Histories be false then they make nothing against vs. If they bee true yet they make very much for vs. How can this be Because the wickednesse of the Persons doth prooue the sanctitie and perpetuitie of their Seate so that the issue of my labour in shewing their impieties would be the preiudice of my cause Heare therefore the Cardinall speaking in his owne words Nihil est quòd haeretici c. It is to no purpose saith he for the heretickes to take so much paines in searching out the vices of certaine Popes Why so For we confesse that they were not few A good confession though before we heard him speake in another Language Si vera sunt if those things were true Well now they are true now he confesseth the accusation but why For hee hath inuented a new defence of the Seat by the old offences of the persons Heare him therefore againe in his owne words Tantum abest c. This is so farre saith he from obscuring or diminishing the glorie of this Seate that thereby it is rather exceedingly amplified and increased for that thereby we may perceiue that it consisteth by the speciall prouidence of God So he But I perceiue no such matter howbeit I perceiue that nothing was so absurd which some Philosopher would not maintaine and nothing is so true and forcible which these Babylonians will not either denie or elude And farther I perceiue that recitasse confutasse est to recite their opinions is to refute their follies And lastly I perceiue that as it is Gods singular patience to suffer these Monarchs of Babylon a while so there is a time of wrath to come and it cannot bee farre off when the Whore must perish by fire and her Beast must yeeld vnto the Sword For as in this Sermon you haue heard of a Babylon the sinne of Rome in the subiect of my Text so in the next you shall heare of a cecidit the punishment of Rome in predicate of the same Meane while I conclude by due and true remonstrances in the first and second Inquisitions two distinct parts of my discourse the one shewing by good and pregnant reasons that Rome in her present condition is the Babylon in my Text the other declaring the conformitie betwixt the Literall Babylon and Papall Rome and so expressing the congruitie of this title of Babylon applied here vnto Rome that since Rome doth imitate nay much exceed the sinnes of Babylon therefore shee doth iustly and must necessarily beare her name agreeing vnto it in regard of the Church and the Citie as both are vnder one and their common head the Pope This was the cleere intention of the Angell this is the certaine exposition of this Scripture Wherefore as Simeon and Leui are called fratres in malo Gen. 49.5 brethren in euill so Babylon and Rome are sorores in malo sisters in euill like in condition and in qualitie to their owne confusion as the name of the first doth originally import and doth likewise ominate vnto the second Obseruations pertaining to Faith and Manners framed vpon the passages in the two former Inquisitions NOw I come thirdly and lastly vnto such Obseruations according to my promise and proiect in the beginning of this Sermon as doe kindly and proper ensue vpon the precedent passages of my discourse and they are ten which I will prosecute with such conuenient breuitie as the matter of each will particularly beare FIRST then as the Church of God doth stand specially indebted vnto him for this diuine Booke of the Reuelation wherein wee may plainely discouer the prescience of God in things to come and the care of God in the administration of his Church so it being more darke vnto the ancient Fathers so many syllables so many mysteries therein and breeding more admiration then bringing vtilitie vnto them by the great obscuritie thereof so that the Pen-man of this sacred Booke might truly say Scripsi non scripsi I haue written and not written I haue reuealed and yet concealed the future condition of the Church therefore now wee stand bound vnto God in a new and farther obligation for that wee in the successe of time and euent of things haue attained in sundrie particulars of greatest consequence and namely in this mysterie of Babylon vnto such a perspicuous and infallible vnderstanding of this Booke which is the Beniamin of Iesus Christ the principall Author thereof the Sonne of his right hand the last borne in the whole Issue of the Scripture which hee begate vnto his Church the conclusion of that Oracle whence we deriue our Faith This Booke is therefore vnto vs the apparant Seale of Gods prouidence a strong bulwarke of our Faith an incurable wound of the Babylonian Monarch a certaine expugnation of the Antichristian Church For though the learned Iesuite Ludouicus ab Alcasar in his copious exposition of this Booke doth so peruert the sense and purpose of the Holy Ghost therein by laying the name of Babylon vpon Rome in her Ethnicall estate alone pretending that this fall is only in a spirituall manner by falling from her ancient Idolatrie vnto the Faith of Christ and therefore concludeth his exposition of this Booke in these brauing words Maximâ sum voluptate perfusus c. I am filled with singular contentation and ioy of heart because through the fauour of God I haue now cleerely discerned how glorious this Booke of the Reuelation is vnto the Romane Church yet wee may contemne his folly or rather commiserate his blindnesse in this case But wee will leaue him vnto the censure of Ribera so well discerning that this Babylon is Rome in another estate succeeding after the intertainment of Christian Religion and that this fall is by a great and finall ruine of that Idolatrous Citie that hee pronounceth them to be worse then very fooles that will not see and confesse this point The truth is this good Christian hearers that though Ribera first and Viegas after him doe confidently deny that Rome is Babylon now or that the Church of Rome euer shall so bee or that the Citie it selfe while shee remaineth in subiection to the Pope shall deserue that name yet by making such a plaine and faire confession which the very euidence of the Text with the due coherence of all circumstances therein did necessarily extort from their pens that Rome is Babylon also in another and â—â— second estate and that it shall bee so full of Idolatry at home and communicate it abroad and that shee shall haue great negotiation of Merchants and that shee shall haue another Empire largely patent and greatly potent in the world therefore not onely a strong suspition but a manifest conuiction must fall ineuitably vpon Papall Rome as wee haue deduced by many substantiall proofes against the vaine and poore surmises of Ribera and Viegas to the contrarie the true Babylon of which I haue spoken heretofore that shall come vnto the lamentable fall whereof I shall speake
