is forgiuen before the commission of an actuall sinne goeth certainely to heauen and hath there the fruition of God and by vision in him may be a petitioner for his Father who is a petitioner vnto him What is the impediment or defect what impeachment is there of this practise vnlesse they say either that the Father is not certaine of the intention of him or her that baptized his child and so the want of due intention maketh a nullitie in the Sacrament and consequently leaueth his child in the state of damnation ô pitifull doctrine yet such is theirs or else that so young a Saint deserued not the grace to bee a Mediatour to receiue petitions from vs in earth nor to present them with effect vnto God in heauen I haue spoken for the Babylonians what I can in this case if they can say more for themselues they shall haue audience when they please The Fourth point is that hereby they ascribe such an omnisciencie or knowledge of all things and that in an instant vnto the Saints whereof no creature though beatified is or may be capable by the euidence of Scripture or consequence of reason Let vs then put the case as a thing possible which is very probable also that in one indiuisible point of time a million yea many millions of suitors make their petitions vnto the blessed Virgin by prayers conceiued in the heart or vttered with the mouth for that is all one in effect since the Saints know our petitions in God which need an immediate successe the same prayers also being often diuers and sometimes contrary in regard of the matters which they concerne Now consider the absurditie of the Babylonians in this behalfe that the blessed Virgin instantly heareth or rather seeth all their prayer instantly presenteth them vnto God instantly sendeth such a varietie of helpes vnto her distressed suitors This is not to beatifie a soule but to deifie a creature to make it a God at the second hand to giue that knowledge of all things vnto a Saint which being in God cannot without communication of the God-head bee deriued vnto any Creature Therefore onely the Sonne of God and the Holy Ghost haue a knowledge of all things with the Father because the person of the Sonne is from the Father and the person of the Holy Ghost is from them both with the communication of Deitie to the Sonne in his generation and to the Holy Ghost in his procession But since euery blessed soule remaineth in the condition of a creature in substance though glorious in knowledge though increased therefore it hath a finite knowledge for as the state of beatitude requireth a great addition of knowledge so the state of a creature requireth a determination of knowledge whereas the Babylonians extend it infinitely by the vision of God in whom these soules see all things as they suppose This generall errour is ancient and the speciall author of it is venerable S. Gregory the Great but not so great that without any Scripture to iustifie this point we should subscribe vnto his assertion Yea but it is his faire conclusion inferred out of a true position How Vident videntem omnia the Saints see him that seeth all things What then Ergo vident omnia therefore they see all things It seemeth to bee an ingenious but it is no substantiall inference Let vs examine the position and then the conclusion deduced out of the same As concerning the position it is true The soules in heauen see God not sensibly with any corporeall eyes nor imaginarily in any fancie but intellectually by immediate intuition without any vayle or other meanes into the diuine Essence But how farre forth Not by totall comprehension of the Deitie which they behold for so the Sonne seeth the Father and the Holy Ghost seeth them both but by such a participation of God as a creature can receiue and is necessary vnto the blessednesse therof which consisteth in the fruition and in the vision of God The conclusion therefore of Gregory out of the said position is lame and cannot stand by the strength thereof since hee onely seeth all things in God who seeth God absolutely and fully by comprehension of the Deitie as Christ seeth his Father but so and in such a plenitude of vision no creature can see the Creator As for the soule of Christ that is of an higher knowledge because the humane nature hath the vision of God by vnion with God in the person of the Sonne So then the poore Babylonians are still in the case of Idolatry for they by this falsly conceiued omnisciencie in the Saints translate them or to speake in their owne language transubstantiate them into God Neither doth their deuice of Speculum that God is the looking glasse of the Saints in whom they see things as you heard before relieue them from the crime of Idolatrie for this conceit issueth from the former and is all one with it in effect and both are poore euasions For though God be a looking glasse vnto the Saints yet he is voluntarium a voluntary one to represent what he will in the freenesse of his pleasure not necessarium a necessary one to represent vnto the Saints all that which is in the compasse of his excellencie and knowledge for then why should they not as well foresee or rather see all future things as well as all present things in him Finally if they see all our prayers and so all other things in him by the very nature of their beatificall vision as the Babylonians doe fondly collect why then doe some of the ancients teach that the soules in heauen are informed by Angells executing a ministeriall office here in the earth of sundry occurrences that passe here in the militant Church Which opinion standing with good congruitie of reason according to the passages of Scripture and principles in diuinitie doth therefore necessarily conclude against the supposed omnisciencie of the soules knowing all things in God by the vision of his diuine Essence that they haue such a latitude of knowledge as the Babylonians doe conceiue but as you see without any sufficient testimony of Scripture or pregnant inference well deduced out of certaine and approoued grounds Now as you haue heard their Idolatry in sending vp emptie and vnfruitfull prayers vnto the Saints for they must conuert them into the nature and dignitie of God to make them vnderstand the thoughts of our hearts and the multitude of occurrences in this world so behold their Idolatry also in murmuring out their Pater noster vnto Saints yea before the Images of Saints to whom they direct that excellent and incomparable prayer which though Christ taught vs to poure out vnto his Father yet many among them present vnto the Saints Which practise of simple people in the Church of Rome I cannot say how farre the learned do maintaine I haue not read nor did I euer aske their opinion in this behalfe but I find that vpon
respect and seruice vnto the Emperours till the subiect became the Souereigne of his Prince and a spirituall Pastour was changed into a temporall Monarch Likewise for the Church of God the same Saint Peter doth thus instruct all Pastours To feed the flocke of God c. which is an Office now too base for so great a Monarch and then not to comport themselues as if they were Lords ouer the heritage of God as it is 1. Pet. 5.2 3. For what is more contrarie to an Apostolicall spirit then pride exaltation aduancement of themselues with the contempt of others For which cause the Bishops of Britaine vpon the aduise of an holy person in those times reiected Augustine the Monke whom Gregory the Great sent into England and refused to treate with him when they discouered the pride and insolencie which appeared in his demeanure as venerable Beda himselfe though very fauourable to the proceedings of Augustine doth recount in the Historie of our English Church Now let vs obserue the Apostolicall stomacke for what is not Apostolicall in that seat a glorious name to insnare poore seduced soules of the holy Father in Babylon and whether such courses examples rules and ordinances of monstrous Pride were euer knowne or doe remaine vpon the Records of Antiquitie euen from the beginning of the World vnto this present day in any other Monarchie Kingdome or State of whatsoeuer qualitie or degree This Luciferian pride the fittest Epithete for the Papall you must goe into Hell and leaue the Earth if you will finde the like doth appeare in fiue particular instances as being sensible demonstrations of the same FIRST the pride of the holy Father appeareth in the particular facts of certaine Popes vpon the presumed Souereigntie of their Apostolicall seate He was a Pope that crowned and decrowned Henrie the Sixth the Germane Emperour with his foot shewing thereby that as the Imperiall Crowne was vnder the Papall and subiect vnto his Dominion euen vnder his foot so it is in the Popes great power vpon his holy pleasure to giue Kingdomes and to take away Kingdomes to erect Kings and to suppresse them againe as if they were the Tennis balls wherewith his Holinesse doth play He was a Pope who in disdaine of the Imperiall dignitie made Henrie the Fourth attend barelegged and barefoot with his Empresse and their sonne by way of penance in the Winter season at his Apostolicall gates Hee was a Pope that treading vpon the necke of Fredericke Barbarossa the Emperour with his Apostolicall foot insulted gloriously vpon the poore deiected Prince and profanely abused the sacred Scripture to his Apostolicall purpose Thou shalt walke vpon the Lyon and Aspe the young Lyon and the Dragon shalt thou tread vnder thy feet Psal 91.13 It is no maruell then that our King Henry the Second did humble himselfe so farre as to kisse the knee of his Legate whose foote to haue kissed is a matter of speciall grace according to the Constitutions of the Papall Church as you shall immediately perceiue for now wee insist onely vpon the matters of fact whereof I haue made a little remonstrance in a few examples referring you vnto the Histories which yeeld copious testimonies in this kind SECONDLY then this pride appeareth in their owne Ceremoniall Ordinances formally prescribing the courses of humilitie vnto Christian Princes in their attendance of the Apostolicall Father There the Emperour holdeth his bridle when the Pope rideth in Apostolicall pompe there Kings and Princes being marshalled according to the new Herauldry of Babylon march before him in their rankes Sometimes the Pope beeing aduanced vpon mens shoulders in a goodly Chaire of Apostolicall state the Emperour and Kings precede in their due order as so many Vshers of his Holinesse who throweth abroad his Apostolicall benedictions vpon the people with his sacred fingers This pride may yet seeme to be humilitie in comparison of his glorious exaltation in the Church of Saint Peter for vnder his name passeth all this exorbitancie where Monarchs humbling themselues vpon the ground meekly kisse his Apostolicall feet and then are afterwards admitted vnto so great a fauour as to kisse his cheeke All which was performed in the person of Charles the Eighth the French King vnto Alexander the Sixth as Guicciar dine relateth in his first Booke with humble seruice in so great a Prince deserueth the note of base deiection vnto the Triple-crowned Beast But thus the purpled Whore can either inchant with her cup or subdue with her Sword the greatest and most puissant Princes of the World Where is the exemplum dedi from Christ Iesus in this case The Vicar and the Master stand in Diametricall opposition almost in euery point as well as in this the Master kissed the feet of his poore Disciples but heere the Vicar requireth the greatest Monarchs vnto the kisses of his feet he proudly challengeth this submission from them and they basely performe it vnto him that so hee might appeare to bee what hee is euen Antichrist Lifting vp himselfe aboue all that is called God THIRDLY this pride appeareth by his vsurpation ouer the Crownes of Princes and that in different manner Sometimes by a particular interest as hee pretended in Scotland to diuert thence the militarie forces of King Edward the first Sometimes by donation or surrender as he pretended in England by the submission of King Iohn and therefore called his Sonne Henrie the Third by the ignoble stile of his Vassall and so by artificiall insinuations and colourable Titles he intrudeth vpon seuerall Dominions to make some speciall challenge thereunto If no such oblique and sinister course may serue his turne yet he hath two other wayes to come vnto his designed ends and that is either INDIRECTLY and as hee is Pastour of the Church to take Kingdomes from their owners for their offences and to collate them vpon other Princes as for example the Pope stirred vp Charles the Earle of Angeow against Manfredus the King of Sicilia the true Lord and possessour thereof by the gift of his Father Fredericus the Second and also the Pope stirred vp the said Charle against Cunradinus the Sonne of Conradus and Grand-child of the said Fredericus to depriue him of his life and to disseize him of his lawfull inheritance in the Kingdome of Naples both which Kingdomes he bountifully bestowed vpon the said Charles in like manner the Pope dealt with Iohn d' Albret King of Nauarre and with our late renowned Queene Elizabeth of blessed memory and glorious name though not with like euent or else DIRECTLY and as he is Lord of the World from whom all Princes haue their dependent power to bestow them at his pleasure as iust occasion shall mooue and good discretion shall direct his Holyship in this case which last opinion hath a daily growth in Babylon amongst the Parasites of the Court. For you must distinguish with Gerson betwixt Aula and Ecclesia the Court and the Church of Rome This Pride in the
