plainely shewed against Tortus or rather counterfet Bellarmine that the Apostles Creede was set foorth whereto Iames the Apostle before his martyrdom had added the Article of Christ before the departure of the Apostles from Ierusalem and therefore before S. Peter came to Rome by the testimonie of Baronius himselfe Anno 44. and had concluded necessarily from thence that the Catholike faith was fully finished before the Apostolike See was begunne hence it is said there arose a doubt in that right honourable Calanders conscience a Papist but very moderate and honest not onely of the supremacie of Peter and of that depriuing power annexed to the supremacy but of all the whole Romish Catholike faith which he saw was contained in the popish not Apostolicall Nycene or Constantinopolitane Creede § 125 Therefore when those former learned men together with William Argentine came againe to visite him It is very well sayd Calander that you are met againe to discusse before vs a verie difficult controuersie of the popes new creede which Pius the fouth had formerly compiled Paul the 5. comanded it lately to be printed my good freind Argentine hath lately recited it and I hope by and by he will recite the same to you This being prescribed by the Church vtterly to reiect it I doe as yet to speake truely make a conscience and to admit it wholly vnlesse it bee ratified by the testimonies of the holy Scripture I cannot admit without scruple of conscience For I haue lately learned to giue attendance to the holy Scripture which holy S. Peter doth directly affirme to bee as a candle lightned in this life to vs wandring in darknesse 2. Pet. 1. Which holy Paul doth likewise make the foundation of the Church Ephes 2.20 1. Tim. 3.15 and yet I cannot depart rashly from the Catholike Church whereto I haue beene accustomed which the same S. Paul calles the piller and ground of truth by which there is a creede of faith set out for me So I hang doubtfull betweene the Scripture the Church which God hath giuen vnto vs as the Sunne and Moone the two great lights to giue vs light to life Then Patriott you say right Calander said he in the § 126 generall that as the Sunne and Moone so the Scripture and the Church as two lights shew light vnto vs The Scripture and Church compared to the Sun Moon but that you erre in the speciall as after it shall better appeare But the holy Scripture hath light in it selfe as the Sunne the Church is a light but borrowed from the Scripture as the Moone from the Sun these two I confesse are giuen vs of God to direct vs vnto eternall life But the Scripture directs vs with masterly authority the Church with her ministery for the holy Scripture is the wisdome of God in Christ inspired from aboue into holy men for the eternall saluation and perfection of the Church as the Apostle hath defined it God hath commended the Scripture to the Church The office of the Church as an heauenly charge that it may discerne expound keep and publish it to men the Scripture is therefore mens master but the Church is Gods minister Therefore the Apostle calles the truth the foundation of the Church and the Church the piller of truth as Salomon made his chariot to haue a golden axtree and pillers of siluer vnderstanding by the axetree the sound doctrin of the Messias by the pillers the faithfull teachers of the same § 127 It is a wicked thing therefore to detract from the maiestie of the holy Scripture and it is vniust to derogate from the ministery of the true Church for the Scripture is the truth of God The office of the Scripture and the Church is the house of God the truth is the golden foundation of this house and this house is the siluer piller of this truth that is cut out of the truth as out of the rocke as Chrysostome obserueth So if the Scripture be the base of the Church then the Church is the piller of the word as he spake very wittily Now reason teacheth that the foundation is not sustained by the house but the house by the foundation And religion concludes from thence that truth makes the Church not the Church the truth For the approbation of the truth is the working cause of the Church For before it do approue the written word of God it is but a company of Infidels and Idolaters after it hath approoued it it beginneth to be the familie of the faithful worshippers of God that is a Church Further although the Church by the Spirit doe discerne the true Scripture from the false yet the Scripture being once knowen and acknowledged as before it made so after it sheweth the Church For what more certain note can there be of shewing a thing then the working cause of the thing Againe what priuiledge soeuer the Church doth rightly challenge to it selfe it receiued from the Scripture as that which calleth the Church the piller of truth Therefore the truth of the Scripture is more ancient in time more perspicuous for the light and greater for authority then the Church which when it once receiueth her essence light and power from the Scripture then at last as a piller it vpholdeth with her ministery the truth in respect of men and reueales it to the inhabitants of the earth and it is that ground whereon men both may and ought to leane and rest Lawes vpon pillers so the Scriptures on the Church Whereupon the Propheticall and Apostolicall doctrine is said to bee the foundation of the Church the Church is the strength of doctrine not the foundation It is euident therfore that the Church is founded and sustained by the truth and that the truth is sustained and reuealed by the Church once founded as it were a watch-tower for trauellers to direct them into heauen The Heathens were wont to write their lawes in tables and hang them vp vpon pillers to bee read of the people The Apostle describing the Church compareth it to such a piller the vse wherof was to shew the Law when it selfe was not the Law So the true Orthodoxe and Catholike faith being written in the tables of the Scripture is fastned to the Church as it wereto a most beautifull piller as a most strong prop which resteth vpon it not with its owne but a borrowed strength Wherefore the Apostle in the second to the Ephesians defines the Church when in the second to Timothie hee describes it For there hee argueth from the causes heere from the effects in each place he vnderstandeth the Church of Ephesus that is a particular Church In the first place he teacheth what made that in the second what that did nor so much what it alway doth for of necessitie the foundation being taken away the Church must fall as it happened first to the Church of Ephesus and afterward to the Church
