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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A04286	An apologie for the oath of allegiance first set foorth without a name, and now acknowledged by the authour, the Right High and Mightie Prince, Iames, by the grace of God, King of Great Britaine, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. ; together with a premonition of His Maiesties, to all most mightie monarches, kings, free princes and states of Christendome.	James I, King of England, 1566-1625.; Paul V, Pope, 1552-1621.; Bellarmino, Roberto Francesco Romolo, Saint, 1542-1621.	1609 (1609)	STC 14401.5; ESTC S1249	109,056	264

little of our new doctrine since he handleth Peter so rudely as he not onely compareth but preferreth himself vnto him But our Cardinall prooues Peters superioritie by Pauls going to visite him Indeed Paul saith hee went to Ierusalem to visite Peter and conferre with him but he should haue added and to kisse his feet To conclude then The truth is that Peter was both in age and in the time of CHRISTS calling him one of the first of the Apostles In order the principall of the first twelue and one of the three whom CHRIST for order sake preferred to al the rest And no further did the Bishop of Rome claime for three hundred yeares after CHRIST Subiect they were to the generall Councels and euen but of late did the Councell of Constance depose three Popes and set vp the fourth And vntil Phocas dayes that murthered his master were they subiect to Emperours But how they are now come to be Christs Vicars nay Gods on earth triple-Crowned Kings of heauen earth and hell Iudges of all the world and none to iudge them Heads of the fayth Absolute deciders of all Controuersies by the infallibility of their spirit hauing all power both Spirituall and Temporall in their hands the high Bishops Monarches of the whole earth Superiours to all Emperours and Kings yea Supreme Vice-gods who whether they will or not cannot erre how they are now come I say to this toppe of greatnesse I know not but sure I am Wee that are KINGS haue greatest neede to looke vnto it As for mee Paul and Peter I know but these men I know not And yet to doubt of this is to denie the Catholique faith Nay the world it selfe must be turned vpside downe and the order of Nature inuerted making the left hand to haue the place before the Right and the last named to be the first in honour that this primacie may be maintained Thus haue I now made a free Confession of my Faith And I hope I haue fully cleared my selfe from being an Apostate and as far from being an Heretike as one may bee that beleeueth the Scriptures and the three Creedes and acknowledgeth the foure first generall Councels If I bee loath to beleeue too much especially of Nouelties men of greater knowledge may well pitie my weakenesse but I am sure none will condemne me for an Heretike saue such as make the Pope their God and thinke him such a speaking Scripture as they can define Heresie no otherwise but to bee whatsoeuer Opinion is maintained against the Popes definition of faith And I will sincerely promise that when euer any point of the Religion I professe shal be proued to be new and not Ancient Catholike and Apostolike I meane for matter of Faith I will as soone renounce it closing vp this head with the Maxime of Vincentius Lirinensis that I will neuer refuse to imbrace any opinion in Diuinity necessary to saluation which the whole Catholike Church with an vnanime consent haue constantly taught and beleeued euen from the Apostles daies for the space of many ages thereafter without interruption But in the Cardinals opinion I haue shewed my selfe an Heretike I am sure in playing with the name of Babylon and the Towne vpon seuen hils as if I would infinuate Rome at this present to bee spiritually Babylon And yet that Rome is called Babylon both in S. Peters Epistle and in the Apocalyps our Answerer freely confesseth As for the definition of the Antichrist I wil not vrge so obscure a point as a matter of Faith to be necessarily beleeued of al Christians but what I thinke herein I will simply declare That there must be an ANTICHRIST and in his time a generall Defection we all agree But the Time Seat and Person of this Antichrist are the chiefe Questions whereupon we differ and for that wee must search the Scriptures for our resolution As for my opinion I thinke S. Paul in the 2. to the Thessalonians doeth vtter more clearely that which S. ●ohn speaketh more mystically of the Antichrist First that in that place he meaneth the Antichrist it is plain since he saith there must be first a Defection and that in the Antichrists time onely that eclipse of Defection must fall vpon the Church all the Romish Catholikes are strong enough otherwise their Church must be daily subiect to erre which is cleane contrary to their maine doctrine Then d●scribing him he saith that The man of Sin Filius perditionis shal exalt himselfe aboue all that is called God But who these be whom of the Psalmist saith Dixi vos Dijestis Bellarmine can tell In old Diuinitie it was wont to be Kings Bellarmine wil adde Church-men Let it be both It is well enough knowen who now exalteth himselfe aboue both the swords And after that S. Paul hath thus described the Person he next describeth the Seat and telleth that He shall sit in the Temple of GOD that is the bosome of the Church yea in the very heart thereof Now where this Apostolike Seat is I leaue it to be guessed And likewise who it is that sitting there sheweth himselfe to be God pardoning sinnes redeeming Soules and defining Faith controuling and iudging all men and to be iudged of none Anent the Time S. Paul is plainest of all For he calleth the Thessalonians to memo●y That when he was with them hee told them these things and therefore they know saith hee what the