de Ciuit. Dei l. 18. c. 18. In Psal 26. enarrat 2. In Psal 61. and though the Homilies vpon the Reuelation passing vnder his name are not his genuine Workes yet they truely containe his opinion in this behalfe Homil. 11. and 16. This sinister and misconceiued interpretation of S. Augustine doth sometime qualifie the feare of Bellarmine who finding that Rome shall be destroyed neere the end of the world by deduction as hee affirmeth out of the Reuelat. cap. 17. Videtur saith he this may seeme so to bee but hee recollecteth himselfe immediately in this manner Augustine with many others doth conceiue that this Citie of Babylon is the generall Citie of the wicked and not the particular Citie of Rome De Rom. Pont. l. 4. c. 4. It is no maruaile that Bellarmine like a man readie to be drowned taketh hold of euery straw for his reliefe The maruaile is rather that Augustine a man so learned so ingenious so iudicious should not cleerely discerne by so many circumstances in the Text that this Babylon is a particular Citie and not a generall Societie and farther that this particular Citie is Rome and not any other place But the glorious lustre of the then present state of Rome in the Empire so potent and in the Church so religious might and certainly did breed an eclipse of this euident truth vnto S. Augustines eyes looking more earnestly vpon the condition of the time then deepely into the coherence of the Text. I conclude therfore the first interpretation and aduise men that conuerse in the Monuments of the ancient Fathers without which no man can be profound and exact in the knowledge of Diuinitie to draw their wine and to leaue their dregges and not to esteeme that currant in them which is not weighed in the ballance of holy Scripture For the Sunne of this sacred Booke hath natiue light of truth without any darkenesse of errour whereas the borrowed light of the Moone the best Fathers and most commended Interpreters doth shine with the spots of infirmitie which attendeth the nature of mankind The SECOND Interpretation THe second Interpretation is that which Saint Hierome doth follow who saw a part of the truth but not the whole as the blind man vpon the first and imperfect recouerie of his sight saw men but hee saw them walking like trees Mark 8.24 He confesseth then that Babylon is Rome that Babylon at the least wherof Saint Peter doth make mention Epist 1. cap. 5. v. 13. whose authoritie hee pretendeth to follow in this point de Scriptor Ecclesiastic in nomine MARCVS But in the time of Saint Peter if by that name of Babylon hee did vnderstand Rome it was Ethnicall Rome which the Romanists themselues doe willingly confesse and vsually pretend to haue beene stiled by that name which they suppose was not and cannot bee extended vnto the Christian or rather Antichristian Rome in succeeding ages But to vnderstand yet more punctually the resolution of Saint Hierome in this case let vs obserue that hee affirmeth Rome to haue beene Babylon in his owne time when there was a true and a glorious Church of Christ in Rome and therefore in the name of certaine religious Ladies Epist 17. he aduiseth Marcella to flie out of that Babylon and to repaire vnto Bethlehem A passage verie rhetoricall and full of insinuation rather then found and substantiall to breed in her tender heart an alienation from the Citie of Rome as being that Babylon whereof wee now intreate though elsewhere hee seemeth wholly to free and discharge Rome from the scandalous imputation of this title as belonging to ETHNICALL Rome in her former and past estate Vrbs potens vrbs orbis domina sayth he contra Iouinian l. 2. in fine scriptam in fronte blasphemiam Christi confessione deleâ—isti c. O potent Citie ô Lady of the world thou hast by the confession of Christ blotted out the blasphemie written in thy forehead Vpon which passage Marianus Victorius a learned Babylonian writeth to this effect Hierome imputeth this name of BABYLON vnto Rome as shee was ETHNICALL as shee persecuted the Christians and was drunken with the effusion of their bloud and therefore it cannot bee appropriated vnto Rome in these latter times as the Hereticks doe falsely surmise and maliciously pretend With him a multitude of Babylonians doth conspire in this behalfe and therefore Master Robert Parsons in his three Conuers of England part 2. c. 5. passeth his verdict in this manner The name of BABYLON is applyed to the state of the persecuting Emperours and afflicted Christians which state saith he hath beene abolished as we haue seene already fulfilled Thus as Agag the King of Amalek came pleasantly before Samuel 1. Sam. 15.32 perswading himselfe that the bitternesse of death was past which was yet to come and was then at hand so these miserable Babylonians by poore and weake euasions perswade themselues that the scandall and horrour of this name is past and that condition of Rome is expired and so Rome is safe whereas the imputation cleaueth fast vnto her and her future ruine doth certainly attend her present state as we shall see anon in the orderly pursuite of this point For as yet the question is not vpon what Rome Ethnicall or Christian this hatefull name and direfull calamitie doth fall whether vpon Rome in her estate past present or to come which particular shall afterwards ensue in the processe of my Discourse but simply and precisely whether this Babylon bee the particular Citie of Rome as Saint Hierome doth conceiue though he be variable and inconstant in the manner of his assertion or whether it bee the generall societie of the wicked as Saint Augustine doth in an Allegoricall sense somewhat wittily but very improbably diuine That this Babylon in my Text is the Citie of Rome it appeareth euidently by many and cleere circumstances in this Scripture but specially two FIRST in regard of her Dominion Shee fitteth vpon many waters Chap. 17. Verse 1. Which Waters the Angell doth interpret to be the multitude of Nations Verse 15. And therefore Verse 18. he saith that she reigned ouer the Kings of the Earth This was the condition of Rome in the time of Saint Iohn to whom this Reuelation was made and therefore the Commentarie vpon the Reuelations which beareth the name of Saint Ambrose saith expresly vpon this place hoc manifestum est c. This thing is manifest namely that the Angell speaketh this of Rome For we know saith the Author that in this time the Romanes did obtayne Souereigntie ouer the Princes of the Earth SECONDLY in regard of her third situation vpon seuen hills or Mountaynes for so the seuen heads in the third Verse are expounded by the Angels in the ninth which description agreeth fairely vnto Rome standing once wholly and now partly vpon seuen hils of markeable note whence the Grecians called her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines in the same sense septicollis both
Nineueh vpon her repentance Should I not spare Nineueh that great Citie Ionah 4.11 Now therefore since Ethnicall Rome is past and that state is abolished saith Parsons for which cause she did beare the name of Babylon and Saint Hierome hath assured vs that Rome by her confession of Christ hath blotted out the blasphemie written in her forehead which point the Babylonians doe greedily embrace to their vnhappy excecâ—ation since Rome hath turned from her former sinnes and done righteousnesse since she hath had a glorious name by her renowmed Faith after the time of Paganisme Idolatrie and Persecution vnder her ancient Emperours since in our opinion she was a glorious member of the Church and in their opinion shee is still the Head Queene and Mistresse thereof embracing and propounding the truely Catholike Faith and finally since her ensuing repentance hath cleered the score of her preceding sins how can it consist with Gods Truth that in regard of her sinnes so long past and so deepely repented of he should lay a destruction vpon her in the time yet to come for it is yet to be fulfilled and that in so terrible and vnexemplifiable a manner Apocal. 18. Her ruine therefore and such a ruine which is yet to come when her Ethnicall estate is so long past doth sufficiently proue that later sinnes in a future age should renue and reuiue her old name if Babylon euer were the name of ancient Rome according to the tenour of the Scriptures and bring her vnto this lamentable end it being one of the last Tragicall acts of Gods Iustice vpon the great Theater of the world as it appeareth in the historicall predictions of this Scripture Secondly I make farther remonstrance of that position by the IVSTICE of God For he will not punish the children for their fathers sins euery one shall die for his owne Ezek. 18.4 Since therefore Rome is yet to be destroyed this destruction doth not attend her ancient sinnes committed in her Ethnicall estate and done away by her repentance in her Christian estate but for latter sinnes in latter ages wherein she was to beare the scandall of this name and to suffer ruine for the same Innocent Rome shall not perish for nocent Rome not the latter for the former not the Papall for the Imperiall not the Church for the State there cannot bee iniustice in God Shall not the Iudge of all the world doe right Yet I confesse that in succeeding ages God doth sometimes remember the sin of ages past and so it is said of Babylon Apocal. 18.5 God hath remembred her iniquities but in this case latter ages doe renew imitate and increase the sinnes of the former And so I grant that for her old sinnes of Idolatrie Persecution c. renewed afterward Rome shall suffer this ruine as Ribera and Viegas the Iesuites doe confesse Meane while this is the point which I commend here vnto your prudent obseruation If Rome were sinfull Babylon here spoken of onely in her Ethnicall estate which is a plausible delusion she should haue suffered her fatall punishment here threatned during that Ethnicall estate and not in her Christian condition whereas the speciall calamities of Rome since the time of this prediction ensued vpon Christian Rome not Ethnicall Rome by the furious incursions and impressions of the Goths and Vandalls which were castigations of Christian Rome and not of Ethnicall nor Antichristian Babylon whose finall and vtter subuersion being yet to come and neerer vnto the end of the world therefore Gods Truth and his Iustice doe cleerely euince that shee was to bee Babylon againe if shee were so once before and to bee stamped with this hatefull name after the time of her entertainment of Christian Religion and after the expiration of her Ethnicall estate this name arising out of a latter condition of sinnes for which shee should fall and in latter times in which shee should perish by the iust indignation of God and Man And so much for the second remonstrance THIRDLY I make remonstrance of my position by the ingenious and faire confession of two learned Babylonians themselues they also being Iesuites of eminent qualitie publike Readers in their Schooles who by diligent inquisition into the very Text of this Scripture and carefull obseruation of the circumstances thereof oppose themselues against the common errour of their owne side and cleerely deduce out of the coherence of many circumstances in this Scripture that this BABYLON doth signifie Rome not in her Ethnicall estate onely as the Papists doe more ordinarily conceiue but neere the conclusion of the world that then shee shall by her great sinnes deserue this name and therefore come to ruine Neither doe I make vse of their confession because it commeth from aduersaries but because they make it out of the conscience of truth grounded vpon the cleere euidence of the Scripture For I should thinke meanely of my cause if the truth and certaintie of my assertion stood vpon the falshood and errour of their confession and had no better strength to support it selfe The first Babylonian is Ribera a man of no vulgar note as being a Doctor of Diuinitie and professour thereof in Salmantica a famous Academy of Spaine This man wrote a Commentary vpon the Reuelation of Saint Iohn where treating vpon these words Apocal 14.8 Babylon that great Citie is fallen hee proueth by sundry infallible circumstances of the Scripture Apoc. 17. that this Babylon is not the generall societie of wicked men but a particular Citie and finally the Citie of Rome and therefore he concludeth his disputation as I noted before vpon that point in these words Omnia profectò nisi in Romam non conueniunt certainely all the circumstances in the Text cannot agree vnto any other place but vnto Rome alone in cap. 14. num 31. Then he commeth num 32. to explicate the state and condition of Rome in regard whereof this name Babylon and this ruine shee is fallen belong vnto her in this sacred Reuelation And here suspecting the scandall and offence of his owne brethren he entreth vpon this discourse with a preoccupation in this sad and graue manner Offensionem pio Lectori amoueri volo I will that no pious Reader a Romane Catholike that is to say a Babylonian should take offence at my exposition as if it were aduantagious vnto the Heretickes the Protestants who assume vnto themselues an occasion vpon this name of Babylon ascribed here vnto Rome to lay an imputation vpon the Church of Rome and our holy Father the Pope Wherfore num 34. hee saith that this name of Babylon agreed vnto Rome as shee was in her Ethnicall State an Idolatrous persecuting Citie but now saith hee the case is altered for shee is and long hath beene the Mistresse of Faith and the Mother of Christians Then hee addeth immediately Si quando haec eadem fecerit quae Iohannis tempore faciebat iterum Babylon vocabitur if Rome shall commit the same things hereafter which
Councells by Fathers by Reasons framed out of the grounds of Scripture and Religion but in a new obscure intricate course of Positions Suppositions Conclusions vaine Opinions of darke and obscure Schoolemen c. which made the learned Doctor Raynolds say that till hee saw this Treatise of Indulgences hee tooke Bellarmine to be a man of some conscience and that hee wrote out of his perswasion but now hee conceiued of him otherwise But I proceed and hasten vnto a conclusion of this point This Babylonian ware of Indulgences is that traffique of the Church of Rome whereby shee keepeth her intimate correspondencie and participation with all her members tying thereby their consciences by a secret and strong obligation vnto the Pontificiall Seate it being also of singular vse in the manner of her proceedings For as this Merchandize is the daughter of many false doctrines Supererogations Merits euen the hatefull and dangerous merit of Condignitie of an Ecclesiasticall treasure arising out of the merits of Christ and also of the Saints the same being more then they were bound vnto and therefore being not rewarded vnto them in heauen may bee communicated to the poore soules in Purgatorie and the dispensation of this mysticall treasure is committed vnto the Pope by vertue of his keyes c. so it is the mother of many wicked practises for the aduantage of their Church as being the very bellowes which blow the fire of treason against the Persons and States of Princes This is the ware wherby Babylon bewitcheth not onely priuate men but great Kings for her Merchants are the great men of the earth Apocal. 