Antichrist and to set vp the Gospell againe in his kingdome was that man of God Luther therefore in him did the two witnesses first begin to rise againe for it is cleare it is not meant that the same should rise againe in their owne persons but that euen as Elias was reuiued in Saint Iohn Baptist not in the same person Luke 1.17 but as Saint Luke saith chap. 1.17 in the same spirit and power so should they after a little moment rise in power and spirit in the persons of others And this first rising was about the yeare of Christ 1520. So that counting from those three last which were put to death in the yeere of Christ Wee had a Church among the Papists till about twentie yeares before Luther 1500. we had no appearing Church left in the Romish iurisdiction for the space of twenty yeares before the rising of Luther which time is called but three dayes and an halfe in respect of the three Angels yeares and an halfe the time of Antichrists reigne wherefore seeing they had their Church alone without our Church but twenty yeares before Luther how wickedly doe they delude the multitude in making them to beleeue they had the Romish Church and all other Christian Churches vniuersally from Saint Peters time and that wee had no Church till Luthers time whereas we see it proued most apparently that for the first 606. yeares next after Christ our Church was and theirs had no being at all and that the very first beginning of their Church was the entrance vpon our Church in the Romish iurisdiction of which wee see a part continued in view till about twenty yeares before Luther which if wee had not had yet will wee now proue that continually from the Apostles time to Luthers time we had else-where as great a Church as they if not greater 6 Vnderstand therefore Christian reader that albeit the whole Christian Church was one yet afterwards it was diuided into two parts to wit East and West so till the Councell of Florence which was about fourteene hundred yeeres after Christ they possessed but the West part The Councell of Florence And notwithstanding Michael Paleolgus Emperour of the East in hope of some aide of the Pope and the Princes of the West against the Turke did his good will to haue brought the East part in subiection to the Popes of Rome yet as their Paulus saith d Paul Aemil. in Philippo 4. his people so detested him for it that after his death they would not admit him common Christian buriall Againe it is certaine that the Greekes counted the Romanes a most polluted and an infectious people for in their late Councell of Lateran it is said e Jn Concil Lateranen Cap. 4. The Greekes began so much to abhorre the Romanes that if it had happened the Lattine Priests to haue ministred vpon their Alters they would not offer any oblation vpon them before they had washed the same Againe albeit the Legates of the East in the Councell of Florence was perswaded to yeeld to be subiect to the Pope yet doubting it would not be well taken at their returne home they halfe recanted and said f The Councell of Florence We haue no leaue nor commission to speake these words And notwithstanding at their returne home they laboured so with the Greekes that they consented to yeeld yet this continued not for as their Platina saith g Platina in Eugenio Not long after they fell to their olde bent againe But had it continued to this day without reuolting yet had it come too too late to haue maintained the antiquitie of the Popes vniuersalitie yea too late by at the least 1300. yeeres And therefore it was that Illyricus which dwelt vpon the borders of Grecia wrote thus h Illyricus Testibus Veritatis page 5. The Churches of Grecia and the Churches of Asia Macedonia Misia Valachia Russia Muschouia and Affrica ioyned thereunto that is to say saith he in a manner all the whole world or at the least the greatest part thereof neuer graunted the Pope his supremacie 7 So that Christian reader thou seest that howsoeuer the Emperour Phocas did giue that prerogatiue to the Bishop of Rome to be vniuersall head of all Christian Bishops and Rome to be chiefe of all Christian Churches it doth not therefore follow that all Christian Churches were content therewith or did yeeld thereunto or that Rome euer attained thereunto onely she obtained to be vniuersall superiour ouer the West Churches as is plainely confessed by their Doctor M. Harding in his Booke of Confutation of the Apologie i Harding Apolog chap. 23. diuision 2. where he saith Rome is the Mother of all the West Churches If but of the West then not vniuersally of all both East and West therefore by M. Hardings owne confession here falleth to the ground the Popes vniuersalitie And therefore as we saw proued in the former Chapter that for