Antichrist therein Why because their hearts are hardned their vnderstandings are forestalled with preiudice the veile is ouer their eyes they walke in darknesse and will not see the light For such I will pray that God would open their hearts that they may entertaine his sauing Truth But for my selfe and others who haue bin in the like condition with mee whose eyes were blinded with the glorie of Babylon for as Zebul said vnto Gaal Iudic 9.36 the shadow of the Mountaynes seeme men vnto thee so the shadow of many things seemed a substance of verity vnto vs I will thanke God for that he hath opened our eyes to see this mysterie and misery of Babylon that she is fallen that she is gone into perdition that God hath destroyed her for euer Credo Domine O Lord I beleeue thy Word not my owne reason which I captiuate into the obedience of faith and therefore I pray with thine Apostles O Lord increase our faith Luke 17.5 that we may beleeue thy Word And thus much bee spoken concerning the first cause why the Fall of Babylon which is yet to come is expressed by a time alreadie past SECONDLY by this forme and tenour of speech God doth euidently declare vnto his Church the truth and certaintie of his promise in the destruction of Babylon that we may repose securely in this expectation of her ruine his dixit is a fecit it is spoken and it is done in regard of his infallible Word and constant promise And that wee may more cleerely vnderstand this point we must obserue a double kinde of Prophesie in the holy Scriptures The FIRST is a Prophesie of Commination as God did threaten the fall of Niniueh within fortie dayes but hee threatned her fall that she might not fall for the effect of such a Prophesie dependeth vpon our comportment and carriage thereupon toward God by Repentance and therefore it hath a condition implyed here though not expressed as sometimes it is Ieremie 18.7 8. vpon which the execution doth stay or go forth according as we performe or neglect the same So that this Prophesie is conditionall and not absolute it contayneth Gods sentence and not his Decree and therefore it is expressed in the future tense Nineueh shall fall In this case the Prophesie is changeable if we be changed and therefore God calleth vs to Repentance that we may escape his iudgements And though this kind of Prophesie be not now particularly directed against thy Countrey nor thy person as in the holy Scriptures it is often so directed against such a Nation such a Citie and such a man yet as the generall comminations of God against sinners doe include vs and will take hold vpon vs if wee returne not vnto God with the teares of true repentance so the particular examples of his comminations denounced and executed against some Cities and some persons doe by equall reason and a like cause appertaine vnto vs according to the rule and obseruation of our blessed Sauiour Except you amend your liues you shall likewise perish Luk. 13.3 5. When Nineueh is threatned by Ionah England is threatned when her ruine is declared by Nahum how can England be secure Pares culpâ cur impares poena why is she vnlike to Nineueh in punishment who is so like to her in sinne wee feare the destruction and not the sinne the effect and not the cause But it is the Lords Mercies that wee are not consumed The SECOND is a Prophesie of Predestination as I may call it depending indeed vpon our sinne but yet resolued by God as well as declared in which respect it is absolute and not conditionall once decreed and neuer reuoked concluded in Gods immutable counsell foreseene in his infallible prescience and it is rather pronounced then denounced by him Therefore it is expressed either in the time past as heere in my Text and Esay 21.9 or in the time present though the effect doe not yet appeare For wee may obserue that in the Prophesie of Ionah there being a commination against her at that time it is deliuered in the future tense Nineueh shall fall but in the Prophesie of Nahum there being now a resolution of God declared concerning her subuersion it is deliuered in the present tense the Horseman lifteth vp the bright Sword a multitude is slaine they stumble vpon their corpses Chap. 3.3 and then in the seuenth Verse Nineueh is destroyed So that in this kind of Prophesie these two tenses to wit the present and the preterperfect haue a coincident sense and purpose concerning an infallibilitie of the euent Whence it is that the Prophet Esay ioyneth them both together in the Passion of Christ and Mysterie of our Redemption saying of him that he is despised he is a man full of sorrowes he is brought as a sheepe vnto the slaughter Esay 53.3.7 as well as hee was oppressed he was afflicted c. Thus wee see by the conference of Scriptures that the fall of Babylon here certified vnto vs in the time past it is fallen doth truly import an ineuitable euent a sentence neuer to bee recalled proceeding from a decree neuer to bee changed because God hereby doth insinuate vnto our knowledge that shee would not bee renewed by repentance and that hee would not conferre that grace vpon her but leaue her to perish in the course of her owne sinnes And this truth is farther assured and amplified by al the circumstances preceding her ruine accompanying her ruine following her ruine in three seueral chapters 17.18.19 in such large and ample termes that the very Image of Babylon in all these things is effectually and liuely exhibited thereby vnto our eyes as a matter of present action rather then future accomplishment rather to be seene then to be beleeued Wherefore the promise of God being thus verified vnto vs in this forme and manner of speech let vs by the way make a little reflection vpon this point for our vse and obseruation as being of so great consequence for the benefit of Gods children and aduancement of his truth First then the fidelitie of Gods promise herein doth exclude and confute their errour who suppose that this is a prophecie of Commination onely and not of Resolution against Romish Babylon as though shee might turne from her sinnes and consequently God might turne from his wrath In which opinion S. Hierome himselfe was involued as it appeareth in his darke vncertaine and perplexed discourse touching Babylon and her ruine in the conclusion of his second book against Iovinian whose errors did then begin to possesse many in Rome and to intangle them in his snare composed artificially out of sundry passages of the Scripture Wherevpon S. Hierome maketh a patheticall Apostrophe vnto Rome in this manner I will speake vnto thee O Rome which by the confession of Christ hast blotted out of thy forehead the blasphemy written therein There the name Babylon is laid vpon Ethnicall Rome as if Rome were afterward to bee discharged
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
