Take heed therefore that you make not any Image And the Commination threatned in the 24. The Lord is a consuming fire as if Hell fire were the reward of image-worshippers Againe in the second Commandement very bowing to an image is forbidden Whereupon the Church of Rome fearing that by the light of this evident inhibition their Mystery of iniquity should be discovered they leave this Commandement out of their bookes and Catechismes which come to the hands of the Common people And Vasques to shew his love to the truth goeth yet Vasq de Ador. l. 2. disp 4. c. 4. farther and affirmeth that the second Commandement is Ceremoniall and ought to be abolished Lactantius his words shall bee my conclusion for this point Non est dubium quin religio nulla est ubicunque simulacrum est According to whom thus I conclude Without peradventure they have no religion who worship images But the Church of Rome doth worship Images Therefore without peradventure the Church of Rome hath No Religion But are the Apostates Who do not receive the love of the Truth but take pleasure in unrighteousnesse The fift is the worshipping of the Crosse a worship altogether unknowne to the Heathen and therein therefore more then Heathenish Cruces etiam nec colimus nec optamus vos plane Arnobius lib. 8. qui Ligneos Deos consecratis Cruces ligneas forsitan adoratis ut deorum vestrorum partes saith Minutius that is Wee neyther wish nor worship Crosses but you who doe plainly hallow wooden gods peradventure you adore wooden Crosses as parts of your gods The Christians apologie is absolute that they did not worship wooden Crosses their recrimination to the Heathens that they did worship Crosses is qualified with a peradventure It is therefore without peradventure that the worshipping of a wooden Crosse was abhorred as abominable both by the Christians and Heathens Indeede some hereticall Christians have Pappus Hist pag. 345. beene knowne and taxed for that Idolatrie The Armenij thence were termed Charinzarij that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the worshippers of the Crosse And since in the dotage of the Church and nonage of Antichrist that Idolatry hath crept in amongst Christians Aquine undertooke a Aquin. 3. 25. 4. solemne disputation of the worship of the Cross And Cornelius Mussus is transported with the Corn. Mussus to 1. 662. adoration admiration of that wooden Idolatry O Crux admiranda O Salus Vita Resurrectio Salus animarum Vita coporis Resurrectio animae simul corporis that is O admirable Crosse O Health Life and Resurrection Health of the soule Life of the body and Resurection of both soule and body And that these may not be put off as private opinions of some particular persons heare the universall practice of their whole Church O Crux ave All Haile O Crosse Spes vnica Our onely Hope Hoc Passionis tempore This time of the passion Auge pijs justitiam Augment the godlies devotioÌ„ Reisque dona veniam And forgive the ungodlies transgression Never could I conceive the just cause of such senselesse idolatry till my text suggested it They have not the love of the truth but take pleasure in unrighteousnesse The sixt is the Sacrament Bee that blessed Bread as Sacred as the most sanctified heart can conceive yet it is but Bread notwithstanding Howbeit the Papists give unto it cultuÌ„ latriae that worship which is due to God DominuÌ„ DeuÌ„ tuuÌ„ Concil Trident. Sess 13. Can. 5. Costerus Enchir. cap. 7. adorabis Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God saith Costerus speaking of the Sacrament The whole Church doth cry to it Agnus Dei qui tollis peccatamundi O thou Lambe of God which takest away the sins of the world According to which is that stupendious superscription of our Sanders to his Treatise on the Lords Supper To the Body and blood of our Saviour Iesus Christ under the forme of Bread and Wine all Honour Praise and thankes be given for ever and ever Now wee knowing that the Carnall presence is but a carnall conceit and that the tricke of Transubstantiation is as true as any of Ovids Metamorphoses Wee cannot but pronounce the words of Costerus which he delivereth by way of supposition Colere frustum panis pro Deo to worship a peece of bread is worse then to worship viva animalia the brute Beasts as the Egyptians did or Imagines images as the Heathen did or to worship rubrum Stannum inhasâ—am elevatum a red Clout clapped on a Pole as the Lappians doe Nay it is saith hee such a grosse idolatry qualis in Orbe terrarum non fuit as the like whereof was never in the world never seene among all the Heathens Those stupid Idolaters did absurdly-execrably The first did make their god furthermore they did worship it But these to shew that they are superlative goe a degree farther 1. They make their god 2. They worship it 3. They eate it Now that men should make their god and eate their god none can beleeve it but those that doe not receive the love of the Truth but have pleasure in unrighteousnesse Thus the Papists doe make this Holy Sacrament a prophane Idol acording to our positions and they may make it so also according to their owne opinions It is their opinion yea a ruled case confirmed by a Canon of the Councill of Florence That three things are required Conc. Flor. in Dec. Euchar. sect Quinto to the perfect celebrating of the Sacrament Materia Forma Persona 1. That there bee a right matter 2. A right Forme that they use the words belonging therunto 3. That the Minister doe celebrate that Sacrament cum intentione faciendi quod facit Ecclesia with an intention to doe what the Church doth quarum si aliquid desit non perficitur Sacramentum if any of those three be wanting it is no Sacrament I assume but it is possible that the Priest may forget to have the same intention with the Church possible therefore it is that the Sacrament which hee administreth may be no Sacrament And therefore it is possible that the Papists may worship a meere peece of Bread which in the judgement of their owne Dr Costerus is the most absurd and abominable Cost Enchir. c. 7. idolatry that ever was in the world They will therefore be constrained unto Gersons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to adore the Host with this Caution Scilicet si recte consecrat a sit that is I adore thee O Host must the Papists say if thou beest consecrated aright Otherwise they cannot escape that concession and confession which our Doctor Featly extorted from their Dr Featly's Cons with Mr Musket touching transub die 1. Mr. Musket That the Popish Communicant may sometime commit Idolatry materially Salva res est erubescit Finally the World is their Pantheon and according to some Papists every Creature therin is an Object of their religious adoration The opinion
