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
de Ciuit. Dei l. 18. c. 18. In Psal 26. enarrat 2. In Psal 61. and though the Homilies vpon the Reuelation passing vnder his name are not his genuine Workes yet they truely containe his opinion in this behalfe Homil. 11. and 16. This sinister and misconceiued interpretation of S. Augustine doth sometime qualifie the feare of Bellarmine who finding that Rome shall be destroyed neere the end of the world by deduction as hee affirmeth out of the Reuelat. cap. 17. Videtur saith he this may seeme so to bee but hee recollecteth himselfe immediately in this manner Augustine with many others doth conceiue that this Citie of Babylon is the generall Citie of the wicked and not the particular Citie of Rome De Rom. Pont. l. 4. c. 4. It is no maruaile that Bellarmine like a man readie to be drowned taketh hold of euery straw for his reliefe The maruaile is rather that Augustine a man so learned so ingenious so iudicious should not cleerely discerne by so many circumstances in the Text that this Babylon is a particular Citie and not a generall Societie and farther that this particular Citie is Rome and not any other place But the glorious lustre of the then present state of Rome in the Empire so potent and in the Church so religious might and certainly did breed an eclipse of this euident truth vnto S. Augustines eyes looking more earnestly vpon the condition of the time then deepely into the coherence of the Text. I conclude therfore the first interpretation and aduise men that conuerse in the Monuments of the ancient Fathers without which no man can be profound and exact in the knowledge of Diuinitie to draw their wine and to leaue their dregges and not to esteeme that currant in them which is not weighed in the ballance of holy Scripture For the Sunne of this sacred Booke hath natiue light of truth without any darkenesse of errour whereas the borrowed light of the Moone the best Fathers and most commended Interpreters doth shine with the spots of infirmitie which attendeth the nature of mankind The SECOND Interpretation THe second Interpretation is that which Saint Hierome doth follow who saw a part of the truth but not the whole as the blind man vpon the first and imperfect recouerie of his sight saw men but hee saw them walking like trees Mark 8.24 He confesseth then that Babylon is Rome that Babylon at the least wherof Saint Peter doth make mention Epist 1. cap. 5. v. 13. whose authoritie hee pretendeth to follow in this point de Scriptor Ecclesiastic in nomine MARCVS But in the time of Saint Peter if by that name of Babylon hee did vnderstand Rome it was Ethnicall Rome which the Romanists themselues doe willingly confesse and vsually pretend to haue beene stiled by that name which they suppose was not and cannot bee extended vnto the Christian or rather Antichristian Rome in succeeding ages But to vnderstand yet more punctually the resolution of Saint Hierome in this case let vs obserue that hee affirmeth Rome to haue beene Babylon in his owne time when there was a true and a glorious Church of Christ in Rome and therefore in the name of certaine religious Ladies Epist 17. he aduiseth Marcella to flie out of that Babylon and to repaire vnto Bethlehem A passage verie rhetoricall and full of insinuation rather then found and substantiall to breed in her tender heart an alienation from the Citie of Rome as being that Babylon whereof wee now intreate though elsewhere hee seemeth wholly to free and discharge Rome from the scandalous imputation of this title as belonging to ETHNICALL Rome in her former and past estate Vrbs potens vrbs orbis domina sayth he contra Iouinian l. 2. in fine scriptam in fronte blasphemiam Christi confessione deleâ—isti c. O potent Citie ô Lady of the world thou hast by the confession of Christ blotted out the blasphemie written in thy forehead Vpon which passage Marianus Victorius a learned Babylonian writeth to this effect Hierome imputeth this name of BABYLON vnto Rome as shee was ETHNICALL as shee persecuted the Christians and was drunken with the effusion of their bloud and therefore it cannot bee appropriated vnto Rome in these latter times as the Hereticks doe falsely surmise and maliciously pretend With him a multitude of Babylonians doth conspire in this behalfe and therefore Master Robert Parsons in his three Conuers of England part 2. c. 5. passeth his verdict in this manner The name of BABYLON is applyed to the state of the persecuting Emperours and afflicted Christians which state saith he hath beene abolished as we haue seene already fulfilled Thus as Agag the King of Amalek came pleasantly before Samuel 1. Sam. 15.32 perswading himselfe that the bitternesse of death was past which was yet to come and was then at hand so these miserable Babylonians by poore and weake euasions perswade themselues that the scandall and horrour of this name is past and that condition of Rome is expired and so Rome is safe whereas the imputation cleaueth fast vnto her and her future ruine doth certainly attend her present state as we shall see anon in the orderly pursuite of