impediment was and who did withhold that the man of sinne was not reuealed although the mystery of iniquitie was already working That the Romane Emperours in S. Pauls time needed no reuealing to the Christians to be men of Sinne or sinfull men no child doubteth but the reuelation he speaketh of was a mysterie a secret It should therefore seeme that hee durst not publish in his Epistle what that impediment was It may be hee meant by the translating of the Seate of the Romane Empire and that the translation there of should leaue a roume for the man of Sinne to sit downe in And that he meant not that man of Sinne of these Ethnicke Emperours in his time his introduction to this discourse maketh it more then manifest For he saith fearing they should be deceiued thinking the day of the Lords second comming to be at hand he hath therefore thought good to forewarne them that this generall Defection must first come Whereby it well appeareth that hee could not meane by the present time but by a future and that a good long time otherwise he proued ill his argument that the Lords comming was not at hand Neither can the forme of the Destruction of this man of Sinne agree with that maner of spoile that the Gothes Vandals made of Ethnick Rome For our Apostle saith That this wicked man shal be consumed by the Spirit of the Lords mouth and abolished by his comming Now I would thinke that the word of

points that I haue already handled The Antichrist is foure times in my opinion described by Iohn in the Apocalyps in foure sundrie visions and a short Compendium of him repeated againe in the xx Chapter He is first described by a pale Horse in the vision of the Seales in the sixt Chapter For after that CHRIST had triumphed vpon a white Horse in the first Seale by the propagation of the Gospel and that the red Horse in the second Seale is as busie in persecution as CHRIST is in ouercomming by the constancie of his Martyrs and that famine and other plagues signified by the blacke Horse in the third Seale haue succeeded to these former persecutions Then commeth foorth the Antichrist vpon a pale Horse in the fourth Seale hauing Death for his rider and Hell for his conuoy which rider fitted well his colour of palenesse and he had power giuen him ouer the fourth part of the earth which is Europe to kill with the sword and vse great persecution as Ethnick Rome did figured by the red Horse and to kill vvith spirituall hunger or famine of the true word of GOD as the blacke Horse did by corporall famine and with death whereby spirituall death is meant For the Antichrist signified by this pale Horse shall afflict the Church both by persecution and temporall death as also by alluring the Nations to idolatry and so to spirituall death and by the beasts of the earth shall hee procure their spirituall death for hee shall send out the Locusts ouer whom he is King mentioned in the ninth Chapter of this booke and the three Frogges mentioned in the xvj of the same for intising of all Kings and Nations to drinke of the cup of her abominations That that decription now of Antichrist endeth there it is more then plaine for at the opening of the first Seale the soules and blood of the murthered Saints cry for vengeance and hasting of iudgement which in the sixt Seale is graunted vnto them by CHRISTS comming at the latter day signified by heauens departing away like a scrol when it is rolled with a number of other sentences to the same purpose But because this might seeme a short and obscure description of the Antichrist hee describeth him much more largely specifikely especially in the vision of the Trumpets in the ninth Chapter For there hee saith at the blowing of the fift Trumpet Heresies being first spread abroad in three of the four former blasts to wit in the first third and fourth blast for I take temporall perecution to be onely signified by the second blast hee then saw a starre fall from Heauen to whom was giuen the key of the bottomlesse pit which being opened by him with the smoke thereof came foorth a number of Locusts whom he largely describeth both by their craft and their strength and then telleth the name of this their King who brought them out of the bottomlesse pit which is Destroyer By this Starre fallen from heauen being signified as I take it some Person of great dignitie in the Church whose duetie being to giue light to the world as CHRIST saith doeth contrary thereunto fall away like Lucifer and set vp a Kingdome by the sending foorth of that noisome packe of craftie cruell vermine described by Locusts and so is the Seat of the Antichrist begun to bee erected whose doctrine is at length declared in the second vvoe after the blast of the sixt Trumpet where it is saide That the remnant of men which were not killed by the plagues repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship Deuils and idols of golde and of siluer and of brasse and of stone and of wood which neither can see heare nor goe As for worshipping of Deuils looke your great Iesuited Doctor Vasques and as for all the rest it is the maine doctrine of the Romane Church And then it is subioyned in this text that they repented not of their murther their sorcerie their fornications nor their theft By their murther their persecution is meant and bloody massacres For their Sorcery consider of their Agnus Dei that will sloken fire of the hallowed shirts and diuers sorts of Reliques and also of Prayers that will preserue men from the violence of shot of fire of sword of thunder and such like dangers And iudge if this be not very like to Sorcerie and incantation of charmes By their Fornication is meant both their spirituall fornication of Idolatry and also their corporall fornication which doth the more abound amongst them as well by reason of the restraint of their Churchmen from marriage as also