proofe thereof FOVRTHLY therefore I proue it out of the conformitie betwixt the prediction of Saint Paul and the Reuelation of Saint Iohn both contayning one sense of matter vnder different forme of words the point it selfe being one as proceeding from one Spirit First then it is the prediction of Saint Paul that Antichrist shall be reuealed
obseruation for that hee exciteth the subiects of England against their King by a most impudent and ignorant application of the Scripture Wee being placed saith hee in the Seate of Iustice according to the prediction of the Prophet Ierem. 1.10 saying Behold I haue set thee ouer the Nations and ouer the Kingdomes to plucke vp and to roote out and to destroy and throw downe c. This is a Text which sounded to his purpose and therefore Carerius de potest Rom. Pont. l. 1. c. 3. maketh this peruerse glosse vpon that text The Prophet Ieremy speaketh this in the person of Christ vnto the Bishop of Rome that if Kings bee wicked hee may punish and correct them A terrible correction vnto a King to be deposed from his Imperiall Crowne by the Babylonian Beast and to be exposed vnto the crueltie of his owne subiects This is their art and this is their pietie in the exposition of the sacred Scriptures to bring them vnto their owne fancies But thou Carerius and thou ô Paul you lay violent hands vpon Christian Princes and vpon Gods owne Word You say that this was spoken by the Prophet in the person of Christ that so you might bring his title in this point vnto the Pope as being his Vicar and so endued with this power of deposition vnder Christ but it is not so for God speaketh it precisely vnto his Prophet You say that therefore the Pope is placed ouer all Kingdomes to excommunicate Princes to giue away their Kingdomes c. It is not so but God giueth a commission to his Prophet to denounce his iudgements against sundry Nations as hee doth afterward and to foretell their ruines according to his propheticall and pastorall office that God did impose vpon him to this effect But I leaue these Babylonians in their absurd and presumptuous interpretation of the Scriptures and proceed vnto their tyrannicall actions Witnesse then here againe my deare and natiue Countrie vnder the most happy prosperous and gracious administration of our late Souereigne Queene ELIZABETH twice deposed by these furious Beasts first by Pius the fifth who bestowed her Kingdome most liberally vpon the King of Spaine to get it by Armes if he could and this Pontificall donation standeth in Azorius the Iesuite for one principall instance and president of the Papall authoritie in this behalfe By vertue or rather vice of his Bull the subiects were absolued from their obedience and thereupon some taking vp Armes in the Northerne parts came vnto alamentable but a deserued end whose bloud being shed by the Iustice of England will be iustly required of Babylon the cruell Mother of her Children and so shall the bloud of many Priests and other Romish Catholikes who dyed iustly for their transgression of the Statute made against Romish Priests comming into England all persons entertaining them as culpable of highest treason Why for now the Popes Emissaries the Priests came with a resolution to maintaine his proceedings and they whom the Priests reconciled were now spirituall members of that Church which sought the perdition and ruine of their Prince Was it not now necessarie and it was not done till now vpon the thirteenth yeere of her reigne to prouide the antidote of such seuere Lawes against the poison of such vnnaturall Subiects Secondly she was deposed againe by Sixtus the fifth vpon the time of the great inuasion to be executed by that inuincible Armado from Spaine in the yeere 1588. Neere vpon which time by the negotiation of Parsons the Iesuite Allen was promoted vnto the dignitie of a Cardinall for the better accommodation of all matters in that execrable designe who therefore wrote an Admonition to the Nobilitie of England as full of fraud falshood and impossibilitie in that which he vndertooke to assure as of malice treason and villany against the person of his Souereigne Ladie who finally had the glorie in their shame to the contempt of Babylon and admiration of the world Witnesse France in the tyrannicall and proud fury of Boniface the eight who came into his Apostolicall Seate like a Fox reigned in it like a Lyon and dyed like a Dog against Philip sirnamed the Fayre whom that Babylonian Monarch vendicating vnto himselfe all power Spirituall in the Church and Temporall in the world deposed sententially from his royall Dignitie and State disposing the same by his Apostolike liberalitie vnto Albertus King of the Romanes but that Heroicall and Magnanimous Prince preserued and maintained both to the great ignominy and contempt of the vsurping Beast Witnesse Germany where Henry the fourth by the Papall insolencie of Gregory the seuenth a true and euident Antichrist was abandoned by his subiects violently persecuted by Henry the fifth his naturall vnnaturall sonne who succeeding in that nominall Empire the Pope being the reall Emperour was afterwards by the diuine vltion of God though by the Apostolicall operation of the Pope forsaken by his owne people the Empire such as it was being collated vpon another What should I say of Philippus the Emperour brother of the said Henry and Otho Duke of Saxony erected by Pontificiall meanes against the said Philip Who suffered both vnder the Babylonian Beast What shall I say of Frederick the second sonne of the said Philip persecuted circumuented oppressed by the spirituall Fathers of Babylon His sonne also Conradus suffered like outrages by the Father of the Romane thunderbolts exciting the Lantgraue of Thuring against him and persecuting the royall family of Barbarossa till it came finally vnto that ruine which the Babylonian Beast did long desire in his heart and at the last did effectuate by his meanes And now by the way wee may here obserue the miserable condition of Princes who must weare the Babylonian yoake to their shame or cast it off to their danger standing vpon the dreadfull tearmes of deposition murther and other disastrous calamities when one Prince being deposed by Papall furie another Prince rather out of desire of his Kingdome then out of obedience to the Pope is readie to inuade his Dominions so that one of them is made the executioner of another and all of them instruments of the Papall Tyranny till by this meanes the Papal iurisdiction ouer them all groweth strong by prescription Nos sanctorum c. being a better plea for the Popes in latter Ages then it was in the time of Hildebrand the Pope who pretended the example of his predecessors for the deposition of Princes and so in processe of time all Princes as the Popes doe cunningly affect shall hold their Kingdomes as donatiues of the Babylonian Seate I am wearied and so perhaps are you in the prosecution of this vnhappie argument wherefore I will gather vp my sayles and conclude this tedious Voyage with two remarkeable obseruations The first concerneth the Papall intrusion vpon the Citie of Rome it selfe the centre of that Empire whose circumference was so largely extended in the World the proper and peculiar seate of 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
by these Kings so it shall fall by these Kings This is vnderstood in the words of the Scripture Apoc. 18. No man buyeth her ware any more of her that is to say The traffique of the Whore and spirituall negotiations of her Beast by Pardons Dispensations and other fornications as they are called shall cease vpon her ruine made by these Princes of the earth Whereas then Bellarmine saith the Pope shall still continue Bishop of Rome I answere not by any Souereignety and Dominion which Bellarmine perhaps may pretend that Antichrist shall not permit him actually to exercise in that time but wee affirme by demonstration of the Scripture that the ten Kings shall depriue him of that power in the world which he formerly enioyed by their concession which shall then expire Notwithstanding if Sibylla doe truely prophesie of Rome that it being once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strength and power as S. Hierome descanted vpon her name shall afterwards become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a street as Lactantius doth record Inst l. 7. c. 25. the Bishop of Rome may perhaps remaine then in the qualitie and place of an ordinarie Bishop but shall not bee receiued any more as vniuersall Pastour of the Church not as the Beast was before not with such latitude of power not insulting againe ouer States and