hereafter This consequence Ludonicus ab Alcasar either well perceiuing or vehemently suspecting it to ensue vpon the said confession of his brethren hath therefore cast a new myst vpon the matter drawne a vayle before our eyes contradicted their exposition wrested the sacred Text vnto his foolish and ridiculous fancie as if the state of this Babylon and her fall were past that so wee might not discerne the true Babylon which is now present nor her certaine fall which is yet to come But let mee here speake a word or two for I am to passe vnto other matters touching this learned grando Ludouicus ab Alcasar If this Babylon be Rome onely in her Ethnicall estate and if Rome haue not any other fall but only a mysticall fall viz. by falling vnto Christian Religion from that estate which estate hath now beene extinct neere vpon the space of one thousand three hundred yeres and yet it appeareth in the frame and tenour of the sacred Booke of the Reuelation that no speciall and notable matter of propheticall prediction therein doth interuene or come betwixt the ruine of Babylon which is described historically Chapter 18. there being a prolepsis only or briefe anticipation thereof Chapter 14.8 and the consummation of the world for after the fall of Babylon Chapter 18. S. Iohn proceedeth Chapter 19. to an applause of the Saints for her destruction then Chapter 20. to a recapitulation of things past with a declaration of the generall Iudgement being then shortly to come then finally Chapter 21. and 22. to a description of the heauenly Ierusalem and the happy condition of the Saints therein c. it must necessarily follow that this voluminous Iesuite of Alcasar this man of the Land of Nod in the tohu and bohu the vanitie and inanitie of his large and copious Commentarie vpon this diuine Booke hath left open so wide a gap of one thousand three hundred yeres or neere vpon that space alreadie past besides that time which is yet to come in the state of the Church and of the world without any sufficient matter of Historicall prediction to fill vp the same And yet who doth not perceiue by the beginning and the ending of this Booke that it doth in the passages thereof generally containe a perpetuall and a continued Historie of the Church in her whole decourse euen from the time of Saint Iohn vnto the end of the world Farewell then gentle Ludouicus ab Alcasar with your little wit and lesse honestie and so I returne my benigne and courteous Auditors vnto you againe Reioyce you therefore in this inestimable Booke embrace it with gratitude conuerse in it with diligence admire what you vnderstand and what you vnderstand not admire it the more search it with industrie enter into it with praier despise not the opinion of others presume not vpon your owne let not the obscuritie of some things yet vnknowne make you neglect the vtilitie of so many things and particularly this mysterie of Babylon alreadie knowne therein Read it reuerence it repute it as it is the sacred Oracle of God committed vnto his Church to sustaine her patience and to confirme her faith SECONDLY wee haue great cause to commend Gods goodnesse and to applaud our owne happinesse in the certaine and cleere discouerie of Babylon in this diuine and mysticall Booke For as the Starre did lead the Wise-men to find out Bethlehem where Christ was borne so this Scripture doth guide and conduct vs vnto the knowledge of Babylon wherein Antichrist doth reigne Rome shall not therefore infatuate vs with her glorious title of the Mother-Church for now wee know her to bee the Mother of Fornications shee shall not insult with the faire priuiledge of the Apostolicall Seate for now wee know her to be an Apostaticall Synagogue shee shall not beare vs downe with the supremacie of a Papall Head-ship for now wee know who is the Second Beast intruding vpon the Seate and Dominion of the former with a larger challenge of power extensiuè in place and intensiuè in degree now we know who hee is that aduanceth himselfe ouer Kings and Emperours ouer States and Crownes ouer Church and Common-wealth by his false Keyes and pretensed Swords THIRDLY whereas this Romish Babylon cryeth out vpon our separation from her Societie wee are warranted nay wee are commanded thereunto by the voyce of God himselfe Goe out of her my people and the reason is not there taken only from her sinnes in that shee is Babylon but from her punishment also in that shee shall fall for so it followeth that you bee not partakers in her sinnes and that you receiue not of her plagues of which I am to treate when I come vnto the predicate of my Text. Meane while you may obserue that this Exodus this departure out of Babylon is Corporall and not spirituall onely unto sch as haue Locall communion with her and dwell within her walls but it is Spirituall onely and not corporall vnto such as dwelling in England France c. haue doctrinall communion with her and are members depending vpon her head so that this word her goe out of her importeth not onely her site and place but her societie and errours Goe then specially out of these ô you his people whether within or without her walls whether you bee in Rome where God hath some people euen by the testimony of the Text or whether in any other part of the world And since shee casteth you out of her societie desire it not for it is vnto your owne danger shee doth that for you which God requireth you to doe for your selues And now let mee in a few words addresse my speech vnto rhetoricall Campian insulting vpon the Protestants with his termes of derision and contempt Audito nomine Ecclesiae hostis expalluit saith hee our aduersarie waxed pale when hee heard the very name of the Church as if the Protestant could produce no Catalogue of names for any visible existencie and lawfull succession of his Church which Rome onely hath and the Protestant hath not How shallow weake malicious and vnlearned a pretence this is either against vs or for themselues it is now no conuenient time nor proper occasion to dispute I will attend both as it shall please God in his prouidence to direct mee in this behalfe But vnto Campian I returne my answere truely fairely and pertinently by the verdict of my Text. Audito nomine Babylonis hostis expalluit our aduersarie waxed pale vpon the very name of Babylon it troubled his wit it vexed his heart it is a terrour vnto his soule for hee liueth in that from which hee ought to flye if hee haue any part in Gods people Now as the cause of our separation from Rome is necessarie in many respects and is grounded here vpon such a principle as cannot bee denied so wee need not depart from Rome but because she is Babylon and as she is Babylon as she is departed