18.3 Therefore infinite store of this Babylonian trumperie was transported vnto the poore Indians for the pretended benefit of their soules but for the intended benefit of a Princes worldly estate This is the ware which Leo the tenth so freely and bountifully dispensed for the redemption of soules out of the Purgatorian fire which keepeth warme the kitchin of his Holy-ship in the compassion of his charitable heart and fulnesse of his Papall power Said I freely Forgiue mee this wrong it was for the commoditie and reliefe of his sister Magdalen as Guicciardine a Popish Historian doth relate lib. 13. who had her Factors to distract and vent this Babylonish ware whence Magdalen the sister had the gaine but Leo the brother had the losse for vpon this occasion no lesse iust before God then acceptable to the Christian world Martin Luther began that course which hath succeeded so happily to the further discouery of Babylon and scandall of her wares for since that time her brocage hath suffered a great decay Finally this is that ware whereby this merchandizing Babylon doth principally subsist in honour authoritie riches and applause of the world inebriated with such incantations of her whorish cup and deluded with the vaine hope of these miserable helpes What should I speake of the Pedlery of Meddalls Beades Graines Holy Water Images certayne peculiar Churches Chappels and other places of blind deuotion vnto which sundry Pardons are appendant as being the meanes and instuments of Papall benignitie thereby to dispense and communicate Indulgences vnto poore seduced soules euen as certaine Fryers receiuing temporall reliefe from their deuoted followers pretend to communicate the merits of all the Saints of their owne order vnto them for their helpe and some Lay-men by wearing a Franciscans Girdle and vsing certaine Ceremonies according to the Rites of the Papall Church are made partakers of the merits of Saint Francis and of all the brethren of that religious Order All which and many more Wares come originally out of the Store-house of Rome To conclude then vnto these Indulgences some of them being for an hundred thousand yeeres so liberall is the holy Father I may adde other spirituall ware of Babylon as of Agnus Dei which is a ware of speciall vertue and force but chiefly of Dispensations which are sometimes the dissipations of diuine and humane right of naturall and morall bands as full of great presumption against the Lawes of God and Nature to tye some Princes in vnlawfull Mariages and to vntye many subiects from lawfull obedience as of singular art thereby to intangle Souereignes and subiects in the obedience of that predominant See and to keepe them vnder the captiuitie of the Triple Crowne Therefore the Pope doth greatly applaud his owne felicitie when Princes insnared with the loue or terrified with the greatnesse or oppressed by the power of this Apostaticall Seat will humbly sue vnto him for Dispensations or accept such gracious fauours kindly at his hands whereby hee gaineth ground vpon them still to keepe them more securely within the obedience of the Church which they shall not dare to offend without the perill of their liues and states And now since this Romish ware is Spirituall and of the Church and for soules not temporall not of the Citie and for this life I conclude the second proofe of my assertion namely that this Babylon in my Text is the Church of Rome or Papall Rome or Ecclesiasticall Rome wherein the greatest Monarch doth reigne next vnder the King of Heauen aboue all the Kings of the Earth as we know by their owne pretenses challenges doctrines and vsurpations in this behalfe And so I proceed vnto a new and the third proofe of my said assertion THIRDLY therefore I proue my assertion to be true because the whole World as the Iesuites say perhaps they meane the Romane World according to the phrase of Scripture Luc. 2.1 and the sense of the ancient Fathers or some great part thereof and specially in Europe shall bee vnder the gouernment of Rome and so she shall make a generall communication of her Idolatry vnto the same Now in this great dependencie of the World vpon Babylon and in this vniuersall reference of Nations vnto her how can this be verified of the Citie How should the Citie arriue vnto such a large Dominion in the World and specially in so little a time as the Babylonians doe prescribe You haue heard the difficultie proposed lately by Ribera himselfe and how hee resolueth it by a poore coniecture But the truth is cleere and easily seene where God doth open the eye namely that Rome had this generall Dominion once in and by her Imperiall State not onely vnder the Emperours succeeding Iulius Caesar but while the dignitie of Rome remayned in the Senate and the authoritie in the people During this Imperiall State Rome receiued Idolatry from all Nations as Leo sometimes Bishop of Rome doth speake Serm. 1. in Natal Petri Pauli and the ciuill Stories of Liuie Plutarch and others doe sufficiently declare how ambitious rather then zealous or how senselesse rather then religious the old Ethnicall Rome was in bringing forreine Gods and extraneous Idolatrie into her bosome for the publike honour and safetie of that blinded Citie Therefore Rome had once her Pantheon a Temple of all the Gods conuerted since into a Church of
this deepe point an egregious disputation was held in Scotland it is related immediately after the martyrdome of Adam Wallace in the Acts and Monuments of the Church published by Master Foxe where some profound Doctors of Babylon did substantially resolue that primariò formaliter principaliter vltimatè capiendo strictè this prayer may be said onely vnto God but secundariò materialiter minùs principaliter non vltimatè capiendo largè it may be said vnto Saints What is so absurd and impious which by distinctions may not be defended in the Church of Rome And why may not that prayer be directed by them vnto the Saints since Dominus being changed into Domina our Lord into our Lady the Psalmes of Dauid whereby hee comforted himselfe in the Lord his God are turned by the Papists into an inuocation of our Ladie And why may not both bee done by them who find such an exact conformitie betwixt our Sauiour Iesus Christ and their S. Francis that hee may also bee truely stiled Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum Iesus of Nazareth King of the Iewes But since there is no end in the prosecution of their blasphemous absurdities in this kind I will conclude this last point of Romish Idolatry in their inuocation of Saints and finally obserue that it is an idolatrie also in them thus to transferre the peculiar sufficient and glorious Office of Christ his Mediatourship vnto any Saint he or she though his owne Mother towards whom though he bare a filiall respect according to humane nature yet you shall neuer finde in his acts or words any one passage or inclination which might seeme to intitle her vnto such exorbitant honour as the Babylonians assigne vnto her by a boundlesse and groundlesse superstition and specially since as necessitie did not compell them so no good reason could perswade them vnto this seruice Why because all and more is to be found in Christ then in any or in all the Saints in this behalfe For what doe wee or can wee desire in any intercessor Power with him of whom hee doth intreate any thing Affection to them for whom hee doth intreate and a sufficient Capacitie of hearing and receiuing their requests First then for Power with God haue all the Saints so much as he with the Father who testifieth of him This is my beloued Sonne in whom I am well pleased Matth. 3.17 Secondly for Affection vnto vs is any Saint more kind more louing more facill and gracious No none is like vnto him Why First because he tooke our whole nature not the person of one man and espoused it to his owne person it being truly indued with all naturall affections and sanctified with grace without any measure of the Spirit Therefore in this regard he is as neere vnto mee as any man nay neerer then all men And secondly because in this nature hee suffered for me with passions of bodie and soule hee died for me he satisfied Gods wrath for me and so bought mee for his owne therefore in this regard I am more deare vnto him then vnto his blessed Mother or vnto all the Saints that reigne with him in glorie Hence it is that He sendeth vs not vnto them but calleth vs vnto himselfe Come vnto me c. Matth. 11.28 Thirdly as for his Capacitie of hearing vs who can denie it to be infinite in him who being God is infinite in euery thing And as for his humane nature who can sufficiently iudge of the capacitie of it also in this behalf which by the grace of personal vnion with God and so by the glorie of extraordinarie vision in him hath such a Sea of knowledge as we are not able to comprehend in the litle shels of our vnderstanding Therefore as Saint Peter said to whom shall wee goe c. so I say to whom shall we rather goe then to him in whom all these things so happily concurre Why shall I giue his honour away vnto another and thereby take away my comfort from my selfe So shal I be an iniurious Idolater against his excellencie and my owne saluation as they are generally in the Babylonian Church where the most sweet inuitations and comfortable assurances of Christ vnto vs are applied vnto his Mother as Come you all vnto mee and suffer little children to come vnto me with other of like nature which diuine sentences I haue seene for my euidence is from mine owne vnhappie eies appendant in papers vpon Tapistrie or vpon the walls of their Chappels and ascribed vnto her vpon a Festiuall day solemnely dedicated vnto her seruice with this Motto Intrate per me enter in by mee words peculiar and meerely proper vnto Christ himselfe fairely written in capitall Letters and placed ouer the doore to instruct all men thereby that came into the Chappell that they must enter into the Church by the inuocation of her name and into Heauen by the mediation of her Praier Let them now distinguish againe with strictè and largè primariò and secundariò c. yet their consciences cannot escape the crime of Idolatry in this course which they esteeme to be verie deuout but we know it to be verie prophane And thus much concerning the first generall point of comparison which is in the matter of Idolatrie betwixt the old and the new Babylon I proceed therefore vnto the second The SECOND Comparison betwixt Literall Babylon and Papall Rome THe second point wherein this comparison doth stand is PRIDE a sinne of speciall note in the first Babylon the Ladie of Kingdomes Esay 47.5 but what is her end Desolation and ruine How and for what cause I will make the arrogancie of the proud to cease and I will cast downe the pride of Tyrants faith the Lord Esay 13.11 But heere the second Babylon exceedeth the first the daughter comming after the mother in the order of time goeth before her in the degree of pride Wee haue heard of the pride of Moab he is exceeding proud saith the Prophet Ieremie 48.29 So I may say of this Babylonian Beast his pride his arrogancie his fastuous carriage of himselfe toward the whole ciuill State and toward the whole Church is such as may argue him to be the successor of Tarquinius Superbus in whom the Regall authoritie of ancient Rome did expire rather then of Saint Peter whose succession and Apostolicall power he doth pretend but without conformitie to his Apostolicall doctrine in these things who teacheth all men to bee subiect vnto the King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to him that excelleth or that is the chiefe or as the very word doth beare that ouer-haueth hauing indeed all others vnder him 1. Pet. 2.13 Did not Saint Peter include himselfe in this precept Then he was not syncere Or not his successors Then he was defectiue in this point But the truth is he was truly an humble person though of a feruent spirit and prescribeth that doctrine which hee followed and his successors embraced acknowledging their due
head of the Church of Rome descendeth vnto the members For as the Cardinalls who are the great regotiatours in the publike affaires of the world are the cosins of mightie Kings who salute them by that affable and gracious name as being glad and ambitious of the affection of these purpled Fathers in the Apostolicall Court so the whole bodie of the shaued Clergy pretendeth an exemption from the lawfull iurisdiction of their naturall Lords as being subiects secundum quid after a certaine manner or measure and a body rather collected and vnited vnder the Pope then vnder their owne Souereignes in whose Lands they receiued their first breath and vnder whose protection they enioy their liuelyhood with the preseruation of their liues FOVRTHLY this pride appeareth in his domination ouer the whole Church as first that all spirituall power of order and iurisdiction is deriued from his Apostolicall Seate that hee can depriue suspend excommunicate such as withstand his pleasure that appellations may be made and in some cases must be made vnto him from the sentences and censures of Bishops in all places of the world that he may demand and receiue a supply of monyes and necessaries for the vse and benefit of his Apostolicall greatnesse that hee is answerable to no power in the Church or State that hee may by reseruations and prouisions bestow Ecclesiasticall benefices vpon whom hee will in any part of the Christian world that he is greater then all the Church and is in truth and effect the very Church which being essentially in the whole societie of Christians is representatiuely in a lawfull Councell and virtually in the Pope so that finally the Church their Mother is the Pope their Father who is the Lord the Head the Guide the Pastour the Vniuersall Bishop of the Church Which insolencies and oppressions in the Holy Father made Gerson bitterly to complaine That the Head of the Church was growen too heauy for the whole bodie thereof and our learned Countrey-man Bishop Grosthead to pronounce That the Church would neuer be freed from the yoake of her Aegyptian bondage but by the dint and edge of a bloudie sword FIFTHLY and lastly his pride appeareth in his great and glorious titles taken vp partly by himselfe and partly ascribed vnto him by others with gratefull appobation of the Apostolicall Seate As for example hee is a Vice-God as in that inscription Paulo Quinto Vice-deo where the numerall letters V. L. V. I. V. C. D. make vp the fatall number of 666. containing the mysterie of Antichrist his name Apocal 13.18 but this is too little therefore hee is plainly a God nay that is too little also he is our Lord God as I shewed you once before and yet sometimes Nec Deus es nec homo sed neuter es inter vtrumque Thou ô Souereigne of the World art neither God nor man therefore Antichrist for Christ is both but art betwixt both neither the one nor the other Hee is Dominus dominorum quoad potestatem the Lord of Lords in regard of his power though Seruus seruorum quoad humilitatem saith bald Baldus the Seruant of Seruants and be it so but in the sense of Noah in his malediction of Canaan Genes 9.25 in regard of his meekenesse O meeke and humble Saint whose ordinarie title hath beene his Holinesse his Blessednesse more compatible with his Apostolicall office then his Maiestie which is indeed the pleasing and acceptable stile vnto which their proud and tyrannicall vsurpations doe aspire And therefore this was well attibuted vnto Paulus the fifth by Ludouicus ab Alcasar the Iesuite in his dedicatorie Epistle prefixed before his miserable exposition of this mysticall booke Yet thou wast more wise and circumspect ô noble and victorious Iulius Caesar that diddest refuse the title of a King and thou wast more modest ô Princely Augustus that diddest reiect the title of a Lord. But behold here is a greater then both which accepteth all alloweth all as indeed challenging a great deale more Let him then take one title more to furnish vp his glorious stile hee is Lucifer in his pride ambition and insultation ouer all States Ciuill Ecclesiasticall as the pretended Lord of both The THIRD Comparison betwixt Literall Babylon and Papall Rome THe third point wherein this comparison doth stand is INIVRIOVS VIOLENCE against the Crowne Imperiall and Estates of Souereigne Princes in which tempestuous courses the Spirituall Babylon of Rome doth exceed the Literall in Chaldea and the rather because the later had a speciall commission in this behalfe which the former doth vainely pretend by lame deductions and inferences but cannot prooue directly by the testimonie of any Scripture The commission of Nebuchadnezzer was vnder the warrant of God himselfe as being the executioner of his seuere Iustice and therefore God affoordeth him the title of his Seruant not onely for his expedition against Tyrus Ezek. 29.18 but against his owne people Ierem. 25.9 Now our Babylonian Monarch not by the authoritie of Gods Word not by any cleere euidence of reason founded vpon the same not by any example of his predecessors or of any other Bishop in the more pure and innocent state of the Church but out of his owne appetite and desire of temporall power which Christ gaue him not which the ancient Popes challenged not which they durst not pretend nor could they execute till the decadencie and expiration of the Romane Monarchy in these occidentall parts hath often thrust the sickle of his forged authoritie into the haruest of other mens Kingdomes Witnesse the distressed King of Nauarre Iohn d' Albret mentioned before sententially deposed by the Pope and a part of his Kingdome thereupon inuaded by his neighbour the King of Spaine Witnesse my deare Countrey of England in the time of that vnfortunate Prince King Iohn whose Kingdome was by Papall authoritie exposed vnto the furie of the French the King himselfe being compelled like a silly man to surrender his Crowne vpon his knees into the hands of an Apostolicall insolent Legate and so remaining for the space of fiue daies without a Crowne committed now vnto the benignitie of the Church hee receiued it againe vpon such base and ignoble termes as it pleased my Lord the Legate to impose vpon him one whereof was if the Babylonians say true that he should hold it by fealtie from the Church of Rome and for acknowledgement thereof pay an annuall tribute vnto the Pope so wise and skilfull are these men to fish in troubled waters being now not fishers of men but fishers of Kingdomes Witnesse England againe in the time of King Henry the eight who by a Papall processe of Paul the third was depriued of his Kingdome and his subiects commanded by force and armes to eiect him out of the confines therof the successe whereof was for a time troublesome to the King but in the end inglorious to the Pope the tenour of whose roaring Bull and Capitoline thunderbolt deserueth your speciall
obseruation for that hee exciteth the subiects of England against their King by a most impudent and ignorant application of the Scripture Wee being placed saith hee in the Seate of Iustice according to the prediction of the Prophet Ierem. 1.10 saying Behold I haue set thee ouer the Nations and ouer the Kingdomes to plucke vp and to roote out and to destroy and throw downe c. This is a Text which sounded to his purpose and therefore Carerius de potest Rom. Pont. l. 1. c. 3. maketh this peruerse glosse vpon that text The Prophet Ieremy speaketh this in the person of Christ vnto the Bishop of Rome that if Kings bee wicked hee may punish and correct them A terrible correction vnto a King to be deposed from his Imperiall Crowne by the Babylonian Beast and to be exposed vnto the crueltie of his owne subiects This is their art and this is their pietie in the exposition of the sacred Scriptures to bring them vnto their owne fancies But thou Carerius and thou ô Paul you lay violent hands vpon Christian Princes and vpon Gods owne Word You say that this was spoken by the Prophet in the person of Christ that so you might bring his title in this point vnto the Pope as being his Vicar and so endued with this power of deposition vnder Christ but it is not so for God speaketh it precisely vnto his Prophet You say that therefore the Pope is placed ouer all Kingdomes to excommunicate Princes to giue away their Kingdomes c. It is not so but God giueth a commission to his Prophet to denounce his iudgements against sundry Nations as hee doth afterward and to foretell their ruines according to his propheticall and pastorall office that God did impose vpon him to this effect But I leaue these Babylonians in their absurd and presumptuous interpretation of the Scriptures and proceed vnto their tyrannicall actions Witnesse then here againe my deare and natiue Countrie vnder the most happy prosperous and gracious administration of our late Souereigne Queene ELIZABETH twice deposed by these furious Beasts first by Pius the fifth who bestowed her Kingdome most liberally vpon the King of Spaine to get it by Armes if he could and this Pontificall donation standeth in Azorius the Iesuite for one principall instance and president of the Papall authoritie in this behalfe By vertue or rather vice of his Bull the subiects were absolued from their obedience and thereupon some taking vp Armes in the Northerne parts came vnto alamentable but a deserued end whose bloud being shed by the Iustice of England will be iustly required of Babylon the cruell Mother of her Children and so shall the bloud of many Priests and other Romish Catholikes who dyed iustly for their transgression of the Statute made against Romish Priests comming into England all persons entertaining them as culpable of highest treason Why for now the Popes Emissaries the Priests came with a resolution to maintaine his proceedings and they whom the Priests reconciled were now spirituall members of that Church which sought the perdition and ruine of their Prince Was it not now necessarie and it was not done till now vpon the thirteenth yeere of her reigne to prouide the antidote of such seuere Lawes against the poison of such vnnaturall Subiects Secondly she was deposed againe by Sixtus the fifth vpon the time of the great inuasion to be executed by that inuincible Armado from Spaine in the yeere 1588. Neere vpon which time by the negotiation of Parsons the Iesuite Allen was promoted vnto the dignitie of a Cardinall for the better accommodation of all matters in that execrable designe who therefore wrote an Admonition to the Nobilitie of England as full of fraud falshood and impossibilitie in that which he vndertooke to assure as of malice treason and villany against the person of his Souereigne Ladie who finally had the glorie in their shame to the contempt of Babylon and admiration of the world Witnesse France in the tyrannicall and proud fury of Boniface the eight who came into his Apostolicall Seate like a Fox reigned in it like a Lyon and dyed like a Dog against Philip sirnamed the Fayre whom that Babylonian Monarch vendicating vnto himselfe all power Spirituall in the Church and Temporall in the world deposed sententially from his royall Dignitie and State disposing the same by his Apostolike liberalitie vnto Albertus King of the Romanes but that Heroicall and Magnanimous Prince preserued and maintained both to the great ignominy and contempt of the vsurping Beast Witnesse Germany where Henry the fourth by the Papall insolencie of Gregory the seuenth a true and euident Antichrist was abandoned by his subiects violently persecuted by Henry the fifth his naturall vnnaturall sonne who succeeding in that nominall Empire the Pope being the reall Emperour was afterwards by the diuine vltion of God though by the Apostolicall operation of the Pope forsaken by his owne people the Empire such as it was being collated vpon another What should I say of Philippus the Emperour brother of the said Henry and Otho Duke of Saxony erected by Pontificiall meanes against the said Philip Who suffered both vnder the Babylonian Beast What shall I say of Frederick the second sonne of the said Philip persecuted circumuented oppressed by the spirituall Fathers of Babylon His sonne also Conradus suffered like outrages by the Father of the Romane thunderbolts exciting the Lantgraue of Thuring against him and persecuting the royall family of Barbarossa till it came finally vnto that ruine which the Babylonian Beast did long desire in his heart and at the last did effectuate by his meanes And now by the way wee may here obserue the miserable condition of Princes who must weare the Babylonian yoake to their shame or cast it off to their danger standing vpon the dreadfull tearmes of deposition murther and other disastrous calamities when one Prince being deposed by Papall furie another Prince rather out of desire of his Kingdome then out of obedience to the Pope is readie to inuade his Dominions so that one of them is made the executioner of another and all of them instruments of the Papall Tyranny till by this meanes the Papal iurisdiction ouer them all groweth strong by prescription Nos sanctorum c. being a better plea for the Popes in latter Ages then it was in the time of Hildebrand the Pope who pretended the example of his predecessors for the deposition of Princes and so in processe of time all Princes as the Popes doe cunningly affect shall hold their Kingdomes as donatiues of the Babylonian Seate I am wearied and so perhaps are you in the prosecution of this vnhappie argument wherefore I will gather vp my sayles and conclude this tedious Voyage with two remarkeable obseruations The first concerneth the Papall intrusion vpon the Citie of Rome it selfe the centre of that Empire whose circumference was so largely extended in the World the proper and peculiar seate of the
not our feare of Babylons crueltie increase their hope of our ruine I say then vnto euery souldier of Iesus Christ in this spirituall warfare as the Angell vnto Gedeon The Lord is with thee thou valiant man Iudic. 6.12 The FIFT Comparison betwixt Literall Babylon and Papall Rome THe fift and last point which I now resolue to touch in this comparison is IMPIETIE of life As for the old Babylon she was incurable in her sinfull courses We would haue cured Babylon but shee would not be cured Ierem. 51.9 It followeth therefore Her iudgement is come vp to Heauen It came downe from Heauen also for God stirred vp the spirit of Cyrus to execute his vengeance vpon the Ladie of Kingdomes and the hammer of the World As for the new Babylon shee answereth fully vnto her type for as Rome went before in Babylon so Babylon followeth afterward in Rome I speake not now of the common people nor of any Lay persons of more eminent qualitie I come vnto the Cleargie it selfe and not in the more ignoble sort but in the higher degree of the Cardinalls of whom as Caluin saith truly that Vnà cum suo capite sensim creuerunt these principall members of the Romane Church grew vp by little and little into this amplitude of power and dignitie together with their head so together with the increasing impietie of the Popes they increased also in their impietie of manners The Histories are extant their conditions are knowne I leaue therefore the members and come vnto their head himselfe in comparison of whom the Monarchs of Literall Babylon may seeme to bee iust and holy as God testifieth of Ierusalem that shee had iustified Samaria in all the abominations which shee had done Ezek. 16. Doe you now expect of mee a Catalogue of their names and a repetition of their crimes Platina the Writer of their liues an Authour of their owne that had experience of many matters in Babylon can tell you that which is no lesse odious for you to heare then tedious for me to speake But descend from ancient Writers vnto Baronius though one of the most perfidious and dissolute Historians that euer tooke pen in hand euen their owne Cardinall Baronius and you shall see the tender hearted man melting into teares vpon the recordation of Papall impieties and particularly of Iohn the Twelfth You shall find Baronius lamenting the condition of the Church vnder such Heads and wondering that such an impure and wicked wretch should assume so gracious a name as that is both by signification and by the persons that did sometimes beare the same Wherevpon hee saith that in his opinion the Pope did thereby intend to deceiue the World which might suppose that there was a man sent from God whose name was Iohn So writeth he of that Boy Pope that egregious Varlet who by the meanes of a Whore sate in the Whore of Babylon as a fit Incumbent of that Apostolicall See Now if I would prosecute the Historie of those Popes alone who did vntruly weare the garment of this name which might seeme to couer the turpitude of their liues it were more easie to finde a beginning then an end of my discourse for Babylon had many Iohns besides a Ioane but few of them good and the last of that name Iohn 21. or 23. for the Papists disagree vpon the number of these Popes had such accusations produced and verified by Oath against him for matters of doctrine and of life in the great Councell of Constance vpon the yeare 1414. that as the name of Tarquin was hatefull in Rome so the name of Iohn became execrable in the Church and no Pope delighted to take it vpon him since the time of that Councell But why doe I or rather why should I take fruitlesse paines in this behalfe yea disaduantagious also vnto mine owne cause For now I pray you to obserue diligently with me two passages in Bellarmine very artificially framed the one to preuent our beliefe the other to peruert our iudgement In praefat lib. de Summo Pont. For first being to treate of the impieties of his holy Fathers such so prodigious so innumerable as perhaps no State of Pagans can parallel much lesse of Christians be they Princes or bee they Prelates marke how cunningly hee seeketh to bring his Reader into a suspition of all Histories which he had rather accuse of falshood then wee should accuse his Popes of impious and wicked life Thus therefore writeth the learned Cardinall Quidam parùm probi Pontifices c. Some Popes being of little honestie did sometimes possesse and gouerne the Apostolicall Seate Parùm probi Away with that tearme of diminution improbissimi impijssimi diabolissimi c. were fitter words for such monsters whose villanies no tongue can speake with modestie nor pen describe But let vs proceed Who were those parùm probi He telleth you Stephanus the sixt Leo the fift Christophorus the first Sergius the third Iohannes the twelfth Alexander the sixt Then he addeth alijque non pauci Speake more plainly Bellarmine mince not the matter say not non pauci not a few others but a great multitude of Popes for so there was if their owne Historians may deserue our beliefe But heere the Cardinall casteth in his doubt Si vera sunt que de eorum vita rebus gestis apud historicos eorum temporum scripta leguntur If saith he those things be true which the Histories of those times record concerning the liues and actions of these Popes If they be true His desire was to denie all the accusations but hauing not abilitie to disprooue the matters he draweth the Histories into question and breedeth a secret dubitation in the minde of his Reader This is the first passage in Bellarmine and he is more ingenuous and modest in this case then Baronius is often in the like not only drawing an obscuritie or some doubt vpon such Histories as distaste his palate and are against his purpose but sometimes disclayming them correcting them at his pleasure forging others without any apparant euidence with many such indirect and preposterous courses which the Venetian Authours while the controuersie depended betwixt their State and Paul the fift doe carefully note in that dishonest Authour whom the Spaniards the Benedictines the said Venetians and sundrie Romane Catholickes vpon seuerall occasions all tending to one crime of iniurious falsitie doe brand most deeply in this behalfe And thus hauing spoken some thing of these two Cardinall Brethren the Castor and Pollux of the Romane Church I will end with him with whom I did first begin His second passage therefore is of more excellent note Hee would discredit the Histories as false hee could not behold now a greater aduantage vnto his Church if they be true How can that bee Is hee so skilfull a Workeman that hee can make a Mercurie out of euery blocke be it neuer so crooked and knottie He is for marke his dilemma If those