because of the many Orders of idle Monastike liues amongst them as well for men as women And continuall experience prooueth that idlenesse is euer the greatest spurre to lecherie And they are guiltie of Theft in stealing from GOD the titles and greatnes of power due to him and bestowing it vpon their head the Antichrist As also by heaping vp their treasure with their iuggling wares and merchandise of the soules of men by Iubiles Pardons Reliques and such like strong delusions That he endeth this description of Antichrist in the same ninth Chapter may likewise well appeare by the Oath that that Mightie Angell sweareth in the sixt verse of the tenth Chapter And after the blast of the sixt Trumpet that time shall be no more and that when the seuenth Angell shall blow his Trumpet the mysterie of GOD shal be finished as he had declared it to his seruants the Prophets Onely in the eleuenth Chapter he describeth the means whereby the Antichrist was ouercome whose raigne he had before described in the ix Chapter and telleth vs that the two witnesses after that they haue beene persecuted by the Antichrist shall in the end procure his destruction And in case any should thinke that the Antichrist is onely spoken of in the xj Chapter and that the Beast spoken of in the xiij and xvij Chapters doth onely signifie Ethnicke Rome there needeth no other refutation of that conceit then to remember them that the Antichrist is neuer named in all that xi Chapter but where hee is called in the seuenth verse thereof the Beast that commeth foorth of the bottomles pit which by the description of the place he commeth out of prooueth it to be the same Beast which hath the same originall in the xvij Chapter and in the very same words so as it is euer but the same Antichrist repeated and diuersly described in diuers visions Now in the xij and xiij Chapters and so foorth till the xvij he maketh a more large and ample propheticall description of the state of the Church and raigne of the Antichrist For in the xij Chap. he figureth the Church by a Woman flying from the Dragon the Deuill to the wildernesse And when the Dragon seeth he

though to the shame and confusion of the Iesuits heresies herein But Enoch must bee ioyned to Elias in this errand onely to beare vp the couples as I thinke For no place of Scripture speaketh of his returning againe only it is said in Ecclesiasticus the xliiij that Enoch pleased GOD and was translated to Paradise vt daret Gentibus sapientiam or poenitentiam since they will haue it so And what is this to say marry that Enoch shall returne againe to this worlde and fight against the Antichrist A prettie large Comment indeed but no right Commentary vpon that Text. When Bellarmine was talking of Elias he insisted That Elias must come to conuert the Iewes principally restituere tribus Iacob But when he speaketh here of Enoch he must dare Gentibus poenitentiam and not a word of Iewes Belike they shal come for sundry errands and not both for one Or like Paul and Peter the one shall be Apostle for the Iewes and the other for the Gentiles What need such wilde racked Commentaries for such three wordes Will not the sense stand well and clearely enough that Enoch pleased GOD and was translated to Paradise that by the example of his reward the Nations might repent and imitate his holy footsteps For what could more mightily perswade the Nations to repent then by letting them see that holy Man carried quicke vp to Heauen for reward of his vprightnesse whereas all the rest of the people died and went to corruption And where Scripture faileth the Cardinall must helpe himselfe with the Fathers to proue both that Enoch and Elias are yet aliue and that they shall hereafter die but with the like felicitie as in his alledging of Scriptures to vse his owne wordes of me in his pamphlet For which purpose hee citeth fiue Fathers Irenaeus Tertullian Epiphanius Hierome and Agustine Vpon this they all agree in deed that Enoch and Elias are still aliue both which no Christian I hope will denie For Abraham Isaac and Iacob are all still aliue as Christ telleth vs for God is Deus viuentium non mortuorum Much more then are Enoch and Elias aliue who neuer tasted of death after the manner of other men But as to the next point that they should die hereafter his first two witnesses Irenaeus and Tertullian say the direct contrary For Irenaeus saith that they shall remaine in Paradise till the consummation conspicātes in corruptionem Now to remain there till the consummation and to see incorruption is directly contrary to their returning to the world againe and suffering of death Tertullian likewise agreeing hereunto saith most clearely That Enoch hath neuer tasted of death vt aeternitatis candidatus now hee is ill priuiledged with eternitie if he must die againe As for his places cited out of the other three Fathers they all confirme that first point That they are still aliue but that they must die againe they make no mention But here speaking of the Ancient Fathers let mee take this occasion to forewarne you concerning them That though they mistake and vnderstand not rightly many mysteries in the Apocalyps it is no wonder For the booke thereof was still sealed in their dayes And though the Mysterie of iniquitie was alreadie working yet was not the man of Sinne yet reuealed And it is a certaine rule in all darke prophesies That they are neuer clearely vnderstood till they be accomplished And thus hauing answered his two places in the Olde Testament by his thirde in the New Testament containing Christs owne words which being luce clariora I neede speake no more of them I am now to speake of the fourth place of Scripture which is in the xj of the Apocalyps For the two witnesses forsooth there mentioned must be Enoch and Elias But how this can stand with any point of Diuinity or likelihood