IAMES lately Lord Bishop of Winton whose kind entertainement of mee in priuate and fauourable testimonie of mee in publike were more sufficient arguments of his loue then of my desert For I may truely say by the certaine experience of sundrie occurrents in my life that I haue tasted a little of Gods deserued wrath but a great deale more of his vndeserued grace whereof I account this no small part that hee hath giuen mee so much interest in the good opinion and affection of sundrie persons of eminent qualitie and particularly of your Honorable Selfe whom I beseech the Lord of all mercies to blesse in your owne Person and in your noble Posteritie with the temporall blessings of this life and the eternall of the life to come through Iesus Christ our Lord in whom I am and will euer remaine Your Honours most humble and truly deuoted Seruant THEOPHILVS HIGGONS London Ian. 27. 1623. THE PREFACE OF THE AVTHOR VNTO THE CRHISTIAN READER COurteous and ingenuous Reader Since no man can enter well into the roomes of any Treatise but by the doore of a Preface therefore I commend these ensuing Obseruations vnto thee to prepare thee the better thereby vnto the reading of this Discourse First though sundry Expositions are extant vpon this part of Scripture as likewise vpon the whole Booke of the sacred Reuelation and certain Sermons haue beene preached vpon it and then commended vnto the Presse yet I confesse that opening my heart vnto God by prayer to illustrate my vnderstanding with a true and sufficient knowledge thereof I followed chiefly such generall notions touching the same as were layd vp formerly in my mind and willingly sequestred from mee the helpe of other mens labours in this kind excepting such as I shall presently name least I should build vpon another mans foundation and so drowne the discourse of my vnderstanding in the conceits of other learned men with whom I had a resolution not to consult before I had finished the impression of this Treatise Mistake not my meaning and purpose good Reader for I doe not intend hereby to arrogate any thing vnto my selfe aboue other men since I am conscious of mine owne infirmities but to preuent their exceptions who may suppose or pretend that I haue framed a collection onely in this Treatise out of the Sermons or Bookes of other men Secondly whatsoeuer I may seeme to owe vnto any Author of our side I confesse it to bee due principally vnto the learned and indicious Pen of our gracious Souereigne Lord King IAMES in his Paraphrase vpon this Booke as thou wilt easily obserue gentle Reader in certaine passages of my Discourse As for Authors on the Aduersaries part I had no small aduantage and furtherance out of the writings of two learned Iesuites Ribera and Viegas of whom therefore I make frequent mention as seruing in many things exactly for my purpose Thirdly if any acerbitie of stile appeare in this Discourse know that it is drawne from me rather by the necessitie of the matter it selfe which could not be well expressed otherwise then that it came out of the disposition of my mind which hating the errours of Babylon doth yet pittie and loue the persons of all and specially of some that are insnared with the same wishing and desiring their saluation from my heart in Iesus Christ Fourthly I enter vpon this disputation not out of contention but out of conscience with a secure and certaine perswasion of truth and soliditie therein whereof because I make some larger mention hereafter I will say the lesse in this place Fifthly though this Booke in all the pages thereof beareth the title of a first and of a second Sermon yet vnderstand that after I had preached two Sermons at Maidstone in Kent to this purpose and had recollected my meditations I framed them afterward more copiously into the body of a Treatise which therefore I present vnto thee rather vnder this name as exceeding the proportion and in some things differing perhaps from the qualitie of Sermons Sixthly and lastly if it shall please any of the Romane side to stand against me in the defence of his Mother-Church of Rome and to make answere vnto my Discourse vnto which businesse as I challenge no man so I feare not the performance of any man in this kind he must follow me in his answere as I haue gone before him in this Treatise not flying vp and downe without order nor concealing my proofes and reasons but from point to point making a cleere and a substantiall refutation thereof As for bitter words and calumnious writing though I can steepe my Pen in Vineger and Worme-wood as well as they yet I resolue not to follow any aduersarie in this course but as Tertullian saith in his disputation against Hermogenes Viderit Persona cum Doctrina mihi quaestio est so I will leaue the person and come vnto the matter it selfe An Aduertisement WHereas some of my Brethren in this Church of England and some of my Aduersaries in the Church of Rome expect of me an Answere vnto mine owne Booke of Purgatorie and Prayer for the dead sometimes published by mee in forreine parts I assure them both that I had made a collection of sundry notes for this intent and that they were growing into the proportion of a Book had not the necessitie of publishing this Discourse so soone preuented my desire in the other which yet may follow in due time if it shall please God to grant me better health of bodie the state of it being much attenuated by infirmities with the accession of such helpes as are requisite for them that enter vpon this controuersiall kind for want of which necessary meanes together with my bad health in the priuate and rusticane course of my life I may be compelled to desist wholy from the same contenting my selfe hereafter with the exercise of my Pastorall Office in that little Congregation which it hath pleased GOD to commit vnto my charge Farewell THE PRINTER to the Reader GOod Reader thou shalt find the Errata or Faults which are committed in the Impression obserued and amended in the end of this Booke where the principall errours are noted with this marke * because they chiefly aboue the rest require a correction by thy Pen before thou entrest into the reading of this Treatise As for the lesser errours viz. in Points in Orthographie in defect of some Letters in placing small Letters in steed of capitall c. they are left vnto thy prudent and ingenious censure MYSTICALL BABYLON OR PAPALL ROME The first Sermon APOCAL. 18.2 It is fallen it is fallen Babylon THis Text is little in words but great in consequence as Benjamin was a little Tribe but great in dominion Psal 68.27 It is part of a Proclamation made from Heauen and three things inuite vs vnto a serious attention therof FIRST The Person proclaiming an Angell verse 1. euen Christ Iesus himselfe as some conceiue amongst whom I