MYSTICAL BABYLON OR Papall Rome A Treatise vpon those words APOCAL 18.2 It is fallen it is fallen BABYLON c. In which the wicked and miserable condition of Rome as shee now is in her present Babylonian estate and as she shall be in her future ineuitable ruine is fully discouered And sundry Controuersiall points of Religion betwixt the Protestants and the Papists are briefly discussed By Theophilus Higgons Rector of the Parochiall Church of Hunton neere Maidstone in KENT PSAL. 119.126 It is time for thee LORD to lay to thine hand for they haue destroyed thy Law LONDON Printed by William Stansby for Matthew Lownes and William Barret 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR HENRY MOVNTAGV Knight Baron of KIMBOLTON Viscount MAVNDEVILLE Lord President of his MAIESTIES most Honorable Priuie Counsaile Right noble and truly Christian LORD SInce I haue presumed to appeare thus in publique and to treate peculiarly of this subiect Mysticall Babylon rather then of any other and finally to recommend this Treatise vnto your fauourable patronage I stand therefore obliged to expresse my Motiues and Reasons in the two former points for the generall satisfaction of others and in the last for the particular of your Honorable Selfe As for the FIRST I am not mooued vpon any oblique respect to take vp the Sword of my Pen in this spirituall warfare I am not vexed with the ambition of preferment nor affectation of applause for I desire earnestly of God that the diuine sentence of Saint Paul may bee deeply grauen in my heart The World is crucified vnto me and I vnto the World Neither am I prouoked vnto this designe out of any spleene or vindictiue humour against the Church of Rome or any person therein and indeed I haue beene so farre from giuing them any speciall distaste that I haue obserued the tearmes of ciuill and morall respect towards some of them to my greater preiudice then I will either bragge or complaine of vnto the World But the true and proper causes are these First I am bound as a dutifull Sonne of my Mother-Church from whose sacred breasts I drew the first nutriment of my faith to succour and comfort her in her distressed estate while the little Foxes of Rome eate vp her Grapes and the wild Boare thereof seeketh to enter into the Vineyard of God And therefore since euery man indued with any facultie of writing should performe his seruice vnto the Church of God especially when and where the contagion of Heresie doth dilate it selfe as Saint Augustine doth grauely aduise I could not bee silent in so necessarie a time for as wee shall answere vnto God for our idle words so wee shall answere vnto him for our dangerous silence Secondly to make some satisfaction thereby vnto the Church of God which being vniustly wronged by my meanes doth iustly challenge this remedie of my paines that the hand which hath hurt her may somewhat helpe her and that as I haue made a wound so I may make a cure againe Thirdly to procure the sweete peace of my conscience towards God that I may heale the wound which I haue formerly made vnto my owne soule Christian Wisdome teaching me to powre some Oile into that to supple it which hath found so much Vineger to fret it and therefore I am resolued to neglect all troubles without that I may find this comfort within Fourthly to exempt hereby all scruple out of their hearts who desire to vnderstand the state and disposition of my conscience in the matter of Religion For as Saint Hierome being vehemently suspected of the infection of Origens errours did therefore diuert that suspition by cleere publication of his mind in writing That they who would not beleeue his tongue in his deniall might yet beleeue his Pen in his refutation thereof as hee doth ingeniously write in this behalfe so I find my selfe very deeply charged in the point of conscience and discretion to giue sufficient notice vnto all the sonnes of my Mother touching my Faith and Religion by some Treatise now to bee published vnto the World and to remayne I hope after my decease as a Record what I doe certainly beleeue concerning the doctrine of faith professed in this Church of England and oppugned by the Church of Rome SECONDLY therefore I haue made speciall election of this subiect concerning Rome and her ruine as being of greatest importance in it self and specially in these dayes For whereas the most vsuall subiects of disputation betwixt vs and the Papists are particular and therefore haue a particular issue of veritie or falshood therein this is of an higher nature of a larger extent and of a more generall effect for that it doth concerne not onely a part of her doctrine but the whole being of the Church of Rome it toucheth not a branch or two but the very root it selfe it reacheth not onely vnto a piece of her building but vnto the very foundation thereof And therefore this disputation viz. Whether and How the name of Babylon in the visions of Saint Iohn doth agree vnto Rome is of singular consequence thereby to confront the audacious insultations of her politike Agents to giue an Antidote against the poyson which they seeke to instill into many vnsetled hearts that so they who are fallen from the truth may bee happily reduced vnto it and they who are falling may be strongly confirmed in the same Now THIRDLY and lastly it remaineth most worthy Lord that I make true remonstrance of the causes which haue bred this confidence in mee to offer vp this little Treatise vpon the Altar of your Honourable fauour I speake not of your descent and extraction out of a Noble Family nor of your high degree of Honour nor of your speciall aduancement in the State for which respects many men apply themselues vnto the seruice and attendance of great persons but aboue all things I am comforted in your sincere and constant profession of the Truth which grace seemeth to be hereditarie in your House as being spectable in all the branches thereof Since therefore Greatnesse and Goodnesse haue mutuall coniunction in your Lordships person I cannot suppose that a Worke of this nature can want your acceptation nor the Author thereof your protection Whereof also I conceiue the greater hope because I haue knowne heretofore by the double testimonie of mine eyes and eares the gracious inclination of your Honour towards mee and that onely for the Truths sake and the Words sake as indeed I haue euer found them to be my most assured and certaine friends that haue affected mee in this regard But if I should need or seeke any externall or farther motiue to induce your Honour to vouchsafe your patronage vnto mee and vnto this Treatise I would not goe out of your owne Family though it must bee from the liuing to the dead but I would intreate it by the deare and precious memory of that religious learned most accomplished Prelate your famous Brother