of Reason that these two glorified Bodies shall come downe out of heauen or Paradise make it what you will preach and fight against the Antichrist bee slaine by him after many thousand yeeres exemption from the naturall course of death rise againe the third day in imitation of Christ then hauing wrought many woonders to goe vp againe to Heauen making an ordinary Poste betwixt Heauen and Earth how this I say can agree either with Diuinitie or good Reason I confesse it passeth my capacity And especially that they must bee clad in Sackcloth whose bodies I hope haue beene so long agone so free from sinne as I thinke they should neede no more such mac●ration for sinne For they must be now either in Heauen or Paradise If in Heauen as doubtlesse they are their bodies must bee glorified for no corruptible thing can enter there and consequently they can no more be subiect to the sensible things of this world especially to death But if they be in earthly Paradise wee must first know where it is Bellarmine indeede in his Controuersies is much troubled to find out the place where Paradise is and whether it be in the earth or in the ayre But these are all vanities The Scriptures tell vs that Paradise and the garden of Eden therein was a certaine place vpon the earth which God chose out to set Adam into and hauing thereafter for his sinne banished him from the same it is a blasphemy to thinke that any of Adams posteritie came euer there againe For in Adam were all his posteritie accursed and banished from the earthly Paradise like as all the earth in generall and Paradise in speciall were accursed in him the second Adam hauing by grace called a certaine number of them to bee Coheritors with him of the heauenly Paradise and Ierusalem And doubtlesly the earthly Paradise was d●faced at the Flood if not before and so lost all that exquisite fertility and pleasantnes wherein it once surpassed all the rest of the earth And that it should be lifted vp in the aire is like one of the dreames of the Alcoran Surely no such miracle is mentioned in the Scriptures and hath no ground but from the curious fancies of some boyling braines who cannot be content Sapere ad sobrietatem In heauen then for certaine are Enoch and Elias for Enoch saith the text walked with GOD and was taken vp and Elias was seene carried vp to heauen in a fiery chariot And that they who haue beene the In-dwellers of Heauen these many thousand yeeres and are freed from the Lawes of mortalitie that these glorious and incorruptible bodies I say shall come into the worlde againe preach and worke miracles and fighting against the Antichrist bee slaine by him whome naturall death could not before take hold of as it is a fabulous inuention so is it quite contrary to the nature of such sanctified creatures Especially I wonder why Enoch should be thought to bee one of these two witnesses for CHRIST For it was Moses and Elias that were with Christ at the transfiguration signifying the

disagreeth front their Traditions with almost as many foule wordes and railing epithetes as the Cardinal bestoweth on my Apologie not ruling nor interpreting Scripture by scripture but making their Traditions to be such a touchstone for it as he condemneth of Heresie not only those places of Scripture that he citeth but layeth the same generall condemnation vpon all other the like places wheresoeuer they be writin the Scriptures And yet praised bee GOD we beginne now with our eyes as our predecessors haue done in some ages before to see these Witnesses rise againe and shine in their former glory GOD as it were setting them vp againe vpon their feete and raising them to the heauens in a triumphall cloud of glory like Elias his fiery chariot Which exalting of the Gospel againe hath bred such an earthquake and alteration amongst many Nations as a tenth part or a good portion of these that were in subiection to that great Citie to wit Babylon are fallen from her seuen thousand that is many thousands hauing beene killed vpon the occasion of that great alteration and many others conuerted to the feare of GOD and giuing glory to the GOD of heauen This now is one of the wayes by which I thinke this place of Scripture may be lawfully and probably interpreted The other is more common and seemeth more literally to agree with the Text. And this is to interpret not the word of GOD but the Preachers thereof to bee meant by these Witnesses Few they were that first beganne to reueale the man of Sinne and discouer his corruptions and therefore well described by the number of two Witnesses Nam in ore duorum aut trium testiū stabit omne verbum And in no greater number were they that begun this worke then the greatnesse of the errand did necessarily require They prophecied in sackcloth for they preached Repentance That diuers of them were put to cruell deaths is notorious to the world· And likewise that in the persons of their Successours in doctrine they rose againe and that in such power and efficacie as is more then miraculous For where it is accounted in the Scriptures a miraculous work of GOD wrought by his holy Spirit when the Apostle S. Peter conuerted about three thousand in one day these Witnesses I speake of by the force of the same Spirit conuerted many mighty Nations in few yeeres who still continue praising GOD that he hath deliuered vs from the tyranny of Antichrist that raigneth ouer that great Citie and with a full crie proclaiming Goe out of her my people lest ye be partaker of her sinnes and of her plagues Let therefore these Miracle-mongers that surfet the world and raise the prise of paper daily with setting foorth olde though new gilded Miracles and Legends of lies 〈◊〉 such I say consider of this great and wonderfull miracle indeede and to their shame compare it with their paultry wares Thus hauing in two fashions