Churches And if the prophecie of Hildegardis a sacred Virgin of great reputation vpon the yeere 1150. be of any force the Bishop of Rome shall bee reduced vnto the condition of other Bishops c. as I haue seene and read in a very faire and ancient Manuscript of parchment concerning the predictions of that religious person If therefore I may expresse a graue matter by a light example namely of Sir Thomas Moore who hauing resigned his office of the Lord Chancellour came himselfe vpon the next Sunday vnto the Pew of his Ladie in the Parish Church of Chelsey speaking vnto her in his facetious and wittie manner Madame will you goe My Lord is gone which were formerly the vsuall words of her gentleman Vsher when the Lord Chancellour departed out of the Church so may I say in this case when Babylon shall be wasted with fire and the Beast shal be despoyled of his power Our Lord the Pope is gone but yet the Bishop may still remaine And then Christians may reckon ab vrbe euersâ as Pagans did ab vrbe conditâ when the power honour and glory of Babylon and her Beast shall perish and bee extinguished by the concordable operation of these great and puissant Kings who therefore will continually suppresse it that it may neuer increase and gather strength againe The SECOND Branch concerning PAPISTS I Speake not now of ordinary Papists but chiefe Babylonian Papists that is to say such as haue a speciall vnion and coniunction with the Pope in those things which appertayne vnto the Mysticall impietie of this second Beast Wherefore the name of a Papist is taken either from Poperie which hee doth defend or from the Pope to whom he doth adhere In the first acception I esteeme him a Papist that leauing the Pope in the principall and essentiall points of the Papacie doth yet beleeue sundry errors defined resolued and maintayned in the Romish Church vnder the gouernment and administration of the Pope of which kinde of Poperie and sort of Papists I shall treate more particularly in the third Branch which doth immediately ensue But now in the second acception he is really and formally a Papist who is vnited vnto the Pope not in regard of the Popes person but in regard of his seat place and dignitie which he vsurpeth in Babylon and therefore doth especially beleeue and follow the Pope in such particular points as depend vpon his Papall Office as namely The Popes temporall Superioritie ouer all Princes as being the chiefe and in truth the onely Souereigne of the World which is the peculiar and intimate character of the Antichristian Beast or at the least if he haue not this temporall power ouer all Princes directly as their Lord yet indirectly as Pastour of the Church to depose and dethrone them which indirect authoritie doth yet inuest him with a pretended iurisdiction ouer all the World and is a more subtile insinuation of the Babylonian Beast and that he hath an infallible iudgement as Pope in the controuersies of Religion to bind the whole World vnto his definition vpon paine of Ecclesiasticall censure which opinion being greatly imbraced in their Church and daily increasing suffered much opposition by the Sorbonists and generally by the Church of France and that from this Papall seate all Christians haue the practice and benefit of Indulgences the peculiar Ware of Babylon that this Apostolicall and Supreame Seat hath power to dispense with Oathes and with Mariages in certaine degrees of consanguinitie and affinitie and that all Christians must haue recourse vnto her for Dispensations Absolutions c. that vnto this seat belong Appellations from all parts of the Christian World as vnto the highest Authoritie vpon Earth by which courses they exhaust much treasure of all Kingdomes and vexe the subiects with tedious and expensiue trauels that this Beast hath power to call generall Councels and to ratifie or nullifie their Decrees and other Babylonian doctrines belonging to the mysterie of the second Beast In this sense and acception of a Papist King Henry the Eighth in his iust necessary and conscionable discession from the Church of Rome vpon the point of his vnlawfull Mariage with the Ladie Katherine his Brothers Wife which by Papall Dispensation was contracted against the Word of God and Law of Nature especially as her case did stand was now no longer a Papist because he reiected the Pope in these Mysteries of the Papacie and in all points that had dependencie vpon his Seat Office and pretensed Authoritie in the Church Whence it is that this magnanimous Prince iustly prouoked but vniustly handled by the holy Father writeth vnto Charles the Fift and to all Christian States in these very words Orbis intelligat varias PAPISTARVM fraudes c. and againe ne Papa Regum authoritate ad extir pandas crescentis Euangelij radices c. abuti possit So that though this King remayned still a Papist in the first acception howbeit he made an happy entrance also to the purgation of sundry abuses in the Church as by taking away some superstitious Feasts some highly respected Images some much adored Relikes the Word of God was translated into the vulgar tongue and many other things were done in his time for the reformation of blind and ignorant stupiditie in the Church yet notwithstanding in the mayne and essentiall things which specially giue the true denomination of a Papist he is to be exempted cleerely from the crime and contagion of this Title And yet as Iehu did performe the Worke of God imposed vpon him for the ruine of Baal and that Idolatry but departed not from other sinnes of Ieroboam and
Nineueh vpon her repentance Should I not spare Nineueh that great Citie Ionah 4.11 Now therefore since Ethnicall Rome is past and that state is abolished saith Parsons for which cause she did beare the name of Babylon and Saint Hierome hath assured vs that Rome by her confession of Christ hath blotted out the blasphemie written in her forehead which point the Babylonians doe greedily embrace to their vnhappy excecâ—ation since Rome hath turned from her former sinnes and done righteousnesse since she hath had a glorious name by her renowmed Faith after the time of Paganisme Idolatrie and Persecution vnder her ancient Emperours since in our opinion she was a glorious member of the Church and in their opinion shee is still the Head Queene and Mistresse thereof embracing and propounding the truely Catholike Faith and finally since her ensuing repentance hath cleered the score of her preceding sins how can it consist with Gods Truth that in regard of her sinnes so long past and so deepely repented of he should lay a destruction vpon her in the time yet to come for it is yet to be fulfilled and that in so terrible and vnexemplifiable a manner Apocal. 18. Her ruine therefore and such a ruine which is yet to come when her Ethnicall estate is so long past doth sufficiently proue that later sinnes in a future age should renue and reuiue her old name if Babylon euer were the name of ancient Rome according to the tenour of the Scriptures and bring her vnto this lamentable end it being one of the last Tragicall acts of Gods Iustice vpon the great Theater of the world as it appeareth in the historicall predictions of this Scripture Secondly I make farther remonstrance of that position by the IVSTICE of God For he will not punish the children for their fathers sins euery one shall die for his owne Ezek. 18.4 Since therefore Rome is yet to be destroyed this destruction doth not attend her ancient sinnes committed in her Ethnicall estate and done away by her repentance in her Christian estate but for latter sinnes in latter ages wherein she was to beare the scandall of this name and to suffer ruine for the same Innocent Rome shall not perish for nocent Rome not the latter for the former not the Papall for the Imperiall not the Church for the State there cannot bee iniustice in God Shall not the Iudge of all the world doe right Yet I confesse that in succeeding ages God doth sometimes remember the sin of ages past and so it is said of Babylon Apocal. 