sea in this bloody relation And the first is to Dow de Antich part 1. lib. 6. cap. 5. nu 5. Crakenth in Spalat ca 2. nu 5. the ankles of blood for at the massacre of Paris it is recorded that the streets did flow with blood of the credulous Hugoâ—ites or protestants who were inticed thither by the promises if not by the oath of a great King Notwithstanding all which they were shamfully murthered O Christe stupio patientiam tuam O Christ that Christians should bee perfidious When we durst trust the very Turks on such conditions The Duke D'Alva caused women Met. Hist Be'g lib 3. with child to have their bellies rip'd open their infants to be slayne their men to be flead and their skins to head their drummes some to be burned with gentle fire which did hardly burne and others to bee torne in peeces with glowing tonges and the very Carkasses of dead protestants to be digged up againe and hanged Ioac Vrsin in pt de Inquisitione upon Gallowses And in Westphalia the infants were torne out from great bellyed women cut in peeces and so bound to the mouthes of their mothers The men were forced by famine to feed on the flesh of their owne children Infants of two yeares twice more barbarous then bloody Herod were closed in their mothers bodyes and so strangled in their mothers blood And the men which is as shamelesse as barbarous were hanged by their priuy members Now considering these cruelties against the protestants and that in the meane time the Iewes Turkes and Infidels are permitted to live in Rome it selfe Wee must conclude that the Romanists exceed those very Iewes Turkes and Infidells in persecuting poore Christians They have felt that the Pope is corporally a destroyer and therefore the sonne of perdition From these personall instances I will proceed Hist Wald. lib. 2. cap. 7. to publike examples and I will shut up this point with the universall fate of two famous Provinces The Waldenses or protestants of Calabria planted themselves there 1370 Anno 1560 Pope Pius 4 sent Cardinall Alexandrine with some Monkes Inquisitors who caused the inhabitants of Saint Xest to fly to the woods and sending souldiers after them the most of them were slaine and the remnant famished The inhabitants of La Garde cited by proclamation appeared being overcome by their faire promises before the Inquisitors at Folcade where 70 of them were put to the racke amongst whom Stephen Charlne was so tortured that his bowells fell out to extort from him this calumnious Confession that their people assembled by night to commit whoredome when the candles were put out Marcon was stripped naked beaten with iron rods drag'd through the streets and burned with firebrands One of his sonnes was killed with knives and another was cast from a Towre because he would not kisse a Crucifix Bernard Conti was covered with pitch and so burned Foure of the principall were strangled fourescore had their throats cut as if the Psalmist had prophecyed of them like calves And their quarters were gibbeted up in the high way for the space of 30 miles together One Sampson was hurl'd from a Towre the next day the Viceroy comming to the foot of the towre found the poore wretch halfe dead and praying to God to whom hee gave a kicke on the head saying Is this dogge yet alive cast him to the Hogges At Saint Xist 60 women were so racked Hist Wald. lib. 2. cap. 7. that wormes ingendred in their wounds which fed upon them being alive and if any did intercede for any hee was also put to the Racke by the Inquisitours The Inquisitours sent their men to the Gallies their fugitives they coÌ„demned to perpetuall banishment and sold and kil'd woman and child Steven Negrine one of their Ministers was starved in prison at Cossence The other Lewis Paschal was burned in Rome in the presence of Pope Pius 4 himselfe and his Cardinals And thus were the Waldenses wholly extirpated out of Calabria and yet the Pope never persecuted the Protestants To give a second example which is second Hist Wald. lib. 2. cap. 9. to none The Waldenses in Provence were planted there about 1228. the records of whose persecutioÌ„s are lost Lewis 12 King of France being mis-informed that they committed all manner of Wickednesse and villanies sent out commission against them but being better informed of their Innocence that persecution was prevented Francis the first renewed it which was principally executed upon two of their principall Townes Merindoll and Cabreers Vntill the yeare 1540 whomsoever they did apprehend they did either burne or gibbet or dismissed them with markes in their foreheads But about this time there passed such a sentence against Merindoll as never Parliament did parallel like that of Assuerus Esther 3. 13 by which their men and women were condemned to the fire their Children outlawed the Towne it selfe to be demolished the wood within 200 foot round to be cut downe and the place to be made utterly unhabitable This barbarous sentence was passed against these Innocents without the hearing of any of them who were condemned At Cabriâ—rs in the Countrey round about Hist Wald lib. 2. cap. 8. the men were slaine the women ravished the breasts of the mothers cut off and the infants famished and a proclamation published that none should relieve them The towne it selfe was yeelded by composition that the inhabitants might goe to Geneva But being entred O pede commanded the men to be brought into the field and his souldiers to try which of them were strongest to cut off Heads Armes and legs The women hee shut up in a barne with straw and burned them and those women and châ—ldreÌ„ which were found in the Church hee gave to the bawdes of Avignon Well then may the poore protestants take up a complaint against the persecuting papists in the phrase of the Psalmist Psal 83. 3 4. They have taken crafty counsell against thy people and have consulted against thy secret ones They have sayd Come and let us cut them off from being a nation and let the name of Israel bee no more in remembrance Aptly may I here remember that Epigram made on one of the Popes Lucius 3. 1184 fitting the whole popedome registred by that noble and nobly learned Plessey Lucius est piscis rex atque tyrannus aquaruÌ„ Pless Myâ— Iniq. an 1184. Prâ—gress 49. A quo discordat Lucius isâ—e parum Devorat ille Homines hic Piscibus insidiatur Esurit hic semper hic aliquando satur Lucius the Pope and Lucius the Pike Search through the world finde not the like The Pike of Fish devoureth the small The Pope of Men doth swallow all I may conclude in prose The Pope is Filius perditionis The sonne of perdition According to the Vision of holy Daniel cap. 7. I may call these premised cruelties one a Lyon another a Beare and a third a Leopard but there is yet