distinguish of the proposition and that out of Gods booke which considereth the Church after 2. sorts 1. After the inward truth and the outward profession 2. After the outward profession only As blessed Iohn calleth the Church of Sardis the Church of Christ although it had greeuously fallen from the doctrine of Christ Why so Because as yet it professed the name of Christ and retained the sacrament of Baptisme and because certain lay hid among them who had not polluted themselues So the Church of Rome may bee called the Church of God and of Christ because it professeth the name of Christ because it retaineth certaine footsteps and outward markes of a visible Church as Baptisme the Decalogue the creed The Papists haue the truth as the Philistines had the Arke the Lords Prayer but notes miserably corrupted as the Philistines who retained among them the Arke of Gods presence but they felt it to bee to them the Arke of pestilence as the Cutthites the bastard Israelites who had Moses bookes and would at once feare God and worship Idoles As the Samaritanes their successors who brag'd that they had Iacobs well among them when they had infected the well of the water of life Therefore the Delegates did iustly complaine of the Church of Rome in the Councell of Trent That that was true which God complained by Ieremie This people haue committed two euills one they haue forsaken me the fountaine of liuing water The other they haue digged to themselues cesternes which can hold no water Although I cannot denie that certaine relikes of the inuisible Church doe lie hidden in the same who haue not bended their knee to Baal But as it is said to the Church of Sardis You haue a name that you liue but you are dead that may deseruedly be spoken of the Romish Church in respect of the inward faith the soule of the Church you are starke dead although in outward profession you are said to liue You are called the Temple of God because you reteyne the name of Christ but you are the whore of Babylon because you haue forsaken the faith The temple of God equiuocally not vniuocally for an equiuocall Church is good enough for aequiuocating Christians Now the ten hornes that is the ten Kings haue one purpose as the Angell speaketh to giue ouer his virtue and his power to the beast Her they will serue they will loue and seeke after her her they will susteyne with their forces at her booke they will draw the sword and being confederaed in holy leagues both with the beast and within themselues will fight with the Lambe but after that the Lambe shall by litle and litle begin to weaken and consume Antichrist by the preaching of his word then the ten hornes which before had to doe with the whore shall begin to hate her and leaue her forsaken and naked CHAP. XXII An aduise to Princes to ioyne against the Pope 8 WHich cannot bee said of old but of new Rome whereof a great part of the prophecie is now fulfilled For the Pope hath lost as Bellarmine bemoaneth a great part of Germanie Suetia Gothia Noruegia all Denmarke a good part of England France Heluetia Polonia Bohemia and Pannonia He might better haue said all England and ioyn'd Scotland and Ireland thereto but that he would shew he hath a litle vaine hope in certaine secret and broken relicks of Antichrist among vs. I would to God that as the Kings of Great Britannie with many other great Princes haue cast of the whore A desire that France and Spaine would forsake the Pope so the Kings of France and Spaine would forsake her Rome is more to be feared of them then of our Britaine King whose Crowne is more free whose succession more certaine whose subiects more loyall whose kingdome is more remote and shut vp from popish assaults I would that so mighty Princes this Princes confederates would follow his valour and holines in this point whereby they might wholy fulfill the prophecie It is not for men of meane condition to giue counsell but to make prayers while they expound this so holy and waightie prophecie If not to aduise yet to wish first that those two potent Kings would ioyne with the King of Great Britaine and others those worthy Kings and Princes of the Reformed Church against Antichrist Next that if they doe make a secret league with Antichrist and within themselues against the Kings and Princes of the Reformed Church that all our side would make a holy League with all possible haste and take heed that our neighbours and brethren the Protestants of France and Flanders be not vnawares opprest by them whiles ours neglect them But wee may not make warres with our neighbour Kings But we ought to take heed lest they bring in a very dangerous warre vpon vs. But we must be addicted to peace True which hath no treacherie nor deceipt otherwise an holy warre is to be preferred before a trecherous peace whereto the Holy Ghost doth exhort Kings that with vnited forces they destroy and ouerthrow the whore of Babylon that is Rome as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth CHAP. XXIII The ouerthrow of Rome AS the Angell doth continue his prophecie to the last ouerthrow of the whore which cannot agree with heathenish and imperiall Rome for this ouerthrow doth follow the dissolution of the old Empire and the diuision thereof into ten kingdomes which according to the prophecie would that the whore should first perish afterward themselues should consume and destroy it Therefore this ouerthrow belongeth to Rome that is popish but christian in name as the Angell did notably expound it for whereas shee is said to sit vpon many waters that is many people and many nations as the Angell expounds it ver 15. and whereas the woman is called the great Citie which beareth rule ouer the Kings of the earth ver 18. nothing doth hinder but that it may be popish Rome But that popish Rome is not rightly said to haue gouerment first it is sufficient that Rome then Imperiall is described to be the seate wherein the whore of Babylon shall beare rule afterward Againe they which call her the kingdome of the Romanes Turrianus the kingdome of Priests doe confesse that shee beareth rule who haue very cunningly changed the secular kingdome into a spirituall that which Aquinas the Angelicall Doctor doth obserue Aquinas But so excellent a prophecie did not onely looke into the age then present but foresaw the age long after to follow And therefore the description of the whore is first set out in all her parts as you see and after her destruction which cannot be vnderstood of the burning of Ethnicke Rome by the Gothes and Vandales 10 but by a finall and sodaine destruction as it were a myllstone cast by great force into the sea For it shall not saith the Angell be found againe any more which cannot agree to Ethnicke Rome for after it had receiued