may particularly name our profoundly learned Souereigne in his iudicious and well composed Paraphrase vpon this mysticall booke who is described here by his excellency he had great power and by his operation the earth was lightned with his glory SECONDLY The manner of his proclamation He cried out mightily with a loude voice verse 2. with a voice more then Stentorian and no maruell for it was Verbum à Verbo a word from the Word a word powerfully spoken by the Word ineffably begotten THIRDLY The matter it selfe It is fallen it is fallen Babylon the place is considerable for it is Babylon by qualitie and name also a great Citie by amplitude of place and power The ruine of it is markable for it is a fall extreme and finall and it is fallen in the time past though it be yet to come by an enallage of the tense and againe it is fallen by an anadiplôsis the one and the other shewing an infallible certainty of euent Thus now my Text is like Rebeccaes wombe it hath twinnes in it Cecidit cecidit as if the ruine of Babylon were sounded forth by the two siluer trumpets Num. 10.2 It is a double voice of ruine fall vpon fall so that I may vse the words of the Psalme God hath spoken it once or twice Psal 62.11 And as my Text is double here by the ingemination of one word so it is double by the repetition of the same sentence elsewhere viz. Apoc. 14.8 Againe that which in both these places is spoken of mysticall Babylon Rome as an one you shall heare is foretold by prophecie and we haue seene it verified by experience of literall Babylon the renowned Citie of Chaldaea in the Praedictions of Esay 21.9 Babel is fallen it is fallen This consonancie is in the Scriptures this resemblance in sinne and ruine betwixt the old Babylon and the new For Babylon â—s the first Rome and Rome is the second Babylon I come to the words of my Text wherein there is a fatall coniunction of two things Culpa and Poena the Sinne of Rome implyed in her name Babylon and the punishment of Rome annexed or prefixed rather it is fallen it is fallen We may Logically therefore make this partition of my Text heere is the SVBIECT Babylon and heere is the PRAEDICATE it is fallen In order of the words as they stand herein my Text Babylon is last but in order of sense it is first For in Grammer the nominatiue case goeth before the Verbe In Logicke the Subiect goeth before the Praedicate and in Diuinitie the Sinne goeth before the Punishment Pride goeth before Destruction Pro. 16.18 Wherefore in the prosecution of my Text I will change the place of the words and as Iacob gaue the prioritie to Ephraim Gen. 48.14 in the aduised imposition of his hands so I will giue the precedency to Babylon the last word in my Text and then I will reflect duely vpon her fall expressed in the first place thereof The FIRST part concerning the Subiect and Sinne in the Text BABYLON THough I haue affirmed this Babylon to be Rome yet I require not your suddaine beliefe without a substantiall proofe So that to deduce this matter fairely and cleerely to your vnderstandings I must propose a double inquisition in pursuit whereof we shall come securely vnto the hauen of my desire and then arriue happily vpon the coast vnto which I direct my thoughts First What is this Babylon in my Text. Secondly Why this name is imposed vpon that place which is thereby signified vnto vs. These two points being sufficiently discussed for the true explication of my Text and illustration of this name I will conclude the first part of my Text with such obseruations as shall kindly and properly ensue vpon the same The FIRST Inquisition What is this Babylon in my Text. THis Babylon is not literally to be vnderstood neither for that ancient Citie in Chaldaea nor for that famous Citie in Egypt once called by the name of Memphis and now of Cair since the generall scope and purpose of this booke doth not intend any such sense and many circumstances therein doe sufficiently refute it and finally not any Author in former or later times no Father in the ancient Church no Doctor in succeeding ages did euer so conceiue of this place This Babylon therefore is mystically to be vnderstood according to the common and vsuall tenour of this booke That whole booke of the Reuelation of Saint Iohn is spiritually to be vnderstood by the iudgement of Saint Hierome Epist 148. And hence it is that Dionysius sometimes Bishop of Alexandria confesseth of this obscure and profound booke that it cannot be vnderstood according to the first and obuious sense thereof as Eusebius relateth Histor Eccles l. 7. c. 24. but that there are deepe and hidden mysteries in the same Deepe I confesse and hidden till that Time the mother of truth in the successe and euent of things was the midwife to helpe the Church of God which trauelled long in bringing forth the true and proper sense thereof For as Sampson was directed and guided by his seruant vnto the pillars vpon which the house did stand Iudic. 16.26 so the successe of things conspiring with the Oracles of this booke hath conueighed vs vnto a sound and euident knowledge of many mysteries therein vnknowne to former ages but reuealed in this in regard whereof this booke doth now more fully answere vnto its name for now it is a Reuelation indeed as it was before in title Since therefore this Babylon is heere so called by a Mysterie we will passe along by a gradation through foure seuerall interpretations thereof that so wee may discouer in this point how farre the ancient Church digressed from the marke then how neerely at the last the Romish Church is come vnto it and thereby to know her selfe and then finally how the Reformed Church hath directly hit the marke as the Beniamites could sling stones at an haire breadth and not fayle Iudic. 20.16 The FIRST Interpretation THe first interpretation is framed by S. Augustine whom many follow in this and sundry other points rather for the reason of his authoritie then for the authoritie of his reason and therefore are carried into errour by the venerable estimation of his name Hee confesseth that Rome is another Babylon de ciuit Dei l. 16. c. 17. and that shee is the daughter of Babylon l. 18. c. 22. but not in regard of her sinne and ruine as it is now in my Text which things that greatly learned Father neuer seemed to suspect and therefore teaching truly that there are two Cities in this world mixed together in outward things but seuered in their inward qualities and tending consequently vnto different ends he assumeth falsly that this Babylon out of which wee must flye Apoc. 18.4 is onely the generall Citie of the Deuill and his members whereas the other Citie is a Spirituall Ierusalem and the Citie of God Read S. Augustine