18.5 God hath remembred her iniquities but in this case latter ages doe renew imitate and increase the sinnes of the former And so I grant that for her old sinnes of Idolatrie Persecution c. renewed afterward Rome shall suffer this ruine as Ribera and Viegas the Iesuites doe confesse Meane while this is the point which I commend here vnto your prudent obseruation If Rome were sinfull Babylon here spoken of onely in her Ethnicall estate which is a plausible delusion she should haue suffered her fatall punishment here threatned during that Ethnicall estate and not in her Christian condition whereas the speciall calamities of Rome since the time of this prediction ensued vpon Christian Rome not Ethnicall Rome by the furious incursions and impressions of the Goths and Vandalls which were castigations of Christian Rome and not of Ethnicall nor Antichristian Babylon whose finall and vtter subuersion being yet to come and neerer vnto the end of the world therefore Gods Truth and his Iustice doe cleerely euince that shee was to bee Babylon againe if shee were so once before and to bee stamped with this hatefull name after the time of her entertainment of Christian Religion and after the expiration of her Ethnicall estate this name arising out of a latter condition of sinnes for which shee should fall and in latter times in which shee should perish by the iust indignation of God and Man And so much for the second remonstrance THIRDLY I make remonstrance of my position by the ingenious and faire confession of two learned Babylonians themselues they also being Iesuites of eminent qualitie publike Readers in their Schooles who by diligent inquisition into the very Text of this Scripture and carefull obseruation of the circumstances thereof oppose themselues against the common errour of their owne side and cleerely deduce out of the coherence of many circumstances in this Scripture that this BABYLON doth signifie Rome not in her Ethnicall estate onely as the Papists doe more ordinarily conceiue but neere the conclusion of the world that then shee shall by her great sinnes deserue this name and therefore come to ruine Neither doe I make vse of their confession because it commeth from aduersaries but because they make it out of the conscience of truth grounded vpon the cleere euidence of the Scripture For I should thinke meanely of my cause if the truth and certaintie of my assertion stood vpon the falshood and errour of their confession and had no better strength to support it selfe The first Babylonian is Ribera a man of no vulgar note as being a Doctor of Diuinitie and professour thereof in Salmantica a famous Academy of Spaine This man wrote a Commentary vpon the Reuelation of Saint Iohn where treating vpon these words Apocal 14.8 Babylon that great Citie is fallen hee proueth by sundry infallible circumstances of the Scripture Apoc. 17. that this Babylon is not the generall societie of wicked men but a particular Citie and finally the Citie of Rome and therefore he concludeth his disputation as I noted before vpon that point in these words Omnia profectò nisi in Romam non conueniunt certainely all the circumstances in the Text cannot agree vnto any other place but vnto Rome alone in cap. 14. num 31. Then he commeth num 32. to explicate the state and condition of Rome in regard whereof this name Babylon and this ruine shee is fallen belong vnto her in this sacred Reuelation And here suspecting the scandall and offence of his owne brethren he entreth vpon this discourse with a preoccupation in this sad and graue manner Offensionem pio Lectori amoueri volo I will that no pious Reader a Romane Catholike that is to say a Babylonian should take offence at my exposition as if it were aduantagious vnto the Heretickes the Protestants who assume vnto themselues an occasion vpon this name of Babylon ascribed here vnto Rome to lay an imputation vpon the Church of Rome and our holy Father the Pope Wherfore num 34. hee saith that this name of Babylon agreed vnto Rome as shee was in her Ethnicall State an Idolatrous persecuting Citie but now saith hee the case is altered for shee is and long hath beene the Mistresse of Faith and the Mother of Christians Then hee addeth immediately Si quando haec eadem fecerit quae Iohannis tempore faciebat iterum Babylon vocabitur if Rome shall commit the same things hereafter which
shee committed in the time of Iohn shee shall bee called Babylon againe marke this well good hearers for now the Iesuite draweth neere vnto the point as it was in the case of Ierusalem which of a faithful Citie once became afterwards a Whore So he But let vs heare the man tell out his tale hee hath yet more to say to acquit his Mother Church and Father-Pope and therefore num 38. hee affirmeth That this name of Babylon is neuer applyed vnto the CHVRCH of Rome but onely vnto the CITIE howbeit not as the Citie long hath beene vnder the Pope and now is vnder him nor indeed shall haue this name while the Pope is Lord and Gouernour thereof but as shee was Babylon in her Ethnicall state so she shall be hereafter againe vpon her defection from the Pope and from Christianitie neere the end of the world Now because Ribera feared another censure here hee maketh another preoccupation num 40. in this manner diuinare me dicet quispiam Some man perhaps will say that I take vpon me to be a Prophet and to foretell things to come but saith hee I would intreate that man to lay aside his preiudice to examine the whole matter with mature iudgement and to beleeue me no farther then reason and truth shall perswade him in this case Then hee addeth num 42. That for as much as Rome in her Ethnicall state was so idolatrous so wicked and so cruell against the Christians for that all the Martyrs throughout the Romane Empire were put to death by the authoritie of Rome and by the power of Romane Magistrates therefore it is iust and meet that she her selfe should once suffer for her impious courses which being not yet done according to the purport of this Scripture shall be done hereafter when she shall be no lesse wicked then she was in former times Then num 43. he proceedeth in a faire and ingenious manner of Theologicall discourse saying Whereas this extreame desolation shall fall vpon Rome neere the end of the world it is very iust and equall in good congruitie of reason Why Because the Citie is still the same which being once so defiled with sin must one day be purged with fire Besides saith he there are many Citizens in Rome at this day who by their name and stock boast of their descent from the ancient Romans who alwayes increased there in great number Then hee addeth further that as a Citie built out of the ruines of a former is reputed to be one and the same Citie with it so here in this case the latter Citizens of Rome when she shall be destroyed may be accounted the same Citizens with the former though they be not of their bloud and kindred because they ioyne themselues vnto the former and become as it were one body and one common-wealth with them but specially by their imitation of the facts and sins of their Predecessors This saith he Num. 44. is the cause therefore why the latter Romanes neere the end of the World following the impieties of the ancient shall be punished and the more grieuously also in that regard So that saith hee though her old sinnes committed in her Ethnicall state were forgotten by God in regard of her Christian profession which shee entertayned afterward yet now vpon her new and like Impieties neere the end of the World the old are remembred againe and therefore she shall be burned for them both together Excellently and diuinely spoken according to the true tenour of the Scriptures elsewhere and particularly of the Reuelation it selfe and therefore Ribera began to grow warme in the conclusion of this discourse protesting in this manner We know this truth so perspicuously by the words of this Reuelation VT NE STVLTISSIMVS QVIDEM NEGARE POSSIT so that the veriest foole in the world cannot deny the same Then hee addeth Since Babylon shall be the shop of all IDOLATRIE and of all impieties therefore it cannot be doubted but that this shall be the condition of Rome hereafter And thus hauing made his explication of the Text he propoundeth a very fit question in the end of his discourse Num. 51. namely By what meanes the Citie of Rome neere the end of the Vorld should attaine vnto so great a power and abundance of riches He answereth first that no man can certainly know the reason thereof and secondly that this may come to passe partly by reason of the tenne Kings who shall make a conquest of the whole World and diuide it amongst them and partly in regard of Antichrist who shall bee aduanced in this time by meanes whereof Rome shall shortly returne vnto her ancient power and shall haue these tenne Kings vnder her gouernment who a little after shall reigne in the whole World but finally these Kings shall destroy Rome Apoc. 17.17 Here the coniecture of Ribera founded vpon the vaine speculations of some ancient Fathers not vnderstanding the nature of this mysterie nor the sense of the Scriptures in this behalfe failed him very much as not knowing that Ecclesiasticall Rome is this Babylon and that the Pope is the second Beast therein by which meanes truly Rome hath beene eleuated in a new and second greatnesse in the World in some sort excelling the former in her Ethnicall estate as by due remonstrance it shall hereafter appeare Meane while good hearers excuse my tedious declaration taken out of the Commentarie of this learned Iesuite as contayning much varietie of matter of very markeable obseruation for my purpose My second Babylonian Authour is Viegas a Iesuite also and a Doctor of Diuinitie and Professor thereof first at Conimbrica then at Ebora two Vniuersities of Portugall who framed a more copious and elaborate Commentarie vpon this sacred Booke of the Reuelation insisting very often in the steppes of Ribera and especially in this point whereof we now intreat Therefore though it bee materiall to expresse the iudgement of Viegas also vpon the same yet I may contract his long Discourse into a few words This Viegas then in Apocal. 