the first sixe hundred and six yeares their Church had not any being at all so here we see proued as plainely that after they had a Church they had it but by measure and not vniuersally as they fondly fable Wherefore christian Reader whensoeuer they shall hereafter demaund of thee where our Church was before Luthers time answer them thus It was by Gregory the Greats confession sixe hundred and fiue yeeres before there was an vniuersall Pope to make a Popish Church hauing then none other but onely the same vniuersall head that now the true Christian Catholique and vniuersall Church hath of which we are now apart and that afterwards when an vniuersall Pope was ordained and made supreame head of the Church and had gotten dominion ouer the West part thereof yet euen there was our Church in reasonable quietnesse till about foure hundred yeares when as Pope Hildebrand began to be a fire-brand For indeed about that time Antichrist began to lay himselfe open to the world by his tyrannie which he began then to exercise against those that did withstand him and afterwards when as hee was growing vp to the full measure of iniquitie and that our Church among them could no longer beare his detestable enormities then during the next fiue hundred yeares following through their grieuous persecutions it was driuen into holes and corners and as many as they found they destroyed and the rest would haue destroyed had they not fled into those other parts of our Church before mentioned where they were preserued by Gods prouidence from the sonne of perditions tyrannie according to the prophesie in the fourteenth verse of the twelfth Chapter of the Reuelation which saith But to the woman to wit the true Church were giuen two wings of the great Eagle that shee might flie into the wildernesse into her place where she is nourished for a time and times and halfe a time from the presence of the Serpent The Church of Rome is proued to be a persecuter of the true
2. said Antichrist shall sit as God But I demaund how this can be said to be the Temple of God where God neuer sate ne put his name ne was serued but should be built onely for that great Idol Antichrists vse S. Augustine saith a Augustine de Ciuitate Dei 〈◊〉 20. cap. 19. The Temple of an Idoll or of a Deuill the Apostle would neuer call the Temple of God And therefore seeing as we heard before S. Hierome said that by the Temple is meant the Church this can neither bee that Temple in which S. Paul said Antichrist should sit as God nor Bellarmines Iew be that Antichrist which Saint Paul meant should sit in the Temple of God Now therefore the question is whether the Pope of Rome be hee which S. Paul said should sit as God in the Temple of God exalting himselfe aboue all that is called God or that is worshipped They say no wee say yea and who then shall determine the matter that shall foure of their owne side Bernard Ioacham Abbas Paracelsus and Auentine Bernard bewailing the state of the Church vnder the Popes of his time saith b Bernard Serm. 6. in Psalm 91. There remayneth nothing now but that the man of sinne bee reuealed euen the sonne of perdition which is not onely changed into an Angel of Light but is exalted aboue all that is called God or that is worshipped Ioacham sheweth plainely in diuers places of his Writings c Ioacham in his Commentarie vpon Jeremie besides other places in diuers of his Predictions That hee it is which exalteth himselfe aboue all that is called God or that is worshipped which is called holy Lord and most holy Pope Their Paracelsus wrote thus to the Pope d Paracelsus in his 12. sigured Prediction Behold thou hast lifted vp thy selfe on high but it is not thy place neither shalt thou abide aboue And a little after Thou hast placed thy selfe aboue God Their writer Auentine saith thus of the Pope and euery particular of them e Auentine in his Chron. printed at Ingolstade anno 1554. They sit in the Temple of God and they bee exalted aboue all that is worshipped Hee which is the seruant of seruants doth couet to be Lord of Lords as if he were God He speaketh great things as if he were God He changeth Lawes he establisheth his owne he robbeth he spoyleth he couseneth he slayeth that wicked man whom commonly they call Antichrist in whose forehead is a name written a name of Blasphemie I am God I cannot erre He sitteth in the Temple of God and beareth rule farre and wide And thus we see the matter determined by these foure vnpartiall Iudges and the question fully resolued that the Pope is that great Antichrist the Man of Sinne which S. Paul fore-told should Sit as God in the Temple of God exalting himselfe aboue all that is called God or that is worshipped And this may also suffice for the answering