Pauls authoritie one of them that S. Peter without doubt was a Catholike but Paul if he be not warily expounded seemes to smell of heresie Thother that places out of Paul by the testimonie of Peter were hard to be vnderstood and had need of a Romish Commentarie Peter I said made mention of the hardnes but not of the commentarie In whose Epistle say they whatsoeuer soundeth against the Romane faith therein wee do not attaine to the true sense that which the Rhemists haue obserued Rhem testam argument epist in gene For he in the first chapter say the Fryers did commend the faith of the Church of Rome whereto Cyprian denieth that vnfaithfulnes can haue accesse But in the 11. chapter I say Epist 50. he warned the same Church that if it departed from the bountifulnesse of God it should take heed lest as the Church of Israel was cut off so shee were not cut off also It may therefore be cut off be it spoken by Cyprians leaue For it is in act cut off when it is fallen from that foundation which is placed in the only mercy of Christ apprehended by faith That faith therefore of the Church which Paul the Apostle so much commended and taught by his writings is one and the faith of this Church which Paul the Pope hath left so deformed with his vnwritten traditions is another And yet shee glorieth much as I said that Paul is hir founder I had rather they would vse him as an author But she will neuer doe it Shee maketh more accompt of Pauls Bulls than Paules Epistles which the ancient Fathers did rightly tearme the key of the Scripture Which most of the popish sort do so feare that they cannot reconcile Paul and S. Iames together but oppose them one against thother The reconciling of Paul and James as if Iames the Apostle had concluded that a man is iustified by his workes before God not with faith alone against the Apostle Paul when as Paul doth not vnderstand the same faith and the same iustification which Iames doth For hee requireth faith placed in the heart this reiecteth faith bragged on in the tongue Hee requireth a liuely faith this reiecteth a dead faith Hee doth enforce a heauenly faith which layeth hold on the promise this casteth of a diuelish faith which doth onely acknowledge Christs historie without application hee doth commend and extoll fruitfull faith working by loue this doth rightly condemne a barraine faith voide of the duty of holinesse he doth set forth the iustification before God which Aquinas calleth the righteousnes of imputation Iames the iustification before men whom the same Aquinas calleth the righteousnesse of declaration Moses from whom either Apostle drew his testimonie doth expound ech and doth take vp the controuersie begun by the Aduersarie The imputation of righteousnesse whereof Moses maketh mention Gen 15.6 went thirty yeares before that worke for which they dreame that Abraham was iustified before God Which circumstance of time Paul most earnestly weighing concludeth that faith was imputed to Abraham to obtaine righteousnesse before God 15 yeares as Moses noteth before hee begat Isaac and other 15 yeares at the least before he would haue sacrificed him They know not well how to loose themselues out of this indissoluble knot whosoeuer thinke that righteousnes was imputed to Abraham before God because he killed his sonne who was not as yet borne when as the Holy Ghost doth pronounce him to be righteous which S. Iames himselfe v 23 seemeth to vnderstand as Oecumenius gathereth out of the place that Abraham was the image of iustification which is wrought by faith alone when it was imputed to him for righteousnesse ver 23. ver 21. that he beleeued and of that iustification also which is by workes when hee would haue offred his sonne Isaac vpon the Altar Therefore faith did make perfect the person of Abraham and the worke did iustifie the faith and declare ech to be perfect Is this a fight is this an opposition especially betweene two holy Apostles who writ their Epistles with the instinct of the same spirit But no one thing doth more neerly gaule the Synagogue then that Paul the Apostle by the direction of the spirit writ the commentarie of the mysterie Apoc 9. 2 Thess 2. 1 Tim 4.1 which S. Iohn afterward set forth of that great Antichrist whom hee maketh to be the falling starre i. an apostata from the faith or rather the prince of the apostacie as Paul expounds it Iohn calls him the Angell of the bottomlesse pit the key-keeper of hell the beast arising out of the earth and counterfeyting the lambe with two hornes and in his voyce resembling the Dragon Therefore in shew the Vicar of Christ in deed his aduersarie in ambition aboue Kings Gods emulus as Paul explaines it Iohn in order the 7. King of the Romane state Apoc 13. the reviued image of the former beast to be after reuealed within the Empire decayed as Paul doth interpret it Iohn sitting in the common place Lord of the seauen hill'd Citie in the speciall place in the temple of God A description of the Pope that is in the Church of God as Paul doth expound it for Kings thrones are called Bishops seates Therfore he is in office a Bishop in name Romane or Latine in his disposition a great hypocrite and a notable dissembler by his cunning an inchanter and bewitcher of soules by his worship an Idolater by his malitious practise a murtherer giuen ouer to sinne sold ouer to destruction as both of them define Water is no liker water than Antichrist to the Pope But S. Paul being not therewith content defineth Antichristianitie to be not iniquitie but the mysterie of iniquitie And doth after diuide it into three parts 1. Curious speculations 2. Absurd superstitions 3. Iewish ceremonies whereof it is wholy compounded which who so holdeth doth not hold the head as the Apostle speaketh I beseech thee Christian Reader tell me what is more like than old and new Antichristianitie What is become of them who deny that Poperie hath his beginning from the antient heresies which being of the same age with the Apostolike truth in many things as Tertullian saith was wounded with the Apostolike style as shall be made manifest in the discourse following I do therfore more disdaine than admire that the Apostle Paul doth so exceedingly displease the Romane synagogue who did foreshew that Poperie should be patcht together of Paganisme Idiotisme and Iudaisme A little Glasse of Christ and Christianitie BVt I purposing to set out all the force and nature of Antichrist and Antichristianitie in latine I thought good to set before it a liuely and short forme of Christ and Christianitie which the Apostle defineth to be the mysterie of godlines that the truth of the Gospell being brought into light out of the labyrinth as it were of discoursing might put to flight with her authoritie and countenance