agreeably heere with the Spirit of God Hence it is that a learned Iesuite duly expending the concurrencie of these proper and indiuiduall markes doth ingenuously confesse Omnia profecto nisi in Romam non conueniunt all these things agree vpon no other Citie but Rome alone as I shall further obserue anon Hence it is that Bellarmine concludeth by demonstration of these notes Babylon was certainly Rome and therefore hee insisteth vpon it as a matter of speciall aduantage to proue that Saint Peter was at Rome De Rom. Pont. l. 2. c. 2. Thus much concerning the second interpretation of this name of Babylon We haue found the place it is Rome we are yet to enquire of her state whether it be past as it was Ethnicall or whether it be present as wee conceiue it is or whether it bee future as some learned Papists themselues doe teach So still we draw neerer and neerer vnto Rome till she say vnto me as Ahab vnto Eliah Hast thou found me O mine Enemy 1. Reg. 21.20 The THIRD Interpretation THe third interpretation of the name of Babylon in this place is this that Rome is Babylon not onely as she was Ethnicall nay rather she is Babylon here not as she was Ethnicall nor in her estate now already past but in another state which was future and yet to come in the time of this prediction and was then to succeed in ensuing Ages after that Paganisme was extinct after that Heathenish Idolatry did decrease after that Persecution by the Emperours did cease and after that peace was restored vnto the Church This interpretation I will approue by three Remonstrances to be sincere proper and true FIRST by the playne euidence and coherence of this Scripture by two perspicuous demonstrations out of the same First because this Babylon is heere so called by title and she is so indeed when neere vpon the period and consummation of the World not that she shall then begin to be this Babylon for this opinion of some Papists pretending that Rome shall bee Babylon within two or three yeeres of the end of the World and not before I shall refute in due place but because she continueth so in the decourse of many yeeres and Ages after the time of her Ethnicall estate neere vnto the determination of the World The truth hereof doth cleerely appeare by the consequence of things and connexion of euents in the seuenteenth eighteenth and nineteenth Chapters of this Booke For the sinne of Rome and her ruine together with the causes and Concomitancies thereof being copiously expressed in the seuenteenth and eighteenth Chapters we find that immediately thereupon in the nineteenth Chapter the Saints prayse God for the notable iudgement executed vpon this Citie and therefore our learned Souereigne doth well obserue in the title and argument of that Chapter that the Saints prayse God because the Pope is destroyed for it is he whose excessiue pride and exorbitant proceedings draw this scandalous name and dolefull vastation vpon this vnhappy place Secondly because we find Chap. 17. v. 12. that ten Kings whether precisely ten I doe not now enquire arose and assumed Royall power vnto themselues vpon the dissolution of the Romane Empire for as it fell into pieces by the vast magnitude therof and could not subsist vnder her owne greatnesse so out of her parts sundry States and Principalities did arise It followeth Verse 13. that these Kings gaue their power vnto the Beast namely the Second Beast arising in the place and after the decay of the first as wee reade Apocal. 13.11 12. that is to say they had no sooner obtained their dignitie and estate vpon the dissolution of the Empire but they surrendred a great part of their glorie and authoritie vnto the Pope who by degrees artificially and cunningly inuaded the Imperiall Seate and power so that in admiration of his excellencie these Kings as deuoted sonnes or rather Seruants or rather Slaues of his SANCTITIE submitted a great part of their Royall Scepter vnto his triple Crowne This prediction as wee reade in this diuine Booke so what the accomplishment thereof hath beene the Histories of sundry Nations and the passages of succeeding Ages doe sufficiently declare But let vs proceed againe It followeth verse 16. that after this submission of their Regall power vnto the Beast with whom or neere about that time they arose euen at one houre verse 12. they shall hate the Whore and burne her with fire to wit Rome this Babylon though formerly they gaue their Kingdomes vnto the Beast but how long vntill the Words of God be fulfilled vntill the appointed time And what shall incline these Kings to withdraw their obedience from this Second Beast and to associate themselues in this fearefull expedition against him and his Citie God shall put this motion into their hearts for her sinnes against his Maiestie and Papall iniuries done against the Crowne and Royall dignitie of these Kings shall excite them vnto this warre as hereafter it shall more euidently appeare But now this is the point vpon which I doe insist that this great and fatall destruction of Rome being yet to come and not yet fulfilled this name and this estate of Rome is not alreadie past as Victorius and Parsons and the most generall number of Papists do simply ignorantly pretend in this behalfe but her sin is present for she now is Babylon and her punishment is future for she shall hereafter fall as I shall cleerely demonstrate in the succeeding passages of my speech Meane while let vs obserue with ioy vnto our selues and with gratitude vnto God that the successe and euent of this Prophesie doth alreadie beginne for that many Kings doe hate this Whore and haue discouered the qualitie of this second Beast and as I hope shall euer continue in that disposition of minde and rectitude of iudgement till God shall induce other Princes to concurre with them in the finall accomplishment of this great and glorious worke And so much concerning the first remonstrance to proue thereby that Rome hath the name of Babylon in and for her estate which was not present but future in the time of Saint Iohn and that she shall be destroyed in regard of her sins in that estate when her Ethnicall condition is past and neerer vnto the consummation of the World SECONDLY I make remonstrance of this position by obseruation of the nature and propertie of God and that in two respects First by the TRVTH of God For he hath promised vnto euery particular man turning from his former sinnes that hee shall surely liue and not dye yea that all his former iniquities shall not be mentioned but he shall liue in regard of the righteousnesse which afterward he hath done Ezek. 18.21 22. If this be true in a particular person shall it not be true in a particular Citie Is God mercifull to one and not vnto many euen many thousands It is his owne iust plea for his singular mercy vnto