destroyed spiritually also Consider the connexion of the phrases in my Text The Man of sinne and sonne of perdâ—tion Never did Chime follow the stroke of a Clocke so certainly nor suddenly as perdition â—oth sinne He who is the Man of sinne shall be the sonne of perdition Those that doe destroy the soules of other men shall undoubtedly be rewarded with their owne Soules destruction But they inferre that I inferre that the Pope and all grand Papists are perditi are desperatâ—ly in the state of damnation I answer with Saint Paul Rom. 9. 18. Deus â—â—sâ—râ—tur cujus vult misereri God hath mâ—rcy on whom he will have mercy With Cyprian Eodem temporis Cyprian de Câ—â—a Domini articulo God can infuse repentance and give grace at the very last gaspe With Moulins It Moulins Accâ—â— of Pâ—oâ—h pag. 82. is not our parts to give judgement upon any bodie nor positively to define What men are damned but we pray to God to shew mercy to those Popes and Papists who doe breathe out their threatnings against us and would bathe their hands in our blood And we say with Whitakâ—rs Ex quo Papismus caepit esse Antichristianismus Whitaker in Sandâ—r p 74â— ne Papas quidem universos damnatos esse dixerâ—m nec Papam hunc si ad sanam mentem râ—diâ—rit excluserâ—m Wee are so farre from saying that all Popes are damned that we will nor exclude even this Pope â—rom his salvation if he repent and revoke his wicked errour I do not subscribe to the sentence of Pope Sergius Oecum lib. 1. part 2. cap. 25. the fourth as to an infallible truth Papam non posse damâ—ari sed quod quicquid saâ—â—râ—t salvarâ—tur that is Howsoever he lâ—vâ— yet it is impossible for the Pope to â—ee 〈◊〉 Rather I incline to the opinion of another Pope It was Oâ—â—phriâ—â— in Marcello 2. the sayâ—â—g of Pope Marcellâ—s the â—econd Non vidâ—o qâ—modo qu◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I conceive not said hee how that men which attaine the high Majestie of the Papacy can ever be saved And this I say setting Gods secret Determination apart The Pope and Papacy and popish agents and instruments if they proceed in these Heresies Cruelties Treacheries and Tyrannies which they now professe and practise dâ—spereunt bis pereunt they fall under a double destruction of body and of soule They are this Filius Perditionis They will be damned Some Papists will thinke it strange that I terme the Pope the sonne of perdition And I thinke it more strange that the Pope and papists use this very property of Antichrist Perdition as a meanes to propagate their Religion Antichrâ—st is here called a destroyer and they urge destruction as an argument to draw fearefull people to Popery Doth not Bellarmine and others preach peremptorily that the Pope can depose Kings and dâ—spose of Kingdomes what is this but to terrâ—fie popâ—sh Princes from forsaking Popery for feare of dâ—stroying their Inheritance Doth not Suarez and others conclude wretchedly that the Pope may authorize a forraine Prince to invade his neighbor or the subjects to kill their Soveraigne what is this but to terrifie the reformed Princes from opposing Popery for feare of murther and destroying their persons Did not our Powder plotters confesse that they intendâ—d to make our Parliament House their slaughter housâ— because said they there the Lawes were inacted against them What is this but to terrisie this State other States and all States from making Statutes against the Romish Religion for feare of being destroyed by some such suddaine sulphurious Popish Romish villanie Know wee not their common threatnings what they whisper amongst the common people What they will doe when their day doth come but Christ grant that their day may never come When their day shall come doe they not whisper amongst the common people that they will no more hew downe the branches but teare up the very rootes of Reformation rooting out every professour thereof What is this but to terrifie us from preaching and you from hearing for feare of destroying our poore persons and innocent children Is not then destroying the Pillar of poperie Are not papists destroyers May not therefore their father be called â—ilius perditionis the sonne of perdition To answer their argument Doe they feare you that you may savour them Doe they tell you of death and destruction tell them that Antichrist is a destroyer and that cruelty was never the Character of Christianity Doe wee thinke they will doe what they threaten and destroy us if wee come into their power Oh let us not feare them that may destroy the body but cannot hurt the soule rather let us feare him who can destroy both body and soule in Hell Matth. 10. 28. A thousand times better is it for us to be like Saint Steven to pray for them that kill us than for them to be like the Iewes to vow to kill us who pray for them and doe them no Hurt but onely hinder their Errours and indeavour their salvation Well then let them goe on the man of sin will bee the sonne of perdition and those who are sworne servants to Rome may sweare our imprisonment our exile our tortures our death our destruction But the Lord destroy the destroyer and grant that popery may never get the dominion over us Amen Amen SERMON VI. 2 THESS 2. 3 4. The Adversarie Antichrist not an open Adversary The Pope doth oppose Christ The Pope the worst Adversarie the Church ever had THe Adversary This is the third Title of Antichrist Some call it his Propertie both properly enough for the Title doth imply the propertie Yet more properly it may be termed his title because it doth allude to his proper Name The Adversary with St. Paul and Antichrist with St. Iohn are synonima's of the same signification To consider this title is a matter of some consequence for Sanders Bellarmine and all the papists urge this as an insoluble Demonstration The Pope is Vicarius Christi not Adversarius Christo The Pope is the Vicar not the Adversary of Christ Therefore The Pope iâ— not Antichrist Let us examine this point and judge the truth according to the plainnesse of the Evidence The Adversarie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Title Beza in 2 Thes 2. of Antichrist doth allude to that name of the Devill Satan that the Sonne may resemble his Father and to shew that Antichrist will be a devillish Adversary Now an Adversary is so two wayes either openly or secretly As Porus Iust Hist lib. 12. aâ—â—ailed Alexander with his sword but Antipater his servant yea as some suspect his wife did slay him with poison Possible therefore it is for the servant of Christ yea servus servorum for him that pretendeth himselfe to be Christs principall servant to be a traitour and for them who have the name of the spouse to be the Adversary of Christ Againe Herod sought Christ with the