Citie sometime him that was in the place of a Pretor or the Praetors Legate Aduersarie like to God Proconsul You haue all the significations in one word how much rather in diuers as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noteth opposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equalitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 substitution Antichrist doth comprehend all these significations who though he be in truth his Aduersarie yet doth challenge Christ his authoritie as his equall and vsurpes his place as his Vicar The Pope is Christ his Vicegerent doth emulate his honour and oppose his doctrine Therefore he is in subtletie his Vicar in pride his Opposite in heart his Aduersarie that is in plaine termes he is Antichrist Whom S. Iohn affirmeth to haue been in his time 1 Ioh 2. v. 18 22. Cap. 4.3 Antichrist had his beginning in the daies of the Apostles 2 Thess 2. for he speaketh of Antichrist properly so called as Bellarmine confesseth to whom he ioyneth the article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saint Paul likewise saith that he began then to worke secretly after that which hindred was taken away that he should be reuealed in his time and should sit and dominere so long in the Church of God till Christ shall come to iudgement and that hee should decay and by litle and little bee consumed with the spirit of the Lords mouth that is with the ministerie of the word but at the glorious appearing of the Lord he should be vtterly ouerthrowne not therfore one singular enemie shall come in his owne person as Becan faineth vnlesse happily he thinke that one and the same man in number could possibly liue from the age of the Apostles vnto the comming of Christ Thus I therefore argue breefely out of the premisses If that Antichrist was in the daies of the Apostles after to be reuealed to domineir in the Church nor to be destroyed till the comming of Christ certainely he cannot be one singular person vnlesse peraduenture they dreame that Antichrist shall suruiue Methusalah many hundred yeeres But the Antecedent or former part is true as S. Iohn and S. Paul doe manifestly proue Therefore the Consequent that hee cannot be one and a singular person is likewise true CHAP. IV. The diuers kindes of Antichrists wherein it is farther proued to be a succession FOR whereas Antichrist so called in a common sense by Iohn in his Epistle they say did come in the times of the Apostles but that Antichrist so properly called in the Apocalyps is not come as yet first they doe not agree among themselues who vnderstand that it is Antichrist so properly called of Iohn in his Epistle by reason of the addition of the article secondly although he there make mention of Antichrists so commonly called small and litle ones whom considered by themselues I confesse to haue beene the forerunners of that great Antichrist yet I say and affirme that they be truly to be termed parts of that great beast as Paul in his Commentarie of this mysterie hath so plainly expounded For he saith that hee who then began to worke secretly should continue till the comming of Christ That therefore he could not be a beast of three yeeres continuance soone vp soone downe But as small Riuers while they keepe within their owne bankes haue their own names A similitude between Antichrist and a great Riuer but when they flow into the Thames or into Seine doe loose their owne names and make the streame the greater So is it with these small and common Antichrists they falling into their owne heresies are considered apart but when they fall out of their own channels as it were into that great gulfe Antichrist 1 Ioh 4.3 2.18 22. they lay aside their owne names and make vp that grand Antichrist And therefore Iohn in his Epistle saith that that Antichrist then was and after should be How may that be will you say that he was then in secret that he should be in open sight that he was then an infant but should after be a man These were the heresies this was that Apostacie wherof S. Iohn and S. Paul spake a disposition as Bellarmine confesseth tending to the kingdome of Antichrist he said well to the kingdom not to his beginning For then he was borne but to the kingdome of Antichrist not to the essence of him that then was as Iohn said but to the reuealing of him who then lay hid as Paul said The apostacie therefore began in those heresies wherein Antichrist did lurke which Paul doth teach shall last not onely to an appearance and a kingdome but to the diminishing and ouerthrow of Antichrist And this apostacie could not be of three yeares and one man onely And therefore it is conuinc't that Antichrist is not one singular man but a succession of men Moreouer the two beasts described by S. Iohn in the Apocalyps the Sea-beast and the Land-beast by the Sea-beast you meane the state of the Romane Empire by the Land-beast the state of Antichrist Bellar. de Rom Pont. cap. 10. cap. 15. lib. 3 But the Sea-beast doth not signifie this or that Emperour but a succession of Emperours therefore the Land-beast doth not signifie this or that Bishop only but a succession of Bishops whereof many were great beasts indeed As likewise neither the foure beasts in Daniel whereof the beast in the Apocalyps is compounded doe not note singular Kings but Kingdomes Here Bellarmine disputeth against vs topically or rather typically Such as the figure is such is the thing figured Antiochus the figure of Antichrist was one singular man Therfore Antichrist the thing figured is one singular man If the proposition be generall it is very false for the proportion between the figure and the thing figured doth not hold in all but in those only wherein they be compared Many are often the type of one as many high Priests of one Christ and one is the type of one as Melchisedech of Christ whom you notwithstanding doe make to be the type of many Priests It holdeth not therefore that because Antiochus the type was one man that therfore Antichrist must be but one man The comparison stands not in the vnitie of the person but in the likenesse of nature And therefore if the proposition be taken generally it is very false and if particularly then it is a meere fallacie But if it please him to argue from a type I will requite him with an argument drawne from a type the authour whereof is the Holy Spirit The first Beast that is the state of the Roman Empire is a Beast of many heads The second Beast that is the state of Antichrist is the image of the first by the witnesse of S. Iohn Therefore the state of Antichrist is a beast of many heads But so many heads so many persons As therefore the state of Antichrist may resemble the state of the Empire it doth consist not in one person onely but in a succession of