this vnlearned foolish and erroneous proiect as Vlphila a Bishop of the Goths did sometimes insnare the credulous and ignorant people assuring them that the differences betwixt the Catholikes and the Arrians did consist rather in the forme of words then in the substance of matter as Theodorit doth report lib. 4. cap. 37. Now as the Reconcilers of the two Religions doe iustly deserue your censure so the secret Babylonians that hold outward conformitie with England and inward correspondencie with Rome are to bee lamented as well as detested being no lesse dangerously affected in the state of their owne soules then against the state of this Church These are men that stand like a needle in a dyall North and South personally in England affectionately in Rome heterogeneous members of both and neither Church amphibia creatures liuing in the two Elements of Sion and Babylon they speake both languages of the Iewes and Philistines they comport themselues so wisely that the present times may beare them and the future receiue them men more subtile for themselues then sincere to any It were to bee wished that as men belieue if such men doe belieue any thing so they would confesse For with the heart wee belieue to righteousnesse and with the mouth wee confesse to saluation EIGHTHLY since Papall or Ecclesiasticall Rome is that Babylon which Saint Iohn doth here propose and exhibite in liuely colours vnto our view I cannot without indignation or rather compassion obserue that this truth being of such cleere euidence and of so great consequence for the consolation of Gods Church afflicted by her and confusion of Babylon triumphing in her pride malice and crueltie vpon vs as also prouoking the diuine Maiestie by her monstrous Idolatries by her false doctrines by her base superstitions by her taking from the people the key of knowledge in the holy Scriptures with many more absurd and impious courses should bee so little regarded by some vngratefull therefore vnto God for this sacred Reuelation made vnto his Church or so much questioned by others who either out of negligence search not into this truth or out of a puzzeled vnderstanding cannot comprehend it or out of a preiudice will not discerne it but like men in a secure and pernicious Lethargie with heauie and drowsie spirits raise not vp their thoughts vnto a more acute penetration of so excellent and so necessarie a point for the prediction whereof so long before wee owe much vnto the prouidence of God and for the discouery of it now so long after in these our dayes wee owe much vnto his goodnesse And I doe more earnestly presse all Diuines in this Church vnto a serious and diligent contemplation of this mysterie now so reuealed vnto vs which was concealed from our fathers because they shall thereby inable themselues with more sufficiencie of meanes to confirme many in the truth and to recall many from their errours when they shall by good discourse of reason founded vpon the circumstances of this Scripture comparing it with other Scriptures and with the euents of time the successe of things in later Ages concurring with the prediction in former cleerely and fairely perceiue that Rome as now shee is and long hath beene vnder the gouernment of the Pope is the Mysticall Babylon the Mother of Whoredomes the Seate of the Second Beast the verie Synagogue wherein Antichrist doth reigne For defect of which certaine knowledge in the vnderstanding and secret perswasion of the mind therein a greater gap is left open for the entrance of Babylon into many hearts whereof I could say something by the particular experience of my vnhappy selfe Since therefore I doe so well apprehend the force and efficacie of this truth for which I giue most humble thankes vnto my benigne and gracious Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ I doe more willingly excite and stirre vp my learned Brethren to settle their iudgements vpon a perfect and exact knowledge thereof being able and readie by speciall demonstration and strength of discourse to explicate the same in particular manner and forme omni poscenti to euerie one that shall aske a reason of their assertion and beliefe in this point wherein now the Iesuites themselues Ribera and Viegas haue carryed vs securely and firmely beyond the speculation of Augustine and some others conceiuing this Babylon to bee the generall societie of the wicked and no particular place and beyond the decision of Hierome supposing it to bee Ethnicall Rome and so to bee alreadie past at which wee doe not meruaile since Hierome by experience saw that State past but could not by diuination foresee this to come namely that the Pope should bee the Second Beast and that Rome should bee Babylon vnder him a matter not imaginable in those more happie times Therefore though the said Iesuites going beyond Augustine confesse this Babylon to bee Rome and going beyond Hierome yea beyond the most generall conceit of other Babylonians confesse it to bee Rome in a new second and latter estate after the entertainment of Christian Religion therein but deny it to bee so in regard of the Church at all or of the Citie as it now is and while shee shall so remaine vnder the Pope yet wee see them so wrapped vp in sundrie inextricable difficulties to maintaine this their determination of the point that till wee come vnto the perspicuous and solid resolution thereof by laying so great a power of Babylon which they saw in it vpon the Papall Souereignety and so large a Dominion which they saw in it vpon the extension of his authoritie in the world and so much Idolatry which they saw in it vpon the superstitious foolish practises of the Romane Church and such a correspondency with the world which they saw in it vpon the communication of her Wares and negotiation of her Merchants with it together with the dependencie of of States and Churches vpon it there is no meanes in congruitie of reason and in ordinarie sense to vntwine and loose the doubts which arise thereupon and bind vp these men so fast viz. How Rome within the space of three yeeres or therevpon with which limits of time they circumscribe the reigne of Antichrist out of a false and erroneous opinion of the Ancients should attaine vnto such a vast power and so ample a Dominion in the world with such grosse Idolatrie diffused so copiously from thence into the world with such a subiection of Kingdomes and Prouinces vnto it which things though they saw truely and affirme constantly by the certaine and infallible euidence of the Text it selfe yet they would not or they could not by reason of their forestalled conceit which they haue of the holy Father and of his Apostolicall State behold and discerne them there where onely they are to bee found where onely the Scripture doth assigne them where onely the palpable euents and cleere ocurrences of the time discouer them where onely reason and her discourse doth bring them
forth vnto sufficient notice Hee therefore that now seeth not this truth hath a shallow head and hee that seeing it will yet dissemble it hath an hollow heart Such men therefore I may truely compare vnto Achan for as hee tooke the Babylonish garment and couered it in his Tent Iosh 7.21 expecting a more conuenient time to make some further vse thereof so they lay vp Babylonian doctrines and superstitions in their hearts expecting a time to make more publike practise thereof as opportunitie may giue them securitie in this behalfe men therefore that looke downeward vnto the changeable times in the earth but not vpward vnto immutable eternitie in heauen NINTHLY since Rome is Babylon therefore vnitie and peace and concord should reigne in the Church of God which shee laboureth to vndermine with her policie and to ruinate with her power that all may conspire in a sacred expedition to performe the word and worke of God against Babylon the denne of that accursed Beast For if the diuersitie of tongues hindred the setting of Literall Babylon vp the diuersitie of hearts will hinder the pulling of Spirituall Babylon downe Let vs pray then for the peace of Ierusalem let them prosper that loue it let euery man endeauour to cure domesticke wounds and make none that euery honest heart may beare witnesse vnto it selfe and say with the wise woman of Abel in her Apologie for her Citie I am one of them that are peaceable and faithfull in Israel 2. Sam. 20.19 TENTHLY and lastly I conclude with a Morall obseruation vpon this point Since Rome is degenerate from her ancient state in purer times when shee was a professour of the truth and a protectour of them that repayred vnto her for defence thereof hauing lost her Excellencie and forfeited her Name by a sorrowfull change of Glorious Rome into Impure Babylon wee may therefore consider that the Grace of GOD is not tyed to any place not fixed to any Citie not bound vnto any Kingdome but as hee giueth it freely by his fauour so hee taketh it away iustly for our sinnes Hence it is according to the construction of this point by Ribera the Iesuite that this Rome now faithfull in his opinion may become and shall become Babylon heereafter in her Idolatrie Dominion Power Riches c. though indeed shee is now so in all these things neyther can it bee presumed by any reason that shee should become so within a little time euen the space of two or three yeeres as they ridiculously conceiue but necessarily suppose for their owne discharge and that shee shall be a Cage of vncleane Birds and that she shall truly deserue this name of Babylon by the confluence of all Impieties that shall then reigne therein Which future as he pretendeth but present as we see estate of Rome and change of her name in the change of her condition hee approoueth by the instance of Ierusalem as I noted before once a faithfull Citie the place of Gods speciall delight c. yet afterwards a rebellious Citie a Where in her Idolatries and sinnes wherewith afterward she prouoked him vnto his fierce and vindictiue wrath And indeed well might this calamitie fall vpon Rome if it fell vpon Ierusalem How is the faithfull Citie become an harlot thy siluer is become drosse thy wine is mixt with water Esay 1. 21. since Ierusalem was priuiledged with more Immunities by Gods owne concession and testimonie then euer was that fatall Citie of Rome howbeit vnder the Emperours shee boasted of her eternitie and vnder the Popes shee braggeth of Saint Peters Chaire as beeing fastened vnmoueably vnto her sides for so doth Bellarmine conceiue and earnestly presse this point de Rom. Pont. lib. 4. cap. 4. as a most probable opinion and piously to bee beleeued And though shee may bee burned in the time of Antichrist saith hee yet that shall not bee till the end of the World yea by their computation of Antichrists reigne perhaps within a yeare or two before it since Antichrist reigning but three and an halfe cannot presently subdue other parts of the World and bring his power against this Citie But leauing Bellarmine with his fellowes intangled in the bird-lime of their owne absurdities let vs not maruell at this mutation in Rome which we now behold the name of it being thus translated into Babylon since the dignitie and glorie and lustre of her ancient vertues are now extinguished by the inundation of her sinnes mentioned before leading her into the Sea of her perdition nor at the mutation of Ierusalem of which you heard before her name signifying they shall see peace but shee saw and felt the miserie of warres for her great and many sinnes let vs I say not maruell at the one or other but let vs feare the like vnto our selues if God leaue vs vnto our selues to dye and to perish in the course of our sinnes Hee may take away the kingdome from vs and giue it vnto another Nation hee may remooue our Candlesticke and place it in another Region so may Albion this white and faire Countrey of England wherein wee dwell loose her name and be turned into a black darke and dismall Land and then also God may be glorified in our destruction as he hath beene glorified in our preseruation and great felicitie euen to the admiration of all Lands and enuie of some that haue complotted but could not effect our ruine Therefore while wee haue the light let vs walke in it and cast away the workes of darknesse that Gods truth may euer dwell in our Land that as wee haue receiued it from our Fathers in peace though they left it vnto vs by their bloud so wee may transmit the same vnto our Children and bee euer readie also to seale it with our bloud if God shall vouchsafe vs that double honour to beleeue in his Sonne and to suffer for his sake The end of the first Sermon THE SECOND SERMON WHEREIN IS DISCVSSED the Second Part of this Text Namely the PREDICATE expressing the punishment of ROME It is fallen it is fallen AS Zarah first appeared in the birth but retyring himselfe gaue way and passage vnto Pharez to come before him into the world Gen. 38.29 so the Punishment of Rome being first here in order of place but last in order of sense hath resigned its prioritie vnto the Sinne of Rome in the method and disposition of the parts which I haue followed in the pursuite and discussion of my Text. Now therefore I come from the Subject to the Praedicate from Babylon to her fall from the Sinne of Rome to her Punishment so confirmed so ratified and entayled therevnto that no wit though subtile no learning though great no policie though deepe no Art though curious no strength though mightie shall bee able to diuert nullifie and preuent the same as hereafter we shall in due place most cleerely discouer and discerne As for the Subject BABYLON whether it bee Rome or not and in