17. § 2. confesseth that the destruction of this Babylon foretold cap. 18. shall be in the last times before the end of the World Afterwards § 3. he saith that this Babylon is the Citie of Rome howbeit not as she is now vnder the Pope but as she was heretofore in her Ethnicall condition and as she shall be hereafter in the time of Antichrist vpon her defection from the Pope and from her Christian Faith and then he sheweth in many words the qualitie of her sinnes and manner of her ruine conformably with the iudgement of Ribera and that for old sinnes ioyned with the latter God shall execute his wrath vpon her by these ten Kings as hee doth more largely deduce also in cap. 18. § 6. Thus you haue heard the consonant exposition of these two learned persons the second treading in the steps of the first and both for the maine point now in question in the steps
and destroyed before the great Day of the generall Iudgement 2. Thess 2. which seemeth to ensue not long after the performance of that glorious worke In like manner Saint Iohn in his Reuelation passeth from the destruction of Rome vnder the name of Babylon cap. 18. vnto a description of the new Ierusalem cap. 21. following the ruine of the new and second Babylon nothing being interuenient betwixt these two but the gratulation of the Saints for the fall of Rome cap. 19. and a briefe recapitulation made of things past cap. 20. and so hee proceedeth immediately vnto the conclusion of this present world cap. 22. Saint Paul doth farther assure vs 2. Thess 2.3 that Antichrist shall be disclosed before hee be destroyed which sheweth that hee had an existencie before his discouerie and that hee should grow by a mysterie 2. Thess 2.7 vnto his greatnesse before hee bee discerned Therefore Saint Iohn according with Saint Paul telleth vs Apoc. 18.5 that Babylon had a name written in her forehead and it was a Mysterie A great mysterie indeed that the successour of a Fisherman as Hierome calleth him writing vnto Damasus should aspire by little and by little vnto such an immensitie of power that Kings are his vassalls and that his owne Lord being finally depriued of his Imperiall Seate this Beast should enter vpon it and exercise the old power vnder a new name Saint Paul goeth forward and informeth vs that Antichrist cannot be disclosed nor aduance himselfe vnto that eminencie wherein hee shall excell all Potentates of the earth vntill the supreame power of the Romane Emperours were taken away For that power was then the chiefest and therefore it kept downe the Papall Dominion and restrayned the growth of the Pope for Antichrist could not be lifted vp till the Emperour was cast downe This is the cleere and euident purpose of Saint Paul in these words HEE which now withholdeth shall first bee taken out of the way and then that wicked man Antichrist shall bee reuealed for two such powers could not consist together at one time in the Imperiall Seate That this withholder was the Romane Emperour the very tenour of the Text it selfe doth beare it and the successe of things doth giue witnesse thereunto and this was the common exposition of the ancient Doctors as namely of Saint Chrysostome vpon the very place of Saint Hierome Epist 151. quaest 11. and long before them of Tertullian de Resurrect cap. 30. Thus the Christians had a prescience touching the period and expiration of the Romane Empire which the Pagans conceiued to be Eternall and therefore Saint Paul deliuered this dangerous point in secret and obscure termes least the publike notice thereof should minister cause of persecution against the Church as Saint Hierome doth collect But let vs obserue the words of Tertullian for they containe a point of speciall note Quis saith he who is this that doth withhold Hee answereth Romanus status the Romane and Imperiall State Now therefore as by the word HEE He that withholdeth S. Paul doth not vnderstand an indiuiduall person not Nero who was then liuing but a ciuill State which had a succession of Emperours therein so by this word THE man of sinne THE aduersary c. Saint Paul doth not vnderstand some one particular person but a State and a State Ecclesiasticall as wee shall see anon hauing a succession of Potentates viz. Popes of Rome succeeding in the Imperiall Seate when the Emperour was taken away and exercising supreame dominion therein Thus farre Saint Paul hath conducted vs in the interpretation of this Babylon that by his prediction wee might certainely vnderstand that this name agreeth vnto the Papall and Ecclesiasticall estate succeeding vnto the Imperiall in Rome For he which withheld being taken away Antichrist will appeare and before hee cannot for two such great powers cannot stand at once and afterward he shall immediately arise for so in the decourse of all ages in the world as one supreame power in the foure Monarchies did decay so another did presently exalt it selfe Now since Hee that withheld is taken away to wit the Romane Emperour or Romanus status as Tertullian speaketh for that which now remaineth is titular rather then reall scarce a member of the ancient bodie and also the Pope sitteth aboue this Romane Empire as translated into Germany by his meanes and as a creature of his ordination the Emperour being by the Pope and true Papalls reputed and stiled no other then Electus or an incomplete probationer till consecrated and inaugurated or approoued by him and so a vassall and a subiect vnto the Papall power therefore by the doctrine of S. Paul that high great and glorious State which immediately succeeded vnto the dissolued Empire is Antichristian he that holdeth it is Antichrist and that Rome wherein he sitteth is consequently Babylon and therefore finally this Babylon in my Text is not the Citie alone but the Church also or Ecclesiasticall Rome wherein the Pope is aduanced after the Emperour as the highest Potentate in the earth And if the Pope be not the man to wit the man of sinne as Saint Paul speaketh or rather the Beast as you shall heare by Saint Iohn that entred vpon the Imperiall Seate and Dignitie who is that Man or who is that Beast For some one or other wee must find since hee that withheld is taken out of the way so long before our time If any man suppose that the TVRK is that Antichrist which appeared vpon the decadencie of the Romane Empire I answere no hee is not the Man or Beast of whom wee now enquire First because Antichrist succeeding in the Romane Empire was to sit in the Temple of God so did not the Turk but so doth the Pope namely in Ecclesia or rather supra Ecclesiam Secondly because Antichrist should possesse Rome as the Seat and Center of the Empire so doth not the Turk but so doth the Pope not by a donation of Constantine but by his insinuation into that glorious Citie Thirdly because Antichrist ought to extoll himselfe if not in all yet in the most principall and essentiall parts of the Romane Empire so doth not the Turk but so doth the Pope in Italy Spaine France Germany Poland c. so he did in England but so he shall doe no more so is my prayer and so is my hope Fourthly and lastly the most generall and approued opinion of the learned Doctors in the Church of Rome exempteth the Turke from the scandall and infamous name of that Antichrist which is here intended by Saint Paul And therefore whereas Feuardentius following the erroneous conceits of some lesse iudicious Romanists inclined strongly vnto their fancie that impute this crime vnto the Turke hee was censured amongst his owne Catholike brethren in this disgracefull manner the opinion of Feuardentius is not onely false but dangerous and the authors whom hee alledgeth neuer thought nor wrote any such matter Feuard annot in Irenaeum l. 5.