the third place which hee citeth out of that 2 Thes 2. to haue proued the seat of Antichrist to be Ierusalem Now to the second place The second place which hee citeth is the seuenteenth Chapter of the Reuelation then which he could not haue brought a more plainer place to proue the contrarie For in that the Angel calleth that Citie which he there speaketh of The great Citie which raigneth ouer the Kings of the earth He did not onely cleare Ierusalem for that it neuer raigned ouer the Kings of the earth but also certifieth vs that he meant Rome because Rome onely raigned ouer the Kings of the earth and the Emperour of Rome was then Emperour of the World Againe for as much as the Angel noteth out that Citie which S. Iohn there speaketh of by seauen Hills whereon it is built He not only cleared Ierusalem but also assureth vs that he meant Rome And all that are of any reading doe know that Ierusalem was neuer described by seauen Hils and that Rome and none other City in all the world is so described as Rome is by the names of these Hils Capitolinus Palatinus Auentinus Cicilius Scuen Hills Exquilinus Veminalis and Quinalis So that forasmuch as that Citie mentioned in the seauenteenth Chapter is distinguished from Ierusalem by those two speciall notes namely by raigning ouer the Kings of the earth and by being built vpon seauen Hils it is cleare without all contradiction that Rome onely is that place where the great Antichrist should pitch his Kingdome and consequently that the spirituall gouemour thereof and none other is he But they say no and who then shall be ludge betweene vs that shall their Abbot Ioacham Erasmus and their Bishop Cataldus Finius Ioacham writing vpon that seauenteenth Chapter of the Reuelation saith f Joacham The verie Text it selfe doth teach that the Woman begilded with gold and which committeth spirituall fornication with the Princes of the earth is the verie Church of Rome Erasmus writing also vpon the same Chapter saith g â—rasmus Sect. 3. These Hills agree with the hills of Rome Againe The woman in the great Citie is he which hath exalted himselfe for a Bishop ouer all Bishops and that raigneth ouer Emperours and Kings sitting also in the place of Christ And in the Chapter going before thus h Erasmus That beast of Rome of whom we spake before is the verie right Antichrist which worketh against the Gospel of Christ Cataldus saith i Cataldus Bishop of Trent in a Prophesic of his Rome is Babylon the damned pit of Priests And how then can Bellarmine with any credite or shew of truth say that Antichrist shall pitch his Kingdome in Ierusalem or that the Pope is not he THE SIXT OBIECTION 17 Three principall heads of Antichrists deuillish Doctrine when he commeth are plainely gathered out of holy Scripture The first that he shall denie Iesus to be Christ 1. Iohn 2. cap. 22. and consequently deny Baptisme and all other Sacraments and Doctrines brought in by Christ The second that he shall teach himselfe to be Christ and the Iewes shall beleeue him Iohn 5. The third that he shall affirme himselfe to be God and so require to be adored for God 2 Thessal 2.4 But the Popes of Rome doe not teach these poynts of Doctrine hetherto and therefore cannot be Antichrist THE ANSWERE 18 The former Chapter plainely proueth the Popes of Rome to teach all these three poynts of Doctrine and therefore Bellarmine himselfe must graunt the Pope and euery Pope in his time and place to be that Antichrist THE SEVENTH OBIECTION 19. Againe the Scripture teacheth vs that Antichrist when he commeth shall doe many wonderfull miracles in the sight of men Matth. 24. and 2. Thessal 2. and some of those miracles are specified Apoc. 13. to wit that he shall make fire descend from heauen and the Image of a beast to speake and saine himselfe to die and rise againe But these miracles no Pope hitherto hath
man of sinne be reuealed the sonne of perdition a diuell not onely of the day but also of the noon-day Likewise their Writer Holcote complayning of the Romish Priests and Prelates in his dayes sayth p Holcot in lib. Sapientiae lectro 182. They bee like the priests of Baall they resemble the priests of Dagon they are the priests of Priapus and Angels of hell So then heereby wee see that the Pope and his Prelates are the chiefe of those diuells of whom the Angell sayth Rome is become the habitation Now let vs see also who be those foule spirits vncleane and hatefull birds 10 Their Writer Auentine sayth q Auent analiuÌ„ Boierum lib. 6. I am ashamed to say what manner of Bishops wee haue with the reuenues of the poore they feed horses hounds I neede not to say whoores Saint Bernard sayth r Bernard sup Cant. serm 33. Sermo ad Clerum c. It is a shame to name those things