this point For as yet the question is not vpon what Rome Ethnicall or Christian this hatefull name and direfull calamitie doth fall whether vpon Rome in her estate past present or to come which particular shall afterwards ensue in the processe of my Discourse but simply and precisely whether this Babylon bee the particular Citie of Rome as Saint Hierome doth conceiue though he be variable and inconstant in the manner of his assertion or whether it bee the generall societie of the wicked as Saint Augustine doth in an Allegoricall sense somewhat wittily but very improbably diuine That this Babylon in my Text is the Citie of Rome it appeareth euidently by many and cleere circumstances in this Scripture but specially two FIRST in regard of her Dominion Shee fitteth vpon many waters Chap. 17. Verse 1. Which Waters the Angell doth interpret to be the multitude of Nations Verse 15. And therefore Verse 18. he saith that she reigned ouer the Kings of the Earth This was the condition of Rome in the time of Saint Iohn to whom this Reuelation was made and therefore the Commentarie vpon the Reuelations which beareth the name of Saint Ambrose saith expresly vpon this place hoc manifestum est c. This thing is manifest namely that the Angell speaketh this of Rome For we know saith the Author that in this time the Romanes did obtayne Souereigntie ouer the Princes of the Earth SECONDLY in regard of her third situation vpon seuen hills or Mountaynes for so the seuen heads in the third Verse are expounded by the Angels in the ninth which description agreeth fairely vnto Rome standing once wholly and now partly vpon seuen hils of markeable note whence the Grecians called her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines in the same sense septicollis both
perhaps may beare some shew of bloud but wonder at this that Pasce oues meas Feede my Sheepe saith Christ vnto Peter Iohn 21.16 should approue these killing courses in the Pope these violent depositions of Princes these rebellious insurrections of people But it doth so and in whose iudgement euen of Bellarmine himselfe De Rom. Pont. lib. 5. cap. 7. Who thence inferreth a certaine and necessary power in the Pope to depose two sorts of Princes the one hereticall whom he compareth vnto cruell Wolues the other irregular whom hee compareth vnto vnruly Rammes and therefore saith hee since the Pope is Pastour of the vniuersall Church and hath an Office to feed the SHEEPE that is to say all faithfull Christians hee must haue a power to restraine and resist such WOLVES and RAMMES as trouble and infest the flocke So that in conclusion Pasce in Bellarmine and Occide in Baronius according to the new Grammer and Diuinitie of Babylon meet both in one centre of signification and in one issue of sense O skilfull Mercurialists to draw bloud out of the veines of the holy Scripture Yet these are the men that opprobriously and scornfully obiect this textuall folly vnto the Diuines of the Reformed Church in misapplying the Scriptures vnto their misguided fancies But now I proceed to make a sufficient remonstrance of bloudie crueltie in their mysticall Babylon by foure seuerall and inuincible demonstrations thereof FIRST then the crueltie of Babylon appeareth in raysing vp subiects against their naturall Lords to the inualuable expense of Christian bloud England can say some thing in this behalfe not onely in the more ancient times as of King Iohn who with his people suffered much by the instinct and operation of Rome but in these latter times both of King Henrie the Eighth against whom some noble Persons conspired and some meaner Subiects rebelled by the procuration of Rome to the losse of their bloud which shall be found in her and in the Halcyonian dayes of Queene Elizabeth by insurrections in the North by clancular and secret Treasons of damnable Parricides by hostile inuasions resolued against England and in part effected in Ireland all depending vpon Babylon and issuing from her designes which instructed her Priests to seduce the people heere from their iust obedience whence ensued the iust execution of both by the necessary prouision of the Lawes and in the happy Reigne of our most gracious Souereigne Lord King Iames who therefore enacted a speciall and prudent Law by consent of the Peeres and People of this Kingdome to try thereby the alleageance and fidelitie of his subiects which Oath finding so much opposition and impugnation from the Babylonian Monarch did minister an ineuitable necessitie vnto this State to draw some bloud from such Priests as rather obserued and respected the Papall Seate of Babylon then the Royall Crowne of England And this bloud so iustly shed will bee found not in England but in Babylon it selfe But France may speake much more in that generall and bloudie Massacre vnder Charles the Ninth procured by Babylonian operations and therefore when the report thereof came vnto Rome shee like a bloudie Whore so the Scripture calleth her applauded that Thracian or rather Scythian crueltie of her children sang her Te Deum in publique gratulation of that horrible fact disbursed her Indulgences out of her spirituall Treasures for the benefit of the cruell Murtherers and so sent her gifts abroad as reioycing in their ruine Apocal. 