deliuered my coniecture what I take to be meant by these two Witnesses in the xj of the Apocalyps there being no great difference between them In the one taking it to bee the word of God it selfe In the other the word of God too but in the mouthes of his Preachers It resteth nowe that I come to the third point of the description of Antichrist which is anent his Person That by the Whoore of Babylon that rideth vpon the Beast is meant a Seat of an Empire and a successiue number of men sitting thereupon and not any one man doeth well appeare by the forme of the description of the Antichrist throughout all the sayd Booke For in the last verse of the xvij Chapter the Woman is expounded to bee That great Citie that reigneth ouer the Kings of the earth which cannot signifie the only person of one man but a successiue number of men as I haue already saide whose seat that great City must be like as in the same Chapter The seuen heads of the Beast are two wayes expounded First they are called seuen Hils which is plaine And next they are called seuen Kings which cannot bee meant by the Kings that shall giue their power to the Beast and bee subiect vnto her which is immediately after expressed by the tenne hornes But rather appeareth to be those seuen formes of gouernment of that Seat fiue of which had already been and fallen As Kings Consuls Dictators Decemuiri and Tribuni militum The sixt was in the time of S. Iohn his writing of this booke which was the Gouernment of the Emperours The seuenth which was not yet come and was to last but for a short space was the Ecclesiasticall Gouernment by Bishops which was to come vpon the translation of the Empire from Rome to Constantinople though their gouernment was in a maner substitute to the Emperours For though that forme of Gouernment lasted about the space of 276. yeeres yet was it but short in comparison of the long time of the reigne of the Antichrist not yet expired which succeeded immediatly thereunto And the eighth which is the Beast that was and is not and is to goe to perdition is the Antichrist the eighth forme of Gouernement indeed by his absolutenesse and yet the seuenth because hee seemeth but to succeed to the Bishops in an Ecclesiasticall forme of gouernement though by his greatnes hee shall make Babylons Empire in glory like to that Magnificence wherein that great Citie triumphed when it most flourished which in S. Iohns time was much decayed by the factions of the great men the mutinies of the armies and the vnworthinesse of the Emperours And so that flourishing state of that great Citie or Beast which it was in before S. Iohns time and Being much decayed was but in a maner in his time should bee restored vnto it againe by Antichrist who as he ascendteh out of the botomlesse pit so must hee goe to Destruction And likewise by that great lamentation that is made for the destruction of Babylon in the xvij Chapter both by the Kings and by the Merchants of the earth where it is thrice repeated for aggrauating the pitie of her desolation that That great Citie fell in an houre By that great lamentation I say it well appeareth That the raigne of Antichrist must continue longer then three yeeres and a halfe or any one mans time For the Kings that had committed fornification with her in delicijs vixerant behoued to haue had a longer time for contracting of that great acquaintance And the Merchants of the earth set her foorth and describe her at great length as the very staple of all their riches which could not bee so soone gathered as in one mans time And to conclude now this description of the Antichrist I will set downe vnto you all that is spoken of him in the Apocalyps in a short methode for the further explaining of these three

Salomon That the hearts of Kings are in the handes of GOD to bee turned at his pleasure And hauing thus interpreted the Beast or Empire he in a word expounds that by the Woman that rode vpon her or Monarch that gouerned her was meant that great Citie that raigned ouer the Kings of the earth by the Seate of the Empire pointing out the qualitie of the persons that should sit and domine there Then is the greatnesse of her fall and the great lamentation that both the Kings and merchants of the earth shall make for the same proclaimed by an other Angel in the xviij Chapter The Kings lamenting her fall because they liued in pleasure with her which no Kings could doe with Ethnicke Rome who conquered them by her sword for shee honoured them with Titles and dispensed with their lustes and vnlawfull mariages And the Merchants of the earth and all Shipmasters and traffikers vpon the Sea shall lament the fall of that great city which neuer had a fellow for the losse of their riches and trafficke which they inioyed by her meanes And there hee describeth all sorts of rich wares whereof that great City was the Staple for indeede shee hath a necessary vse for all such rich and glorious wares as well for ornaments to her Churches and princely Prelates as for garments and ornaments to her woodden Saints for the blessed Virgin must be daily clothed and decked in the newest and most curious fashion though it should resemble the habit of a Curtizane And of all those rich wares the most precious is last named which is the Soules of men for so much bestowed vpon Masses and so much doted to this or that Cloyster of Monkes or Friers but most of all now to that irregular and incomprehensible order of Iesuites shall both redeeme his owne Soule and all his Parents to the hundreth generation from broyling in the fire of Purgatory And I hope it is no small merchandise of Soules when men are so highly deluded by the hopes and promise of Saluation as to make a Frier murther his Soueraigne a young knaue attempt the murther of his next Successour many one to conspire and attempt the like against the late