vnto Antiochus Epiphanes onely the latter vnto Satan and Satans seruants the Heathen Romane Emperours by whom the Deuill r August homil 10 H. â—mo Râ—bâ—ra in 12. Apoc. cast out the flouds of ten seuerall persecutions after the Woman retyred into the Wildernesse that is the Primitiue Church of Christ flying from their furie into secret places for their best safetie for a time times and halfe a time that is Å¿ Vid. Ioh. Fox lib. 1. Martyâ—olo pag. 90.91.92 Reueren Patrum D. R. Abbade Antichristo cap. 8. §. 6. for the space of two hundred ninetie and foure yeeres after Christ when the last great Persecution raised by Licinius was quieted and so ceased by the onely helpe and authoritie of Constantine the Great then the first Christian Emperour which openly fought vnder the Banner of CHRIST For to giue you a short and yet a full suruey of these latter times layd out by St. Iohn vnder seueral numbers thus truly reckoned by t â—idem vbi sup most religious and learned Diuines this first number of time times halfe a time is in plaine signification three yeeres and an halfe which number of yeeres consist of one thousand two hundred and threescore dayes all which dayes together make vp in iust account two and fortie moneths now if euery moneth be taken for a Sabbath of yeeres then all these numbers make vp the iust summe of two hundred ninety and foure yeeres which yeeres beginning to be reckoned at the thirtieth yeere of Christs age when u Luke 3.23 Matth. 4.23 he after his Baptisme began by his Preaching to gather a Church that x Iohn 16.32 was to be troubled in this wicked world will end in that very yeere y An. Dom. 324 vid Euseb Chronic Theatr. histor Christoph Helwici when Constantine the Great began to raigne alone Licinius being vanquished and persequutions ceased for the space of a thousand yeeres together in which time Satan is z Reuel 20.2 7.8 c. said to be bound in the bottomlesse pit because for all that time he is not permitted to molest the Church by open persequution howsoeuer he must trouble it by home-bred heresies and secret schismes For the a Vid. Meditat. doctiss Sereniss Regis Iacobi in 20. Apoc. Church vniuersall was to be quiet and free from forraine persequutions for the cause of religion for that space of a thousand yeeres that in that long calme of outward prosperity Antichrist might ripen vnto a fulnesse of Abomination which for a time was couered vnder the cloake of outward Orthodoxie and ceremoniall indifferencie but at last appeared in the true state of vglinesse towards the b Anno Dom. 1314. sub Ioh. 22 Lodouico Bauaro Imper. Edwardo 3. Angliae sub quo Ioh. Wicliff Vid. Chronic. Anglic. Holinsh Stow Io. Fox pag. 365. Edit vltimae latter end of the thousand yeeres when Satan was to be loosed that he might most furiously rage against Gods chosen both outwardly by the forraine power of Gog and Magog and inwardly in the Church it selfe by the great Antichrist whose kingdome then began a little to be diminished by c 2. Thess 2.8 the preaching of the Gospell vntill at last it shall vtterly be demolished by the glorious comming of Iesus Christ as at the trumpet sounded by the d Reuel 10.7 seuenth Angel it shal be finished I speake thus indefinitely of the last period of Antichrists kingdome because since it must last in some outward although weake forme of gouernment Rome being destroyed till the comming of Christ we haue e Part. 1. §. 7. before defined that the time of Christs comming is the Fathers secret onely Ob. And yet I am not ignorant of a very probable coniecture made by a f Master Peter du Moulin in 3. part Apolog. in Coessetan cap. 4. pag. 250. most famous Preacher and reuerend Diuine concerning the last period of Antichrist his kingdome that it must fall out as he thinketh in the two thousand and fiftenth yeere after Christ because after it is settled as it was in the seuen hundred fiftieth and fifth yeere of our Lord it was to continue one thousand two hundred and threescore dayes that is by tearmes of Scripture Sol. so many whole yeeres But howsoeuer I cannot but iustly admire his sharp and sound iudgement in collecting out of the propheticall numbers of Scripture the truth of things past yet I cannot fully assent vnto this his construction of future euents by that number of daies since as yet it appeareth not vnto me vpon what ground eyther he setteth the beginning of the thousand two hundred and threescore dayes at the end of the seuen hundredth fiftieth and fifth yeere after Christ for Antichrist his kingdom was begun and settled g An. Dom. 666. a good while before or stretcheth the number of those many daies so farre seeing h Mat. 24.24 for the Elects sake those dayes shall be shortned and Christ may come sooner for any thing we know as Now i Reuel 22.21 come Lord Iesu Let vs leaue then these coniectures vnto them who