the height of disobedience rebellion and to the height of rebellion perjurie Morn Myst Progres 41. persidie and parricide Mathilda was instrument to Pope Vrbane 2 whereby Conradus was incited to an insurrection against the Emperour Henry 3 anno 1091. And about Morn Myst Progres 42. 1100 the same Henry 3 had another sonne afterward Henry 4 instigated by Pope Pascal 2 who surprised him at a treatie permitted his Father to begge a Clerkeshâ—p in Saint Maries Church at Spire whereof himselfe had beene the Founder of the Bishop of Spire to whom he had beene Patron by whom he was most churlishly rejected Through the griefe whereof and of other occurrences the noble Emperour died And his sonne Henry 4 Paulus Deacon â—ib 4. cap. 38. though he kâ—lled him yet could not bury him but he lay without a grave for many yeeres together for so the Pope did injoyne it Concerning Mariage from marying they are inhibited if maried divorced such as are under the Popes Iurisdiction I will give one instance to affirme each and a third to avouch both Gregory 7 was infinitely incensed Sigonius lib. 9. de Reg. Italiae that Mathilda was wedded to Atestanus the Marquesse of Azan and the next yeare divorced her under pretence of neernesse of kindred whereas nothing was more common with him than to dispence with degrees of neerer affinitie Innocent 3 divorced Ralph Earle of Vermandois from his first wife that he might assume a second Petronilla the sister unto the Queene of France Of which lawlesse act Saint Bernard did complaine God saith he did Bernard Epist 216. ad Innocent joyne Ralph and his wife by the Ministerie of the Church Quo modo quos Ecclesia conjunxit Cumera disjunxit How could the Popes Chamber put a sunder those whom Gods Church hath joyned together Bernard might have satisfied his demand out of Saint Paul in this Text. The Pope did doe it because hee was and is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lawlesse and therefore not tyed to give an account of his actions Finally foure hundred yeares after that anno 1556 Pope Paul 4 sent a monitorie to Dame Ioan of Arragon wife of Ascanius Columna that she should Trent Hist lib. 8. not marry any of her daughters without his leave or if shee did the matrimony though consummated should be made void Some peradventure will here interpose a diminution that though the Pope bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet is he withall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though hee outleapeth the Lawes of God and man yet he will consine himselfe to his owne Constitutions to those conclusions which himselfe hath established either privately in his Conclave or publikely in the Councils Bee it so this is no hedge to his lawlesse out-leapes for in bâ—th these hee will leave a gappe for his free egresse The Councills are proponent ibus Legatis salva semper authoritate sedis Apostolicae with caution not to touch the hemme of his Primacie And for the Conclave it is a Quarrells of Paul â— with Veniâ—e lib. 1. thing without doubt quoth that judicious Author of that Venetian story in the Court of Rome that the Cardinalls voices are taken in Consistorie onely in appearance and by way of ceremony in as much as they are never informed of the affaires wherof they are to treat so that the Popes goe with assurance to propound in Consistorie whatsoever is to their humour grounded upon the custome which is amongst the Cardinalls to consent to al that is proposed which is openly derided in the Court of Rome changing the latine word by the figure of agnomination assentiri into assentari Howsoever were the Popes Conclave and Council-conclusions faire and farre from fraud when they are constituted yet are they but twine-threeds to their Prerogative they cannot binde it In that contention 1605 betwixt the Pope and Venice The Venetians The quarrels of Paul 5 with the Venetians pleaded for their action the Law of Nature Possession for a 1000 yeares and the Popes approbation by his owne Breves extant in their publike Archiues This threefold cord was easily broken and Paul the fift commanded the revoking of that Venetian Law although the Popes owne Breves did establish them Neither are their Councills any thing stronger Sigonius do Reg. lib. 6. Baron An. 897. Artic. 2. Pope Formosus was by Pope Steven in a Councill digged out of his grave condemned and censured about 900. After whom Pope Iohn 10 in another Councill at Ravenna did abrogate that act of his predecessour and that Councill which concurred in the countenancing and commanding that action Finally the Pope himselfe Paschal the second shall determine this question who said if Aventine Avent lib. 6. say true debere homines pro legibus habere quae dicat that men ought to esteeme The Popes words to bee their Lawes As much is here said by the Pope as I can say of the Pope although I give him that name which Saint Paul giveth to Antichrist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lawlesse person From hence let understanding men conceive what manner of arguments the Papists can vse to perswade them to their parties Doe they dispute from the Scriptures Alas the Pope doth dispence with the Scripture and make his Decrees equall to the Scriptures Doe they plead an Article of Faith The Pope doth contradict the old Creed and hath made a new Creed May persons prevaile with thee their reverend and learned Priests the best of them if an absolute Papist is but the Popes creature and like Balaam Num. 22. 38. He hath power to speake nothing but what his God the Pope doth put in his mouth Doth thy child intreat thee or thy wife intice thee The Pope can cancell the bonds of Nature and of wedlocke His agents can make thy wise undutifull and thy childe unnaturall Or doe those awefull motives to an honest heart oathes move Alas alas if thou couldest see all the blood which the Pope hath caused to be shed by breaking of oathes the Thames would seeme to bee but a Channell compared to that Ocean In a word when thou canst trust a man who neither obeyeth the scripture nor keepeth an oath then beleeve the Pope and Popish â— ill then my Tongue shall tell you what my heart doth pray for you The Pope is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one who breaketh all Lawes Humane and Divine Therefore From that lawlesse awelesse faithlesse gracelesse Man of Sin Good Lord deliver us SERMON XV. 2 THESS 2. 8. Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightnesse of his comming The Destruction of Antichrist The beginning of Reformation Poperie may return into England Popery may not be put downe by force of Armes The finall destruction of the Pope uncertaine Popery shall not be extinguished till the last day The destruction of Rome THis part of this verse containeth the third part of this Discourse