First Beast Apocal. 13.1 till the Second Beast Apocal. 13.11 by his artificiall proiects and the popular applause of the Citizens diuested and disseized the true Lord of his ancient right For Leo the lawfull Emperour of Rome residing in Constantinople as many of his Predecessours before him was excommunicated by Gregorie the Second bearing the name but not hauing the disposition of the first his subiects were released by Apostolicall dispensation from their Oath of Alleageance and vpon these proceedings the Romanes like wicked Traytours submitted their Citie vnto the Pope a more wicked Traytour then they as vnto their Souereigne Lord if that bee true which the Iesuite Azorius doth affirme Instit Moral part 2. lib. 4. c. 20. Thus the old Lord beeing vniustly depriued a new Lord entred vniustly into his place The second concerneth the Papall intrusion vpon Infidels for hee must goe out of the World that will goe out of his reach vpon whose estates also and Kingdomes this Babylonian Monarch stretcheth out the line of his Apostolicall power Witnesse America poore distressed America in the liberall donation of large and ample Territories therein vnto the Kings of Spaine For he was a Pope but a Catiline a Iudas the man of sinne or rather of all sinnes euen that execrable villaine Alexander the sixt who out of his meere motion and liberalitie as the Beast roareth in his Bull to that purpose did bestow all the great and mightie Kingdomes in these parts vpon Ferdinand King of Arragon and Elizabeth Queene of Castile and vpon their heires for euer Therefore Francis Lopez in his generall Historie of the Westerne Indies lib. 1. cap. 19. expressing the title and interest of the said Princes in these rich and spacious Kingdomes setteth downe the Bull of Alexander the sixt who out of his Papall authoritie and particular affection to his Countrey freely and powerfully bestowed them vpon the said Princes and their heires to this end and purpose That all men may vnderstand saith hee that the conquest and conuersion of these Countreyes which the Spaniards doe make is by the authoritie and donation of the great Vicar of Iesus Christ Is this then the title and right which Spaine pretendeth to haue in this new and other World Is this the colour and pretense for the cruell and infinite effusion of bloud humane though not Christian in these miserable Countreyes whereof Benzo an Italian and Bartholomaeus à Casa himselfe a Spaniard doe so pittifully complaint conuerted now as you may perceiue vnto Christian Religion so powerfully by the Sword Wherefore I may truly say that euery drop of Indian bloud shed in this discouery and conquest shall be required of Babylon as truly guiltie of the same according to the prediction of the Angell In her was found the bloud of all them that were slaine vpon the earth namely in the Dominions of Infidels as well as of the Prophets and of the Saints in the Christian World it selfe Apocal. 18.24 And now because the diligent obseruation of this particular prepareth vs vnto a fourth Comparison betwixt the Literall Babylon and Papall Rome therefore I pray you to cast your eyes backe a little vpon this passage of the Scripture that so you may looke forward the better vnto the sequele of my speech Well saith the Angell that the bloud of ALL MEN slaine vpon the earth was found in Babylon for in her is the bloud of these Indians in her is the bloud of her owne Pseudo-Catholikes shed in England by the Sword of Iustice in her is the bloud of all them that perish in for or by her designes in her is the bloud of many Christians shed for the truth of Gods Word in so many Countreyes in her is the bloud of many thousand persons shed vpon the contentions of her Popes in her is the bloud of so many people taking armes vpon her incantations against their Souereigne Lords in her is the bloud of so many thousand Christians in their vnlawfull warres against other Princes vpon her prouocations in her is the bloud of many poore subiects against whom she hath incited their owne Princes Thus Rome began in the bloud of two brethren it increased in the bloud of many neighbours it was inlarged by the bloud of many Prouinces it stood in the bloud of many subiects it continued in the bloud of many people first by Emperours lastly by Popes and it shall end in the bloud of her selfe and her followers as you shall see more cleerely hereafter when wee come vnto the second part of my Text. Meane while I proceed vnto a new comparison which fitly taketh its beginning from the end of this discourse The FOVRTH Comparison betwixt Literall Babylon and Papall Rome THe fourth point then wherein this comparison doth stand is CRVELTIE bloudie crueltie very spectable in that ancient Monarchie the figure of the Papall as the Scriptures themselues in the two Prophets Esay and Ieremy besides ciuill Histories doe sufficiently deduce vnto our knowledge vnto which for breuitie sake I must now remit you as men expert and skilfull in the sacred Sriptures it being a great part of your happinesse that you haue Gods Word in your owne tongue which many other Nations though bearing the name of Christians doe not enioy to read it and obserue it for your instruction and vnspeakable comfort Well then let vs leaue the first and come vnto the second Babylon which in this point of barbarous and inhumane crueltie exceedeth all example of Ages past and preuenteth the example of all that are to come vnlesse it be in the persecutions which she perhaps may yet raise against the Church of God for the instruments of crueltie are in their habitations which Iacob spake of his bloudie sonnes and I may speake it of our more bloudie mother Her voice is the voice of bloud Surge Petre Paule quinte Occide c. Arise O Paul the fift in name but Peter in Office so is euery Pope and therefore none taketh that name vpon him when in their entrance vpon the Papacie they leaue their former Christian names as comming vnto an Antichristian place arise and kill the Venetians saith that flattering false cruell Baronius their learned Cardinall kill them with thy thunderbolts which rarely kill any but men of softer metall despoile them of their Dominion expose them vnto ruine because they dare so insolently resist thy great and mightie power Heere was a killing Text in deed especially by vertue of SAINT PETERS name who knew well how to handle a Sword and because hee cut off a seruants eare why may not his successours cut off a Princes head For what Text if it touch Saint Peter doth not animate and confirme these Babylonian Monarchs vnto Depositions Assassinates Poysons though in their sacred Hoast it selfe as Henry the sixt the Emperour knew very well by wofull experience and finally to ruinate Christian Princes that dare withstand their Antichristian pride Yet wonder not at the former Text for that