10.11 c. France can yet speake more which in the end of the Reigne of Henrie the Third and beginning of the Reigne of Henrie the Fourth opened the veines of her bodie and let forth streames of her owne bloud by the prouocation of Babylon till it was stanched by the vnhappie submission of that great King vnto the Triple-crowne Yet then also hee could not bee secure for some principall Babylonians supposing that the King confessed that with his mouth which hee denied in his heart Iohn Chastell a young Disciple of old Iesuites was suborned to offer violence vpon the sacred Maiestie of the Kings person but could not performe that Tragicall act which Rauilliac did afterwards effectuate with his most wicked hand But I proceed Germany can speake more then any other Nation whose terrible warres stirred continued and supported by the meanes of Babylon for many yeeres in the reigne of sundry Emperours embrued the earth with copious effusion of Christian bloud making it a true Adamah an earth red with bloud and giuing it her originall name againe As for Italy shee cannot be silent in this case if she remember the bloudy faction of her Guelphs and Gibelines with sundry warres raised vp by Papall furie and sometimes managed by their owne persons forgetting that they who take the sword shall perish by the sword Matth. 26.52 What shall I say of the Holy Land it selfe which in tedious and expensiue warres procured enterprised by Papall motions and what the Pope could not performe with his owne temporall meanes to assist this warre hee performed by the Spirituall Exchequer dispensing his Indulgences thence to further and aduance the same consumed much treasure of the Christians and more of their bloud But you will say it was an heroicall and glorious act I answer looke vnto the Popes designes and intentions therin with the issue of that glory You will say it was a pious and a religious act I answer the pretence is more specious then the enterprise is alwayes iust in such a case For it may be disputed Whether or how farre forth it is lawfull for Christian Princes vpon the pure and sole title of Religion to make such warres vpon the Turke who by the power of the sword and by submission of the people and by long possession hath such an interest into those lands the matter of faith and religion neither giuing vnto any Prince nor taking from any the proprietie of his temporall and worldly state Such is the doctrine of the sacred Scripture such was the practise of the ancient Church SECONDLY The crueltie of Babylon appeareth in stirring vp persecution against the professours of Gods eternall and inuincible truth which no policie of man no furie of diuells can possibly extinguish because it is founded vpon the true rock Christ Iesus and not vpon the pretensed rocke or rather stocke of the Apostaticall Seate in Babylon Now if I should here make a particular account of her crueltie in this kind against the persons of many Martyrs it would exceed the proportion of one or many Sermons Or if I would make it yet more generall by a suruey of persecutions in many Countries by sword and by fire which burning zeale yet lodgeth in their Scythian hearts the relation would bee as tedious as it is vnnecessary since the histories of sundry Nations are extant in this behalfe and a great part of them is diligently collected by the industrious pen of Master Fox in his Acts and Monuments of the
Nineueh vpon her repentance Should I not spare Nineueh that great Citie Ionah 4.11 Now therefore since Ethnicall Rome is past and that state is abolished saith Parsons for which cause she did beare the name of Babylon and Saint Hierome hath assured vs that Rome by her confession of Christ hath blotted out the blasphemie written in her forehead which point the Babylonians doe greedily embrace to their vnhappy excecâ—ation since Rome hath turned from her former sinnes and done righteousnesse since she hath had a glorious name by her renowmed Faith after the time of Paganisme Idolatrie and Persecution vnder her ancient Emperours since in our opinion she was a glorious member of the Church and in their opinion shee is still the Head Queene and Mistresse thereof embracing and propounding the truely Catholike Faith and finally since her ensuing repentance hath cleered the score of her preceding sins how can it consist with Gods Truth that in regard of her sinnes so long past and so deepely repented of he should lay a destruction vpon her in the time yet to come for it is yet to be fulfilled and that in so terrible and vnexemplifiable a manner Apocal. 