which our Bishops doe in secret Their Mantuan sayth Å¿ Mantuan Calamitatum lib. 3 It is in euery mans mouth Cities and Countries talke of it and the very bruite thereof hath quenched all care of vertue Also their Bishop Cornelius sayth t Oratio Cornelij Epist Bitonti 3. With what monsters of filthinesse with what channell of vncleannesse with what pestiferous contagion are not both priests and people defiled make your selues Iudges and beginne at the Sanctuary of God Also their Palingenius saith v Paling Marcell Paling Zodiaci vita lib. 5. in Leon. Let no Frier Monke or any other Priest come within thy dores take heede of them no greater mischiefe they are the dregges of men the fountaines of Folly the sinkes of sinne Wolues vnder Lambes skinnes deceiuing the simple with a false shew of honesty and vnder the shaddow of Religion hide a thousand of vnlawfull acts Jdem lib. 6. in Virgine Idem lib. 9. Sagittario committers of Rapes abusers of boyes the Priests and Monkes that should be chaste spend night and day eyther openly with whoores or closely with boyes O shame sayth hee can the Church endure such hogges Whereupon their Platine saith * Platine vita Marcellini What shall we thinke will become of this our age wherin our vices are growne to that height that they haue scant left any place with God for mercy how great is the lechery of all sortes among the priests and especially among the chiefe Rulers To conclude Mantuan giueth the definitiue Sentence and plainely affirmeth that they of the Church of Rome are onely those foule spirits vncleane and hatefull birds for sayth hee x Mantu Calamitatum lib. 3. They are hatefull to heauen and loathsome with vncleane lusts alas in vaine attempt they sacred rites with incestuous hands they rather kindle and prouoke God then appease him Therefore sayth he againe y Jbid. Neuer hope for helpe so long as such pray for you And thus as wee sawe proued before by their owne testimonies who were those diuells so heere also we see as plainely proued by their owne Writers who bee those foule spirits vncleane and hatefull birds whereof Rome and her regiment in her latter dayes is become the habitation And thus much for the prouing that by the fall of Babylon is meant the great fall of the Christian Church of Rome vnder the Popes of Rome Now let vs see the time when shee beganne to fall and her full perfection whereunto she fell 11 Touching the first point Tertullian seemeth to be the first that maketh any mention thereof hee liued about two hundred yeares after Christ who then bewayling the declined estate of the Christian part of Rome thus exclaimed against it z Tertull. in Apologitico O Rome how much art thou changed from olde Rome thou which wast once the chiefe in all the World art now become the chiefe in all naughtinesse Also about one age after that Saint Hierome perceiuing how she beganne to be corrupted in doctrine thus exclaimed against her a Hierom. idem aduersus Jouianum lib. 2. Was there sayth hee none other place in all the World to receiue this voluptuous doctrine but that which Peters preaching had built on the Rocke Christ Againe hee sayd to the maintainers of this doctrine b To Pammachius Thou that art a maintainer of this new doctrine spare thy Romaine eares spare thy faith which is so commended by the Apostles owne mouth to this day the Christian world hath euer beene without this doctrine And agayne hee sayth c Jdem praefact in lib. Dydimi de spiritu sancte Whiles I stayed at Babylon and was an inhabitant of that purple whoore and liued among the Romaines Beholde the pot which was seene in Ieremie from the North beganne to seethe and the Senate of Pharises made an vproare and the whole faction of rude and ignorant as it were in defiance of learning conspired against me Furthermore hee crying out against the idolatry which was then crept into the Church and also against the Idole-makers saith d In his 11. booke 10. chap. vpon Ieremy He adorneth his Image with siluer and golde that by the shine and glittering of both mettalls he may deceiue the simple which errour sayth he is now crept in among vs. Also within lesse then twenty yeares after that Saint Augustine declareth how their idolatrie was defended by the Idolaters to be no Idolatrie namely because they tooke not their Image for God but sayd hee e Augustine in his sermon vpon Matth. Let no man say to me the Image is no diuine power they know it is not God I would to God saith he they so knew it as we know it but what they haue and in what sort they haue it and what they doe about it the Altar beareth witnesse Therefore from hence it was which in another place he saith f Augustine in psal 44. They haue made vs the Citizens of Babylon we haue left