hereafter This consequence Ludonicus ab Alcasar either well perceiuing or vehemently suspecting it to ensue vpon the said confession of his brethren hath therefore cast a new myst vpon the matter drawne a vayle before our eyes contradicted their exposition wrested the sacred Text vnto his foolish and ridiculous fancie as if the state of this Babylon and her fall were past that so wee might not discerne the true Babylon which is now present nor her certaine fall which is yet to come But let mee here speake a word or two for I am to passe vnto other matters touching this learned grando Ludouicus ab Alcasar If this Babylon be Rome onely in her Ethnicall estate and if Rome haue not any other fall but only a mysticall fall viz. by falling vnto Christian Religion from that estate which estate hath now beene extinct neere vpon the space of one thousand three hundred yeres and yet it appeareth in the frame and tenour of the sacred Booke of the Reuelation that no speciall and notable matter of propheticall prediction therein doth interuene or come betwixt the ruine of Babylon which is described historically Chapter 18. there being a prolepsis only or briefe anticipation thereof Chapter 14.8 and the consummation of the world for after the fall of Babylon Chapter 18. S. Iohn proceedeth Chapter 19. to an applause of the Saints for her destruction then Chapter 20. to a recapitulation of things past with a declaration of the generall Iudgement being then shortly to come then finally Chapter 21. and 22. to a description of the heauenly Ierusalem and the happy condition of the Saints therein c. it must necessarily follow that this voluminous Iesuite of Alcasar this man of the Land of Nod in the tohu and bohu the vanitie and inanitie of his large and copious Commentarie vpon this diuine Booke hath left open so wide a gap of one thousand three hundred yeres or neere vpon that space alreadie past besides that time which is yet to come in the state of the Church and of the world without any sufficient matter of Historicall prediction to fill vp the same And yet who doth not perceiue by the beginning and the ending of this Booke that it doth in the passages thereof generally containe a perpetuall and a continued Historie of the Church in her whole decourse euen from the time of Saint Iohn vnto the end of the world Farewell then gentle Ludouicus ab Alcasar with your little wit and lesse honestie and so I returne my benigne and courteous Auditors vnto you againe Reioyce you therefore in this inestimable Booke embrace it with gratitude conuerse in it with diligence admire what you vnderstand and what you vnderstand not admire it the more search it with industrie enter into it with praier despise not the opinion of others presume not vpon your owne let not the obscuritie of some things yet vnknowne make you neglect the vtilitie of so many things and particularly this mysterie of Babylon alreadie knowne therein Read it reuerence it repute it as it is the sacred Oracle of God committed vnto his Church to sustaine her patience and to confirme her faith SECONDLY wee haue great cause to commend Gods goodnesse and to applaud our owne happinesse in the certaine and cleere discouerie of Babylon in this diuine and mysticall Booke For as the Starre did lead the Wise-men to find out Bethlehem where Christ was borne so this Scripture doth guide and conduct vs vnto the knowledge of Babylon wherein Antichrist doth reigne Rome shall not therefore infatuate vs with her glorious title of the Mother-Church for now wee know her to bee the Mother of Fornications shee shall not insult with the faire priuiledge of the Apostolicall Seate for now wee know her to be an Apostaticall Synagogue shee shall not beare vs downe with the supremacie of a Papall Head-ship for now wee know who is the Second Beast intruding vpon the Seate and Dominion of the former with a larger challenge of power extensiuè in place and intensiuè in degree now we know who hee is that aduanceth himselfe ouer Kings and Emperours ouer States and Crownes ouer Church and Common-wealth by his false Keyes and pretensed Swords THIRDLY whereas this Romish Babylon cryeth out vpon our separation from her Societie wee are warranted nay wee are commanded thereunto by the voyce of God himselfe Goe out of her my people and the reason is not there taken only from her sinnes in that shee is Babylon but from her punishment also in that shee shall fall for so it followeth that you bee not partakers in her sinnes and that you receiue not of her plagues of which I am to treate when I come vnto the predicate of my Text. Meane while you may obserue that this Exodus this departure out of Babylon is Corporall and not spirituall onely unto sch as haue Locall communion with her and dwell within her walls but it is Spirituall onely and not corporall vnto such as dwelling in England France c. haue doctrinall communion with her and are members depending vpon her head so that this word her goe out of her importeth not onely her site and place but her societie and errours Goe then specially out of these ô you his people whether within or without her walls whether you bee in Rome where God hath some people euen by the testimony of the Text or whether in any other part of the world And since shee casteth you out of her societie desire it not for it is vnto your owne danger shee doth that for you which God requireth you to doe for your selues And now let mee in a few words addresse my speech vnto rhetoricall Campian insulting vpon the Protestants with his termes of derision and contempt Audito nomine Ecclesiae hostis expalluit saith hee our aduersarie waxed pale when hee heard the very name of the Church as if the Protestant could produce no Catalogue of names for any visible existencie and lawfull succession of his Church which Rome onely hath and the Protestant hath not How shallow weake malicious and vnlearned a pretence this is either against vs or for themselues it is now no conuenient time nor proper occasion to dispute I will attend both as it shall please God in his prouidence to direct mee in this behalfe But vnto Campian I returne my answere truely fairely and pertinently by the verdict of my Text. Audito nomine Babylonis hostis expalluit our aduersarie waxed pale vpon the very name of Babylon it troubled his wit it vexed his heart it is a terrour vnto his soule for hee liueth in that from which hee ought to flye if hee haue any part in Gods people Now as the cause of our separation from Rome is necessarie in many respects and is grounded here vpon such a principle as cannot bee denied so wee need not depart from Rome but because she is Babylon and as she is Babylon as she is departed
this vnlearned foolish and erroneous proiect as Vlphila a Bishop of the Goths did sometimes insnare the credulous and ignorant people assuring them that the differences betwixt the Catholikes and the Arrians did consist rather in the forme of words then in the substance of matter as Theodorit doth report lib. 4. cap. 37. Now as the Reconcilers of the two Religions doe iustly deserue your censure so the secret Babylonians that hold outward conformitie with England and inward correspondencie with Rome are to bee lamented as well as detested being no lesse dangerously affected in the state of their owne soules then against the state of this Church These are men that stand like a needle in a dyall North and South personally in England affectionately in Rome heterogeneous members of both and neither Church amphibia creatures liuing in the two Elements of Sion and Babylon they speake both languages of the Iewes and Philistines they comport themselues so wisely that the present times may beare them and the future receiue them men more subtile for themselues then sincere to any It were to bee wished that as men belieue if such men doe belieue any thing so they would confesse For with the heart wee belieue to righteousnesse and with the mouth wee confesse to saluation EIGHTHLY since Papall or Ecclesiasticall Rome is that Babylon which Saint Iohn doth here propose and exhibite in liuely colours vnto our view I cannot without indignation or rather compassion obserue that this truth being of such cleere euidence and of so great consequence for the consolation of Gods Church afflicted by her and confusion of Babylon triumphing in her pride malice and crueltie vpon vs as also prouoking the diuine Maiestie by her monstrous Idolatries by her false doctrines by her base superstitions by her taking