18. Her ruine therefore and such a ruine which is yet to come when her Ethnicall estate is so long past doth sufficiently proue that later sinnes in a future age should renue and reuiue her old name if Babylon euer were the name of ancient Rome according to the tenour of the Scriptures and bring her vnto this lamentable end it being one of the last Tragicall acts of Gods Iustice vpon the great Theater of the world as it appeareth in the historicall predictions of this Scripture Secondly I make farther remonstrance of that position by the IVSTICE of God For he will not punish the children for their fathers sins euery one shall die for his owne Ezek. 18.4 Since therefore Rome is yet to be destroyed this destruction doth not attend her ancient sinnes committed in her Ethnicall estate and done away by her repentance in her Christian estate but for latter sinnes in latter ages wherein she was to beare the scandall of this name and to suffer ruine for the same Innocent Rome shall not perish for nocent Rome not the latter for the former not the Papall for the Imperiall not the Church for the State there cannot bee iniustice in God Shall not the Iudge of all the world doe right Yet I confesse that in succeeding ages God doth sometimes remember the sin of ages past and so it is said of Babylon Apocal. 18.5 God hath remembred her iniquities but in this case latter ages doe renew imitate and increase the sinnes of the former And so I grant that for her old sinnes of Idolatrie Persecution c. renewed afterward Rome shall suffer this ruine as Ribera and Viegas the Iesuites doe confesse Meane while this is the point which I commend here vnto your prudent obseruation If Rome were sinfull Babylon here spoken of onely in her Ethnicall estate which is a plausible delusion she should haue suffered her fatall punishment here threatned during that Ethnicall estate and not in her Christian condition whereas the speciall calamities of Rome since the time of this prediction ensued vpon Christian Rome not Ethnicall Rome by the furious incursions and impressions of the Goths and Vandalls which were castigations of Christian Rome and not of Ethnicall nor Antichristian Babylon whose finall and vtter subuersion being yet to come and neerer vnto the end of the world therefore Gods Truth and his Iustice doe cleerely euince that shee was to bee Babylon againe if shee were so once before and to bee stamped with this hatefull name after the time of her entertainment of Christian Religion and after the expiration of her Ethnicall estate this name arising out of a latter condition of sinnes for which shee should fall and in latter times in which shee should perish by the iust indignation of God and Man And so much for the second remonstrance THIRDLY I make remonstrance of my position by the ingenious and faire confession of two learned Babylonians themselues they also being Iesuites of eminent qualitie publike Readers in their Schooles who by diligent inquisition into the very Text of this Scripture and carefull obseruation of the circumstances thereof oppose themselues against the common errour of their owne side and cleerely deduce out of the coherence of many circumstances in this Scripture that this BABYLON doth signifie Rome not in her Ethnicall estate onely as the Papists doe more ordinarily conceiue but neere the conclusion of the world that then shee shall by her great sinnes deserue this name and therefore come to ruine Neither doe I make vse of their confession because it commeth from aduersaries but because they make it out of the conscience of truth grounded vpon the cleere euidence of the Scripture For I should thinke meanely of my cause if the truth and certaintie of my assertion stood vpon the falshood and errour of their confession and had no better strength to support it selfe The first Babylonian is Ribera a man of no vulgar note as being a Doctor of Diuinitie and professour thereof in Salmantica a famous Academy of Spaine This man wrote a Commentary vpon the Reuelation of Saint Iohn where treating vpon these words Apocal 14.8 Babylon that great Citie is fallen hee proueth by sundry infallible circumstances of the Scripture Apoc. 17. that this Babylon is not the generall societie of wicked men but a particular Citie and finally the Citie of Rome and therefore he concludeth his disputation as I noted before vpon that point in these words Omnia profectò nisi in Romam non conueniunt certainely all the circumstances in the Text cannot agree vnto any other place but vnto Rome alone in cap. 14. num 31. Then he commeth num 32. to explicate the state and condition of Rome in regard whereof this name Babylon and this ruine shee is fallen belong vnto her in this sacred Reuelation And here suspecting the scandall and offence of his owne brethren he entreth vpon this discourse with a preoccupation in this sad and graue manner Offensionem pio Lectori amoueri volo I will that no pious Reader a Romane Catholike that is to say a Babylonian should take offence at my exposition as if it were aduantagious vnto the Heretickes the Protestants who assume vnto themselues an occasion vpon this name of Babylon ascribed here vnto Rome to lay an imputation vpon the Church of Rome and our holy Father the Pope Wherfore num 34. hee saith that this name of Babylon agreed vnto Rome as shee was in her Ethnicall State an Idolatrous persecuting Citie but now saith hee the case is altered for shee is and long hath beene the Mistresse of Faith and the Mother of Christians Then hee addeth immediately Si quando haec eadem fecerit quae Iohannis tempore faciebat iterum Babylon vocabitur if Rome shall commit the same things hereafter which