Papists is Ephes 6. 17. the sword of the spirit the word of God preaching yea ecce duo gladij hic Luk. 22. 38. wee may unsheath two swords against them our publike preaching and your owne private Catechising Would you more weapons I shewed you some before Christianorum arma sunt preces lachrymae Prayers and Teares are our weapons Yea yet more Ephes 6. 14. we must arme our selves with the Breast-plate of righteousnesse that is with Innocence Here is the Magazin of Protestants Doe we desire the confusion of Antichrist Doe we desire I know wee doe desire it doe we indeed desire that Poperie may be expelled on t of our Countrey then must we sight against it by our Preaching and Praying Prayers and Teares Penitence and Innocence are all our weapons Therefore the God of Hoasâ—s grant that all of us may use all of them The third point but the second part or degree in the destruction of Antichrist is the finishing of his Tyranny in the word following 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord will destroy him I need not labour in the interpretation of this point for wee have a concurring consent without contradiction all confesse that Antichristianisme shall be finished and that Antichrist shall bee absolutely destroyed Thus they quote Dan. 7. 11. I beheld till the beast was slaine and his body destroyed and given to the burning slame Thus they and we cite Revel 18. 21. A mighty Angell tooke up a stone like a great milstone and cast it into the Sea saying Thus with violence shall that great City Babylon bee throwne downe and shall be found no more at all As also Revel 20. 10. The Devill the Beast and the False Prophet shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone Onely the word is emphaticall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The mysterie of iniquity is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cunning worke but Christ shall make it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is ineffectuall and utterly defeat it Though the Antichristian attempts against the Church be tempestuous yet shall Christ say to the See of Rome as he did to the Sea of Galilie Marc. 4. 39. Obmutesce bee still cam reddet placidam magis quam est mare câ—m Alcedo pullos edit suos as Plautus his phrase is he will becalme all his tempestuous projects And Antichrist shall inherit his fathers fortunes Diabolus Dei servis Ambrosâ—in Ephes 6. tempestatem commovet sed ipse nanfragium facit Antichrist shall raise stormes and tempests but he himselfe shall suffer shipwracke for the Church is built upon a Rocke Or if their super subtle devises doe undermine the Gospel Christ will make good his own phrase Cant. 2. 15. Prehendam vulpes vincam corrumpentes I will destroy the Foxes who would destroy my poore Church And indeed if it were not for this expectation wee Protestants might take up that saying of S. Paul 1 Cor. 15. 19. We were of all men the most miserable For considering their Number and Learning and Plots and policy and power and implacable hatred how can wee ever hope to escape destruction But that Christ is here said to destroy the destroyer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he will give a period to all their projects Againe I thinke the Israelites did never groane more under the yoak of Pharaoh than the Protestants doe under the tyranny of Antichrist Some by passion some by compassion and some by propassion The torments of some in the Inquisition may have surpassing sense for they are surpassing understanding That Poâ—â—rarium Cyprian epist 22 on the Râ—cke torments draw confession from 〈◊〉 in the Inquisition if there be not a miraculous patiened tortures draw men from confessioÌ„ Hic pressura ut illic usura their hellish torments are there like our heavenly ioyes hereafter eye hath not seene nor care heard neither have entred into the hart of man the things which those devills have prepared for them which love God 1 Cor. â— 9. Further more their passion doth produce our compassion Alij ferendo patiuntur alij cognoscendo compatiuntur Saint Augustine telleth Italica Aug. â—piâ—â— â—â—â— Italica that some Christians did seele afflictions and had a Passion others did know the afflictions they felt and had a compassion communis tamen sit afflictio and so were both Afflicted In prostrat is fratribus me prostrauit affectus said Saint Cyprian and all the Saints say so with Cyprianus de Lipsis him to thinke of their torments is a torment to all truc Christians We cannot but have fellow feeling of their miseries Finally for our selves by propassâ—on Hodâ—e mihi cras tibi To thinke that we also may fal into the haÌ„ds of the same Tormentors I thinke it will make a stonie heart to tremble But Saint Paul doth here adde comfort and courage unto vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord will destroy him And Cypriam doth second St. Cyprian epist â—â— num 6. Paul venit Antichristus super venit Christus Antichrist doth come upon us and Christ doth come upon him the Lord will destroy the destroyer there shall be an end of all their Antichristian Policies and cruelties Me thinketh the potent Papists speake to the poore Protestants in the dialect of Rabshekah 2 Reg. 18. 22. 25. 27. You say unto us yee trâ—rc in the Lord your God is not that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away and hath said to Iudah and Ierusalem you shall worship before this Altar in Ierusalem Am I now come without the Lord against this land to destroy it the Lord said unto me Go up against this land and destroy it And hath our Master sent us to your Master and to you to speake these words Hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the walls that they may eate their owne dung and drinke their owne pisse with you And me thinketh I heare the Protestants answering in the phrase of Solomon Eccles 11. 9. Reioyce O strong man in thy strength and let thy heart cheare thee in the dayes of thy strength and walke in the wayes of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know that for all these things GOD will bring thee to Iudgement Againe the distressed oppressed Protestants seeme to cry to God in the voyce of those Martyrs Revel 6. 10. How long Lord doest thou not judge and revenge our blood and GOD to replie in the words of the Psalme 27. O tarrie thou the Lords leasure and he will give thee thy hearts desire What can our hearts desire more than this an end of all Antichristian mischievous bloodie proiects an end of our brethrens torments and an end of our owne feares The text implyeth as much if wee will tarie the Lords leasure wee shall have our hearts desire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord will consume and destroy Antichrist with all his Adherents The instrument of destroying Antichrist is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
