but according to his owne fancie to establish his owne earthly kingdome Last of all hee denieth to Christ also his priesthood for neyther doth he admitte the sacrifice of Christ by himselfe in his owne person vpon the Crosse as sufficient for saluation but he ordaineth another sacrifice of the Masse and satisfactorie works of penance mens merites to redeeme their owne sinnes Neither doeth he permit Christ to be the only intercessor maker of request to the father for his people but hee ioyneth with him or substituteth vnder him the Virgine Marie and a great number of saintes of his owne creation Thus he denieth Iesus to be Christ sheweth himself to be an enemie vnto him the very Antichrist Wherfore al the notes markes of the beast fal vpon him This is the beast that Iohn speaketh of which doeth associate to himselfe the kings of the earth their armies maketh warre against Christ his army This is now our enemie he his kings fight against vs. It is good for vs to thinke of him as he is and as he is called in Scripture Let vs not thinke of him as of an holie Father Christes Vicar a sacred person the pillar of Christes religion the highest Byshop a god in earth as the Papistes and his owne seruants and flatterers so manie as haue not receiued the loue of the trueth such whose names are not written in the booke of life doe esteeme him But let vs thinke of him as of the great whore the mother of all fornication in the earth for his idolatrie as of Babylon for his persecuting Empire as of an Apostata for his falling from the true faith as of Antichrist and the enemie of Christ for denying the sufficiencie of Christs Sacrifice and intercession for expelling Christ out of his throne of gouernement and stepping into it himselfe for displacing Christs word and corrupting it and putting his owne word in the roome thereof Let vs account him as the beast that hath not one shape but the properties of manie beastes and therefore a monstrous beast Proude lyke the Lyon cruell lyke the Beare filthie like the Swine full of poyson through his blasphemies like the Dragon and yet in shewe of hornes like the Lambe This is the leader and captaine of all our enemies if we yeelde to them wee yeelde to the beast and the beast will make vs beastes like himselfe Wee must beare the beastes marke God defend vs from him and represse his furie and confounde his enterprises and ouerthrowe his kingdome Thus much of the beast The beast fighteth not alone against Christ and his people for thē he were not much to be feared but he hath first kings and then his owne their armies to assist him First wil I speake of the kings thē of their armies Kings were prophesied to be subiect to him The Angel saith to Iohn The ten horns which thou sawest are tenkings which yet haue not receaued a kingdome but shall receaue power as kings at one houre with the beast These haue one minde and shal giue their power and authoritie to the beast These shal fight with the Lambe and the Lambe shal ouercome thē For he is Lord of Lords king of kings they that are on his side called chosen faithful Againe he saith The ten hornes which thou sawest vpon the beast are they that shal hate the whore shal make her desolate naked shall eate her flesh and burne her with fire For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his wil to doe with one consent for to giue their kingdom vnto the beast vntill the words of God be fufilled Thus kings shal subiect thēselues to the beast shal giue their authoritie to him shal fight for him so long as God hath appointed The loue of these kings to Rome their obedience is expressed which they shewed to it in time of the prosperitie thereof in this maner With her haue cōmitted fornication the kings of the earth And in the time of the decay of it in this sort The kings of the earth shall bewaile her and lament for her which haue cōmitted fornication liued in pleasure with her when they shall see the smoke of her burning What other state hath there bin or is in the world vnto which kings haue willingly subiected themselues and yet remaine kings but this If any be vnder the great Turke the name of kings and authoritie ceaseth by and by He onely will be king But in Poperie the kings submit thēselues become seruants tributarie yet remaine kings take pleasure in this subiection and striue against al others that will not be slaues bondmen as wel as thēselues These kings had the same occasion time of beginning their kingdomes that the beast had For the dissipation of the West Empire gaue the first occasion at one time to both For after the great fight betweene the Hunni vnder Attila on the one side being 500000 men al the power that the other natiōs Romans Goths Frenchmen Britons Germans could make on the other side after this battel fought in campis Catalaunicis in France the countries were gouerned not by one Emperor ouer all but by their owne seueral gouernors Then the French began in France the Hunni in Hungarie the