of this horrible treason by Sixtus in his Oration pronounced vnto the Cardinalls in his Consistorie to this purpose Bellarmine doth confidently answere that this Oration was neuer deliuered by the Pope that hee liuing in Rome heard no mention of it that the Cardinalls conuersing then in the Court protested that they neuer had any knowledge of the same and so the point is vtterly denied and must bee reputed for a deuice of such as were the enemies of the Church O bloudie Citie it is all full of lyes saith Nahum the Prophet of Nineuch and I may now so speake of Rome for here is lying added vnto murthering impudencie vnto crueltie what veritie then what equitie what conscience can you expect from her Note therefore that amongst some Romish Priests that tooke and defended the Oath of Alleageance though for this cause they haue beene censured publikely in the Sermons of some Iesuites by the name of Wolues such as had no commission to teach to absolue to minister the Sacraments c. as hauing lost their whole authoritie by taking this Oath and perswading others to doe the like to the high preiudice and impugnation of S. Peters Seate from whence it was deriued there was one William Warmington Chaplaine vnto Cardinall Allen vpon the very time that this panegyricall Oration proceeded from that vaine-glorious Pope who by his Pontificiall excommunication deposed our late gracious Queene and now in a solemne speech commended the murther by way of admiration which Clement had perpetrated vpon the sacred person of that vnhappy Prince This Warmington therefore in a booke published for the defence of the said Oath doth freely and ingenuously confesse that this Oration being vttered in the Consistorie by Sixtus the Pope his Lord and Master being then and there present was earnestly requested by some of the Cardinalls to recollect the speech of his Holinesse and to commit the same to writing which he being a man of singular memorie did accordingly performe with the commendations and thankes of the said Cardinalls affirming that to their best remembrance this coppie presented vnto them by Cardinall Allen did truely containe word for word the verie Oration pronounced vnto them by his Holinesse so that this was the originall and Mother-coppie whence so many transcripts were made and issued forth into the publike view And he saith further that his speciall friend Master William Rainolds author of Caluino-Turcismus remaining then in the Low Countries and receiuing a transcript of the said coppie from him conceiued the said speech to bee a certaine approbation of that fact as indeed the forme and matter thereof doe sufficiently euince O Bellarmine where is thy conscience of the truth O Sixtus where is thy tender respect of Christian bloud yea more of Princes and yet more of the first borne and eldest sonne of thy Church O Babylon where is thy shame that darest thus admire approoue extoll without one word or syllable of dislike that ingenuitie is not in thy whorish breast such a murther so wickedly executed and vpon so great a Prince FIFTHLY and lastly the crueltie of Babylon appeareth by her doctrines tending to the effusion of bloud She can depose Kings from their States shee can absolue Subiects from their Alleageance she can bestow Kingdomes at her pleasure shee can stirre vp hostile inuasions shee can authorize secret murthers of Princes by Daggers Poysons or any other detestable meanes as you shall heare in my second Sermon from Mariana a Iesuite as farre from the true nature of Iesus as neere vnto his sacred name Hence it is that many Emperours and Princes in ancient times fearefully obseruing the powerfull incantations of Babylon and that their liues with their estates stood by vertue thereof in perpetuall danger for he may easily take away the life of another that contemneth his owne as many inchanted Babylonians doe were therefore compelled by humane feare to entertaine that vnitie and correspondencie with her in outward tearmes which they hated and contemned in their inward thoughts For as Porsenna the ancient King of Hetruria was induced to spare the life and farther torment of Mutius a confident and glorious Romane who offered priuate violence vnto his Royall person when hee heard Mutius solemnely protesting that the death of Porsenna was certainly concluded vpon by a number of Romanes no lesse resolute vnto that action then himselfe and no lesse resolued to suffer any torment then to aduenture vpon any perill for that end and purpose and thereupon Porsenna desisting from his warres made a peace with the Romanes out of feare and not of loue so there haue beene sundry Princes in former Ages that perceiuing this vehement and formidable inclination in the Romanists to act any villanie and to suffer any penaltie so that they might attaine vnto their desired end to subuert Kingdomes to depose Kings to lay violent hands vpon their persons c. were thereby inforced to submit themselues vnto the Babylonian Monarch rather choosing to liue vnder his tyrannie then to die by his designes Thus also euery man that standeth in speciall opposition vnto Babylon the Mother of Murthers may truly say with Dauid There is but a step betweene me and death 1. Sam. 20.3 Howbeit that should bee the resolution of euery Christian Prince in the behalfe of Gods truth which was the reckoning of vertuous Hester in the behalfe of her people If I perish I perish Yet feare not O Religious Princes it is Gods cause which you maintaine therefore hee will also maintaine you he will defend the defenders of his Faith hee hath a better guard of holy Angels about your Royall persons The diffidence of his preseruation in any ariseth from the imbecillitie of faith not resting vpon his word and promise If the noble aspect of Scipio bred such an awfull reuerence in the hearts of theeues and murtherers that they did therefore rather admire his vertue then seeke his life when they came into his presence doubt yee not but that God will worke such an impression of feare in the hearts of Babylonian Traytors that they shall not dare attempt or at the least not effectuate any course of violence and iniquitie against your sacred Persons Finally to conclude this point of Romish crueltie let no faithfull and sincerely affected Nazianzen an earnest Preacher a zealous Writer a well deseruing Prelate or Minister in the Church despaire of Gods protection though a Murtherer dare vndertake to assaile him in any priuate manner or secret place as sometimes it fell out in the case of that learned constant and glorious Bishop related by himselfe in the description of his owne life Be couragious then in the behalfe of Gods eternall truth feare not the crueltie of Babylon death is the debt of Nature by the desert of sinne to die for Gods cause it is an act of glorie in this World and it hath a reward in Heauen Let thy tongue therefore speake and thy pen write and thy heart pray let