in the libertie of prophecie might first set them abroad to make them good and as by faith we are to be assured that the kingdome of Antichrist shall come to an end so let vs in sobriety cease from the curious search thereof dayly in hope expecting the complement from Him who will doe it in his owne time And so by this discourse of the qualities place The conclusion of the formall cause and time of Antichrist wee see in what forme hee must come abroad to wit in the habit of heresie and iniquitie doing all things by couetousnesse coozening and crueltie in the middest of the Church at Rome secretly and as it were by a mystery in the Primitiue time but openly plainly from the sixe hundredth yeere after Christ till he should grow and ripen vnto his full greatnesse which by little little was to be lessened through the preaching of Gods word and vtterly destroyed at the comming of Christ § 16 Now fourthly and lastly the finall cause The final cause of Antichrist or end why this Great Antichrist should thus reigne and ruffle in this wicked world and against the Faithfull is to speake in Logicall tearmes vltimus vltimatus the last and furthest to wit Gods glorie which in iustice shal be manifested when God k Esay 1.24 easeth him of his enemies and auengeth him of his aduersaries as the l Prou. 16.5 wicked are ordained for the day of euill the neere and subordinate which is first that the Reprobate m 2. Thes 2.11 might be deluded vnto their destruction by the vile deceits of Antichrist secondly that the Godly elect might be tried in this great fire both for their present purging as n Prou. 17.3 Siluer in the fining pot or Gold in the furnace for their future glory
the body or to Heresies in the Church Antichrists beginning since both of them grow from senselesse beginnings to very fearefull issues So that if wee search the first instant of his beginning wee shall hardly find it seeing in the Å¿ 2. Thes 2.7 Apostles time it begun to worke vnder a mysterie but if we craue the time when he should be reuealed wee find it in Scripture to be at the ruine of the Romane Empire which being the onely obstacle to Antichrist The three sure meanes of Antichrists rising was first of all to be taken out of the way that Antichrist might afterwards be displayed in his colours by these three degrees First of a voluntary succession and remoouall of the Imperiall Throne from that very place where Antichrist should place his Chaire The second of a violent oppression of Christendome by a forraine people which Antichrist by glosing and flatterie must winne by little and little vnto the imbracing of his abominations for the more speedie and surer planting of his tenne seuerall Hornes The third of a fraudulent vsurpation of a double Sword the one Spirituall in the Church the other Temporall in the Common Weale by Antichrist himselfe then peeping abroad For the first was to fall out at or about the three hundreth yeere after Christ the second about the foure hundreth the third about the time of his mysticall name as may appeare plainly by these seuerall points of Prophesie in the New Testament The first whereof is that generall intimation that t 2. Thes 2 7. hee which letted in the Apostles time was to bee taken out of the way first by voluntary changing of his seat deuiding his Empire as Chrysostome u Chrysost hom 4. in 2 Thes 2. expoundeth it then by an vâ—ter euersion and rooting of the same out of the World as all x Ambr. Sedul Primas â—heod Theophylact. Oecumen â—yrâ— cum gâ—ssis 〈◊〉 cert Ordinar Aquin. c. other Fathers take it the second that particular denunciation of the third y Reu. 8.12.13 part of the Sunne and the third part of the Moâ—ne and the third part of the Sâ—arres to be smitten and darkened that the dâ—y shâ—ne not for a third part of it nor likewise the night For z Hayn o Marlaora Brightman in loc the smiting of the Sun Moone and Stars in the third part signifieth Gods iudgment inflicted vpon a great part of Christendome by the bloudy hands of Heathen people whose fury should so stop the course of Christian Doctrine that their day and their night seeme shortned in the third part And yet Antichrist in all this Garboyle is not troubled but a Psal 10.10 croucheth in his Denne till he may rauish the poore fawning on and flattering these rude Mates and Tyrants till out of their Off-spring such Kingdomes may bee settled as by which they b Reuel 17.2 now poysoned through his venomous Potions he may daily be more strengthened and hoysed vp to that huge height of vniust vsurpation which he openly should beginne to manifest in the World about that yeere after CHRIST which c Reue. 13.18 the number of his name doth intimate vnto vs. d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Erasin in Chiliad sub tit Auaritie Rapaâ—itatis A Serpent vnlesse he eate another Serpent