from the people the key of knowledge in the holy Scriptures with many more absurd and impious courses should bee so little regarded by some vngratefull therefore vnto God for this sacred Reuelation made vnto his Church or so much questioned by others who either out of negligence search not into this truth or out of a puzzeled vnderstanding cannot comprehend it or out of a preiudice will not discerne it but like men in a secure and pernicious Lethargie with heauie and drowsie spirits raise not vp their thoughts vnto a more acute penetration of so excellent and so necessarie a point for the prediction whereof so long before wee owe much vnto the prouidence of God and for the discouery of it now so long after in these our dayes wee owe much vnto his goodnesse And I doe more earnestly presse all Diuines in this Church vnto a serious and diligent contemplation of this mysterie now so reuealed vnto vs which was concealed from our fathers because they shall thereby inable themselues with more sufficiencie of meanes to confirme many in the truth and to recall many from their errours when they shall by good discourse of reason founded vpon the circumstances of this Scripture comparing it with other Scriptures and with the euents of time the successe of things in later Ages concurring with the prediction in former cleerely and fairely perceiue that Rome as now shee is and long hath beene vnder the gouernment of the Pope is the Mysticall Babylon the Mother of Whoredomes the Seate of the Second Beast the verie Synagogue wherein Antichrist doth reigne For defect of which certaine knowledge in the vnderstanding and secret perswasion of the mind therein a greater gap is left open for the entrance of Babylon into many hearts whereof I could say something by the particular experience of my vnhappy selfe Since therefore I doe so well apprehend the force and efficacie of this truth for which I giue most humble thankes vnto my benigne and gracious Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ I doe more willingly excite and stirre vp my learned Brethren to settle their iudgements vpon a perfect and exact knowledge thereof being able and readie by speciall demonstration and strength of discourse to explicate the same in particular manner and forme omni poscenti to euerie one that shall aske a reason of their assertion and beliefe in this point wherein now the Iesuites themselues Ribera and Viegas haue carryed vs securely and firmely beyond the speculation of Augustine and some others conceiuing this Babylon to bee the generall societie of the wicked and no particular place and beyond the decision of Hierome supposing it to bee Ethnicall Rome and so to bee alreadie past at which wee doe not meruaile since Hierome by experience saw that State past but could not by diuination foresee this to come namely that the Pope should bee the Second Beast and that Rome should bee Babylon vnder him a matter not imaginable in those more happie times Therefore though the said Iesuites going beyond Augustine confesse this Babylon to bee Rome and going beyond Hierome yea beyond the most generall conceit of other Babylonians confesse it to bee Rome in a new second and latter estate after the entertainment of Christian Religion therein but deny it to bee so in regard of the Church at all or of the Citie as it now is and while shee shall so remaine vnder the Pope yet wee see them so wrapped vp in sundrie inextricable difficulties to maintaine this their determination of the point that till wee come vnto the perspicuous and solid resolution thereof by laying so great a power of Babylon which they saw in it vpon the Papall Souereignety and so large a Dominion which they saw in it vpon the extension of his authoritie in the world and so much Idolatry which they saw in it vpon the superstitious foolish practises of the Romane Church and such a correspondency with the world which they saw in it vpon the communication of her Wares and negotiation of her Merchants with it together with the dependencie of of States and Churches vpon it there is no meanes in congruitie of reason and in ordinarie sense to vntwine and loose the doubts which arise thereupon and bind vp these men so fast viz. How Rome within the space of three yeeres or therevpon with which limits of time they circumscribe the reigne of Antichrist out of a false and erroneous opinion of the Ancients should attaine vnto such a vast power and so ample a Dominion in the world with such grosse Idolatrie diffused so copiously from thence into the world with such a subiection of Kingdomes and Prouinces vnto it which things though they saw truely and affirme constantly by the certaine and infallible euidence of the Text it selfe yet they would not or they could not by reason of their forestalled conceit which they haue of the holy Father and of his Apostolicall State behold and discerne them there where onely they are to bee found where onely the Scripture doth assigne them where onely the palpable euents and cleere ocurrences of the time discouer them where onely reason and her discourse doth bring them
what estate and for what causes the serious and diligent tractation thereof required a large extent of time to speake sufficiently and exactly thereof to instruct the ignorant to confute the aduersaries to dissolue doubts and to settle the conscience of euery intelligent and indifferent hearer in a very plaine and certaine apprehension of the truth for that was my desire and I hope it is my successe But now being to treate of the Praedicate IT IS FALLEN which is so certaine to ensue and so easie to vnderstand I will speake thereof with such breuitie as may not be obscure and such length as may not be tedious vnto you And because method doth make the discourse more easie and the memorie more firme as well in the hearer as in the speaker I will propose this order for my speech First I will speake of the time of this Punishment why it is expressed in the preterperfect tense it is fallen as if it were alreadie past Secondly of the Duplication why it is set forth with this Ingemination it is fallen it is fallen since it shall fall thus but once with a finall and irrecouerable ruine Thirdly of the qualitie and condition of this ruine how it is a fall and what the Spirit of God doth intend thereby The FIRST point concerning the Time in the preterperfect tense It is fallen THe word it selfe according to the originall Text being in the aorist signifieth a fall in a time indeterminately or vncertainly past is more aptly rendred is fallen then hath fallen as Ioh. 11.14 our Sauiour saith of Lazarus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is dead as it is to be translated in that place where as in my Text is imported an act which is past and done with a CONTINVANCE in that state For Lazarus did die and then continued in the state of the death so here Babylon IS FALLEN and remaineth in the condition of her ruine from whence shee shal not haue her resurrection to worldly glorie though Lazarus had his resurrection to temporall life for shee shall fall and neuer rise againe as wee shall afterwards perceiue But now as the blessed Virgin desired to vnderstand of the Angel How shall this be Luc. 1.34 that shee being a Virgin should yet conceiue a sonne so how can this be that Babylon being in her Imperiall souereigntie at the time of this Praediction which yet in the very letter carrieth the forme of a relation and report and now being after so many hundred yeeres in her Papall eminencie standing then and not being fallen yet shee should notwithstanding be here said to bee alreadie fallen as if that were then past which is not yet come I frame my answere out of the learned disputation of Epiphanius haeres 79. where he doth well obserue that Esay the Euangelicall Prophet foresaw some things which were then to come as if they had beene alreadie past and that they are expressed rather in the manner of a Narration then of a Prediction and this was chiefly for two causes First to helpe the weakenesse of the Prophets faith and secondly to declare thereby the firmenesse of Gods promise in whose preuision counsell and purpose the things were alreadie past vnto and before him though they were yet to bee fulfilled in their act and execution vnto and before men These two reasons hold due proportion iust correspondency in with our present case where S. Iohn the Euangelical Prophet of the new Testament doth vnderstand by reuelation of the Angel or rather of Iesus Christ himselfe as it is Apoc. 1.1 that the proud and tyrannical Babylon is fallen that God hath executed his fierce wrath vpon that vsurping Citie FIRST then God did by this forme of speech confirme the faith of his seruant then and of vs now that the length of time might not shake the constancie of his and our faith in expectation of this euent but that with patience we might attend the certaine pleasure of God though to bee fulfilled in an vncertaine time So in the Prophet Esay chap. 53. vers 4.5 c. Hee was despised hee carried our sorrowes he was wounded for our transgressions hee was afflicted c. thus Esay wrote of the sacred Passion of our Lord Iesus Christ which ensued neere vpon the space of eight hundred yeeres after the time of this Prediction or Narration rather for so it is in the tenour of the words which doe rather Historically relate then Prophetically foretell and thus the Prophet and with him the faithfull Iewes doth comfort himselfe in the secure expectation of so great a blessing in the solid stabilitie of this faith in which or rather by which hee saw that with the eye of his soule which he neuer saw with the eye of his bodie The thing was infallible but the time was not so reuealed vnto him at least hee neuer reuealed it vnto vs as vnto Daniel that excellent and glorious Prophet Dan. 9.25 This example alone might suffice in this behalfe but that we haue another more answerable to our present purpose as being the very type and true figure thereof Esay 21.9 Where the Prophet by vision doth vnderstand the ruine of Literall Babylon expressed and set downe in the very like forme of words Babel is fallen all the Images of her Gods hath hee broken vnto the ground There God doth support the faith of Esay and of his children to whom hee doth so cleerely reueale as if the act were absolutely past the destruction of that potent rich and stately Citie which was Gods Scourge to afflict his people and his Hammer to ruinate the Citie of Gods delight and Temple of his presence In like manner God doth here in my Text giue great consolation vnto S. Iohn his seruant and vnto vs his brethren in the seene rather then foreseene ruine of mysticall Babylon which in her Imperiall state did for certaine ages with Heathenish crueltie persecute spoile murther Gods Saints with copious effusion of their bloud which was the Seed of his Church and in her Papall state hath for many Ages with Antichristian furie afflicted tormented killed many a member of Iesus Christ which for loue of his truth and feare of his Name could not and would not participate in the Cup of her incantations wherewith shee bewitcheth many Kings and Kingdomes in the World The point then which I here obserue is this that our faith maketh vs happie and secure our faith lifteth vs vp aboue sense and reason our faith is Iacobs staffe whereby we passe ouer and through the Iorden of this World our faith is Manna which feedeth vs in the Wildernesse of this World and neuer ceaseth till wee come into the Canaan of Heauen then and not before her Commission doth expire For as Barzillai conducted Dauid ouer Iorden but went not with him to Ierusalem so faith carrieth vs out of this miserable World but goeth not with vs into the heauenly Kingdome where the fruition of God and vision of his
for euer of this scandall which misprision and errour I haue refuted in my former Sermon But let vs proceed with S. Hierome who addeth immediately by way of acclamation O potent Citie O Lady-citie of the world O Citie commended by the voyce of the Apostle interpret thine owne name according to the Greekes it is a name of FORTITVDE according to the Hebrewes it is a name of SVBLIMITIE Keepe that then which thou art called let vertue make thee high let not pleasure make thee base All this pertaineth to her honour and exaltation but then hee giueth his aduice vnto her presently in the very next words Thou mayest by thy repentance escape the malediction which our Sauiour hath threatned vnto thee in his Reuelation No not so S. Hierome by your leaue shee shall not escape this is not a simple Commination against Rome which may bee preuented but a resolution which must be fulfilled And now to conclude this obseruation I here discouer some perplexitie as I said before and vncertaintie yea perhaps contradiction in this Rhetoricall passage of this learned Father For since he doth confesse that howsoeuer Christian Rome had wiped away the infamie of her Ethnicall estate and doth notwithstanding immediately affirme that the Commination of Christ specified here in my Text and more largely discoursed in the residue of this Chapter is yet in force against her and that it is yet to be executed vpon her if she by repentance shall not diuert and euacuate the same one of these two things must necessarily here ensue namely that either shee will bee Babylon againe in succeeding ages and iustly deserue this ruine and so S. Hierome by the former words doth not discharge Rome from the name of Babylon for the time to come but onely in that her present state or else that God shall punish her in the time to come for her sinnes alreadie past which I doubt how it may stand with the Truth and Iustice of God as I haue more largely deduced in my former Sermon And so leauing it vnto your iudicious censure what you will determine of S. Hierome in this case since this iudgement is laid vpon Rome in the name of Babylon and for her Babylonian sinnes I end this obseruation with the confession of the learned Iesuites as well as of some ancient Fathers that Rome being Babylon shall be certainly destroyed howbeit not by Antichrists power as they conceiue but for Antichrists pride as we haue partly seene heretofore and shall see more hereafter A Second vse to be made of this point is for the consolation of Gods children shee curseth them shee excommunicateth them shee deposeth Kings shee disposeth Kingdomes shee exposeth both to ruine shee absolueth subiects from obedience shee stirreth forraine powers against them shee burneth shee drowneth shee spareth no meanes to extirpate them out of the world Comfort now your selues in Gods promise shee is fallen with him shee shall fall before vs for Gods Word shall not fall Againe shee taketh vpon her to foretell our ruine and destruction Pererius a learned Iesuite but a blind Babylonian in his exposition of Genes 15.16 complaineth bitterly of the persecution of Catholikes in England which saith he meaning England though she remaine in the course of her sins yet she enioyeth great felicitie but he recollecteth himselfe with that speech of God vnto Abraham the sinnes of the Amorites are not yet full ENGLAND saith hee though full of sinne hath not yet fulfilled the number of her sinnes but when they are come to their height shee shall certainely perish and if any man thinke that this time is not farre off hee in my opinion is not farre from the truth Now though wee are to learne something of our enemies but more by the examples in sacred Scripture that we may repent and change our liues that so God may shew his mercie and compassion towards vs yet two things I obserue here the one for their reproofe the other for our comfort The first is for their reproofe for as S. Augustine doth truely note the Deuill to gaine the reputation of Prescience and Deitie foretelleth such things as hee is resolued to effect and bring to passe by his owne power and meanes if God giue permission vnto his desire so the Ianizaries of Babylon the progenie of Loiola Frogges in the Reuelation 16.13 as some haue ingeniously conceiued for that a Iesuite is ordinarily a politicke and actiue Polypragmon and so an Amphibion that conuerseth in two elements of Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall affaires of the Church and of the state may seeme to bee Prophets in foretelling the ruine of my deare and natiue Countrey whereas they foretell that which themselues do proiect and labour to atchieue and it had been effectuated long before this time but that he hath had mercy vpon England who will shew none to Babylon and hath not left this other better world of Brittaine vnto their pernicious designes The second is for our comfort they haue prophecies of our destruction but written in their owne wicked and treacherous hearts and therefore I may say vnto such a Prophet as Nehemiah vnto Sanballat Neh. 6.8 It is not done saith hee it shall not bee done say I according to these words that thou sayest for thou fainest them of thine owne heart Thy prophecies are vagabond