time and opportunitie of meanes such time and such meanes as cannot be found in this supposed pedling merchandizing Babylon For first if you consider the extent of time according to the common iudgement and generall conceit of these Babylonians themselues you may palpably discouer the vanitie of their surmise Vnderstand therefore and well obserue that in their opinion taken by them out of many Ancients and mistaken by them out of some passages of the Scripture the reigne of Antichrist is confined vnto the space of three yeeres and an halfe Againe consider that in their opinion Antichrist and his adherents shall destroy the Citie of Rome and that vntill the defection of Rome from the Pope vpon this very time the Pope shall retaine this Citie as the place of his Papall Seate as being affixed vnto the same See Bellarm. de Pont. l. 4. c. 4. Now therefore since Rome shall be Babylon againe communicating her Idolatry to all Kings and Nations and shall haue a large Empire in the world and there shall be the exercise of great traffique and commerce by the Merchants of the earth and shee shall attaine vnto an immensitie of riches may we not perceiue that this new and extraordinary condition of Rome doth require a good sufficiencie of time to compasse and effectuate such an admirable euent And yet forsooth Rome shall not fall from the Pope till vpon this very time so that after his departure voluntarily or rather necessarily out of Rome now beginning as they say to become a Babylon againe all these wonderfull effects must ensue in Rome and in the world and yet all this must be done within a very little time as you see against all probabilitie of reason and all possibilitie of things as you may easily discerne by comparing one part of their suggestions with another which are arena sine calce sand without lime as Caligula spake of the writings of Seneca supposed points without any coherence of semblable truth But in our apprehension of this Scripture all points haue a faire substantiall and orderly connexion for as much as Rome being Babylon vnder the Pope who is her Second Beast as the euents concurring cleerely with the prediction doe sufficiently deduce vnto our knowledge hath therefore had not onely a spatious time but a proper meanes also to atchieue and performe such strange designes to communicate IDOLATRY to the world and to obtaine an Empire in the world and to attaine great riches and state and finally to haue commerce with the world by her spirituall wares wherewith she doth intangle and insnare the world by her artificiall delusions couered with the glorious veyle of APOSTOLICALL termes Therefore secondly whereas an opportunitie of meanes is required in such a rare successe of things the Babylonians themselues are puzzeled to inuent some colourable deuice in this behalfe Whence it is as I noted before that Ribera in Apocal. 14. num 51. pondering deepely vpon this point saith I thinke that no mortall man can certainly know by what meanes Rome in the end of the world should come vnto such an incredible power c. Notwithstanding saith hee a man may in some sort coniecture out of the words of the Apostle Apocal. 17. where wee reade that the purpled Whore sitteth vpon a Beast hauing ten hornes in which are vnderstood ten Kings who shall subdue and diuide the whole world betwixt them In their time shall Antichrist reigne whence I doe suspect that Rome hauing cast out the Pope shal in a short time reuert vnto her ancient power so that shee shall haue those tenne Kings vnder her gouernement who a little after shall reigne in the whole earth And yet these forsooth are also the ten Kings that must finally destroy her with fire and sword What probabilitie is in this supposed meanes to produce such prodigious effects and that within so little time let any man endued with reasonable capacity with ingenuity and with conscience consider aduisedly with himselfe he may perceiue that as the Iewes being conuinced out of the Old Testament concerning Christ haue certaine diuerticles and poore euasions to escape the force of truth so here this Iesuite being conuinced out of the New touching Babylon and the condition of Rome masked in that name will not see his owne Antichrist who is truely the Second Beast to whom these ten Kings long agoe surrendered a great part of their Royall power whereby Rome aspired vnto such dignitie in the world and thence it is that Rome hath such a new Imperiall State vnder the Papall Crowne and by spirituall wares belonging to the shop of a spirituall Monarch hath traded so generally with many parts of the Christian world Fourthly wee may discerne the vaine conceit of their pretended Literall sense concerning this Babylonian Merchandize because they now change the coppie and tenour of the very Text which being Mysticall as I noted before and a Mysticall Babylon vnderstood therein they run suddenly from the Mysterie to the Letter from the Tree to the Barke taking all now in an open outward obuious sense against the generall purport of this Booke and particular of this place And yet I deny not but that Rome hath some vse of Merchants and merchandise in a Litterall sense to furnish her Idolatrous Temples her masking Masses and thereby to commend her spectable vanities vnto men of popular iudgement and of carnall hearts And thus much heere by the way to dissolue the knot wherewith the Iesuites would tye our vnderstandings vnto an apprehension of much temporall merchandize which shall abound in Rome for a few yeeres or dayes rather before her finall end accompanied with the very end of the world Now therefore I returne againe vnto a reueiw of the spirituall merchandize in Rome and particularly of INDVLGENCES which are dispensed from this Apostolicall Seate alone as Bellarmine saith in praefat lib. de Pont. Rom. Vnde habemus Indulgentiarum communicationem nisi ab hac sede Whence haue wee the communication of Indulgences but from this Seate alone What are these Indulgences A relaxation of temporall paines inflicted vpon soules in Purgatorie Oh the falshood of this execrable merchandize Did the ancient Church of God so beleeue and teach No not for a thousand yeeres Indulgences were then a relaxation only of Ecclesiasticall censures inflicted vpon penitents by the Church and therefore Peter Lombard the studious collector of the whole summe of Religion who flourished vpon the yeere 1172. made no mention of this great mysterie of Papall Indulgences which began a little after by the sophistications of darke and subtill Schoolemen Roffensis himselfe confessing that the vse and practise of them was lately receiued in the Church And therefore you may obserue that Bellarmine treating last of all concerning Indulgences which gaue occasion of the publike and iust discession of Protestants from the Church of Rome proceedeth not in this disputation as in the rest by that faire and ingenious method viz. by Scriptures by