hence may be propounded a double demand by way of inversion 1. Whether none be deceived by Antichrist but such as perish 2. Whether all such doe perish who are deceived by Antichrist I answere to the first even Gods Children are deceived by Antichrist For Revel 18. 4. their command to come out of Babylon doth imply that they were once in Babylon that is deceived by Antichrist yet not according to the two dreadfull degrees thereof mentioned in my text They received not the love of the trueth inferring an obstinatenesse in their errour and tooke pleasure in unrighteousnesse implying a persisting in that obstinatenesse The Elect are not so deceived by Antichrist that they adhere to Antichristian errors with a finall obstinatenesse To the second I say All who are deceived by Antichrist according to the two premised properties doe perish to wit if they proceed in their Antichristian errors obstinately and finally I will answere both in one proposition The very lims of Antichrist are a damned crue of desperate Reprobates Who as Saint Iohn saith are not written in the booke of life as Saint Iude saith who are ordained to condemnation and as Saint Paul saith Who doe perish and shall bee damned because they take pleasure in unrighteousnesse Here I must undertake an unpleasing taske unpleasing to the Papists unpleasing to some Protestants and unpleasing to my selfe also The Papists I know will entertaine this discourse as the Iewes did Saint Stevens rough Sermon Act. 7. 54. it cutteth their hearts maketh them to gnash their teeth it may be if their Hands were not tyed they would hale mee out of the City and stone me for my labour Some Protestants also will be somewhat disaffected to this discourse for Veritas odium parit right Protestants have many crooked adversaries Finally for my selfe Brethren my hearts desire and prayer for England is that they may bee saved And I had rather a thousandfold preach Gods mercies then his judgements and mans salvation then his damnation But bee it never so displeasing to never so many and never so much unto them and unto my selfe howsoever as Ezekiel speaketh Ezek. 31. 17. Since God hath made mee a watchman the word I heare from his mouth I must give them warning of I must say to the wicked Thou shalt surely dye Hereby liberabo animam meam I shall deliver mine owne soule and would it might please the Lord of heaven that I might doe the like for them also Whether all Papists be damned I remember Hooker in Hab. 1. 4. Sect. 37. a Christian Rule of charitable Hooker it is a great deale meeter for us to have regard of our owne estates than curiously to sift out what is become of other men We may both blush at the check given to the curious Iohn 21. 22. What is that to thee and feare the censure on the censorious Matth. 7. 1. Iudge not that you be not judged And in my private judgement I have alwayes held that curiousnesse and rashnesse of judging others have beene things least befitting and most indangering Christians Yet in a publike and Charitable discourse an evident Text may cause even such a Theame to be discussed And in these dangerous times it is yet more expedient If the Pit bee open I must shew it to you lest I be guilty of your downe-fall And I would bee very sorry at the day of judgement to heare that phrase of Saint Cyprian heu Parentem sensimus parricidam our Preacher betrayed us into the hands of Antichrist by his silence If through my Silence any of you should embrace or retaine any damnable Errours thereby I shall bee culpable of your damnation Therefore in the feare of God and love of man I proceed to determine this question Whether all Papists bee damned That all Papists be damned some define it generally and peremptorily All the soules which Helwis Myst of â—â—â—â— pag 12. submit themselves to Antichrist and so die they perish to everlasting destruction though they doe it ignorantly These are the words of Helwis the Apostle of the Anabaptists But this is the Anabaptisticall charity they are as charitable to us also They say not onely that all Papists but that all Christians are damned except themselves These know not what spirit they Luke 9. 55. are of We say That we acknowledge that an honest ignorant Papists may be saved All Papists Answer to Fishâ—rs 3. Relation pag â—8 Vshâ—r de stâ—â—n Eâ—â—â—â—â—â—histiano â—um c. 6. sect 8. Doun in Less part 2. Dem. 2. Sect. 5. Hooker in Hab. sect 12. Povell l. 1. â— 34. are damned some say but we say in the phrase of Saint Iude Haue compassion of some and make a difference Wee may observe a threefold difference amongst Papists we may distinguish them in regard of the Time when they lived in regard of the Place whero they lived and in regard of the Errours wherein they lived First for the Time What became of our Forefathers dying before the Reformation This is a common head from whence they setch their Rhetoricall flourishes Ergo perierunt Lessius de Ant. Demonstr 2. Iesuite in the Path. way sect 61. omnes majores nostri perierunt tot animae Deo addictâ—ssimae sapientiâ sanctitate vitae miraculorum gloria celeberrimae So many millions so many of them being innocent and vertuous some that shed their blood for Christs sake were they all hated of God all damned Oh impious cruell incredible assertion Thus doth an English Iesuite almost translate the Latine of their Lessius I answer in the words of two of the fathers Saint Cyrian saith thus Si quis de antecessoribus nostris vel ignoranter vel simpliciter non observavit Cypr. Epist 63. Sect. 13. tenuit quod nos Dominus facere docuit potest simplicitati ejus de indulgentia Domini venia concedi Nobis autem ignosci non poterit qui nunc a Domino instructi admoniti sumus That is If any of our Forefathers either out of ignorance or Simplicity hath not observed or practised what the Lord coÌ„manded us to performe the indulgence of Gods pardon may be vouchsafed to their simplicity but pardoned we cannot be who are now taught instructed by the Lord. This spake that Martyr concerning but the alteration of one of the elements in the Lords Supper conceive how hee would have coursed such if any in his dayes durst have taken away an element from the same Sacrament He who had Rodds for the Aquarians would have found Scorpions for the Papists Next what Saint Augustine spake of the Aug. de vera Relig cap. 4. Platonikes wee may speake of our Ancestours who lived in the former time of Popish purblind superstition Illi si reviviscerent quorum nominibus gloriantur invenirent Ecclesias refertas templaque deserta dicerent fortasse si tales essent quales fuisse memorantur haec sunt quae nos populis persuadere non