many persons which when we affirme it must not be preiudiciall to those holy Bishops who for Christs sake spent their bloud at Rome vnder the Emperours but to the shame of their Successors who forsaking the rule of holy Scripture haue spilt the blood of other men For it is not Rome regenerated and suffering but degenerated and persecuting must be counted the seat of the Beast with many heads which notwithstanding is to be vnderstood that to the Beast there is but one only head at one time more successiuely whom God hath permitted The properties effects of Antichrist 1 To be like the Lambe in two hornes 2 To speake as a Dragon 3 To shew forth the power of the first Beast in his owne sight 4 To make the earth and the inhabitants thereof to worship the first Beast 5 To cure the deadly wound of the former Beast 6 To restore spirit and speech to the image of the first Beast 7 To kill such as will not worship the image of the Beast 8 To worke false wonders namely to make fire descend from heauen in the sight of men 9 To haue the name of the Beast and the name of a man and the number of his name which number is six hundred sixtie and six 10 To imprint the marke of the Beasts name vpon all either on the forhead or on the right hand 11 To forbid that none shall buy or sell without the marke of the Beast These be the true notes of the second Beast that is of Antichrist by your owne interpretations which notwithstanding are miserably detorted as afterward shall plainly appeare Now I take this as granted that these so weighty and admirable matters cannot be brougnt to passe by one singular Beast within the compasse of three yeeres and a halfe whereunto so many Beasts and so many ages are required Antichrist therefore is that ould-aged Animal not a simple but a compound beast for as many Marij were in one Caesar 2 Thess 2. v. 3.4 so there be many Antichrists in that Antichrist whom Paul termeth that man of sinne and that sonne of perdition They doe therefore but trifle and say nothing to purpose A comparison betweene the people of Rome and Antichrist who thinke that therefore he is called the man of sinne because he is a single man For as Florus did paint out all the people of Rome vnder the figure of one man to wit an infant 250 yeeres and 250 yeeres a young man a strong man other 250 and an ould man the last 250 yeeres the same people still gouerning successiuely in the same Citie with the same policies alwaies to the same end as one man aspiring to greatnesse till by the lazinesse of some of the Emperours it became decrepite and exceeding feeble So it doth seeme that the Apostles by the spirit of prophecie did describe many Bishops of Rome as one wretched man and one beast successiuely gouerning in that seuen-hilld Citie an infant in the Apostles time after closely growing vp in certaine of the ambitious Romane Bishops till it came to strength in Boniface the third and to the full age of a man and greater ripenesse in Gregorie the seuenth and others of his successors euer another man not another thing the same an infant the same a youth and a man differing not in minde but in age by the same meanes breathing and aspiring to greatnesse the same closely hidden and openly reuealed the same dominering and the same to be ouerthrowne and now at the last an ouer-worne and a decayed Antic so that he seemeth by his long lasting impietie to be vtterly consumed and brought to nothing The summe of all is this that Antichrist properly so termed is a succession or a kingdome contrary to the kingdome of Christ in profession a Vicar in presumption an Opposite in purpose an Aduersarie CHAP. V. Wherein is inquired what manner of one Antichrist is WE haue found out what Antichrist is now let vs search out what kinde a one hee is by that meanes we shall certainely know who it is Who that hee might not appeare vnto vs in his likenesse Satan hath abused the witts of certaine good men being ignorant of the euent of the prophecie who haue out of that first errour deuised a notable tale For first presupposing that Antichrist is but one single aduersarie hence they haue imagined The Popish description of Antichrist that he shall be by Nation and Religion a Iew of the tribe of Dan the Messias of the Iewes and that he shall sit in the Temple of Ierusalem being re-edified by himselfe that he shall raigne three yeeres and a halfe that he shall put to death three Kings and subdue seauen others and shall obteyne the Monarchie of the whole world that those two witnesses whom they thinke to be Enoch and Elias reserued aliue in some place all this while shall returne vpon the earth and fight with Antichrist and being slaine by him shall rise againe after three yeeres and a halfe and it shall come to passe that the Iewes being conuerted by that miracle shall kill Antichrist in Mount Oliuet and shall ioyne themselues with Christ who shall come to iudgement fiue and fortie daies after This tale certaine ancient writers haue deuised which they so vnconstantly report Bellarmine an A better of the former tale that it easily appeareth by the contradiction that it is but a lye All this false tale Bellarmine telleth as truth except that part concerning the Tribe of Dan. But let vs reiecting all fables Antichrist described out of the Scriptures and Fathers seeke after the truth of God written by the Apostles being now manifested by euent the best Interpreter of the prophesie and by the iudgements of the Fathers agreeing with the Scriptures Apoc. 9. 2. Thes 2. 1. Tim. 4.10 Saint Iohn doth call Antichrist a starre falne from heauen Paul an Apostata from the faith or rather the chiefe Captaine and Ring-leader of that generall Apostasie a Renegate from the Lord God as Augustine doth expound it August de ciuit Dei lib. 20. cap. 10. Greg. lib. 4. epist 38. That falling starre not Lucifer Esa 14. The King of pride with his prepared armie of Priests and therefore a Bishop as Gregorie the first thinketh But Bellarmine doth vnderstand that starre to be Lucifer according to that how art thou fallen from heauen O Lucifer And doth vrge the pretertense that Saint Iohn did not see the starre to fall hereafter but that it is fallen alreadie Neither doth hee marke that this his glosse is farre wide from the text 1. That Lucifers fall from heauen went long before the sound of the fift trumpet 2. Hee is ignorant of the phrase of the Prophets who when they foretell things to come for the certainty of them speake as if they were come already 3 Neither doth he obserue the sense of this Prophet who by the name of starres meaneth the Pastors of the