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
causes vnto the vassals of the POPE let them contemne the imposition of it though they cannot auoid it but yet they shall neuer decline this title which the sacred Scripture it selfe so anciently so notably so ineuitably doth fasten vpon them to their outward shame and inward griefe Let them glorie in Rome which the Scripture declareth to be Babylon if it be any glorie to triumph in her that from exaltation as the name of Rome doth signifie in the holy tongue shall come to confusion as the name of Babylon doth import the name is changed Rome into Babylon the state is changed glorie into shame Know then O vnhappie children of the Romane Synagogue that you are Babylonians carrying the name of your Mother according to the verdict of Scripture as well as Papists carrying the name of your Father according to the proofe of reason So then we will speake with the Scripture and not with Luther you are Babylonians this is your name answere vnto it for by it you stand indicted at the Barre of the diuine iudgement SEVENTHLY if Rome be Babylon and we must goe out of it why doe some men perswade you to goe vnto her or at the least to meete her As if the differences in Religion betwixt you and her were not so materiall but that you may relinquish your opinions or else not so reall but that you and shee by the aduise of some Modificators and temperate men might bee reconciled together But I will discouer the impossibilitie of their deuise by foure euident and perspicuous Reasons First there are many points which admit no reconciliation especially such as concerne the Subiect namely whether the thing vpon which we dispute simply bee or bee not at all As for example the Papists dispute amongst themselues whether Purgatorie bee in Hell whether it haue a corporall fire whether Deuills be the Tormentors whether a soule bee in it for ten or one hundred yeares c. but they dispute not among themselues by way of doubt whether there bee a Purgatorie or not for they differ onely about the Praedicata or attributes thereof whereas they all agree concerning the Subiect that there is an estate of soules in temporall paine Now wee denie the Subiect it selfe and therefore the question proposed betwixt vs and them is Whether there be any PVRGATORIE or not Which either is or it is not and so there is no reconciliation in the differences of this nature betwixt vs and them for betwixt est and non est it is and it is not there is no middle thing But if the question be de Praedicato how this or that agreeth vnto the subiect as namely what reall presence of Christs bodie is in the Sacrament heere perhaps some reconciliation might haue beene deuised in this behalfe had not they in this and so in many other points excluded all meanes of reconciliation also by their definitions resolutions and modifications of the Praedicate in such a manner as cannot consist with the truth of Gods Word and euident principles of reason As namely they haue defined the reall presence to be by Transubstantiation of the Elements into the bodie and bloud of Christ hauing an inuisible existencie vnder the formes of Bread and Wine This modification beeing thus concluded by them and now reputed an essentiall Article of Faith there is no meanes of reconciliation in this case also nor in many other points of like qualitie and condition vnto this for what communion hath light with darknesse Secondly therefore they haue by certaine Councels the infallible and irreuocable Oracles of their Religion so defined and so resolued these and many other things that if wee cannot come to them in their points in regard of certaine falshood or of vncertaine truth in them they cannot come to vs in our points in regard of their owne principles from which if they once depart they renuerse and ouerthrow the very foundation of all their faith standing wholy vpon their late Councels and Popes Whence it is that they giue vs no leaue to speake dogmatically and problematically of the meanest point in their Religion as of Purgatorie Indulgences c. in such a manner as that the point may haue a supposed truth or that it may haue a possible falshood but they bind vs to receiue it indisputably as to be beleeued by necessitie and vpon the certaine perill of saluation and the reason is because as Bellarmine teacheth De Laicis cap. 19. § Quintò There is one and but one rule of faith whereby wee beleeue all and euery point of faith namely the Word of God expounded by the Church meaning their late Romane Church Therefore it is all one danger to deny all their Articles or to deny but any one Article Indulgences or the like resolued by a Councell and so propounded by their Church which if shee had a certaintie of errour in one point should haue an vncertainetie of truth in all Where then is the meanes of reconciliation or what reconciliation can you make while they insist in this course You must come wholy to them for they will not come in any one part or parcell vnto you and that were not a reconciliation with Rome but a submission vnto her Thirdly the Babylonians haue assumed vnto themselues the onely power of calling Councells the most proper meanes to determine all matters of Religion by the verdict of Gods Word and testimony of his Church the onely suffrages to define the onely authoritie of doing and proceeding after their owne pleasure and finally an vnquestionable infallibilitie to oblige vs vnto that which they canonically resolue and conclude Where then is the meanes of reconciliation If they could retrograde and goe backe from any point alreadie determined by them or from this course of determination it would bee as great a miracle vnto vs as the retrocession or going backe of the Sun in the dyall of Ahaz Fourthly and lastly the Babylonians themselues defie this businesse of reconciliation they scorne it as ridiculous they detest it as odious they reiect it as impossible Therefore when Cassander as being a moderate Pontifician entred vpon this designe the rigid and more seuere Babylonians as namely Iohannes à Louanio wrote vehemently and sharply against this attempt whom Bellarmine de Laicis cap. 19. doth follow insisting in the same steps Whence it is that Master Robert Parsons the Iesuite writeth in his Treatise of Mitigation precisely in this manner Wee agree with the Protestants in this that there can bee no agreement betwixt vs and them in Religion Chap. 2. num 5. Wherefore I may well approoue the aduised and iudicious answere of Beza vnto the late vnhappy French King Henrie the fourth That hee would endeauour to reconcile the persons Protestants and Papists but not their Religions the first being a charitable office the second an impossible worke To conclude this obseruation then be not deceiued by the pretenders of Reconciliation who would intangle your mindes with