Queene and in my time to attempt the destruction of a whole Kingdome and State by a blast of Powder and heereby to play bankerupt with both the soules mentioned in the Scriptures Animus Anima But notwithstanding of this their great Lamentation they are commanded by a voice from heauen to doe two things One to flee from Babylon least they bee partakers of her sinnes and consequently of her punishment Which warning I pray God that yee all my Beloued Brethren and Cosins would take heede vnto in time humbly beseeching him to open your eyes for this purpose The other commaund is to reward her as shee hath rewarded you yea euen to the double For as she did flie but with your feathers borrowing as well her Titles of greatnes and formes of honoring her from you as also enioying all her temporall liuing by your liberalities so if euery man doe but take his owne againe she will stand vp naked and the reason is giuen because of her pride For she glorifieth her selfe liuing in pleasure and in her heart sayth shee sitteth as a Queene outward prosperity being one of their notes of a true Church and is no Widow for her Spouse CHRIST is bound to her by an inuiolable knot for hee hath sworn neuer to forsake her and she shal see no mourning for she cannot erre nor the gates of Hell shall not preuaile against her But though the earth and worldly men lament thus for the fall of Babylon in this eighteenth Chapter yet in the nineteenth Heauen and all the Angels and Saints therein doe sing a triumphall Cantique for ioy of her fall praising God for the fall of that great Whoore Great indeed for our Cardinall confesseth that it is hard to describe what the Pope is such is his greatnesse And in the ende of that Chapter is the obstinacie of that Whoore described who euen fought to the vttermost against him that sate on the white Horse and his armie till the Beast or Antichrist was taken and the false Prophet or false Church with him who by Myracles and lying Wonders deceiued them that receiued the marke of the Beast and both were casten quicke into the burning lake of fire and brimstone Vnde null redemptio Like as in the ende of the former Chapter to describe the fulnesse of the Antichristes fall not like to that reparable wound that Ethnicke Rome gate it is first compared to a Milstone cast in the sea that can neuer rise and fleete againe And next it is expressed by a number of ioyfull things that shall neuer be heard there againe where nothing shall inhabite but desolation But that the patience and constancy of Saints on earth and God his Elected may the better be strengthened and confirmed their persecution in the latter dayes is shortly prophesied and repeated againe after that Satan hath beene bound or his furie restrained by the worlds inioying of peace for a thousand yeeres or a great indefinite time their persecutors being named Gog and Magog the secret and reuealed enemies of CHRIST Whether this be meant of the Pope and the Turke or not who both began to rise to their greatnesse about one time I leaue to be guessed alwayes their vtter confusion is there assuredly promised and it is said that the Dragon the Beast and the false Prophet shall all three bee cast in that lake of fire and brimstone to be tormented for euer And thereafter is the latter day described againe which must be hastened for the elects sake and then for the further comfort of the Elect and that they may the more constantly and patiently indure these temporall and finite troubles limited but to a short space in the last two Chapters are the ioyes of the eternall Ierusalem largely described Thus hath the Cardinals shamelesse wresting of those two places of Scripture Pasce oues meas and Tibi dabo claues for proouing of the Popes supreme temporall Authoritie ouer Princes animated me to prooue the Pope to be THE ANTICHRIST out of this foresaid booke of Scripture so to pay him in his owne money againe And this opinion no Pope can euer make me to recant except they first renounce any further medling with Princes in any thing belonging to their temporall Iurisdiction And my only wish shal be that if any man shall haue a fancie to refute this my coniecture of the Antichrist that he answere mee orderly to euery point of my discourse not contenting him to disproue my opinion except hee set downe some other methode after his forme for interpretation of that booke of the Apocalyps which may not contradict no part of the Text nor containe

that of Caput fidei And when it was offered to himselfe the wordes of S. Gregorie be these refusing that title None of my predecessors Bishops of Rome euer consented to vse this prophane name of vniuersall Bishop None of my predecessors euer tooke vpon him this name of singularity neither consented to vse it We the Bishops of Rome do not seek nor yet accept this glorious title being offered vnto vs. And now I pray you would he that refused to be called vniuersall Bishop be stiled Caput fidei vnles it were in that sense as I haue expressed which sense if he will not admit giue mee leaue to say that of Gregorie which himselfe saith of Lyra Minus cautè locutus est or which hee elswhere saith of Chrysostome Locutus est per excessum To redeeme therefore our Apostle out of his hands to let him remain ours not his in this case it is very true that he saith in that sense he spake it Whē ye go about to disturbe diminish or take away the authoritie or Supremacie of the Church which resteth on the head of the King within his dominions ye cut off the head chiefe gouernor therof disturb the state members of the whole body And for a conclusiō of this point I pray him to think that we are so well perswaded of the good minde of our Apostle S. Gregory to vs that we desire no other thing to bee suggested to the Pope and his Cardinals then our Apostle S. Gregory desired Sabinian to