our Creatour and haue worshipped the creature we haue left him that made vs and haue worshipped that which we haue made our selues Wherefore their Ambrosius Ansbertus thus concluded euen of Christian Rome saying g Ambro. in Apâ—calip lib. 6. Rome is the second Babylon 12 Furthermore about some thirtie yeares after that Saint Christostome speaking of the decaying estate of the Christian Church saith h Christ in 1. ad Corinthi Hom. 36. The Church at this day is like vnto a Woman that hath quite lâ—st her olde modestie that is her sober and chaste behauiour towards her Husband Christ and doth begin to wax wanton towards new Louers with whom whiles she dalted rose vp a spokesman to make a match betweene Ancichrist and her which was Iohn Bishop of Constantinople whom Gregory the Great therefore called i Gregorie in his 6. Booke Epist 30. The fore-runner of Antichrist But as Pelagius before Gregories daies stayed the marriage from being solemnized so did Gregorie during his dayes
g Elizabeth in her 2. booke of Visions chapter 18. Woe be vnto you Hypocrites which hide the Gold and the Siluer to wit the Word of God and the Law of the Lord which is more pretious then eyther Gold or Siluer but howsoeuer yee seeme vnto men religious and innocent you are full of craftinesse and vncleannesse And lib. 3. cap. 14. Christ saith therefore Your Religion doth accuse you before mee Their Saint Katherine saith thus also of the Romish Clergie h Katherine of Siene in a prayer of hers The religious Orders are become the weapons or souldiers of the Deuill corrupting Religion inwardly in themselues and outwardly in the secular sort and Laitie And a little after she saith The Laitie and secular persons are seduced and deceiued by their blinde guides which are alas ignorant Idiots Their Saint Hildegard saith i Hildegard in her second booke of Sciuias I saw in a vision a monstrous blacke Head in the Church with fierie eyes an Asses eares a Lyons nosthrils with a mouth breathing out the furie of vnlawfull fire with the vnpleasant noyse of contradiction among Men whereby the white puritie of true Religion is obscured and diminished in the children of the Church Abbot Ioacham saith k Ioacham vpon the first and second chapter of Ieremie The infancie of Salomon representeth vnto vs the zeale of the Primitiue Church and his olde age signifieth or shadoweth out the present corrupt state of the Church and that as Salomon in his olde age fell into Idolatrie so hath the Church of Rome done Againe vpon the seauenteenth chapter of Saint Iohns Reuelation he saith * Vpon the 17 of the Reuelation The very Text it selfe doth teach that the Woman begilded with Gold and which committeth spirituall Fornication with the Princes of the Earth is the verie Church of Rome which Babylon like playeth spiritually the Whore with Stockes and stones To be briefe whereas their Robertus a Dominican Frier l Robertus Gallus a Frier in his 5.6 and 8. Sermon affirmeth the Pope to be the great and head Idol of the Romish Church whom the first part of our first Chapter sheweth plainely the Church of Rome holdeth to be a celestiall God and that their Saint Bridgit saith in the person of God m Bridgit in her 4. Booke chap. 133. They make an Idol of mee What fall can possibly be in Religion then to make the arch-Idol of the world God and the God of all worlds an Idol 16 Lastly concerning the fourth poynt which hath three diuisions The first concerneth the falling from God The second from Christ The third from the true Church Which because the three former hath in part proued a generall Apostacie I will but briefely touch Their Saint Bridgit saith as it were in the person of God n Bridgit ibidem Israel doth now neglect mee that is to say saith hee the Priests and they loue another God For they loue as I said before the golden Calfe c. Moreouer they make an Idol of mee and shut vpon mee lest I should enter o In her 135. chapter Thus doe these cursed Priests by mee And a little after I call them to mee as the Bridegroome doth his Bride or the Husband his wedded Wife I doe all I can but the more that I call them the further they goe from me Ioacham sheweth that the whole Clergie of Rome is so farre falne from God that as he saith p Ioacham vpon the first and second chapter of Ieremie They haue chosen the Deuill for God 17 Touching the second deuision Their Mathilde a Prophetesse thus exclaimeth against the Romish Clergie saying q Mathilde in a Prophesie of hers They are falne away from Christ and become rauening Wolues deuouring and cutting the throats of Christs Sheepe Ioacham Abbas saith r Ioacham vpon the 1. and 2. chap. of Iere. The Church of Rome like vnto another Tribe hath departed from Christ Hating all such