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
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
meritorious cause of her fall Apoc. 17.2 The Kings of the earth haue committed fornication with her and the Inhabitants of the earth are drunken with the wine of her fornication to wit in her Ecclesiasticall State Then secondly we heare of the efficient cause of her fall v. 17. God hath put in the hearts of the ten Kings to fulfill his will and to doe with one consent for to giue their Kingdome vnto the Beast How long Vntill the words of God bee fulfilled What then They shall hate the whore and make her desolate and naked and burne her with fire Vpon what motion From God as the Text doth plainly beare And therefore our most learned and prudent Souereigne doth truly and aptly obserue in this place The hearts of the greatest Kings as well as of the smallest subiects are in the hands of the Lord to make them his instruments and to turne them as it shall please him to employ them Here then I note three things FIRST though Kings may bee carried by their proper motion of malice or auarice or of some other affection in their warres against some people and in bringing them to ruine yet therein we may obserue and must confesse that it is digitus Dei Gods finger or rather Gods hand in this worke So Nebuchadnezzar himselfe a cruell proud insolent Prince in his warres did so performe the will and purpose of God therein that God himselfe giueth him the title of his seruant and commendeth his seruice done vnto him not only against his enemies a people that knew not his Lawes as it is Ezekiel 29.18 but also against his owne people Ieremy 25.9 And so in his sacred expugnation of Babylon these Kings are Gods seruants they doe their worke from him and hee doth his worke by them Therefore Saint Ambrose or whosoeuer is the Author of that Commentarie vpon the Reuelation doth ingeniously deliuer his iudgement vpon the words of my Text Babylon is fallen it being here the voyce of God to declare it the hand of God to effect it that in this case dixisse Dei fecisse est dixit enim cecidisse Babylonem quia ipse fecit vt caderet The speech of God is the worke of God for hee said that Babylon is fallen because he brought it to passe that Babylon should fall SECONDLY we may heere consider that as there is mercie in God to receiue vs vnto grace so there is Iustice in him to punish our sinnes Marciâ— knew not this but because of different operations proceeding from God hee made a diuersitie of Gods one good another iust or rather cruell one the maker of the body another of the soule one whom he would loue another whom he would feare one in the Law another in the Gospell But wee know one God alone onely good onely wise onely gracious whose mercie is free and proceedeth from himselfe whose iustice is right and is prouoked by vs for as wee haue malum culpae to offend him so hee hath malum poenae to afflict vs. Amos 3.6 Esay 45.7 THIRDLY and lastly though Reason may seeme to perswade vs as it perswadeth Babylon her selfe that she is so strengthened by the confederacy of Princes as in many dangers shee hath not neglected the tearmes of prudencie in this behalfe by the amitie of her Friends by the diligence of her Negotiators by the policie of her Counsellours by the art of her Learning by the abundance of her Riches and finally by a generall confluence of all outward meanes for the supportation of her Estate that shee shall neuer fall for so she saith in her heart I sit being a Queene and am no Widdow and shall see no mourning Apoc. 18.7 yet Faith assureth me that her owne Friends her owne Vp-holders her hornes these ten Kings her old Louers shall bring her downe to the Earth to fall so low that shee can fall no lower I meane not in place and situation but in condition and estate Now if Rome aske or if my owne reason demand of me how can this be I answere God hath said it and hee will doe it I haue heard his Word and now I doe expect his Worke. Away then with quomodo how can this or how can that bee when God speaketh and God assureth vs and God reuealeth his Will vnto vs. This Word commeth in with incredulitie and want of faith as the diuine Preacher Saint Chrysostome doth excellently note vpon the question of the Iewes Iohn 6.52 How can this man giue vs his flesh to eate Therefore I rest vpon the truth of God that is it which I beleeue and I am no farther scrupulous in regard of many improbabilities and difficulties which reason suggesteth and presenteth vnto me in this point If I haue as now I haue Gods Word that this Worke shall be performed I am not curious to inquire of the manner and meanes how hee will bring the same to passe And so much concerning the second cause of the fall of Babylon by the cooperation of these Kings The THIRD is an excitant cause inward in respect of the iust wrath of these Kings but outward in respect of the prouocation thereof by the indignities and iniuries of Babylon against the Potentates of the Earth Now as in the first and second causes I had the plaine testimonie of Scripture so heere in this third I haue the certaine assurance of strong reason to confirme and settle my iudgement therein for now I beginne to discouer some impulsiue cause arising from Babylon that stirreth vp these Kings vnto the execution of Gods Worke. First therefore Babylon hath treasonable doctrines against the state and dignitie of Kings though they were the hornes and strength of the second Beast therein as namely to depose Kings from their royall seates yea to take away the faire Titles wherewith she had inuested them before as this Beast had once taken vpon him to depriue Francis the French King of his Title of the most Christian King and to translate it vnto Henry the Eighth of England as Guicciardine their owne Historian doth record though afterward with greater furie and indignation hee proceeded against the same Henry who had beene a principall horne to corroborate and confirme the Maiestie of the Triple Crowne Againe this Babylon exposeth the persons of Princes vnto priuate violences and publike impugnation by their owne subiects as well as their States vnto the Rapine and Inuasion of forreigne power Lastly this Babylon doth aduance her Beast aboue all ciuil Lords and Souereignes not onely by an indirect authoritie ouer them in case of Heresie and for spirituall ends to which opinion onely and no farther a multitude of Babylonians doe incline though with the peremptorie censure of the Beast himselfe and violent oppugnation of his chiefe Adherents in that behalfe but by a direct and superiour authoritie ouer them as Lord of Lords and King of Kings So Boniface the Eighth intruded vpon the Crowne of France but found the strong
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