if this be not Idolatry Yea Gregorie himselfe disapprouing the fact of Serenus doth yet reprehend the popular adoration of Images in that time which certainly did not exceed if it did equall the Papisticall in our dayes And though Doctor Carrier who seemed not therein to vnderstand the Papists or not himselfe pretendeth gloriously in his Letter to the Kings most excellent Maiesty that the point of Images and the worship thereof is a small matter of none offence c. yet my eyes my heart do teach me otherwise and therefore notwithstanding all their sophisticall distinctions I must resolue with Erasmus It is more easie to take Images out of the Church then to define by what reasons they may stand therein Finally their doctrine in this point is so false contrary to Gods Word to the iudgement of the ancient Fathers to the opinion of many former Papists also and their practise so wicked that in this odious and execrable Idolatry you may see the old Babylon reuiued in the new which varying from the Scripture from the Church yea from her selfe commeth more neerely vnto the patterne of Babylon whose name she beareth and as you may easily see shee beareth it not in vaine but the daughter daily going forward in the courses of her Idolatry wil at the last excell her Mother notwithstanding all her distinctions to which she may adde this viz. There is a double Idolatry Ethnicall and Christian or rather Antichristian as wee shall yet more euidently discerne The THIRD instance concerneth their exorbitant and irregular adoration of the Pope For howsoeuer they delay the heate of the matter with the coole water of a moyst and emptie distinction as the oppressed Emperour Barbarossa spake vnder the feet of the insulting Pope non tibi sed Petro not to thee but vnto Peter I submit my selfe euen to this base conculcation to whom the Pope answered againe Et mihi Petro it is vnto Peter and also vnto me or else by some other euasion of ciuill religious and diuine worship or the like yet if wee consider with what opinion of his excellency which they attribute vnto this Babylonian Idoll they adore the Pope what Diuinitie in regard of his pretensed office they ascribe vnto his insolent person and lastly with what power and authoritie they inuest him we may well perceiue that this is Idolatry and not of the meanest degree Hence it is that immediately vpon his election so soone as euer he is now Sanctissimus the most holy Lord howsoeuer wicked before the Cardinalls come to their seruice of adoration for so is the very terme imposed vpon this solemne action and with most kisses of his sacred feet for he is greater then Kings who vouchsafe vs the kisses of their hands euery Cardinall doth performe his homage in signe of subiection vnto the new aspiring Potentate of the earth And because this action should better expresse their Idolatry in this point his new Holyship is aduanced vpon an Altar the place of the God of their Masse the Idoll of bread and as I haue vnderstood by the relation of others he is there or thence adored as the God of the Church the God of the World of which presumptuous Titles I shal speak more in a more conuenient place of my discourse And the truth is though this adoration may seeme too much yet it is the lesse to be admired in them if we consider that in the opinion of his Babylonian vassals he is a pardoner of sin and a deliuerer from paine that can by his Pontificial authority draw soules out of Purgatorie that can depose Kings that can dispose Kingdomes that can absolue subiects from the strong obligations of Oath and Nature that can absolue Princes from the bond of a iust and necessary Oath made vnto their Subiects as in the case of our King Henry the Third whence ensued the publike calamitie of this Kingdome that can dispense against the Scriptures that can define matters of faith as infallibly as the Scriptures yea saith Gregory de Valentia a Iesuite for who but a Iesuite were a fit Author for so strange a speech that cannot erre that must bee beleeued in his Pontificiall definitions Whether he vse diligence or not in vnderstanding and determining the point for wee beleeue that if hee will pastorally define any thing with purpose to bind the Church vnto his definition he shall not hee cannot erre therein So writeth the Iesuite in his Analysis fidei O sure anchor of their Religion the rocke their petra vpon which Christ buildeth his Church and they their faith Doe you maruell then at the outragious title ascribed vnto him by a Canonist the same being printed and re-printed and neuer corrected that this second Beast in Babylon should beare the the stile of Dominus noster Deus Papa Our Lord God the Pope And doe you maruell that whom they so extoll in dignitie more then all Kings they should so adore with worship no lesse then a God If this be not Idolatry what is Idolatry and what doth deserue that name The child humbleth himselfe vnto his Father the subiect vnto his Prince and this honour is due If you will call