Images The Popes imagine that they be Masters of abstinence and continencie when for conscience sake they forbidde meates and marriages when as in truth they bring in the doctrine of deuills as S. Paul teacheth They doe not intend so you will say The murtherer doth not intend to kill his Father but his enemie but in stead of his enemie hee killeth his Father in the darke shall we say hee killed not his father but his enemie because he intended not his fathers but his enemies death which if it be absurd to speake in this outward darknes do we not thinke it as absurd in this inward darknesse of the soule if any man say that he doth worship God when hee doth worship the Dragon because hee doth intend to worship God not the Dragon Therefore the Emperours and the Popes doe agree in a third that is in worshipping the Dragon from whom they haue receiued their power Adde hereto that the Pope in whom the image of the first beast doth reuiue and liue againe as shall appeare afterward while he driueth men to worship himselfe it may be said that he doth compell them to worship the image of the first beast from whence thus I dispute He that compelleth men to worship the image of the first beast is Antichrist The Pope doth compell men to worship the image of the first beast The Pope therefore is Antichrist CHAP. XV. The decayed Emperour reuiued by the Pope 5 FOR shee is said to cure and heale the deadly blow of the former beast and to restore to him a spirit and a voice That I may not be longer about those things which are so copiously vnfolded by others the Empire tooke a deadly wound in Augustulus The Empire dead which was the last Emperour of the East from whom the Empire lay as it were dead for 325 yeeres till it was restored againe by the Pope and receiued as it were new life in Charles the Great as Bellarmine doth vauntingly confesse For he saith That the Pope did translate the Empire first from the Greekes to the French reuiued afterward to the Germaines and appointed that the choice of the Emperour should be made by seauen Electors on that condition that the confirmation and inauguration of the Emperour so chosen should belong to the Pope that by this meanes that dead head might seeme to liue and flourish againe by the spirit of the Pope But reseruing to himselfe the power of the Empire hee left the title to the Germaines Cap. 15. de mira Anti as Bellarmine doth vnaduisedly confesse that Antichrist shall be the last that shall enioy the Romane Empire without the name or title of the Romane Emperour The Emperor but titular And therefore the Germane Emperour in respect of his power is only Titular for the Pope hath not only deriued to him the spirituall power but the temporall also therefore the state of Antichrist is the liuely image of the old Empire The Germaine Empire is not now the Empire but the title and dead ghost of the Empire to whom the Pope giueth spirit that is authoritie and a voice that is his Edicts when he giueth life to the Emperour by his confirmation To what end I pray you â— that it may sustaine and vphold the Popes Seate wherein the power of the Empire doth reside without a name according to Iohns Prophecie Hence the Germane Emperour is called the Procurator and protector of the Apostolicall See I dispute then thus Antichrist is the restorer of the old Romane Monarchie witnes S. Iohn The Pope of Rome alone is the restorer of the old Romane Monarchie Bellarmine not onely witnessing it but glorying in it The Pope of Rome therefore alone is Antichrist CHAP. XVI Of bringing downe fire from heauen BVt Bellarmine doth expound this place according to the letter as that likewise of bringing downe fire from heauen Antichrist saith he and the Antichristian Church doth make the image of the Beast to liue and speake But the Pope and the Popish Church did neuer make the image of the Beast to liue and speake Therefore the Pope is not Antichrist Besides Antichrist saith he doth cause fire to come from heauen in the sight of men The Pope did neuer bring downe fire in the sight of men The Pope therefore is not Antichrist The proposition of the former syllogisme taken literally is not S. Iohns proposition for not the image of euery beast is to take life from Antichrist but the image of the first Beast that is of the Romane Empire which the Pope in name and title renued in the Emperour in strength and power retained in himselfe And therefore hee peruersely collecteth out of Iohn that power is giuen to Antichrist to giue life and frame speeches to Images which may seeme as credible to sober men Popish false miracles as that the picture of Memnon being enlightned by the Sunne beames spake very plainely as Tacitus reporteth But grant it be so the assumption literally taken agreeth with the Pope and the popish Synagogue if ye beleeue the Legend How often by them are images counterfeited to moue to sweat to nodd to speake in the sight and opinion of simple people that they may be allured to the worship of those Saints whose images they be There was some wonder toward as oft as the image began to speake Martialis The Deuill did often speake in the images of the Ethnicks but a Priest in the images of the Papist that hee may seeme to take the Deuils turne in deluding of men I retort therefore this argument Whatsoeuer Church doth make images to speake in the opinion of men is Antichristian But the popish Church doth make images to speake in the opinion of men Therefore the popish Church is Antichristian 6. Now I come to Bellarmines latter syllogisme if first I shall explaine the sixt action of the Beast Shee worketh great signes so that she maketh fire to descend from heauen in the sight of men The Beast that is Antichrist doth worke great miracles v 13. which blessed Paul calls lying signes and wonders 1. in respect of the end because they serue to seduce men Ioh 14. 2. in respect of the matter for they be either the counterfeytings of lying men or the wonders of deceitfull spirits as Augustine speaketh 3. In respect of the forme for whereas true miracles doe exceede nature and are wrought by the omnipotent power of God false wonders are they which are partly effected by naturall causes partly by the power of Sathan Bellarmine doth well agree with vs in all False miracles The miracles of the first and second kinde haue been infinite in the darke kingdome of Antichrist the apparition of Spirits the visions of Angells our Ladie how often hath shee come gliding out of heauen how often haue the miserable soules crept puling out of Purgatorie besetting high-wayes and recounting their torments to procure men to pittie them hence the market of