Antichrist therein Why because their hearts are hardned their vnderstandings are forestalled with preiudice the veile is ouer their eyes they walke in darknesse and will not see the light For such I will pray that God would open their hearts that they may entertaine his sauing Truth But for my selfe and others who haue bin in the like condition with mee whose eyes were blinded with the glorie of Babylon for as Zebul said vnto Gaal Iudic 9.36 the shadow of the Mountaynes seeme men vnto thee so the shadow of many things seemed a substance of verity vnto vs I will thanke God for that he hath opened our eyes to see this mysterie and misery of Babylon that she is fallen that she is gone into perdition that God hath destroyed her for euer Credo Domine O Lord I beleeue thy Word not my owne reason which I captiuate into the obedience of faith and therefore I pray with thine Apostles O Lord increase our faith Luke 17.5 that we may beleeue thy Word And thus much bee spoken concerning the first cause why the Fall of Babylon which is yet to come is expressed by a time alreadie past SECONDLY by this forme and tenour of speech God doth euidently declare vnto his Church the truth and certaintie of his promise in the destruction of Babylon that we may repose securely in this expectation of her ruine his dixit is a fecit it is spoken and it is done in regard of his infallible Word and constant promise And that wee may more cleerely vnderstand this point we must obserue a double kinde of Prophesie in the holy Scriptures The FIRST is a Prophesie of Commination as God did threaten the fall of Niniueh within fortie dayes but hee threatned her fall that she might not fall for the effect of such a Prophesie dependeth vpon our comportment and carriage thereupon toward God by Repentance and therefore it hath a condition implyed here though not expressed as sometimes it is Ieremie 18.7 8. vpon which the execution doth stay or go forth according as we performe or neglect the same So that this Prophesie is conditionall and not absolute it contayneth Gods sentence and not his Decree and therefore it is expressed in the future tense Nineueh shall fall In this case the Prophesie is changeable if we be changed and therefore God calleth vs to Repentance that we may escape his iudgements And though this kind of Prophesie be not now particularly directed against thy Countrey nor thy person as in the holy Scriptures it is often so directed against such a Nation such a Citie and such a man yet as the generall comminations of God against sinners doe include vs and will take hold vpon vs if wee returne not vnto God with the teares of true repentance so the particular examples of his comminations denounced and executed against some Cities and some persons doe by equall reason and a like cause appertaine vnto vs according to the rule and obseruation of our blessed Sauiour Except you amend your liues you shall likewise perish Luk. 13.3 5. When Nineueh is threatned by Ionah England is threatned when her ruine is declared by Nahum how can England be secure Pares culpâ cur impares poena why is she vnlike to Nineueh in punishment who is so like to her in sinne wee feare the destruction and not the sinne the effect and not the cause But it is the Lords Mercies that wee are not consumed The SECOND is a Prophesie of Predestination as I may call it depending indeed vpon our sinne but yet resolued by God as well as declared in which respect it is absolute and not conditionall once decreed and neuer reuoked concluded in Gods immutable counsell foreseene in his infallible prescience and it is rather pronounced then denounced by him Therefore it is expressed either in the time past as heere in my Text and Esay 21.9 or in the time present though the effect doe not yet appeare For wee may obserue that in the Prophesie of Ionah there being a commination against her at that time it is deliuered in the future tense Nineueh shall fall but in the Prophesie of Nahum there being now a resolution of God declared concerning her subuersion it is deliuered in the present tense the Horseman lifteth vp the bright Sword a multitude is slaine they stumble vpon their corpses Chap. 3.3 and then in the seuenth Verse Nineueh is destroyed So that in this kind of Prophesie these two tenses to wit the present and the preterperfect haue a coincident sense and purpose concerning an infallibilitie of the euent Whence it is that the Prophet Esay ioyneth them both together in the Passion of Christ and Mysterie of our Redemption saying of him that he is despised he is a man full of sorrowes he is brought as a sheepe vnto the slaughter Esay 53.3.7 as well as hee was oppressed he was afflicted c. Thus wee see by the conference of Scriptures that the fall of Babylon here certified vnto vs in the time past it is fallen doth truly import an ineuitable euent a sentence neuer to bee recalled proceeding from a decree neuer to bee changed because God hereby doth insinuate vnto our knowledge that shee would not bee renewed by repentance and that hee would not conferre that grace vpon her but leaue her to perish in the course of her owne sinnes And this truth is farther assured and amplified by al the circumstances preceding her ruine accompanying her ruine following her ruine in three seueral chapters 17.18.19 in such large and ample termes that the very Image of Babylon in all these things is effectually and liuely exhibited thereby vnto our eyes as a matter of present action rather then future accomplishment rather to be seene then to be beleeued Wherefore the promise of God being thus verified vnto vs in this forme and manner of speech let vs by the way make a little reflection vpon this point for our vse and obseruation as being of so great consequence for the benefit of Gods children and aduancement of his truth First then the fidelitie of Gods promise herein doth exclude and confute their errour who suppose that this is a prophecie of Commination onely and not of Resolution against Romish Babylon as though shee might turne from her sinnes and consequently God might turne from his wrath In which opinion S. Hierome himselfe was involued as it appeareth in his darke vncertaine and perplexed discourse touching Babylon and her ruine in the conclusion of his second book against Iovinian whose errors did then begin to possesse many in Rome and to intangle them in his snare composed artificially out of sundry passages of the Scripture Wherevpon S. Hierome maketh a patheticall Apostrophe vnto Rome in this manner I will speake vnto thee O Rome which by the confession of Christ hast blotted out of thy forehead the blasphemy written therein There the name Babylon is laid vpon Ethnicall Rome as if Rome were afterward to bee discharged