suggest vnto the Emperour and the State in his time His words be these One thing there is of which I would haue you shortly to suggest to your most noble Lord and Master That if I his seruant would haue had my hand in slaying of the Lombards at this day the nation of the Lombards had neither had king nor dukes nor earles and had bin diuided asunder in vtter confusion but because I feare God I dread to haue my hand in the blood of any man And thus hauing answered to S. Gregory I come to another Pope his Apostle S. Leo. And that hee may see I haue not in the former citations quarelled him like a Sophister for contentiō sake but for finding out of the trueth I do grant that the authorities out of Leo are rightly alleadged all three the wordes truely set downe together with his true intent and purpose but withall let mee tell him and I appeale vnto his owne conscience whether I speake not truely that what Tullie said to Hortensius when hee did immoderately praise eloquence that he would haue lift her vp to Heauen that himselfe might haue gone vp with her So his S. Leo lift vp S. Peter with praises to the sky that he being his heire might haue gone vp with him For his S. Leo was a great Orator who by the power of his eloquence redeemed Rome from fire when both Attilas and Gensericus would haue burnt it Some fruits of this rhetorick he bestowed vpon S. Peter saying The Lord did take Peter into the fellowship of the indiuisible vnitie which words being coupled to the sentence alleadged by the Cardinall That hee hath no part in the diuine Mysterie that dare depart from the soliditie of Peter should haue giuen him I thinke such a scarre as hee should neuer haue dared to haue taken any aduātage by the words immediatly preceding for the benefit of the Church of Rome and the head therof since those which immediatly folow are so much derogatory to the diuine Maiestie And againe My writings be strengthened by the authoritie and merit of my Lord most blessed S. Peter We beseech you to keepe the things decreed by vs through the inspiration of God and the Apostle most blessed S. Peter If any thing be well done or decreed by vs If any thing be obtained of Gods mercy by daily praiers it is to be ascribed to S. Peters works and merits whose power doth liue authority excell in his owne Sea He was so plentifully watered of the very fountaine of all graces that whereas he receiued many things alone yet nothing passeth ouer to any other but hee was partaker of it And in a word he was so desirous to extoll S. Peter That a messenger from him was an embassage from S. Peter any thing done in his presence was in S. Peters presence Neither did he vse all this Rhetoricke without purpose for at that time the Patriarch of Constantinople cōtended with him for Primacie And in the Councell of Chalcedon the Bishops sixe hundred and more gaue equall authority to the Patriarch of that Sea and would not admit any priuiledge to the Sea of Rome aboue him but went against him And yet he that gaue so much to Peter tooke nothing from Caesar but gaue him both his Titles and due giuing the power of calling a Councell to the Emperour as it may appeare by these one or two places following of many If it may please your godlinesse to vouchsafe at our supplication to condescend that you wil command a Councell of Bishops to bee holden within Italy and writing vnto the Bishop of Constantinople Because the most clement Emperor carefull of the peace of the Church will haue a Councell to be holden albeit it euidently appeare the matter to be handled doeth in no case stand in need of a Councell And againe Albeit my occasions wil not permit me to be present vpon the day of the Councell of Bishops which your godlinesse hath appointed So as by this it may well appeare that he that gaue so much to Peter gaue also to Caesar his due and prerogatiue But yet he playeth not faire play in this that euen in all these his wrong applied arguments and examples he produceth no other witnesses but the parties themselues bringing euer the Popes sentences for approbation of their owne authoritie Now indeed for one word of his in the middest of his examples I cannot but greatly cōmend him that is that Martyrs ought to indure all sorts of tortures and death before they suffer one syllable to be corrupted of the Law of God Which lesson if hee and all the rest of his owne profession would apply to themselues then would not the Sacrament be administred sub vnâ specie directly contrary to Christes institution the practise of the Apostles and of the whole Primitiue Church for many hundred yeeres then would not the priuate Masses bee in place of the Lordes Supper then would not the words of the Canon of the Masse be opposed to the words of S. Paul and S. Luke as our Aduersary himselfe confesseth and cannot reconcile them nor then would not so many hundreths other traditions of men be set vp in their Church not only as equall but euen preferred to the word of God But sure in this point I fear I haue mistaken him for I