cannot become a Dragon say the Greekes in their Prouerbe which wee may very fitly apply to our purpose since Antichrist could neuer haue attained to such a fulnesse of filthinesse and an abundance of abominations vnlesse hee had swallowed vp all the former plagues of God cast out vpon the Church before by Heathenish Tyrants and home-bred Heretikes to spue them out againe in a greater measure by crueltie and subtiltie amongst Gods Chosen as the e Reuel 8.13 Angell flying in the middest of Heauen did import by crying out of woe woe woe before the sounding of the fift Trumpet when there should fall f Reuel 9.1.2 a Starre from Heauen to Earth euen Antichrist himselfe to whom was giuen the Key of the bottomlesse pit which he should open to let out smoke signifying darke ignorance and send out such Locusts as were to sting men to death like Scorpions Vnto such an vgly shape doth this Serpent or this Beare grow by his degrees so small was his beginning and so dreadfull is his full growth that hee is fitly resembled by a g B. Iewel in 2. Thes 2. pag. 115. fol. blessed Bishop vnto an Earthquake which caused by a little wind for a time hidden in the hollowes of the earth h Stobaeus lib. 1 Eglo 9. cap. 32. at last breaketh out to the shaking of the Mountaines the cleauing of the Rockes the throwing downe of houses and the killing of men The Thorne i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eras Chil. sub tit Initij laudati when it is little seemeth good Antichrist in his Infancie gaue great hope of integritie but the elder hee grew the worse hee prooued k Homer apud Strabonem lib. 3. à Tartesso ad Tartarum falling as wee say from the deepe Sea to the Deuill Now knowing his beginning if you aske me how long he shall continue I may answere well that I know not His continuing ending For his end is not yet come and l Aristot de Interpretat ca. 11. De futuris contingentibus nulla est scientia there is no certaine knowledge to be had of things future Yet surely as m Certius est quà m mors quà m mors inceâ—tius est nil Marcell Palingenius in Scorpio nothing is more certaine then death although then the houre of death nothing more vncertaine so nothing is more certaine then the ruine of Antichrist although the instant of his ruine be not yet knowne because his vtter abolishing must bee n 2. Thes 2.11 at Christs comming the time of which is knowne to God onely Ob. And therefore where our o Sanders dem 40. Bella. li. 3. de Pontif. cap. 8. Papists will haue Antichrist to continue but onely three yeeres and an halfe partly by these words of p Dan. 7.25 Daniel they that is the Saints shall bee giuen into his hands vntill a time and times anâ— the â—ding of time and partly by these of q Reue. 12.14 Iohn concerning the woman Where that is in her place in the Wildernesse shee is nourished for a time and times and halfe a time from the face of the Serpent Loe a double either sottishnesse Solution 1 or knauerie First in putting places together of contrary importment seeing in the former the Saints are said to bee subiect vnder persecution for a time times and halfe a time but in the latter rescued from Solution 2 trouble into a place of safe retyring for a time times and halfe a time the second in mis-applying both these places as sitting vnto the Great Antichrist in their opinion when the former doth properly belong
Decret apud Binnium tom 1. Eusebius because Christi vice Legatione sunguntur in Ecclesiâ In stead of Christ they execute an Ambassage in the Church For it is Augustine his double Rule k August in 〈…〉 Omnis Antistes â—sâ—â—hristi Viâ—ius Euery Bishop is Christs Vicar and l Idem 〈◊〉 q. 106. Homo Impertum Dei habens quasi Vicarius Dei est Man hauing Gods Dominion is as Gods Vicar How can the Pope then be Christs Vicar when Christ hath not made him so neither doth hee behaue himselfe as a Vicar or Vicegerent but as a Lord-Royal when yet his own Law is That m Ioâ— 22 Extrauag Con. lib. 3 tit 2. cap. 5. ad init the Vicar of Christ should coÌ„forme himselfe to the acts of Christ For thirdly is hee not entituled Caput Ecclesiae The Head of the Church Is not this Christs Free-hold whereupon he so vsurpeth And yet how can hee be a Vicar of Christ and the Head of the Church For as that Titular Patriarch of Antioch spake in the Councell of Basill n Joh. Patriar Antioch in append Concil apud Binnium tom 3. pa. 2. Caput esse denotat praeeminentiam quam Minister non habet supra Dominam To be Head noteth a preeminence which the Seruant hath not aboue his Mistresse Ob. Yes say they o Rhemists in 1. Eph. §. 