as their S. Bridgit saith Å¿ Bridgit in her 1. Booke 56 chap. as walke in his wayes Yea and as in another place she saith of Pope Gregorie then t Lib. 4. cap. 142. Hee hateth Christ hee robbeth him of his sheepe hee plucketh them violently out of his hand and sendeth them to Hell fire By which the case is made cleare that all that are wonne to the Pope are lost from Christ And as Ioacham in that place before cited shewed the Church of Rome to be so farre falne from God as that she chose the Deuill for God so in the same place he sheweth that she is so far falne from Christ that she hath chosen Antichrist for Christ 18 Now for the third deuision concerning the falling from the true Church their Robertus bringeth in Christ thus repr ouing the Romish Church for falling away from the true and antient Christian Church v Frier Robertus in his 12. Sermon Daughter of Babylon saith he thou art estranged from thy mother my Doue that bare thee and art gone after gold and siluer and precious ornaments Like an adultresse thou hast forsaken mee and hast ioyned thy selfe vnto strangers Thou liest prostrate and such as are pleased to play the whoore repaire vnto thee And in the same Sermon in the person of Christ hee saith Ibidem Why haue the children of my Doue departed from mee and are become blacke They are become estranged by abandoning the simplicity of their mother Againe in the same Sermon Ibidem hee calleth the Clergie of Rome A disloyall generation and the adultrous sons of Christs Doue And in his thirty two Sermon the Lord saith thus vnto him * 2â— Sermon All the children of my beloued sauing onely a few shall play the Apostates And in his twentie one Sermon the Lord saith thus to the whole Clergy of Rome This mine house shall be destroyed because of you which make the children of my beloued to play the Apostates And this is it which Ioacham fore-tolde where hee sayth * Ioacham vpon the seauentâ—enth chapter of the Reuâ—laâ—tion The Lord shall stirre vp as it were with an hissing voyce the French men and Germanes to conspire against the Church which hath played the Apostate in the person of the warrefaring Popes who with their Clergie and their adherents as a prophecie had out of the Abbot of Clunies Library sayth x In an olde booke shall fight against the true Church Also the Abbot Ioacham painteth out one most cruell Pope which hee sayth y Ioacham in his 9. Prediction Shall wound and scourge with most cruell stripes the most meeke Lambe opening his mouth against Christ the Lord and darkening the Starres of heauen Wherefore saith Saint Bridgit to the Pope z Bridgit in her 6. booke of her Reuelation 26 chapter The King for whom thou doest pray ought to assemble and call a Councell of spirituall men such as are wise through my
Pope notwithstanding I haue forbidden it I beseech your holinesse doe so no more Againe if the Title had been a lawfull Title why did he call Iohn Bishop of Constantinople m Gregory lib. 6. Epist 30. The fore-runner of Antichrist for seeking to bring it into the Church And say n Gregory lib. 4. Epist 34. By this pride of his what else is signified but that the time of Antichrist is at hand o Gregory lib. 4. Epist 34. The King of pride is at hand and an Army of Priests is prepared which is a lamentable thing to be spoken Yea and why to make all men to know him by that Title did hee thus describe him saying p Gregory lib. 4. Epist 38. He is Antichrist that shall claime to be called vniuersall Bishop and shall haue a guard of Priests to attend vpon him And also to seeke to cleare all his Predecessours to Peters time from euer claiming that Antichristian Title saying q Gregory lib. 4. Epist 32.36 None of my Predecessours Bishops of Rome euer consented to vse that vngodly name no Bishop of Rome euer tooke vpon him that name of singularitie And further to shew what an vnlawfull Title it was to be called the vniuersall head of Christs Church and the danger that might ensue said r Gregory lib. 4. Epist 32. If we haue but one head the fall of that head is the fall of the whole Church If any man presume to take vpon him the name of vniuersall Bishop the whole Church falleth downe from her estate when hee falleth which is called vniuersall but farre may that name of blasphemy be from all Christian mindes By which it appeareth plainely that the Romish that is now which hath an vniuersall Pope for her Husband and head is not the Church of Saint Peter but the Church of Saint Antichrist And therefore to say that the Romish Church which Saint Peter first planted in Rome was one and the same that the Church of Rome is now is most horrible blasphemie and a meanes to bring a great scandall vpon that part of the Primitiue Church For if she was the