thinke he doth not meane by his Diuina Dogmata the word of the God of heauen but onely the Canons and Lawes of his Dominus Deus Papa otherwise all his Primacie of the Apostolike Sea would not be so much sticken vpon hauing so slender ground in the word of God And for the great feare he hath that the suddennes of the apprehension the bitternes of the persecution the weaknesse of his age and other such infirmities might haue bene the cause of the Arch-priests fall in this I haue already sufficiently answered him hauing declared as the trueth is and as the said Blackwel himselfe wil yet testifie that he took this Oath freely of himselfe without any inducement therunto either Precebus or Minis But amongst all his citations he must not forget holy Sanderus and his Vi●ibilis Monarchia whose person and actions I did already a little touch And surely who will with vnpartiall eyes read his bookes they may well thinke that he hath deserued wel of his English Roman-Church but they can neuer thinke but that he deserued very ill of his English Soueraigne and State Witnesse his owne books whereout I haue made choice to set downe here these few sentences following as flowers pickt out of so worthy a garland Elisabeth Queene of England doth exercise the Priestly act of teaching and preaching the Gospel in England with no lesse authority then Christ himself or Moses euer did The supremacy of a woman in Church matters is from no other then from the Deuill And of all things in generall thus he speaketh The King that wil not inthrall himselfe to the Popes authority he ought not to be tolerated but his Subiects ought to giue all diligence that another may be chosen in his place assoone as may be A King that is an Heretike ought to be remoued from the kingdome that he holdeth ouer Christians and the Bishops ought to endeuour to set vp another assoone as possibly they can Wee doe constantly affirme that all Christian Kings are so far vnder Bishops and Priestes in all matters appertaining to faith that if they shall continue in a falt against Christian Religion after one or two admonitions obstinately for that cause they may and ought to be deposed by the Bishops from their temporal authority they hold ouer Christiās Bishops are set ouer temporall kingdomes if those kingdomes do submit themselues to the faith of Christ We doe iustly affirme that all Secular power whether Regall or any other is of Men. The anoynting which is powred vpon the head of the King by the Priest doeth declare that he is inferiour to the Priest It is altogether against the will of CHRIST that Christian Kings should haue supremacie in the Church And whereas for the crowne and conclusion of all his examples he reckoneth his two English martyrs Moore and Roffensis who died for that one most weighty head of doctrine as he alleadgeth refusing the Oath of Supremacie I must tel him that he hath not bene well informed in some materiall points which doe very neerly concerne his two said martyrs For it is cleare and apparantly to be prooued by diuers Records that they were both of them committed to the Tower about a yeere before either of them was called in question vpon their liues for the Popes Supremacie And that partly for their backwardnesse in the point of the establishment of the Kings succession wherunto the whole Realme had subscribed and partly for that one of them to wit Fisher had had his hand in the matter of the holy mayd of Kent he being for his concealement of that false prophets abuse found guiltie of misprision of treason And as these were the principall causes of their imprisonment the King resting secure of his Supremacie as the Realme stood then affected but especially troubled for setling the crowne vpon the issue of his second marriage so was it easily to be conceiued that being thereupon discontented their humors were therby made apt to draw them by degrees to further opposition against the King and his authoritie as indeed it fell out For in the time of their being in prison the Kings lawfull authoritie in cases Ecclesiasticall being published and promulged as wel by a generall decree of the Clergie in their Synode as by an Act of Parliament made thereupon they behaued themselues so peeuishly therein as the old coales of the Kings anger being thereby raked vp of new they were againe brought in question as wel for this one most weighty head of doctrine of the Pope his supremacy as for the matter of the Kings marriage and succession as by the confession of one of themselues euen Thomas Moore is euident For being condemned he vsed these wordes at the barre before the Lords Non ignoro cur me morti adiudicaueritis videlicet ob id quod nunquam voluerim assentiri in negotio matrimonij Regis That is I am not ignorant why you haue adiudged me to death to wit for that I would neuer consent in the busines of the new marriage of the King By which his owne confession it is plaine that this great martyr himselfe tooke the cause of his owne death to be only for his being refractary to the King in this said matter of Marriage and succession which is but a very fleshly cause of martyrdome as I conceiue And as for Roffensis his fellow Martyr who could haue bene content to haue taken the Oath of the Kings Supremacy with a certaine modification which Moore refused as his imprisonment was neither onely nor principally for the cause of Supremacy so died he but a halting and a singular Martyr or witnes for that most waightie head of doctrine the whole Church of England going at that time in one current and streame as it were against him in that argument diuerse of them being of farre greater reputation for learning and sound iudgement then euer he was So as in this point we may wel arme our selues with the Cardinals own reason where hee giueth amongst other notes of the true Church Vniuersalitie for one we hauing the generall and Catholike conclusion of the whole Church of England on our side in this case as appeareth by their booke set out by the whole Conuocation of England called The institution of a Christian man the same matter being likewise very learnedly handled by diuers particular learned men of our Church as by Steuen Gardiner in his booke de vera obedientia with a preface of Bishop Boners adioyned to it De summo absoluto Regis Imperio published by M Bekinsaw De vera differentia Regiae Potestatis Ecclesiasticae Bishop Tonstals Sermon Bishop Longlands Sermon the letter of Tonstall to Cardinall Poole and diuers other both in English and Latine And if the bitternesse of Fishers discontentment had not bene fed with his daily ambitious expectation of the Cardinals hat which came so neere as Calis