5. Hee may bee a Ministeriall Head as the Pope is to the Militant Church here on earth Well be it so Sol. But I demand what Scripture teacheth this For no place is yet to our knowledge brought by any of them for ground of this distinctioÌ„ But to deale kindly with them who so disgrace their Sauiour by magnifying their Pope admit this yet then the Pope hath not to doe with the Church Triumphant being only the Ministeriall Head of the Militant Church neither yet can euery Pope bee a true Head thereof since some Popes are damned creatures in Hell euen p Watsons Quodlibets q. Sixtus Quintus by Bellarmines iudgement and Landus with others of that Ranke whom q Vid. Baron Annal. ad Ann. 900. c. Baronius and r Platina in Lando c. Platina haue censured either for Monsters or obscure Villaines But if they were neuer so good men I maruell how the Church shall liue when the Pope is dead Shall it walke hop-headlesse Poore Church either the Pope is not thine Head vpon whom thy life dependeth as the life of the members is from the Head or else thou maist make a great many Resurrections vpon the enstalling of euery new Pope yea and must be sometimes like the triple-headed Cerberus Absit dicto blasphemia vpon any Schisme Answere these doubts yee Papists or your Pope is no Head of the Militant Church But fourthly the Pope is Sponsus Ecclesiae The Bridegroome of the Church if hee bee not the Head Nay then hee must bee the Head as the Å¿ Ephes 5.23 Husband is the Head of the Wife But who durst call the Pope the Bridegroome to the Church which by Saint t 2. Cor. 11.2 PAVL is espoused and presented to one Husband euen Christ who as the Baptist saith u Iohn 3.29 is the Bridegroome because hee hath the Bride whom hee x Hos 2.19 married vnto himselfe for euer Surely neither Scripture nor Councell nor Father euer gaue this Title to the Pope till a thousand two hundred and fortie yeeres after CHRIST when the Dogge had his day in the very power and houre of darkenesse I meane when Antichrist ruffled in the Councell assembled at y Bellar. reporteth it out of the Sext. tit de Elect. caâ— Vbi periculum Where yet I cannot finde any such word in their new Edition Gregorian Lyons where this Title Sponsus Ecclesiae was giuen to the Pope farre contrarie to Saint Bernards minde who told z Bernard Ep. 237. Pope EVGENIVS that since he was the Bridegroomes friend hee should make no challenge vnto the Bride vnlesse it be to dye for her sake For that were to make the Church an Harlot if She should be espoused to any other since Christ euer liueth because the a Rom. 7.3 Woman which hath an Husband is bound by the Law vnto her Husband so long as he liueth Ob. But may not an Husband haue a Deputie in his absence Sol. To what purpose To beget Children of her Then b Gene. 39.9 Ioseph might without sinne haue layne with his Mistresse But shee was exempted from vnder his hand as the Church is from vnder the power of any Pope Priest or Potentate in respect of her coniunction in Marriage which is only with Christ as she truly professeth c Canâ— 7.10 I am my Beloueds and his desire is towards mee Ob. Where then the Cardinall doth not thinke it absurd in spirituall matters that one spouse should belong to many howsoeuer it is grosse in Temporall causes Sol. Let him know that as Man and Wife are by Marrriage d Gene. 2.23 one flesh so Christ and his Church are by spirituall coniunction e 1. Cor. 12.12 one body of which if the Pope bee not a member he is but a damned creature for f Cybrian lib. de Vuit Ecclesiae out of the Church is no Saluation and if hee be a member then is he not Sponsus the Bridegroome or Head but one ouer whom the Spouse hath a power euen to be his Mistresse because hee is but her Husbands Vicar or Deputie or Steward not to rule ouer her but for her benefit to dispence their seuerall portions vnto her seruants as Thomas g Apud Aenâ—um Syluium lib. 1. de gest Concil Basil ens de Corsellis did learnedly argue this Case before the Fathers in the Councell of Basill Yet fifthly and lastly hee is called and must carrie it cleerely to be so Episcopus vniuersalis The vniuersall Bishop albeit no Scripture euer gaue him or any other Bishop such a name nay nor yet any Father of the Primitiue Church saue h Theodo diac Ischyrion diac Athanas presb in Actione 3. Concil Chalcedonensis three priuate men in the Councell of Chalcedon who intituled Leo the first vniuersall Archbishop or vniuersall Patriarch but if we may beleeue the report of Gregory i Gregor ad Mauritium lib. 4. Ep. 32. Although this name of vniuersall Bishop was in honour of Saint PETER offered by that Councell to the Bishop of Rome yet none of his Predecessours euer tooke it vnto him or gaue consent to vse it For indeede Gregorie himselfe did k Gregor Ep. 36.38.39 lib. 4. Registri many times inueigh against Iohn the Patriarch of Constantinople for vsurping this name of vniuersall Bishop as a name too high for any man and therfore a proud blasphemous and sacrilegious Title for a Minister of Christ Yea and Gratian l Gratian. dist 99. Can 3.4 from the Councell of Afrike and from the following Decree of