wearing of the Sambenit or Devills coat and a perpetuall ignominy to their whole kindred But before their fearfull execution they 4 are assayed by frequent examination First they reade unto them a long inditement charging them with infinite crimes which they never did nor thought which putteth the prisoner into such a maze that he knoweth not what to answer Next they take his confession by mouth and suddenly they command him to give another in writing without deliberation to the end they may intrap him with some contradiction in two confessions If hee confesseth any thing that is hereticall from thence they draw other consequences charge him with them although the person himselfe did never speake them will never grant them nay doth not greatly understand them And finally if they confesse any point of the Protestants profession which they call heresie they â—â—fâ— them then where they read it of whom they heard it who were their instructers and whom they instructed and whether they did speake of those things in any mans house and who stood by when they talked Bee it friend or father or childe or servant they are sure to smart for it because they did not informe the Inquisitors thereof immediately After a long and loathsome imprisonment when they suppose that those poore soules are brought so low that they will confesse all and more also though it cost them their lives then are they brought to a more solemne examination where they name to the party two or three of their most famous men towards the Law and wish the prisoner to chuse any of them to be his Advocate and yet this learned Lawyer notwithstanding shall not dare to informe this perplexed Client in any one point of the Law for feare of displeasing the Lords Inquisitours Nay the Inquisitours themselves take order Gonsalvius de Inquisit cap. 3. for that that the Advocate and his Client may never speak one word together without witnesse And when they come to the confutation Cap. 5. of their witnesses he may neither conferre with his Client nor draw his answer nor informe him concerning the depositions but the miserable man is left to himselfe and none to help him but God onely At the publication of the Cap. 4. witnesses the names of the witnesses are suppressed both because the prisoners labouring to finde out all may give occasion to the Inquisitors to call others into question As also because the prisoners enemies Lyars Drunkards and Villaines might passe for witnesses to destroy this innocent Christian Nay the very Alcayde or Keeper of the prison shall goe current for two witnesses whensoever he please to accuse any prisoner And when the Depositions are read all those things which make for the poore prisoner are rejected as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things supersluous but if any tittle doe make against him that is sure to bee observed and to be insisted upon And this is the Holy examination of the holy Inquisition The next point the Torture followeth fitly for their examination is a torture and their Cap. 7. torture is an examination When the Inquisitors intend to extort a full and further confession by torments the prisoner is brought into audience on the suddaine where all or the most of the Inquisitors sit in their majesty Who tell him that they have deeply considered his case and they finde that he hath not made a full confession and therefore they have resolved that he must to the Racke advising him to confesse before he come to the torture But confesse or confesse not he must to the Racke Gonsalvius de Inquisit cap. 7. which is in a deepe darke dungeon with many a doore to keepe their shrickes from hearing The Tormentor is clad from top to toe in black like a stage devill The Inquisitors being mounted on their scaffold and the prisoner stript the token is given to the Tormentor and then beginnes the businesse Sometime with a pully and great weight of iron hanged at the heeles of the party to bee tormented which rendeth every joynt of his body one from another Sometime with the Burri or Aselli which is an hollow trough with a crosse barre that his backe may not touch the bottome his heeles being placed higher than his head into his legs thighes and armes they twist little cords with great truncheons till they cut to the bone be cleane out of sight Sometimes they lay a piece of Lawnd upon the parties mouth and nostrills also whereby they stop his breath Then they poure downe water so that both their Nose and Mouth being stopped at once the tortured wretch lyeth like a dying man struggling for breath Or at other times they place a panne of hot coales at the soles of his feet and that the fire may have the more force they baste them with Larde and Bacon In these tortures which indeed are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intolerable if any desire to be let down from the pully with promise to confesse instantly after his confession they hoyse him up againe and treble his tortures to extort more than all from this more than miserable man And if in any of those agonies pangs enforce the tortured to call to Christ for patience and assistance they fall to mocke him saying Iesu Chrâ—st Iesu Christ what adoe is here with Iesu Christ Confesse the truth and let Iesus Christ alone At length these sorrowfull creatures come to the joyfull end of their wofâ—ll tragedy and Gonsalvius cap. 12. â— 13. the condemned prisoners are brought in great solemnity on the Inquisitors solemne festivall Then are they led forth being clad in Sambenites a linnen garment all painted with Devills and a long hat like a turret where is pictured a Man burning in fire and many Devills plying him with saggots On their tongues they fasten a cleft piece of wood which they call Mordazo that they may not speake to the people When their sentences are pronounced they charge them with a world of silthy shamefull abominable and blasphemous crimes and opinions never confessed nor acted by those innocents but to advance the Iustice of the Inquisitors and to make those standred Martyrs to stinke in the nostrills of the people by their forged calumniation Afterwards they are led to the fire and burned Onely some of them which continue constant in their confession to the end they breake their neckes with a trice and then they tell the people that such did repentantly recant their heresies at the very last houre and were reconciled to the Church of Rome And therefore the mercy of the Lords Inquisitours would not let them feele the force of the fire Oh more than Turkish cruelty to kill both the body and the name at one time Thus have I plucked off the hood of holinesse from the face of the Holy House And thus much concerning the Inquisition Onely I will conclude with the words of the Psalmist The Ps 79. 3 10 12.