essence exclude the nature of beliefe Two things therefore here by the way are fit for our instruction to know them and for our meditation to contemplate and ruminate thereupon FIRST the excellencie of Faith in it selfe it maketh vs secure in things to come as if they were alreadie past or at the least it maketh them present vnto vs by bringing and presenting them inwardly vnto our mindes Wherein Faith differeth from Hope for as Faith exceedeth Hope in the extent of the obiect Hope looketh onely vpon things desirable and good Faith vpon all things generally that are reuealed by God so where they meet in one obiect the same thing being belieued by Faith and desired by Hope as life eternall c. they haue a different relation thereunto for that is present vnto Faith which is future vnto Hope Hope carrieth vs vnto the things Faith bringeth the things vnto vs. For as Dauids Worthies brake through the Host of their Enemies and brought water out of the Well of Bethlehem vnto him for which hee longed so Faith ascendeth into all places bee they neuer so high descendeth into them be they neuer so deepe flieth vnto them be they neuer so remote pierceth into them bee they neuer so close and bringeth vs the thing which wee long for by an effectuall liuely and forcible demonstration thereof vnto the soule Hope therefore doth comfortably attend Faith doth infallibly assure Hope sustayneth vs in the expectation Faith putteth vs in the possession SECONDLY the benefit of Faith vnto vs it is the eye of a Christian soule and as Luther well obserued the reason of a Christian man Credo Domine I beleeue O Lord Marke 9.24 To which purpose well speaketh one of the Ancients Fides credat intelligentia non requirat Let Faith beleeue let not the Vnderstanding seeke Nay Credendo intelligimus non intelligendo credimus wee beleeue not by vnderstanding but we vnderstand by beleeuing By this is Abraham iustified Rom. 4.17 for aboue Hope the hope of humane reason he beleeued vnder Hope the Hope of diuine Faith By this Saint Paul doth liue I liue by Faith in the Sonne of God Gal. 2.20 By this Saint Iohn conquereth all worldly things this is the victorie that ouercommeth the World euen our Faith 1. Iohn 5.4 To conclude therefore according to the subiect of my speech Let Babylon extoll her selfe and oppresse others let her aduance her selfe and deiect others let her proceed in her Crueltie Idolatry and Pride c. Yet for all these things God shall bring her to iudgement I beleeue it I am certaine of it for hee assureth mee that she is alreadie fallen Faint not then O Religious and Christian hearts vnder her tyrānie but comfort your selues in her assured and infallible ruine which God doth certifie and Faith doth apprehend and time shall manifest at the last but beleeue this for if you beleeue not you shall not be established Esay 7.9 Therefore I say vnto all my brethren as Iehoshaphat vnto his subiects Put your trust in the Lord your God beleeue his Prophets and you shall prosper 2. Chron. 20.20 Now therefore since Faith is of this excellencie in it selfe and bringeth this benefit vnto vs as that by it wee enioy things yet to come by it wee behold things farre distant by it wee are risen againe before we be dead by it we are ascended into Heauen while wee are yet in the Earth by it wee are happie though we be yet in the vale of miserie let vs make three vses of this incomparable gift of God First to prayse God for this grace and particularly in this subiect whereof I now intreat that as hee hath reuealed vnto vs the ruine of our capitall enemie BABYLON in his holy word and by his owne sonne so hee hath giuen vs an assurance of Faith to beleeue it confidently and so strengthened our faith by the certaintie of the prediction as if we had seene it alreadie fulfilled with our eyes Therefore against her power and glorie and dominion and reputation and all outward splendour and finally the concurrencie of her friends or slaues to support her greatnesse whereby she may seeme to subsist by a solid and inconcussible foundation of her estate the same being strengthened by the depth of policie and adorned with all varietie of Learning as Saint Gregorie himselfe did foresee that the Ministers of Antichrist were the Locusts Apocal. 9.7 10. hauing Crownes on their heads signifying literature and knowledge hauing also stings in their tayles signifying power and abilitie I still oppose Gods purpose reuealed in his Word that cannot be frustrate and my Faith founded vpon his Word which cannot be erroneous For as Saint Augustine doth ingeniously and grauely collect out of the Prophet Daniel that the resurrection of the dead so cleerely foretold by him shall certainly be effectuated in due time because other things in that Prophet so long before set downe in his Prophesie haue had their reall and actuall accomplishment according to his prediction which being true in the rest cannot faile in this so my Faith is established firmely here in this point by diligent obseruation of all othet passages in this Booke once very obscure but now daily more and more cleere because other things being so notably discouered in their euent and the predictions of this mysticall Scripture being made so apparant in the successe of time I may not I will not I cannot doubt of the adimpletion of this particular but that Romish Babylon shall finally come vnto her fatall ruine as shee is alreadie fallen in Gods certaine Preuision eternall Counsell and immutable Decree Secondly we ought to nourish this faith by all possible meanes especially by reading the holy Scriptures and conferring one place thereof with another which is a singular key to open vnto vs their sense and meaning according to the prescription of the two learned Fathers Saint Hierome contra Pelag. lib. 1. c. 4. and August de doctr Christ lib. 2. c. 9. lib. 3. c. 26. So this particular the collation and comparison of the Scriptures one part of the Reuelation with another the predictions of Saint Paul with the Visions of Saint Iohn together with the obseruation of manifold occurrences in the Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall state from time to time since the declination of the Empire and corruption of the Church as the Histories of each may sufficiently deduce vnto our knowledge doth notably discouer this Babylonian Mysterie vnto vs with the beginning progresse and decadencie of her estate THIRDLY since Faith is the speciall gift of God who sanctifieth vnto vs the outward meanes to increase and confirme the same wee must humbly sue vnto God by deuout and earnest Prayer with the Kingly Prophet Dauid Psal 119.18 Open mine eyes O Lord that I may see the wonderfull things in thy Law Otherwise as the Iewes reade the old Testament and yet cannot find Christ therein so men may may reade the new and cannot see see
be not intangled with her voice She cryeth Venite come vnto me the mother of the faithfull but Christ saith Exite goe out of her my people that you bee not partakers of her plague for she is the Mother of Fornications And so much of the second fall of Babylon which hath now prepared vs vnto the third THIRDLY then this word doth signifie such a ruine as is without recouery with extreame vastitie horrible miserie vnspeakable desolation which Babylon shall more sensibly feele then we can truly declare res superat fidem the matter exceedeth beliefe humane beliefe that standeth vpon reason but not Diuine which is grounded vpon reuelation as I shall haue speciall occasion to declare more fully in my ensuing Discourse Meanewhile to iustifie this last acception and sense of this Word according to the tenour of the holy Scriptures I produce vnto you certaine instances very agreeable to our purpose For if wee speake of the persons inhabiting in Babylon then Dauid writeth aptly of such falling Psal 36.12 They mine enemies are cast downe they are fallen in the words immediatly before and shall not be able to rise But if we speake of the place it selfe Iericho is an example in this case Iosh 6. The walls fell downe man and woman young and old with all the cattle were destroyed therein And to fill vp the measure of the calamitie thereof shee was to lie buried in the Tombe of her owne ruines and a curse laid by Ioshua vpon the man that should repaire and reedifie the same To conclude the pitifull but vnpitied vastation of this Babylonian Citie her dolefull fall to follow the prescript euidence of my Text is resembled in the iust affliction which fell vpon the Citizens and Citie of Sechem which Abimelech destroyed and sowed the place thereof with Salt Iudic. 9.45 Such shall bee if any patterne can exemplifie her case the fall the fatall end the wofull period of this great and glorious Citie It is finall for I reade of none after it it is singular for I reade of none such before it For to passe by the conflagration of Rome by the Gaules when she was yet in the time of her minoritie and youth and to come to the state of her declination in the time of Honorius the Emperour vpon the yeare of Christ 414. we find in the Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall Histories that Alarichus King of the Gothes tooke the Citie of Rome rather by Famine then by the Sword as Saint Hierome doth relate burned some part thereof slue the Citizens despoyled them of an infinite abundance of riches but as I noted before gaue them their liues that could take Sanctuarie in the great and magnificent Church of Saint Peter After his decease which happened within a short time after this expilation of Rome his kinsman Ataulphus returned vnto Rome with a mightie power resoluing to put all the Citizens to the sword to raze the Citie vnto the very foundations to erect another in some commodious place and to impose the name of Gothia vpon it from which resolution he was diuerted by the humble supplications and gentle perswasions of his deerely beloued wife Placidia sister vnto Honorius and so Rome did then escape that ruine vnto which she is yet reserued and which she shall certainly feele in the due appointed time Afterward vpon the yeere 450. Gensericus King of the Vandals so sacked and ransacked the Citie of Rome that for some time it remained without any inhabitant to dwell therein But much more grieuous and fearefull was her desolation by Totilas King of the Goths vpon the yeere 547. a great part of the walls being cast downe the houses burned the Citizens killed so that neither man nor woman remained therein as Bellarmine himselfe out of Blondus doth briefly recite C. de Pont. Rom. l. 4. c. 7. but to a very poore and simple purpose as you shall heare anon in the passage of my discourse Meane while descending neerer vnto our times I smile at the fearefull apprehensions of Pope Alexander the sixth vpon the yeere 1494. when hee was troubled and all Rome with him at the militarie approach of Charles the eight of France and therefore vpon a treatie of peace hee accepted the Articles imposed vpon him by the victorious Prince for the time but with a perfidious heart as the sequell of things did discouer who thereupon was receiued into Rome with tender demonstration of singular respect and loue otherwise hee had certainly imitated the president of the conquering Gaules ancient times and burnt the whore with fire which worke did rather appertaine vnto his successours in the Crowne of France as time the mother of truth shall one day reueale to fulfill that which Truth the Sonne of eternitie Christ Iesus himselfe doth here foretell But leauing Rome in that passion of feare let vs behold her in the passion of sense vpon the yeere 1524. when the Imperiall Armie of Charles the fifth marching vnder the conduct of the Duke of Burbon who was fatally slaine before the walls of Babylon first surprised the Suburbes and then inuaded the Citie it selfe in whom it is doubtfull saith Guicciardine lib. 18. which Historie well deserueth your reuiew whether bare more rule the humour of crueltie to kill or the appetite of lust to deflower or the rage of auarice to spoile What honour and reuerence did these Catholike Souldiers performe then vnto the holy Father and his worthy Prelates As for him hee was made a prisoner in his owne Castle and redeemed himselfe from farther dangers at a great proportion of monyes and remained in custodie vntill it pleased the Emperour out of his speciall grace to release him againe As for them many of them were set vpon Asses and leane Moyles with great dignitie and contempt hauing their faces reuersed to the crowpe of the beasts and so being apparrelled with the habites and markes of their dignitie were made a spectacle of derision in the publike view while some other Cardinalls being naked and soled along with buffets and bastinadoes redeemed their liues with deepe exhaustion of their plate and treasure Now if in these calamities of Rome which are the praeludia and as it were the figures of her future destruction wee see such furious actions of hostilitie against her not onely by barbarous enemies but by them who carrie the names and titles of Christian and of Catholike by particular stile what incomparable crueltie will so many seuerall Nations exercise against her with implacable hatred vnder the Ensignes of so many seuerall Princes enraged against her for her violation of their Crownes stirred vp by the speciall iudgement of God O vnexemplifyable fall I want termes to expresse it And therefore as the Painter being to represent by a liuely Image the behauiour of the father of Iphigenia lamenting and bewayling her pitifull death drew a veile before his face that being a more proper signification of his griefe which could not be expressed in any
reuenues of their subiects issuing forth of their Kingdomes to the supportation of Babylon partly to permit their Clericall subiects to be exempted from their Regall authoritie and many other courses whereby the proud vsurping Beast doth either closely like a Fox insinuate into their Crownes or violently like a Lion insult vpon the same by their owne folly tendernesse and ignorance in the beginning that so Gods Word might be fulfilled herein I say I cannot neglect the obseruation of this point that now these Kings not the same in person but in succession should beginne to bee wise to vnderstand his tyrannie to see their owne miserie and to reuenge these wrongs with fire and with sword without compassion and without remorse Leo a Bishop of Rome but in more happy times yet one that in some things prepared a way for the aduancement of this second Beast which from a Pygmie became an Hercules and by seuerall augmentations grew vp more and more from small beginnings vnto the full proportion of his greatnesse wherein he stood long but now beginneth to fall thou O blessed Leo by the venerable authoritie of thy graue and gracious person by thy perswasiue Eloquence and gentle intreates diddest once diuert the hostile inuasion of Attila King of the Hunnes from Rome not then Babylon and thou wast a Sauiour vnto her as many of the Iudges in ancient Israel were called not by a Sword but by thy word full of power and efficacie in thy religious mouth But now this Spirit this excellencie shall not bee in thy successours when the fatall houre of her last desolation and fall is come for the wrath of these Kings shall bee specially incensed against this Beast a Lyon indeed not in heroicall fortitude and Christian magnanimitie but in crueltie oppression insultation stirring vp these Kings vnto this furie which no perswasion no eloquence no policie can appease And now to conclude this point I find two obseruations that attend this last passage of my discourse The FIRST concerneth a dogmaticall errour and false opinion preuailing very much in the Synagogue of Rome to wit that Antichrist shall destroy Rome which false opinion by misinterpretation arose out of the true doctrine of S. Paul viz. That Antichrist shall not be disclosed vntill the Romane Emperor were taken out of the way which then withheld and so kept downe all other power that Antichrist could not exalt himselfe Hence the ancient Fathers as namely S. Hierome epist 151. quaest 11. and long before him Tertull. in apologetic cap. 32. whose iudgement also S. Augustine doth follow de Ciuit. Dei l. 20. c. 23. but vpon another ground taken and mistaken out of the Prophet Daniel doe very truly deduce and inferre that the Romane Empire shall not bee destroyed vntill the comming of Antichrist and therefore they seemed reasonably to suppose also that it shall bee destroyed by him and so consequently that Rome it selfe shall suffer her finall ruine by his power and by his meanes Which erroneous deduction seemeth to haue had a generall applause in the ancient times of the Church as wee may see by the testimonie of Lactantius who liued in the time of Constantine the Great vpon the yeere 320. Thus therefore hee writeth Institut diuin l. 7. c. 25. That the end of the world will not come till the destruction of Rome and that the abominable Tyrant Antichrist shall performe that worke But as Lactantius with many other Christians was infected with sundry false appehensions as in this very Chapter That the world should stand but two hundred yeres after their time and else where That Christ should reigne a thousand