it adoration though the word be not receiued publiquely into such vse I will admit it because it is a ciuill action founded vpon the Word of God and warranted by the examples of his Saints in regard of a certaine diuine authoritie which by Gods holy ordinance doth shine in their persons But since the Pope assumeth this honour of an higher and different nature also without the warrant of Gods Word and against the rule of Gods Word with immoderate exaltation as Gerson spake of Popes in his time volunt adorari vt Dij they will be adored as Gods yea by Kings also who are the Gods of this earth by Gods owne approbation for so hee speaketh also of inferiour Magistrates Psal 82.1 vnto which as he hath no proper right by any warrant from God so no mortall man the greatest Souereigne that is or euer was were he the onely Lord of all the World as the Pope doth gladly beleeue of himselfe and there are sundry Babylonian Parasites that applaud his insolencie in this kind can haue right by Gods Word vnto the like I conclude therefore that this adoration of the Pope the God of Babylon is Idolatry and such as is not to bee found any where but in Rome where the Pope sitteth in the Temple of God lifting vp himselfe aboue all that is called God Saint Paul saith not that which Is God to wit in nature for so the Pope pretendeth a subiection vnto Christ but that which is called God to wit in title and office as Kings are most properly for aboue all such Gods this man of sinne doth exalt himselfe as you haue heard a little now but shall heare more anon howbeit also it is true that he exalteth himselfe aboue the God of Heauen and earth while he maketh the
head of the Church of Rome descendeth vnto the members For as the Cardinalls who are the great regotiatours in the publike affaires of the world are the cosins of mightie Kings who salute them by that affable and gracious name as being glad and ambitious of the affection of these purpled Fathers in the Apostolicall Court so the whole bodie of the shaued Clergy pretendeth an exemption from the lawfull iurisdiction of their naturall Lords as being subiects secundum quid after a certaine manner or measure and a body rather collected and vnited vnder the Pope then vnder their owne Souereignes in whose Lands they receiued their first breath and vnder whose protection they enioy their liuelyhood with the preseruation of their liues FOVRTHLY this pride appeareth in his domination ouer the whole Church as first that all spirituall power of order and iurisdiction is deriued from his Apostolicall Seate that hee can depriue suspend excommunicate such as withstand his pleasure that appellations may be made and in some cases must be made vnto him from the sentences and censures of Bishops in all places of the world that he may demand and receiue a supply of monyes and necessaries for the vse and benefit of his Apostolicall greatnesse that hee is answerable to no power in the Church or State that hee may by reseruations and prouisions bestow Ecclesiasticall benefices vpon whom hee will in any part of the Christian world that he is greater then all the Church and is in truth and effect the very Church which being essentially in the whole societie of Christians is representatiuely in a lawfull Councell and virtually in the Pope so that finally the Church their Mother is the Pope their Father who is the Lord the Head the Guide the Pastour the Vniuersall Bishop of the Church Which insolencies and oppressions in the Holy Father made Gerson bitterly to complaine That the Head of the Church was growen too heauy for the whole bodie thereof and our learned Countrey-man Bishop Grosthead to pronounce That the Church would neuer be freed from the yoake of her Aegyptian bondage but by the dint and edge of a bloudie sword FIFTHLY and lastly his pride appeareth in his great and glorious titles taken vp partly by himselfe and partly ascribed vnto him by others with gratefull appobation of the Apostolicall Seate As for example hee is a Vice-God as in that inscription Paulo Quinto Vice-deo where the numerall letters V. L. V. I. V. C. D. make vp the fatall number of 666. containing the mysterie of Antichrist his name Apocal 13.18 but this is too little therefore hee is plainly a God nay that is too little also he is our Lord God as I shewed you once before and yet sometimes Nec Deus es nec homo sed neuter es inter vtrumque Thou ô Souereigne of the World art neither God nor man therefore Antichrist for Christ is both but art betwixt both neither the one nor the other Hee is Dominus dominorum quoad potestatem the Lord of Lords in regard of his power though Seruus seruorum quoad humilitatem saith bald Baldus the Seruant of Seruants and be it so but in the sense of Noah in his malediction of Canaan Genes 9.25 in regard of his meekenesse O meeke and humble Saint whose ordinarie title hath beene his Holinesse his Blessednesse more compatible with his Apostolicall office then his Maiestie which is indeed the pleasing and acceptable stile vnto which their proud and tyrannicall vsurpations doe aspire And therefore this was well attibuted vnto Paulus