blood of the Saints have they shed like water on every side Wherefore doe they say Where is now their God O let the sorrowfull sighing of the prisoners come before thee according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou them that are appointed to dye That we may know this monster of mankind this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caniball and Man-eater let us briefly review him once againe The Papists have murthered the Protestants thirty thousand in a month yea an hundred thousand in a day Eight hundred yeares long killing infinite millions Burning hundreds of villages and putting all to the sword They have forced our Forefathers to live in Caves Woods and Desarts smothering the sucklings even in those poore habitations and imprisoned so many that they had not bread to feed them nor Lime to build prisons to hold them They put out the eyes of an hundred leaving onely one with one eye to guide them and cast an hundred and forty into one fire They ript up the bellies of women and made Drummes of the skinnes of men They tore the living in pieces with burning pincers and digged up and hanged up the carkeises of them that were dead and buried They bound the Infants to the mouths of the mothers and sowed sucklings into their mothers bellies and hanged the men by their privities They tortured them till their bowells fell out to force them falsly to accuse themselves for adulteries c. at their meetings They cut their throats like calves and hanged up their quarters for thirty miles together Men women and children they banished sold killed burned hanged starved marked in the forehead sent them to the Gallies and gave them to Bawdes and so racked the women that wormes ingendred in their wounds feeding on them yet alive They razed and made unhabitable whole Townes as Tholouse Cabriers c. and extirpated populous Countrâ—es as Calabria and Dauphié All these cruelties were committed contrary to their compositions promises proclamations oathes and Edicts And the racke or death was his reward who did but intercede for these tortured Innocents But this surpasseth all that they have a licensed shambles out of Lent the Inquisition without intermission for the space of foure Anno 1206. Hist Waâ—d lib. 2. cap. 2. hundred yeares and more where the poore Protestants have beene led like sheepe unto the slaughter None can tell who or how nor how many be the torments and the tormented That they proceed not in open Iustice as against obstinate Heretikes but imploy underhand their Promoters Summoners and Informers their Familiars Flyes and Priests under the pretence of Friendship Afflictions and Holinesse to insnare the weake the ignorant nay the guiltlesse who are not so much as inclined to the Reformed Religion And yet be they innocent or let them repent they cannot returne without confiscation of goods imprisonment shame and insamie That they imprison them in dungeons like graves where through the filth thereof they consâ—me rot runne mad or contract the foule dâ—sease That they let them lye alone halfe naked and halfe starven and will not give them leave to sing a Psalme in this infinite solitary misery That in their private examination they indite them of things they know to be false and to wrest their confessions against their meanings and insnare their Parents Children Servants Friends c. and that in their publike examinations they put their prisoners to make choice of a Lawyer to be their Advocate and yet that Advocate shall not dare to speake one word for them to them with them That the witnesses are unknowne to them knowne to the world to be Villaines and Knights of the Post and that their Depositions being read shall be omitted where they make for and debated where they make against the poore prisoner That though they do confesse yet to extort confession beyond the truth they torture them The Lords Inquisitors themselves beholding the naked creatures gibbited on a Pully till all their joynts be torne asunder or put in the Burri till the tormentors with truncheons have wrestred small cords to the verie bones or rost with fire or baste them with Lard and Bacon or with water poured through Lawâ—d to make them healthfull men to feele the very agonies of Death struggling for breath If the torments be remitted whilest the tortured doe confesse they torment them againe and more instantly after their confession And if in these extremities these miserable men call on Iesus Christ they mocke and deride them for their Invocation That finally they lead out these poore creatures in triumph having them clad like devils in the pronouncing of their sentences slandred with devillish lyes their tongues stock'd their bodâ—es burned and the most constant of those Martyrs to have their neckes suddenly broken and the people immediately to be assured that they recanted and died in the Roman Religion which they feared more than the tortures of Hell or than the eldest daughter thereof the torments of the Inquisition That these things are thus caried we may challenge the East and West the former and latter ages to equall them Wee cannot call them Heathen Pagan Turkish Iewish or Barbarous but onely Popish cruelties The Inquisition in particular and all other persecutions in generall subsist by his Authority The Pope is the nethermost milstone to grinde Gods Saints to powder although his Agents be the visible instruments thereof The Pope hath desined the death of the Protestants thus â—rban Non arbâ—tramur eos homicidas quos Caus â—3 qu. 5. Cap. Excommunicatorum zelo Catholicae matris ecclesiae ardentes excommunicatorum aliquos trucidasse contigerit that is in sooth and plaine English It is lawfull for any Papist to kill any Protestant and yet he is no murtherer They have a warrant for it è Cathedra O then good Christian Wilt thou Ps 94. 19 20 21. have any thing to do with that stoole of wickedness which imagineth mischiefe as a Law They gather them together against the soule of the righteous and condemne the innocent blood But the Lord is our refuge and our God is the strength of our confidence Thus have I fully and plainly made it to appeare that the Pope is the Destroyer actively and passively he shall be destroyed without all peradventure For the corporall destruction of Babylon that is to come I have not the spirit of prophesie Therefore I doe not I dare not define any thing thereof in particular Neither the manner R R R F F F i. Regnum Romae Ruet Ferro Fame Flamma that is Rome shall be destroyed by Fire Famine and the Sword according to that old prediction out of Valerius Probus Nor the time with Napeire who doth precisely determine the utter Napeire in Revel 14. destruction of Rome to fall out anno 1639. Leaving the circumstance to God the substance is most true Babylon shall be ruinated and Rome shall be corporally destroyed Finally the Pope shall be