truth and power to be ouercome by errour and wickednesse Assuredly hee will neuer suffer it The Christians therefore haue no cause to feare the Pope hath no cause to insult For the Pope alone hath all the markes of Antichrist The Pope alone therefore is Antichrist CHAP. XLII The scope and conclusion of the whole worke I Haue finished the Glasse Paul the fift set before you to see your selfe before others to look on themselues wherein Antichrist is fully set downe as in preface Heere you may see contained his right and true marks the false being reiected and cast by Euery of them in seuerall and all of them ioyntly together doe prooue the Pope to be that great Antichrist Hence it followeth that Popery is Antichristianity What hee is and who he is appeares out of the preface What he doth and what he teacheth out of the Dialogue diuided into three bookes First comes vpon the stage Antichrist pragmaticall In the two other bookes Antichrist dogmaticall There he carries himselfe like a Rebell heere like a Sophister there he doth impaire the glory of the Empire heere the truth of the Gospell there hee doth vndermine the faithfulnesse of subiects heere the faith of Christians The first booke doth propound the rules and grounds of Christian fealty and obedience toward Kings against Christian rebellion shadowed ouer with a shew of Catholike religion The other two doe erect the foundation and pillers of Christian doctrine and faith against the Antichristian heresie compacted of twelue new articles of the faith brought into the forme of a creede by Pius the fourth whereupon I call it the Popes creede I doe solemnely professe that I am afaithfull seruant of Christ and the King I doe not take vpon me being the meanest and the least of all other to giue warning vnto Kings once already warned by the great King not therefore to bee warned of any but of Christ the King of Kings Let Iesus Christ therefore bee in our thoughts a while who although he be absent in body yet present in spirit hath an interest and being yea and a gouernment also in the spirits of all Christians and chriefly of all Princes his bountie is to be loued his maiesty is to be dreaded euen of Kings for as the powerfull gouernment of Kings is to be dreadfull to their owne subiects so the most powerfull gouernment of God is to bee dreadfull to Kings of God I say manifested in the flesh who being present with them in spirit seemeth thus to speake and complaine CHAP. XLIII THE PROSOPOPEY I AM not ignorant who am ignorant of nothing ô yee Christian Kings and Princes that the Byshop of Rome my Vicare as he calles himselfe my Aduersarie The Pope both an hereticke and traytor as he carries himselfe hath beene a Teacher of heresie in the Church and a Practiser of treason in the common-weale for these many yeares For euer since hee was made the vniuersall Byshop he hath done nothing else but corrupted my Gospell and peruerted your Empire And no maruell for out of the corruption of the Gospell doth follow the dissolution of the Empire For whereas I haue erected by the Gospell a twofould pillar of gouernment Authoritie in Magistrates and Allegeance in Subiects it is strange to see the Gospell peruerted in the mindes of men how each pillar of gouernment falles to the grounds The greatest fault whereof is in the Byshops treacherie and in your slothfulnesse that whereas I had submitted all Byshops vnder your power and iudgement you haue suffered one to fly out so farre aboue the rest that he dare not onely rebell against yours but against my Maiestie also That therefore the ancient dignitie of the Empire may be recouered being lost and for euer maintained being recouered my counsell to you is that the truth of the Gospell shaken and long weakened by the Popes tyrannie may at last be restored by your princely authoritie For what is more reasonable then that I should haue you defenders of my glory whom I haue appointed Ministers of my power And if it were in question heretofore whether that Byshoppe were that Antichrist He is so prophetically described by my beloued Disciples Iohn and Paul that now it is out of question seeing that euent hath laid open and made cleare the prophecie For all the partes of the prophecie are so plainely interpreted All notes of Antichrist agree with the Pope of the succession of the persons the nature and disposition of the King and kingdome the acts of the beast the impression of the Character the number of his name the scituation of his seate the time of his reuealing the cuppe of the whore the kind of his marchandise the fall of Babylon lastly the comming in and going out the birth and death of Antichrist the last answering the first and the middle answering both with such a consent and barmonie inferring things to be fulfilled by things that are fulfilled that I could not haue made it clearer if I had named the Byshop of Rome himselfe And Antichristianity is well defined by my Apostle to be not iniquitie but the mysterie of iniquitie For if Antichrist had appeared to you in his owne likenesse you needed not to haue beene so carefull about the businesse Now that hee doth insinuate himselfe with a counterfet holinesse and a dissembled sanctity how many millions of innocent men hath he cosoned and deceiued with his hidden mysticall wickednesse But let the visard be taken off from this hidden Antichrist then none can hereafter be deceiued but he that will wittingly and willingly be deceiued Beware therefore that the old trickes and stratagemes being laid open beguile you no more He faineth himselfe to be the Prince of the couenant and yet he hath altered my couenant Hee pretendes himselfe to be a Keeper of my will and testament and yet he hath not only raced and defaced my testament The Pope hath altered Christ his Testament and brought in a new but hath foysted in one of his owne He termes himselfe the foundation of the Church and chalengeth to him my peculiar title and yet hee doth with cunning deuises subuert and ouerthrow my Church He makes a shew of great zeale to my crosse and yet doth annihilate the power of the crosse The holy Scripture makes mention of Gods double gouernment the Legale and Euangelicall The legale which hath the condition of working annext vnto it do this and thou shalt liue Ierem. 31.31 Heb. 8.5 ad finem The Euangelicall requireth the condition of beleeuing Beleeue and thou shalt be saued But it requireth faith not as a worke but as an instrument whereby you may receiue the promises of the spirit therefore that is called a conditionall this a free conuenant Where there is no couenant there is no faith and where there is no faith there is no saluation Humane faith doth rest vpon an humane couenant heauenly faith vpon a heauenly couenant Heauenly faith is