lies flying vp and downe in wandring papers of no weight or value but this our prophecie or rather S. Iohns or rather Christs by him is registred in the sacred Scripture of infallible truth So that wee may say securely concerning the ruine of Babylon with our not their S. Peter 2.5.19 Wee haue a most sure word of a Prophet to the which wee doe well that wee take heed for Babylon shall fall since Gods Word cannot fall the sentence is past the execution is at hand And thus much of the first point to bee obserued here in the second part of my Text namely the TIME of Romes punishment which being then and yet to come is expressed by the Angels proclamation in the time alreadie past The SECOND point concerning the duplication of her punishment It is fallen and againe it is fallen AS our blessed Sauiour sent forth his Disciples two and two Luc. 10.1 so he setteth forth the notice of Babylons ruine by a doubled voyce And as the Law of the Decalogue was written twice by the finger of God so the fall of Babylon is proclaimed twice by the mouth of Christ The reasons whereof with such circumstances as deserue due ponderation in this case I will examine with perspicuous breuitie and so proceed to the maine substance of my Text. The FIRST reason is that which S. Ambrose vpon the Reuelations or the Author of that Commentarie which is graced with his name doth assigne in this manner Babylon is said twice to fall because a great multitude fell from her communion and entertained the Christian Faith and because shee shall bee punished in the last day with eternall
opposition of Philippus Pulcher to his great disgrace So Sixtus the Fift that subtile and insolent Beast disdayned the Workes of their Learned Bellarmine himselfe because he did not attribute this direct Omnipotencie vnto the Pope as a true and lawfull Superiour of all Kings and therefore did conceiue a purpose to suppresse and extinguish his Writings that seemed to limit and circumscribe the transcendencie of his power as D. Barkley a Pontifician in other points doth relate in his very impugnation of Bellarmines opinion that being also false scandalous and dangerous vnto the state of Christian Princes and in some respects more absurd then the other which Bellarmine did before reiect though in his Reply vnto D. Barkley hee seemeth to incline like a Cardinall now vnto the challenge of his holy Father Sixtus and from an indirect power groweth toward a direct which doctrine passeth freely amongst the Canonists is much imbraced by the Iesuites is diligently furthered by the Popes and doth daily gather strength in Babylon No maruell then if as the proportion of Hercules his bodie was collected by the quantitie of his foot so by these foote-steps of Antichristianity Christian Princes doe now beginne to discerne and discouer the second Beast himselfe and to be excited iustly vnto the ruine and perdition of his estate Secondly Babylon hath treasonable practises against the liues and states of Princes and these same issuing also out of her very doctrines by a powerfull incantation of bewitched soules as namely out of Purgatorie Indulgences Merit Satisfaction and the like besides a blind and vnquestionable obedience whereby many stand more specially deuoted and also obliged vnto this Beast Now therefore though it bee so that Christian Princes should be more iealous of Gods honour then their owne state of his glorie then their owne safetie of his truth then their owne liues and certainly for these causes God shall raise them vp vnto this sacred expedition against Babylon and her Beast yet now their own cause shall incite them forward to the same their state safetie and liues being in danger by the basest Vassall of this Purpled Whore For if his Holy-ship may iustly depose a Prince from his Royall Seat by a Papall sentence and if execution thereof cannot otherwise proceed then that may well follow which Mariana a learned but a wicked Iesuite doth prescribe in this case namely that such a Prince may bee lawfully empoysoned if it were in their very Sacrament it selfe Papists know the practice of this villany or by some clandestine and secret meanes depriued of his life And the truth is that if the generall and current doctrine of Babylon for deposition of Princes bee sound and substantiall then such practises and specially for defect of some other course to put the Papall sentence in execution are by the verdict of good reason and by faire consequence of that doctrine to bee maintayned and to bee performed which horrible and damnable impietie is conuinced by the testimonie of Gods Word by the pietie of the ancient Church and by the iudgement of sundrie Papists themselues not so deeply and dangerously infected with the leauen of Babylon in this point and therefore lesse neere and deare vnto the Triple-crowned Beast And thus you haue a decision of the second point namely the causes with the seuerall branches thereof why these ten Kings shall conspire in this action for the fall of Babylon and therefore I will now proceed vnto the third The THIRD Question THIRDLY then if you require of me when the ten Kings these glorious starres in the firmament of the World shall meete in this coniunction which shall be so fatall vnto Rome I answere it is a curiositie to enquire the time and temeritie to define it For who can looke without his perill into the Arke of the Diuine prouidence Wherefore in an vncertaine point I will follow the greatest certaintie which the Scripture itselfe and my best obseruation will direct mee vnto in so doubtfull a case The points which I tender vnto your consideration are foure FIRST this fall of Rome described Chap. 18. is not long before the period and conclusion of the World for as I noted in my former Sermon the Saints reioyce for her ruine Chap. 19. then Chap. 20. there is a recapitulation of things past in the state of the Church with a description of the generall Iudgement then in the two last Chapters ensueth a description of celestiall Hierusalem and the happie condition of the Triumphant Church the state of the Militant being now consummate and ended as it seemeth in or vpon the fall of Babylon as being one of the last glorious and obseruable Acts preceding the generall Resurrection of the dead Howbeit I cannot determinately affirme with Lactant. lib. 7. cap. 25. that the World shall receiue her end immediately vpon this vastation of Rome which as he falsly supposed should be performed by the great Antichrist and consequently according to his account and the generall opinion of the Ancients the World cannot stand longer then the space of three yeares or therevpon after the fall of Rome since he and they did generally conceiue that the Reigne of Antichrist was confined within the compasse of three yeeres and an halfe But as their speculations in this kinde had no sufficient ground and the very courses of times with the successe of things therein besides the more cleere and certaine exposition of Propheticall Scriptures in this later Age doe foundly conuince the same so they inferre with them this palpable absurditie that they who see this extinction and ruine of Babylon shall haue an infallible knowledge that the World shall determine and end within the space of such a time the fire in Romes destruction giuing them this light which consequence as it is euident vpon their ground so it needeth no refutation since it implyeth sundry points of markeable errour which I leaue vnto your prudent censure SECONDLY her fall attendeth the complement and full number of her sinnes according to a semblable case Gen. 15.16 When the sinnes of the Amorites are full c. when the latter times of Rome haue filled vp the measure of her iniquities when this Haruest is ripe then commeth the Sickle of Gods vengeance or to follow the very words of GODS Spirit this fall shall come vnto Rome when the words of God are fulfilled Apoc. 17.17 concerning her tyrannie pride and insolencie which must haue their due course before her fatall end THIRDLY then we may reasonably conclude that the time of her fall is neere at hand for what can future Rome adde vnto the sinnes of the former eadem facient cupientque minores as the ingenious Poet spake of Imperiall Rome vpon fifteen hundred yeeres agoe they that come after shall desire and doe the same things with them that went before What Tyrannie what Oppression what Persecution what Antichristian Pride what Insolencie against Princes what Delusions what Impostures can wee expect from Rome hereafter