yeeres on the earth c. so in this particular conceit he and others digressed apparantly from the truth as wanting the cleere euidence of times and the successe of things to helpe them in the right interpretation of the Scriptures in this propheticall kind It is then a very certaine and pregnant truth which Tertullian Augustine Hierome Chrysostome and others did conceiue that the Romane Empire should stand till the reuelation of Antichrist according to the prediction of S. Paul And againe it is true in a great part that Antichrist hath destroyed it for the Popes were a speciall meanes to exclude the Emperour out of Italy and Rome which they haue inuaded and erecting a new Empire in the Kings of France and after in Germanie they finally made this Nominall Emperour of Rome a Reall slaue of Babylon though sometimes with great reluctation and opposition of the Emperours as he was able to resist whom therefore the Popes did gladly suffer to bee depriued of their rights in Italy the same being a Countrie specially accommodated for the aduantage and securitie of his greatnesse because there are sundry formes of gouernments and many particular states therein In regard whereof as one hath a diligent eye to obserue and hinder the increase and inlargement of another so if any of them oppose his Holinesse hee is readie with his thunderbolts to shake that State in pieces and to raise vp other Princes there to make an execution of his sentence And because he doth pretend some particular interest in the goodly and rich Kingdome of Naples he therefore installed the Kings thereof with this caution and reseruation That they should neuer take the Empire vpon them fearing thereupon the potencie of so neere a neighbour as being preiudiciall vnto his triple Crowne This was a matter of speciall exception taken against Charles the fifth in his election vnto the Imperiall State though not pursued because there was no remedie against so mightie a Prince who as hee seemed to accept the Empire against the ancient prouision of the Popes so he seemed vnmannerly to resigne the same vnto Ferdinand his brother and to establish him therein without the notice and approbation of the holy Father Thus farre then we agree with the iudgement of antiquitie touching the Romane Emperour and Antichrist because it agreeth very well with the prediction of Saint Paul But the predictions of Saint Iohn doe sufficiently refute the last opinion which seemeth to be inferred out of the former by an emptie and barren speculation to wit that the Citie of Rome shall bee destroyed by Antichrist and his associats as Lactantius lib. 7. c. 16. doth erroniously conceiue For the Second Beast in Rome is Antichrist himselfe to whom the ten Kings gaue their power and Babylon shall be destroyed not by this Second Beast but for this Second Beast the ten Kings not being now his helpers and assistants in this subuersion of Babylon but his enemies assailants to ruinate Babylon wherin he reigneth because of his abominable comportment therein as the context of the Scripture it selfe doth infallibly demonstrate and conclude And therefore as in many other points concerning Babylon and Antichrist the ancient Christians were much deceiued so particularly in this namely to imagine that he should destroy Rome who is the Man or rather the Beast that
opposition of Philippus Pulcher to his great disgrace So Sixtus the Fift that subtile and insolent Beast disdayned the Workes of their Learned Bellarmine himselfe because he did not attribute this direct Omnipotencie vnto the Pope as a true and lawfull Superiour of all Kings and therefore did conceiue a purpose to suppresse and extinguish his Writings that seemed to limit and circumscribe the transcendencie of his power as D. Barkley a Pontifician in other points doth relate in his very impugnation of Bellarmines opinion that being also false scandalous and dangerous vnto the state of Christian Princes and in some respects more absurd then the other which Bellarmine did before reiect though in his Reply vnto D. Barkley hee seemeth to incline like a Cardinall now vnto the challenge of his holy Father Sixtus and from an indirect power groweth toward a direct which doctrine passeth freely amongst the Canonists is much imbraced by the Iesuites is diligently furthered by the Popes and doth daily gather strength in Babylon No maruell then if as the proportion of Hercules his bodie was collected by the quantitie of his foot so by these foote-steps of Antichristianity Christian Princes doe now beginne to discerne and discouer the second Beast himselfe and to be excited iustly vnto the ruine and perdition of his estate Secondly Babylon hath treasonable practises against the liues and states of Princes and these same issuing also out of her very doctrines by a powerfull incantation of bewitched soules as namely out of Purgatorie Indulgences Merit Satisfaction and the like besides a blind and vnquestionable obedience whereby many stand more specially deuoted and also obliged vnto this Beast Now therefore though it bee so that Christian Princes should be more iealous of Gods honour then their owne state of his glorie then their owne safetie of his truth then their owne liues and certainly for these causes God shall raise them vp vnto this sacred expedition against Babylon and her Beast yet now their own cause shall incite them forward to the same their state safetie and liues being in danger by the basest Vassall of this Purpled Whore For if his Holy-ship may iustly depose a Prince from his Royall Seat by a Papall sentence and if execution thereof cannot otherwise proceed then that may well follow which Mariana a learned but a wicked Iesuite doth prescribe in this case namely that such a Prince may bee lawfully empoysoned if it were in their very Sacrament it selfe Papists know the practice of this villany or by some clandestine and secret meanes depriued of his life And the truth is that if the generall and current doctrine of Babylon for deposition of Princes bee sound and substantiall then such practises and specially for defect of some other course to put the Papall sentence in execution are by the verdict of good reason and by faire consequence of that doctrine to bee maintayned and to bee performed which horrible and damnable impietie is conuinced by the testimonie of Gods Word by the pietie of the ancient Church and by the iudgement of sundrie Papists themselues not so deeply and dangerously infected with the leauen of Babylon in this point and therefore lesse neere and deare vnto the Triple-crowned Beast And thus you haue a decision of the second point namely the causes with the seuerall branches thereof why these ten Kings shall conspire in this action for the fall of Babylon and therefore I will now proceed vnto the third The THIRD Question THIRDLY then if you require of me when the ten Kings these glorious starres in the firmament of the World shall meete in this coniunction which shall be so fatall vnto Rome I answere it is a curiositie to enquire the time and temeritie to define it For who can looke without his perill into the Arke of the Diuine prouidence Wherefore in an vncertaine point I will follow the greatest certaintie which the Scripture itselfe and my best obseruation will direct mee vnto in so doubtfull a case The points which I tender vnto your consideration are foure FIRST this fall of Rome described Chap. 18. is not long before the period and conclusion of the World for as I noted in my former Sermon the Saints reioyce for her ruine Chap. 19. then Chap. 20. there is a recapitulation of things past in the state of the Church with a description of the generall Iudgement then in the two last Chapters ensueth a description of celestiall Hierusalem and the happie condition of the Triumphant Church the state of the Militant being now consummate and ended as it seemeth in or vpon the fall of Babylon as being one of the last glorious and obseruable Acts preceding the generall Resurrection of the dead Howbeit I cannot determinately affirme with Lactant. lib. 7. cap. 25. that the World shall receiue her end immediately vpon this vastation of Rome which as he falsly supposed should be performed by the great Antichrist and consequently according to his account and the generall opinion of the Ancients the World cannot stand longer then the space of three yeares or therevpon after the fall of Rome since he and they did generally conceiue that the Reigne of Antichrist was confined within the compasse of three yeeres and an halfe But as their speculations in this kinde had no sufficient ground and the very courses of times with the successe of things therein besides the more cleere and certaine exposition of Propheticall Scriptures in this later Age doe foundly conuince the same so they inferre with them this palpable absurditie that they who see this extinction and ruine of Babylon shall haue an infallible knowledge that the World shall determine and end within the space of such a time the fire in Romes destruction giuing them this light which consequence as it is euident vpon their ground so it needeth no refutation since it implyeth sundry points of markeable errour which I leaue vnto your prudent censure SECONDLY her fall attendeth the complement and full number of her sinnes according to a semblable case Gen. 15.16 When the sinnes of the Amorites are full c. when the latter times of Rome haue filled vp the measure of her iniquities when this Haruest is ripe then commeth the Sickle of Gods vengeance or to follow the very words of GODS Spirit this fall shall come vnto Rome when the words of God are fulfilled Apoc. 17.17 concerning her tyrannie pride and insolencie which must haue their due course before her fatall end THIRDLY then we may reasonably conclude that the time of her fall is neere at hand for what can future Rome adde vnto the sinnes of the former eadem facient cupientque minores as the ingenious Poet spake of Imperiall Rome vpon fifteen hundred yeeres agoe they that come after shall desire and doe the same things with them that went before What Tyrannie what Oppression what Persecution what Antichristian Pride what Insolencie against Princes what Delusions what Impostures can wee expect from Rome hereafter
by these Kings so it shall fall by these Kings This is vnderstood in the words of the Scripture Apoc. 18. No man buyeth her ware any more of her that is to say The traffique of the Whore and spirituall negotiations of her Beast by Pardons Dispensations and other fornications as they are called shall cease vpon her ruine made by these Princes of the earth Whereas then Bellarmine saith the Pope shall still continue Bishop of Rome I answere not by any Souereignety and Dominion which Bellarmine perhaps may pretend that Antichrist shall not permit him actually to exercise in that time but wee affirme by demonstration of the Scripture that the ten Kings shall depriue him of that power in the world which he formerly enioyed by their concession which shall then expire Notwithstanding if Sibylla doe truely prophesie of Rome that it being once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strength and power as S. Hierome descanted vpon her name shall afterwards become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a street as Lactantius doth record Inst l. 7. c. 25. the Bishop of Rome may perhaps remaine then in the qualitie and place of an ordinarie Bishop but shall not bee receiued any more as vniuersall Pastour of the Church not as the Beast was before not with such latitude of power not insulting againe ouer States and Churches And if the prophecie of Hildegardis a sacred Virgin of great reputation vpon the yeere 1150. be of any force the Bishop of Rome shall bee reduced vnto the condition of other Bishops c. as I haue seene and read in a very faire and ancient Manuscript of parchment concerning the predictions of that religious person If therefore I may expresse a graue matter by a light example namely of Sir Thomas Moore who hauing resigned his office of the Lord Chancellour came himselfe vpon the next Sunday vnto the Pew of his Ladie in the Parish Church of Chelsey speaking vnto her in his facetious and wittie manner Madame will you goe My Lord is gone which were formerly the vsuall words of her gentleman Vsher when the Lord Chancellour departed out of the Church so may I say in this case when Babylon shall be wasted with fire and the Beast shal be despoyled of his power Our Lord the Pope is gone but yet the Bishop may still remaine And then Christians may reckon ab vrbe euersâ as Pagans did ab vrbe conditâ when the power honour and glory of Babylon and her Beast shall perish and bee extinguished by the concordable operation of these great and puissant Kings who therefore will continually suppresse it that it may neuer increase and gather strength againe The SECOND Branch concerning PAPISTS I Speake not now of ordinary Papists but chiefe Babylonian Papists that is to say such as haue a speciall vnion and coniunction with the Pope in those things which appertayne vnto the Mysticall impietie of this second Beast Wherefore the name of a Papist is taken either from Poperie which hee doth defend or from the Pope to whom he doth adhere In the first acception I esteeme him a Papist that leauing the Pope in the principall and essentiall points of the Papacie doth yet beleeue sundry errors defined resolued and maintayned in the Romish Church vnder the gouernment and administration of the Pope of which kinde of Poperie and sort of Papists I shall treate more particularly in the third Branch which doth immediately ensue But now in the second acception he is really and formally a Papist who is vnited vnto the Pope not in regard of the Popes person but in regard of his seat place and dignitie which he vsurpeth in Babylon and therefore doth especially beleeue and follow the Pope in such particular points as depend vpon his Papall Office as namely The Popes temporall Superioritie ouer all Princes as being the chiefe and in truth the onely Souereigne of the World which is the peculiar and intimate character of the Antichristian Beast or at the least if he haue not this temporall power ouer all Princes directly as their Lord yet indirectly as Pastour of the Church to depose and dethrone them which indirect authoritie doth yet inuest him with a pretended iurisdiction ouer all the World and is a more subtile insinuation of the Babylonian Beast and that he hath an infallible iudgement as Pope in the controuersies of Religion to bind the whole World vnto his definition vpon paine of Ecclesiasticall censure which opinion being greatly imbraced in their Church and daily increasing suffered much opposition by the Sorbonists and generally by the Church of France and that from this Papall seate all Christians haue the practice and benefit of Indulgences the peculiar Ware of Babylon that this Apostolicall and Supreame Seat hath power to dispense with Oathes and with Mariages in certaine degrees of consanguinitie and affinitie and that all Christians must haue recourse vnto her for Dispensations Absolutions c. that vnto this seat belong Appellations from all parts of the Christian World as vnto the highest Authoritie vpon Earth by which courses they exhaust much treasure of all Kingdomes and vexe the subiects with tedious and expensiue trauels that this Beast hath power to call generall Councels and to ratifie or nullifie their Decrees and other Babylonian doctrines belonging to the mysterie of the second Beast In this sense and acception of a Papist King Henry the Eighth in his iust necessary and conscionable discession from the Church of Rome vpon the point of his vnlawfull Mariage with the Ladie Katherine his Brothers Wife which by Papall Dispensation was contracted against the Word of God and Law of Nature especially as her case did stand was now no longer a Papist because he reiected the Pope in these Mysteries of the Papacie and in all points that had dependencie vpon his Seat Office and pretensed Authoritie in the Church Whence it is that this magnanimous Prince iustly prouoked but vniustly handled by the holy Father writeth vnto Charles the Fift and to all Christian States in these very words Orbis intelligat varias PAPISTARVM fraudes c. and againe ne Papa Regum authoritate ad extir pandas crescentis Euangelij radices c. abuti possit So that though this King remayned still a Papist in the first acception howbeit he made an happy entrance also to the purgation of sundry abuses in the Church as by taking away some superstitious Feasts some highly respected Images some much adored Relikes the Word of God was translated into the vulgar tongue and many other things were done in his time for the reformation of blind and ignorant stupiditie in the Church yet notwithstanding in the mayne and essentiall things which specially giue the true denomination of a Papist he is to be exempted cleerely from the crime and contagion of this Title And yet as Iehu did performe the Worke of God imposed vpon him for the ruine of Baal and that Idolatry but departed not from other sinnes of Ieroboam and