the scepter the myter the crowne No maruell you say for then the Christian Byshops wanted temporall forces They might wel haue excommunicated and deposed Princes Ala contâ—exec Angli inst pa 167. if the Church had had power enough to resist As two great Masters of not building vp but of destroying diuinitie haue taught Alan and Bellarmine Bellar de Rom. Pont. lib. 5. cap. 7. So I beleeue the Apostle Paul when he saw the antient Christians to be few in number and weak in power § 58 taught them then not to resist the power How Paul vsed Princes belike he serued the time not the truth when he taught that subiects should be subiect to Nero for conscience sake For when they were encreased in number and power if wee beleeue these Cardinalls they should no more suffer as patient Martyrs but take vpon them like boasting souldiers For so they haue corrected the Apostles discipline with their worthy interpretation and put out the crowes eyes as the prouerbe is and haue wisely altered the rules of the holy Ghost which ought to be perpetuall and immutable to the practise of the Church as the case required But one thing I doubt much they cannot wipe away It is damnation to resist the power saith the Apostle Moses what is it then to lay violent handes vpon him Moses forbad that the people should not speake euill of their Gouernour would hee haue suffered Salomon if they could to resist him Salomon forbad that none should curse the king secretly in his conscience did hee grant by force to cast him off if they had might to do it Iudas Iudas the Apostle did stile them fitly Dreamers that spake ill of gouernment and despise such as bee in authoritie would he take these Cardinalls for holy Doctours who perswade the people to driue the king out of his kingdome if they can Let vs beleeue it if it be possible that Moses Salomon § 59 and Iudas the Apostle when they would haue the subiects tongues to bee tied vp they would leaue their hands to be loose Ieremy the Prophet exhorted the exiled Iewes that they should offer vp their prayers for the life of the King of Babylon Paul the Apostle did aduise the persecuted Christians to pray to God for the safety of Nero. Is it eredible that the Prophet and the Apostle for whom they would haue subiects praiers poured out that they would haue their blood to bee poured out vnlesse you thinke the Apostle was like to Charles the fift who commanded that publike prayers should bee made for the deliuerance of Clement the 7. whenas his owne legions kept him captiue I expect that the Cardinals doe thus expound the place of the Apostle to haue commanded them to haue prayed for Nero because they wanted force to resist which if they had got they might iustly haue gone from praying to violence and from orizons to weapons O warlike priests In the meane while what wrong do they offer to Peter and Peters successors who suffered death for Christ whom they insinuate not to haue wanted courage but power to resist And they make goodly Martyrs if when they died for the truth deliuered rebellious soules out of their afflicted bodies Tertul. in Apo. leget And I wonder that two so learned Cardinals were so ignorant of the historie to say that Christians might lawfully haue resisted if they had had strength when Tertullian doth alleage that they had power but might not lawfully resist Which if it may bee truely said of the second age after Christ how much more in the fourth fift and sixt age whenas Christians being graced by Princes and defended by lawes might professe the § 60 Catholike religion openly and freely It is an not able saying of Austen August in Ps 124. that the Christian souldiers did obey Iulian the Apostata their temporall Lord not because as these men dreame they wanted power to resist Christian souldiers obeyed Iulian. but for the Lord eternall For the souldiers in their warre against the Persians might easily haue surprised Iulian being farre from home Sâ—cra lib. 3. cap. 22. and succour But they were you will say Pagane souldiers Yea forsooth as Socrates tells vs the next day after Iulians death when Iouinian was chosen Emperour by them he refused that honor because he suspected the greater part of the armie to be heathenish all of them cryed out with one voice that they were Christians The Fathers writ against Iulian they fight not they vsed their pennes not their armes they strooke the Apostata with their arguments not with their weapons as they dealt afterward with Constantius and Valens hereticall Emperors But your Cardinals and Fathers do vndertake the § 61 businesse against Princes not with the penne but with the sword assoone as they bee denounced excommunicate for heresie and releasing their subiects from the Oath of allegeance tell them they may beare armes against them hauing beene sometimes their Princes and doe obtrude this as a principall head of Catholicke Religion making much for the saluation of their soules Although I haue lighted vpon some who before the sentence denounced by the Church hold that an hereticall Prince by right for the very act Caietane is to be remoued forcibly by the subiects But Caietane denieth that the subiects may be absolued before the sentence bee publickely denounced Very franckly that he will allow somewhat to an hereticall Prince But Alanus will haue all Heretickes not only after they be by name particularly denounced Alanus but by law and ipso facto as they say assoone as they beginne to appeare hereticall or be by law excommunicated should be put from their kingdomes For as Fame so Heresie Gathers strength by going forward Alanus is somewhat more earnest in the matter then Caietane who pronounceth that warre to be holy iust and honourable which subiects vndertake against their hereticall Prince and doth aduise the valiant Englishmen to take part with the enemie against the Queene But after our Cardinall had deliuered his opinion as Apollo from his three footed stoole Philop. 194. Philopater doth boldly affirme that it is an opinion certaine and of faith and vndoubtedly held of all the learned and agreeable to Apostolicall doctrine that euery Christian Prince if he flatly fall from the Catholicke religion and call others from the same to fall presently from all his power and dignitie by the force of Gods law and mans law and that before the sentence of the supreame Pastor and Iudge be denounced against him and that all manner of subiects are free from euery bond of Oath which they should by obedience haue performed to a lawfull Prince and that they may and ought if they haue power cast out from the gouernment of Christians such a man as an Apostata or Hereticke and a Renegate from Christ the Lord and an vtter enemie to the common weale § 62 There is an