death So he resolueth that Babylon falleth twice but he neuer came once neere vnto the truth of the point for he seemeth either to speake of Babylon as it is the mysticall Citie of sinne and not as the particular Citie of Rome or else he meaneth that this fall doth signifie the fall of Rome from Paganisme vnto Christ which being a fall of singular felicitie and ioy differeth much from the fall intended in this place which is a fall of great miserie sorrow and feare as you shall perceiue anon when I come vnto the third part of my Sermon where I am to treate directly of this point Therefore I come now vnto a SECOND exposition which seemeth to be ingenious but is not substantiall namely that Rome hath a double fall the one in respect of Gods truth and grace wherein shee sometimes stood and from whence shee is long since fallen But though shee bee so fallen yet this fall is included in the subiect of my Text BABYLON which implyeth the condition of Rome in her sin and not in the praedicate IT IS FALLEN which signifieth her estate in her punishment so that the second fall of Rome is her extreme ruine by the vindictiue Iustice of God And indeed this the fall here to bee vnderstood for that as I said before the Angel speaketh here of the punishment not of the sin of Rome and so this second fall ensueth vpon the first for because shee is Babylon fallen from Gods truth shee shall therefore haue another fall expressed here by repetition and perish by Gods iudgement THIRDLY then this Fall is heere repeated to shew the certaintie of the euent as written in the Booke of Gods immutable Decree Pharaoh had two Dreames which differed in forme and resemblance but agreed and were one in the sense thereof and purpose of God Gen. 41.32 c. The ruine of Rome is here expressed by one word twice vttered but with the same meaning and the same intention that as the Dreame was doubled vnto Pharaoh because the thing was established by God so the subuersion of Rome is inculcated here in my Text vnto vs because this thing is established by God and shall bee performed infallibly in the due and appointed time Therefore as before her fall was notified in the preterperfect tense she is fallen so here it is ratified in the duplication of the same word it is fallen it is fallen For who could reasonably and probably conceiue according to the euidence and appearance of things in that time or long after that Rome so glorious in the Empire so venerable in the Church so potent in Kingdomes so rich in estate so renowmed in fame should come to this despicable and deplorable end Thankes therefore be vnto our God who as hee can and will humble her Pride abase her Glorie breake her Power dissolue her Strength and defeat her Policies to her confusion and the honour of his Name so hee hath now so cleerely reuealed and so certainly assured this Truth and the certaintie thereof vnto vs for our comfort that now we enuie not her greatnesse because wee know her fall wee feare not her malice because wee see her miserie wee regard not the insolent venditation of her supposed eternitie because wee perceiue the dolefull expiration of her estate But here by the way wee may obserue to our admiration that many Babylonians should not yet discerne and feare this extreame vastation so certainly to fall vpon that miserable Citie so constantly pronounced so vehemently reiterated by the Angell vnto Saint Iohn and that being simply gulled with the false opinion of her Ethnicall estate alreadie past they should bee so blind and obdurate in the knowledge and acknowledgement of so cleere and so euident a truth Notwithstanding when I reflect vpon the iudgements of God inflicted vpon other people I see that before their fatall destruction they haue suffered an extraordinarie defect in humane policie and ordinarie wisdome the iustice of God concurring with the merit of their sinnes so that they could not carefully preuent an eminent and imminent danger nor wisely foresee the same So the Lord himselfe doth giue his owne testimonie of the excecation of the Edomites otherwise an ingenious and circumspect Nation in this manner Is wisdome no more in Teman Is counsell perished from their children Is their wisdome vanished Ieremie 49.7 And that this their excecation proceedeth from God hee himselfe doth declare by the Prophet Obadiah Verse 8. Shall not I in that day euen destroy the Wisemen out of Edom and vnderstanding from the Mount of Esau Whence it is that they could not discerne a false friend from a true enemy who vnder the pretensed termes of loue and vnitie did supplant and vndermine their State Therefore it is said in the Verse immediately going before the men that were at peace with thee haue deceiued thee whereupon the Lord passeth his Diuine censure vpon Edom in these words there is none vnderstanding in him For as the Philistims put out Samsons eyes and then made him grind for their vse so GOD permitteth the secret and malicious enemies of some Nation to put out the eyes of their wisedome by sugred delusions and then make them to serue vnder the burthens which they impose vpon them FOVRTHLY and lastly this duplication of Babylons fall is to shew the conformitie betwixt the Old Testament and the New in this behalfe and that one Spirit in sundry Ages did in the like manner direct and assist the Church For thus wee reade as I noted once before in the Prophet Esay Chap. 21. Verse 9. Babell is fallen it is fallen Thus the Antitype of new Babylon answereth to the type of the old the Spirit to the Letter the thing to the figure For as the Seraphims cried one to another in the same words holy holy c. Esay 6.3 so the two Testaments haue mutuall consonancie of words in this point to signifie thereby vnto vs that this being spoken once nay rather twice of Literall Babylon and being fulfilled in her it beeing now spoken againe the second time of the Mysticall Babylon shall be completed in her likewise since by the Historicall euidence of things that are alreadie past wee may securely repose in the Prophetical prediction of things that are yet to come It is still the same God that pronounceth it the same Spirit that reuealeth it the same Prouidence that guideth all things to their certain and determined euent Hence therefore we may deduce for our instruction that the presidents of the Old Testament should direct and informe vs vnder the New to trust in God whose Truth is still the same to loue God whose Goodnesse is still the same to feare God whose Iustice is still the same who by the examples of his seueritie in the Old Testament frameth vs vnto the reuerence of his Name and obedience of his Will in the New as Saint Paul himselfe doth grauely and diuinely teach vs 1. Cor.