same then was shee that Whore of Babylon mentioned by the Angell in the 17. Chapter of the Reuelation For so saith Ioacham Abbas of the Popish Church Å¿ Joacham on the 17. chapter of the Reuelation The very Text it selfe doth teach saith he how that the woman beguiled with gold and which committeth pirituall fornication with the Princes of the earth is the very Church of Rome which Babylon-like playeth spiritually the Whore with stockes and stones Againe if that first Church of Rome was the same that this Church vnder vniuersall Popes is then was shee the same which the Angell in the 18. Chapter of the Reuelation saith Is falne and become the habitation of Diuels for so their Saint Katharine of Siene saith the Church vnder the Popes is t Katharine in a prayer for the reformation Selling saith she through Symony the grace of the holy Ghost abusing ecclesiasticall matters corrupting and killing the soules which Christ hath redeemed with his blood c. O Tabernacle but of the Diuell And of which Ioacham also saith v Ioacham vpon the 1. and 2. chapters of Jeâ—emy This is the Synagogue of Sathan and his seate Therefore to say that this second Church of Rome is the same that Saint Peter first planted in Rome is most damnable blasphemie And thus much for the conclusion of all that which wee haue hitherto intreated of Now let vs proceede CHAP. IX Tending to resolue all men that the Popish Church cannot be the true and most auncient Catholique Church because the most auncient Apostolike Church was knowne by hauing onely two Sacraments and theirs hath seauen which iust number as they can not bee found in Scriptures so can they not be found once named by any of the foure first generall Councels or any Prouinciall Councell or any of the auncient Fathers till after the rising of the great Antichrist in Rome Also that their Masse was inuented by man and not the ordinance of Christ and his Apostles That it tendeth to the ouerthrow of the power of Christs Sacrifice on the Crosse casteth mens mindes into a doubtfull wauering of their saluation and finally dissolueth the whole harmony of the Scriptures both Propheticall and Apostolicall 1 THE Papists haue wonderfully deluded the multitude in making them to beleeue that the most auncient Catholique Church receiued from the institution of Christ and the ordinance of the Apostles these seauen Sacraments The first the Sacrament of Baptisme The second the Sacrament of Confirmation The third the Sacrament of the Altar The fourth the Sacrament of Matrimony The fift the Sacrament of Orders The sixt the Sacrament of Penance The seauenth the Sacrament of Extreme Vnction But because they cannot proue by any one place of Scripture these seauen to be Sacraments nor the number of seauen to come from the institution of Christ or the ordinance of the Apostles some of them would proue it by this reason The books in the Apocalypse haue seauen Seales The seauen Angels haue their seauen Trumpets Christ hath in his right hand seauen Starres Christ walketh in the middes of seauen golden Candlestickes Zacharie saw seauen Eyes vpon a stone There were seauen Candlestickes in the Tabernacle Now if this manner of reasoning will serue to proue that in the true Church of Christ there must needs be seauen Sacraments then will this manner of reasoning proue there must needes be but two First for that the first Church consisted onely but of two persons Adam and Heuah Secondly for that the first publike places wherein God appoynted himselfe to be serued was in number but two the Tabernacle and the Temple Thirdly for that God gaue his Law to the Church in two Tables Fourthly for that the whole tenure of the Doctrine wherein God would haue his Church instructed is contained in two testaments Old and New Fiftly for that the witnesses of those testaments are said to be two Sixtly for that the supreame gouernours which God set ouer his Church were but two Moses and Aaron Lastly because the whole duety of all Church-gouernours are included in these two words Vrim and Thummim there must be but two Sacraments in the Church of Christ But their Doctour M. Harding well perceiuing that this manner of proofe will not serue the turne he taketh a better course as he thinketh for he will proue his fiue added Ceremonies to be Sacraments because they were called Sacraments by some of the auncient Fathers as indeede wee graunt they were but what of this seeing we can proue that they called not onely fiue other Ceremonies Sacraments but many moe as for example Tertullian called the generall state of the Christian Faith The Sacrament of Christian Religion a Tertull. contra Marcionem li. 4. Saint Hierome called Martyrdome a Sacrament b Hierome ad Oceanum Saint Augustine