Creed though it haue some doctrines that by force of consequence may seeme to contradict the same and that this Church of Rome doth well and soundly conceiue of many great and principall points as namely of the two Natures and one Person of Christ as learned Zanchius himselfe doth confesse de Incarnat lib. 2. cap. 9. and elsewhere but it doth erre chiefly and dangerously in the Office of our Sauiour Iesus Christ by destroying the merit of his Passion and by false application thereof not onely by the meanes of Holy water and other Babylonian inuentions but by such meanes as are contrarie and repugnant thereunto as namely by the paines of Purgatorie where our Satisfaction concurreth with his and his is applied by ours as the Booke of Cardinall Peron passing vnder the name of Master Henry Constable doth blasphemously teach Finally then her many truths cannot iustifie her prodigious errours her many errours cannot infringe her certaine truths but the truths therein cannot so securely saue as the errours therein will greatly endanger the soule of any Babylonian captiue inthralled and insnared with the perill of truly Popish errours The SECOND point therefore is this that all particularities which beare the name of Poperie in the censure and iudgement of some men are not so in truth but are so esteemed by reason of their ignorance and precipitation and for want of experience in the Monuments of venerable antiquitie as being carried with the affection of Aëtius who as Socrates doth report l. 2. c. 28. conuersed not in the Bookes of ancient Writers but reiected such as were of greatest reputation in the Church following the sophisticall conclusions of his owne captious braine Hence it is that the intemperate Anabaptists condemne the baptisme of Children as the inuention of a Pope Hence it is that the pestilent Trinitarians profanely teach that the doctrine of the Trinitie is the fable of a Pope and that therfore this popish mysterie is aptly signified in the triple Crowne Hence it is that the certaine and indubious distinction of a Bishop and a Presbyter the first hauing a paternall superioritie ouer the second in the administration of the Church is by some Aërian spirits branded with the note of a Popish Hierarchy as being ignorant in the perpetuall gouernment of the Church or presumptuous against all ages and all succession in the same Hence it is that the few innocent conuenient Ceremonies in this Church issuing from the practise of the reuerend learned and holy Fathers are scandalized with the contemptuous name of Popery But by whom By men commonly of vnlearned hearts strong passions and weake iudgements so that as I obserued before whatsoeuer thing they dislike it is Popery and whatsoeuer person they distast hee is Popish in their poore conceits Much like though not in hereticall opinion yet in simple carriage vnto the followers of Artemon who taught that Christ was a pure Man without any diuine Nature and pretended that this true and ancient doctrine was first corrupted by Zepherine a Bishop of Rome as Eusebius doth relate l. 5. c. 25. So ancient is this course To end this point therfore I wish all men of ingenious mindes to conceiue wisely of Popery what is so to bee esteemed and all men of religious hearts to detest it with a good conscience grounded vpon a sufficient knowledge The THIRD and last point is this that wee cannot probably conceiue by any deduction of reason in humane discourse that all and singular Articles of Popery which are indeed erroneous and may therefore iustly deserue that name shall euer be totally and fully purged out of the Church of God after the ruine of Babylon but that there will be variable contrarie iudgements of learned men in some matters truly deseruing reformation vntill the finall dissolution of this present world so that in this case wee must beare what we cannot amend and rather enioy our solid vnitie in things of greater importance then vpon euery difference in things of lesser moment make a peruerse distraction in the Church of God and an vnhappy rent in the seamelesse coate of Iesus Christ our Lord remembring to tolerate that for vnitie which yet wee hate in equitie as Saint Augustine doth diuinely speake And thus much concerning the Praedicate in my Text the FALL of Babylon discouered in this my second Sermon I should now entertaine you with some obseruations in the conclusion of this as I did in the end of the first had I not in the perpetual course of this Sermon vpon incident passages taken some occasion by the way to make application of the seuerall points vnto your hearts to shew you the prouidence of God in his ordination of this fall his loue of his Church in his prediction of this fall his vengeance against sinne in his operation of this fall our comfort in knowing this fall our patience in attending this fall our instruction to preuent our owne fall by his Iustice which will ensue vpon our fall from his Truth and Grace an aduertisement to Papists to leaue their Locall communion with Babylon if they dwell within her walls or Spirituall communion if they be deuoted vnto her Beast since both must goe into perdition and therefore finally here is an admonition vnto such as decline from the comfortable truth of Gods Word vnto the darke superstition of Babylonian errours to consider well and seriously in their hearts I goe to BABYLON which shall bee burnt I submit my selfe to that BEAST which shall be destroyed What feare what suspition what terrours will then possesse thy soule what securitie hast thou in such dangers what comfort in such frights what happinesse hast thou when thy Mother Church of Rome and thy Father-Pope therein shall come to so great a ruine Canst thou be innocent when they are guiltie Hast thou no sinne when they are punished Canst thou stand when they fall O consider this yee that forget God lest he take you away and there be none to deliuer you But since these particulars are touched more exactly before therefore I will conclude this Sermon and so my whole Text by stirring vp all degrees and conditions of men vnto the performance of Gods designe that what we yet heare in Verbo prophecied in Gods Word It is fallen it is fallen Babylon c. wee may once see in Opere fulfilled also in Worke. FIRST then I begin with them who are the peculiar instruments of Gods Iustice in this behalfe the ten Kings as the Scripture it selfe doth speake O Noble and Heroicall Princes Gods Vice-gerents armed with his power and sacred with his owne name you haue the speciall place in this warfare God hath prest you vnto this seruice and not onely warranted but required you vnto it You are sent against Rome as Saul against Amalek to destroy it with fire and sword It is no voyage vnto the holy Land where Christ did suffer for our sinnes but to impure Babylon in which as it may
be truly said also that Christ himselfe did die in sundry respects but then shee was in her Ethnicall state so in it Christ doth still suffer in regard of his Truth there oppressed in regard of Antichrist there aduanced in regard of the Faithfull by him persecuted for it is done vsually through the operation of this Second Beast abusing the authoritie of Kings and Princes to this wicked purpose There hee sitteth that trampleth vpon your Crownes and Scepters there hee sitteth that deposeth you from your States there hee sitteth that absolueth your subiects from the two indissoluble bonds of Oath and Nature there he sitteth that disposeth your Kingdomes at his pleasure that exciteth your owne people against you by the curses of his Excommunications that stirreth vp your friends and neighbours to make warre vpon your hereditary lands Now the time is come it is past with God it is now at hand that you may you must you shall take vp a temporall against his spirituall Sword diuest him of his pretended power expose him vnto scandall ignominy ruine extreame desolation reward her or him it is all one in effect the one doth imply the other euen as shee hath rewarded you and giue her double according to her workes and in the cup that she hath filled to you fill her the double as it is Apocal. 19.6 Now if you require of me the names of these ten Kings I meane not the names of their Persons but of their States I cannot I dare not deale so punctually in this case as some who presume by particular commemoration of their ten Kingdomes to muster vp the names of these ten Kings that shall effectuate this great and glorious worke It may bee a question and so it is with mee whether this number of ten may bee taken in that distinct and precise accompt or whether it be not a certaine for an vncertaine number as the Scripture doth vsually speake or rather whether in these numbers of speciall perfection the Septenary the Decenary the Centenary the Millenary a whole and vniuersall companie is to be vnderstood or not And I doe the rather so conceiue it to be vnderstood because Saint Augustine himselfe hath framed this opinion in my breast For this learned Father treating of the persecution by Antichrist and the consummation of the World ensuing presently therevpon supposeth that in the Prophecie of Daniel chap. 7.8 the little horne arising amongst the ten hornes of the fourth Beast which certainly is the Romane Empire and plucking away three of the former ten hornes is ANTICHRIST who as Lactantius said before Saint Augustines dayes out of the common errour of those times shall subdue three of these ten Kings for so the ten hornes are interpreted Vers 24. and conioyne his power with the other seuen to destroy the Romane Empire and to sacke the Citie of Rome Inst lib. 7. cap. 16. Which errour was so pregnant in the time of reuerend and constant Athanasius that therefore he thence inforceth a probability against Constantius the wicked Arrian persecuting Emperour to bee the ANTICHRIST as hauing sundry markes of him and in particular hauing subdued three Kings Britannio Gallus and Magnentius who striued with him for the Imperiall Crowne Athanas in Epist. and solitar vitam agentes Now though in this point they were all inuolued and wrapped in a misprision of that Scripture for that little horne is not Antichrist as they were perswaded nor the Turke as some more lately haue imagined but Iulius Caesar and his successors who translated the Empire of Rome from the publike state vnto a particular person yet Saint Augustine proceedeth with better aduice when he commeth vnto a reuiew of those ten Kings in the Prophecie of Daniel who yet are not the same as you may very easily obserue with our ten Kings in the Reuelation of Saint Iohn and therefore hee writeth in this manner Vererime sanè fateor c. I confesse that I am in feare least perhaps we bee deceiued in the ten Kings whom Antichrist seemeth to find as ten persons and so he may come before we be aware there being not then so many Kings in the Romane World For what if by this number of TEN the whole company of Kings be signified after whom hee is to come as by the Millenarie Centenarie and Septenarie numbers the vniuersitie of things is often imported in the Scripture So Saint Augustine De Ciuit. Dei lib. 20. cap. 23. By this his prudent and remarkeable obseruation fitly to bee applied vnto my present purpose I may very reasonably collect that a great and generall number of Kings whose states were sometimes members of the Romane Empire whereof they haue inuaded a part by their particular Dominions but Antichrist the whole by his supreame power shall arise in a confederacie and expedition to burne the Whore Babylon and to subdue the Beast the Pope and so to accomplish that Royall worke vnto which God hath alreadie consecrated them in his holy Word SECONDLY I direct my speech vnto you my Fathers and Brethren of the sacred Tribe of Leui you who beare the siluer Trumpets and blow the alarme you that take vp your spirituall armes for the weapons of our warfare are not carnall but yet mightie through God 2. Cor. 10.4 against this odious Whore and execrable Beast fight against them with a learned tongue that is not enough fight also with your aduised Pen it conquereth more then Alexanders Sword O detestable silence in so necessarie a cause hatefull modestie in so needfull an enterprize cursed feare in so iust a quarrell which is Gods in Heauen and so many Kings in earth Thou callest others to fight and sittest thou still and in so needfull a time Remember that of the Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A good and faithfull Minister will bee writing with his hand aduising with his head fighting with his tongue Let Rome vnderstand her sinne that she is BABYLON one word but a stinging word it compriseth all iniquities and let her know her ruine that she IS FALLEN to come in act but past in his preuision who hath confirmed it by his decree Tell these Kings that if they be now auerse from this worke yet God shall incline and bow their hearts vnto it as Alarichâ—â— was inwardly vrged and compelled to take Armes against Rome Sozom. lib. 9. c. 6. Tell the whole world that though it seeme a difficult worke yet it is Gods worke vnto whom nothing is impossible and that it is reuealed in his Word in which nothing can faile therefore Babylon must fall and fall thus for his Word cannot fall who giueth vs certaine assurance of this infallible successe THIRDLY I speake vnto you noble in descent great in dignitie rich in goods Starres of greater light in the firmament of the State but borrowed from the primigeniall and originall light of the Sunne therein the glorious Souereigne thereof you that by proper valour can performe much your selues and by speciall