the Kings of Israel so this excellent Prince destroyed the Baal of Rome and his power within the confines of this Kingdome but in many other things hee still followed the doctrines of Rome but yet so as he conceiued them though vntruly to bee built vpon the Word of God and conformable to the iudgement of the ancient Church I answere therefore FIRST that when these ten Kings shall take vp their Armes against Babylon many Papists of the second and worst degree and acception shall firmely combine with the Pope the second Beast and shall seeke his defence against the incursion of these mightie Kings such Papists I meane as specially the Iesuites are and the Canonists and all such as adore this Beast for his supposed excellencie and glorie so that by the opposition of their owne force and by their excitation of their Adherents they shall make all possible but yet a vaine resistance against this generall enterprise of these potent Kings because they loue reuerence defend with writing propugne with their power and aboue all other Papists maintayne to their vttermost this second Beast in Babylon as their dearest Lord and highest Potentate of the Earth to whom as they say all men must be subiect vpon the necessitie of their saluation SECONDLY therefore I inferre that since the Beast himselfe shall fall with his Babylon as being a fall not only of one particular place but of some great power these Papists also concurring in his defence and opposition of these Kings shall certainely come vnto a finall ruine For as these Kings shall bring the Beast vnto desolation so they will not suffer such to liue as shall by doctrine iustifie and magnifie the power of this Beast which they hate and will destroy or by politike meanes seeke his aduancement or by forcible contradiction procure his supportation and defence against their inuincible armes which by Gods owne warrant they shall take vp against Babylon and against the Antichristian vassals that admire the glorie and follow the poyson of the second Beast therein As for other Papists of inferiour note and not of this marke or stampe I will deliuer my iudgement in the third Branch vnto which therefore I addresse my speech The THIRD Branch concerning POPERY THough this word Popery seemeth to include all erroneous doctrines in the Papal Church which are many in number and not reconciliable with the truth of Gods Word yet we must distinguish heere as wee haue before for that such points as depend vpon the Popes pretended office and beare speciall reference thereunto as namely they are for which some Papists haue their principall denomination as I did obserue in the second branch are truly and really Popish not in regard of the person of this or that Pope as Heresies doe most generally carrie the name of their inuentor and in this case also it were not hard to shew that some Popish doctrines had either their beginning or else their principall corroboration from certaine Popes and might therefore well be stamped with their names but in regard of the Papall See office dignitie and vsurped superioritie of this second Beast and therefore such points of their doctrine and practise issuing from the Pope as he is Pope and not as he is this or that particular person and being a part of the Mysterie of Iniquitie which Saint Paul did foresee are Popish and Poperie and therefore this kind of Poperie connexed to the Papall Seate and Office will haue a certaine end and determination with the fall of the Pope this second Beast whose ruine is implied in the fall of Rome it selfe And therefore we may heere not impertinently obserue that in the points of Popery all are not of one and equall degree but such doe specially beare the marke and cognisance of Antichristianitie as do more highly aduance this beast in his pretended authoritie ouer all Kings and ciuill States ouer all Churches and Ecclesiasticall persons in and ouer the consciences of men in which he setteth vp his Dominion to reigne therein and finally whereby hee doth most neerely oblige and tye men vnto him by the glorious ostentation of his great and sacred power Secondly there are other points of Poperie not vniustly so called as being defined by Papall Councels whose infallible Decrees depend vpon the Popes assent as being parts of that corrupt bodie of erroneous doctrine which is taught in his Synagogue sustayned by his authoritie defended by his Writers propugned by secular Princes as seruants of the Pope though stiled by more honourable names finally such as tend to the confirmation of the Pope and that Babylonian Church in which the mysterie of iniquitie beginning long agoe hath now fully declared it selfe in so great an Apostasie and defection from the truth And if you require a speciall catalogue of these Popish errours they are for the greatest part comprised in the twelue Articles of the new Creed framed and proposed by Pope Sixtus quartus in Bulla super forma iuramenti professionis fidei which containe the principall errours of the Papall Beast and of the Papists miserably seduced therein from the integritie of Gods Word and extreamely different from the Catholike sense of the more pure and ancient Church I answere therefore when God shall deliuer his Church from the Aegyptian bondage which it suffereth vnder this Babylonian Beast that in due probabilitie of reason if not all yet many of these more grosse absurd and enormious errours now predominant in the Church of Rome shall be corrected by the more sound and Christian iudgement euen of those who liue in the outward communion of the Romish Church for there neuer wanted some more Religious spirits that did dislike oppose and seeke to redresse the growing and growne errours therein and that Christian Princes shall willingly concurre to the reformation of Popish errours when a more free and indifferent course shall be opened for a generall Councell then can be yet obtained while this Babylonian Beast doth reigne to treate dispute and conclude vpon things which appertaine vnto the peace and puritie of the Church To conclude this passage therefore I shall intreat your prudent and iudicious consideration of three markable points which I now tender and present vnto your religious hearts The FIRST that the Church of Rome as it standeth at this day offending rather in additions vnto Gods truth in regard whereof they foolishly call ours a Negatiue Religion which doth truly deny and iustly impugne their additions then in subtractions from the same though they erre also in this kind taking lawfull authoritie from the ciuill Magistrate taking halfe the Communion from the Laitie taking away the Word of God from the people by concealing it in an vnknowne tongue c. and so in other things against which therefore our doctrine is affirmatiue in opposition of their errours I say that the Church of Rome doth hold and teach the fundamentall points of Christian Religion positiuely in the Articles of the