the fifth by Ludouicus ab Alcasar the Iesuite in his dedicatorie Epistle prefixed before his miserable exposition of this mysticall booke Yet thou wast more wise and circumspect ô noble and victorious Iulius Caesar that diddest refuse the title of a King and thou wast more modest ô Princely Augustus that diddest reiect the title of a Lord. But behold here is a greater then both which accepteth all alloweth all as indeed challenging a great deale more Let him then take one title more to furnish vp his glorious stile hee is Lucifer in his pride ambition and insultation ouer all States Ciuill Ecclesiasticall as the pretended Lord of both The THIRD Comparison betwixt Literall Babylon and Papall Rome THe third point wherein this comparison doth stand is INIVRIOVS VIOLENCE against the Crowne Imperiall and Estates of Souereigne Princes in which tempestuous courses the Spirituall Babylon of Rome doth exceed the Literall in Chaldea and the rather because the later had a speciall commission in this behalfe which the former doth vainely pretend by lame deductions and inferences but cannot prooue directly by the testimonie of any Scripture The commission of Nebuchadnezzer was vnder the warrant of God himselfe as being the executioner of his seuere Iustice and therefore God affoordeth him the title of his Seruant not onely for his expedition against Tyrus Ezek. 29.18 but against his owne people Ierem. 25.9 Now our Babylonian Monarch not by the authoritie of Gods Word not by any cleere euidence of reason founded vpon the same not by any example of his predecessors or of any other Bishop in the more pure and innocent state of the Church but out of his owne appetite and desire of temporall power which Christ gaue him not which the ancient Popes challenged not which they durst not pretend nor could they execute till the decadencie and expiration of the Romane Monarchy in these occidentall parts hath often thrust the sickle of his forged authoritie into the haruest of other mens Kingdomes Witnesse the distressed King of Nauarre Iohn d' Albret mentioned before sententially deposed by the Pope and a part of his Kingdome thereupon inuaded by his neighbour the King of Spaine Witnesse my deare Countrey of England in the time of that vnfortunate Prince King Iohn whose Kingdome was by Papall authoritie exposed vnto the furie of the French the King himselfe being compelled like a silly man to surrender his Crowne vpon his knees into the hands of an Apostolicall insolent Legate and so remaining for the space of fiue daies without a Crowne committed now vnto the benignitie of the Church hee receiued it againe vpon such base and ignoble termes as it pleased my Lord the Legate to impose vpon him one whereof was if the Babylonians say true that he should hold it by fealtie from the Church of Rome and for acknowledgement thereof pay an annuall tribute vnto the Pope so wise and skilfull are these men to fish in troubled waters being now not fishers of men but fishers of Kingdomes Witnesse England againe in the time of King Henry the eight who by a Papall processe of Paul the third was depriued of his Kingdome and his subiects commanded by force and armes to eiect him out of the confines therof the successe whereof was for a time troublesome to the King but in the end inglorious to the Pope the tenour of whose roaring Bull and Capitoline thunderbolt deserueth your speciall
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
what estate and for what causes the serious and diligent tractation thereof required a large extent of time to speake sufficiently and exactly thereof to instruct the ignorant to confute the aduersaries to dissolue doubts and to settle the conscience of euery intelligent and indifferent hearer in a very plaine and certaine apprehension of the truth for that was my desire and I hope it is my successe But now being to treate of the Praedicate IT IS FALLEN which is so certaine to ensue and so easie to vnderstand I will speake thereof with such breuitie as may not be obscure and such length as may not be tedious vnto you And because method doth make the discourse more easie and the memorie more firme as well in the hearer as in the speaker I will propose this order for my speech First I will speake of the time of this Punishment why it is expressed in the preterperfect tense it is fallen as if it were alreadie past Secondly of the Duplication why it is set forth with this Ingemination it is fallen it is fallen since it shall fall thus but once with a finall and irrecouerable ruine Thirdly of the qualitie and condition of this ruine how it is a fall and what the Spirit of God doth intend thereby The FIRST point concerning the Time in the preterperfect tense It is fallen THe word it selfe according to the originall Text being in the aorist signifieth a fall in a time indeterminately or vncertainly past is more aptly rendred is fallen then hath fallen as Ioh. 11.14 our Sauiour saith of Lazarus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is dead as it is to be translated in that place where as in my Text is imported an act which is past and done with a CONTINVANCE in that state For Lazarus did die and then continued in the state of the death so here Babylon IS FALLEN and remaineth in the condition of her ruine from whence shee shal not haue her resurrection to worldly glorie though Lazarus had his resurrection to temporall life for shee shall fall and neuer rise againe as wee shall afterwards perceiue But now as the blessed Virgin desired to vnderstand of the Angel How shall this be Luc. 1.34 that shee being a Virgin should yet conceiue a sonne so how can this be that Babylon being in her Imperiall souereigntie at the time of this Praediction which yet in the very letter carrieth the forme of a relation and report and now being after so many hundred yeeres in her Papall eminencie standing then and not being fallen yet shee should notwithstanding be here said to bee alreadie fallen as if that were then past which is not yet come I frame my answere out of the learned disputation of Epiphanius haeres 79. where he doth well obserue that Esay the Euangelicall Prophet foresaw some things which were then to come as if they had beene alreadie past and that they are expressed rather in the manner of a Narration then of a Prediction and this was chiefly for two causes First to helpe the weakenesse of the Prophets faith and secondly to declare thereby the firmenesse of Gods promise in whose preuision counsell and purpose the things were alreadie past vnto and before him though they were yet to bee fulfilled in their act and execution vnto and before men These two reasons hold due proportion iust correspondency in with our present case where S. Iohn the Euangelical Prophet of the new Testament doth vnderstand by reuelation of the Angel or rather of Iesus Christ himselfe as it is Apoc. 1.1 that the proud and tyrannical Babylon is fallen that God hath executed his fierce wrath vpon that vsurping Citie FIRST then God did by this forme of speech confirme the faith of his seruant then and of vs now that the length of time might not shake the constancie of his and our faith in expectation of this euent but that with patience we might attend the certaine pleasure of God though to bee fulfilled in an vncertaine time So in the Prophet Esay chap. 53. vers 4.5 c. Hee was despised hee carried our sorrowes he was wounded for our transgressions hee was afflicted c. thus Esay wrote of the sacred Passion of our Lord Iesus Christ which ensued neere vpon the space of eight hundred yeeres after the time of this Prediction or Narration rather for so it is in the tenour of the words which doe rather Historically relate then Prophetically foretell and thus the Prophet and with him the faithfull Iewes doth comfort himselfe in the secure expectation of so great a blessing in the solid stabilitie of this faith in which or rather by which hee saw that with the eye of his soule which he neuer saw with the eye of his bodie The thing was infallible but the time was not so reuealed vnto him at least hee neuer reuealed it vnto vs as vnto Daniel that excellent and glorious Prophet Dan. 9.25 This example alone might suffice in this behalfe but that we haue another more answerable to our present purpose as being the very type and true figure thereof Esay 21.9 Where the Prophet by vision doth vnderstand the ruine of Literall Babylon expressed and set downe in the very like forme of words Babel is fallen all the Images of her Gods hath hee broken vnto the ground There God doth support the faith of Esay and of his children to whom hee doth so cleerely reueale as if the act were absolutely past the destruction of that potent rich and stately Citie which was Gods Scourge to afflict his people and his Hammer to ruinate the Citie of Gods delight and Temple of his presence In like manner God doth here in my Text giue great consolation vnto S. Iohn his seruant and vnto vs his brethren in the seene rather then foreseene ruine of mysticall Babylon which in her Imperiall state did for certaine ages with Heathenish crueltie persecute spoile murther Gods Saints with copious effusion of their bloud which was the Seed of his Church and in her Papall state hath for many Ages with Antichristian furie afflicted tormented killed many a member of Iesus Christ which for loue of his truth and feare of his Name could not and would not participate in the Cup of her incantations wherewith shee bewitcheth many Kings and Kingdomes in the World The point then which I here obserue is this that our faith maketh vs happie and secure our faith lifteth vs vp aboue sense and reason our faith is Iacobs staffe whereby we passe ouer and through the Iorden of this World our faith is Manna which feedeth vs in the Wildernesse of this World and neuer ceaseth till wee come into the Canaan of Heauen then and not before her Commission doth expire For as Barzillai conducted Dauid ouer Iorden but went not with him to Ierusalem so faith carrieth vs out of this miserable World but goeth not with vs into the heauenly Kingdome where the fruition of God and vision of his
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
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