Creed though it haue some doctrines that by force of consequence may seeme to contradict the same and that this Church of Rome doth well and soundly conceiue of many great and principall points as namely of the two Natures and one Person of Christ as learned Zanchius himselfe doth confesse de Incarnat lib. 2. cap. 9. and elsewhere but it doth erre chiefly and dangerously in the Office of our Sauiour Iesus Christ by destroying the merit of his Passion and by false application thereof not onely by the meanes of Holy water and other Babylonian inuentions but by such meanes as are contrarie and repugnant thereunto as namely by the paines of Purgatorie where our Satisfaction concurreth with his and his is applied by ours as the Booke of Cardinall Peron passing vnder the name of Master Henry Constable doth blasphemously teach Finally then her many truths cannot iustifie her prodigious errours her many errours cannot infringe her certaine truths but the truths therein cannot so securely saue as the errours therein will greatly endanger the soule of any Babylonian captiue inthralled and insnared with the perill of truly Popish errours The SECOND point therefore is this that all particularities which beare the name of Poperie in the censure and iudgement of some men are not so in truth but are so esteemed by reason of their ignorance and precipitation and for want of experience in the Monuments of venerable antiquitie as being carried with the affection of Aëtius who as Socrates doth report l. 2. c. 28. conuersed not in the Bookes of ancient Writers but reiected such as were of greatest reputation in the Church following the sophisticall conclusions of his owne captious braine Hence it is that the intemperate Anabaptists condemne the baptisme of Children as the inuention of a Pope Hence it is that the pestilent Trinitarians profanely teach that the doctrine of the Trinitie is the fable of a Pope and that therfore this popish mysterie is aptly signified in the triple Crowne Hence it is that the certaine and indubious distinction of a Bishop and a Presbyter the first hauing a paternall superioritie ouer the second in the administration of the Church is by some Aërian spirits branded with the note of a Popish Hierarchy as being ignorant in the perpetuall gouernment of the Church or presumptuous against all ages and all succession in the same Hence it is that the few innocent conuenient Ceremonies in this Church issuing from the practise of the reuerend learned and holy Fathers are scandalized with the contemptuous name of Popery But by whom By men commonly of vnlearned hearts strong passions and weake iudgements so that as I obserued before whatsoeuer thing they dislike it is Popery and whatsoeuer person they distast hee is Popish in their poore conceits Much like though not in hereticall opinion yet in simple carriage vnto the followers of Artemon who taught that Christ was a pure Man without any diuine Nature and pretended that this true and ancient doctrine was first corrupted by Zepherine a Bishop of Rome as Eusebius doth relate l. 5. c. 25. So ancient is this course To end this point therfore I wish all men of ingenious mindes to conceiue wisely of Popery what is so to bee esteemed and all men of religious hearts to detest it with a good conscience grounded vpon a sufficient knowledge The THIRD and last point is this that wee cannot probably conceiue by any deduction of reason in humane discourse that all and singular Articles of Popery which are indeed erroneous and may therefore iustly deserue that name shall euer be totally and fully purged out of the Church of God after the ruine of Babylon but that there will be variable contrarie iudgements of learned men in some matters truly deseruing reformation vntill the finall dissolution of this present world so that in this case wee must beare what we cannot amend and rather enioy our solid vnitie in things of greater importance then vpon euery difference in things of lesser moment make a peruerse distraction in the Church of God and an vnhappy rent in the seamelesse coate of Iesus Christ our Lord remembring to tolerate that for vnitie which yet wee hate in equitie as Saint Augustine doth diuinely speake And thus much concerning the Praedicate in my Text the FALL of Babylon discouered in this my second Sermon I should now entertaine you with some obseruations in the conclusion of this as I did in the end of the first had I not in the perpetual course of this Sermon vpon incident passages taken some occasion by the way to make application of the seuerall points vnto your hearts to shew you the prouidence of God in his ordination of this fall his loue of his Church in his prediction of this fall his vengeance against sinne in his operation of this fall our comfort in knowing this fall our patience in attending this fall our instruction to preuent our owne fall by his Iustice which will ensue vpon our fall from his Truth and Grace an aduertisement to Papists to leaue their Locall communion with Babylon if they dwell within her walls or Spirituall communion if they be deuoted vnto her Beast since both must goe into perdition and therefore finally here is an admonition vnto such as decline from the comfortable truth of Gods Word vnto the darke superstition of Babylonian errours to consider well and seriously in their hearts I goe to BABYLON which shall bee burnt I submit my selfe to that BEAST which shall be destroyed What feare what suspition what terrours will then possesse thy soule what securitie hast thou in such dangers what comfort in such frights what happinesse hast thou when thy Mother Church of Rome and thy Father-Pope therein shall come to so great a ruine Canst thou be innocent when they are guiltie Hast thou no sinne when they are punished Canst thou stand when they fall O consider this yee that forget God lest he take you away and there be none to deliuer you But since these particulars are touched more exactly before therefore I will conclude this Sermon and so my whole Text by stirring vp all degrees and conditions of men vnto the performance of Gods designe that what we yet heare in Verbo prophecied in Gods Word It is fallen it is fallen Babylon c. wee may once see in Opere fulfilled also in Worke. FIRST then I begin with them who are the peculiar instruments of Gods Iustice in this behalfe the ten Kings as the Scripture it selfe doth speake O Noble and Heroicall Princes Gods Vice-gerents armed with his power and sacred with his owne name you haue the speciall place in this warfare God hath prest you vnto this seruice and not onely warranted but required you vnto it You are sent against Rome as Saul against Amalek to destroy it with fire and sword It is no voyage vnto the holy Land where Christ did suffer for our sinnes but to impure Babylon in which as it may