Saxons in England the Goths in Spaine and so in euery countrie either strangers or the olde inhabitantes tooke the gouernement to themselues To finde that they were iust ten and neither more nor lesse it is hard but ten may be set for a perfect and full number rising of all the Vnities The occasion of the rising of the Popedome of these kingdomes was one and the same and at once began albeit the Popedome shewed not it selfe in his great pride and high name of Oecumenicall Byshop till Phocas the Emperor of Constantinople in the yeare sixe hundreth and sixe Then Rome was great with childe of this beast yea and brought him forth and gaue him the name But hee did growe vp afterward in great haste till he became the mightiest in the West partes of the worlde But his growing was by the suppressing of the Empire and by sucking of strength from the Emperor and from these kings The first milke that hee did sucke was that title gotten of Phocas that hee might be called and taken to bee the Oecumenicall and generall high Byshop of all the world Before that time the other Patriarkes were equall with him but by this title hee was set ouer them and all other Byshops Then hee obtained more milke of the Emperour although hee had much a doe to get it namely that the Emperour should not confirme him but his election should bee ratified by the Romanes and not by the Emperor When hee had this then hee was able to goe alone After this he obtaineth yet more plentifull nourishment and beginneth to swallowe downe stronge meate Hee obtaineth by much
striuing the inuestiture and placing of all Byshops in Italie and the Emperors dominions and at length in all the West besides By this the beast was growen so strong that he would nowe take vpon him to feede or famish his father and feeder For he would make the Emperour or else hee should be no Emperour hee would excommunicate him and depose him at his pleasure And hauing wrastled and ouercome him it was an easie matter for him to ouercome the other kings Nay the Emperors and kings did willingly giue the beast those thinges which made him strong and themselues weake For they sware obedience to him and that they would not diminish his dignitie nor commodities or dominions Edelwulphus king of the West Saxons here in England was the first that made his land tributarie to the Pope in the yeare eight hundred fortie and sixe And as this land receaued the yoke first so first it cast it off vnder king Henrie the eight By occasion that the Emperours in the East destroied images and for want of might could not holde vp the state of Rome against the Longobards in Italy the Pope excommunicated the Emperours of the East one after another and called Carolus magnus the king of Fraunce into Italy for his aide and there made the people proclaime him Emperour and he himselfe anointed him in the yeere 801. Thus Charles being an Emperour of the Popes owne making conferred vpon the Pope a great part of Italy and to requite him made him riche After that part of England other kingdomes by sundrie occasions came vnder the Pope The Sclauonians would vse their owne tongue in their publike seruice of God but they were content to doe it by the Popes permission and so declared themselues subiect to him an 861. When Miesko king of Poland embraced the faith of Christ appointed bishops in his kingdome Ioannes 13. sendeth one Giles the Tusculan bishop Cardinal to consecrate his bishops after the maner of Rome so maketh Poland subiect to himselfe as soone as it was christened in the yeere 965. To Benedictus the 8. Stephanus king of Hungarie sendeth ambassadours for his crowne and confirmation of the kingdome of Hungarie the Churches builded by him He then brought his kingdom to the obedience of the Pope Stephen himselfe at euery time the Pope was mentioned bowing his heade did bende his knee that by his example he might perswade also his people to the obseruance of the Pope Robert duke of Apulia Calabria in Italy bindeth himselfe by oth his hand writing to Pope Nicholas the 2. to send him aid whensoeuer he should neede because the Pope absolued him for deposing his brothers sonne the right heire from the dukedom A litle before Stephen the 9. brought the bishop of Millaine which before that time had alwaies bene free to the obedience of the See of Rome These increases came to the popedom about the yeere 1057 A little after this Hildebrand called Gregorie the 7. that is reported to haue poisoned sixe Popes one after another to make a way for himselfe to the popedom and was a most infamous coniurer Magitian excōmunicateth spoileth of his empire Henry 4. setteth vp first Rodulphus his seruant and afterward Henrie 5. his owne sonne against him He sent a crowne to Rodulph with this posie Petra dedit Petro Petrus diadema Rodolpho But Rodulph hauing lost his right hand dying cursed them that perswaded him to this The crime layed to the Emperour was simonie as the Pope called the bestowing of Byshoprickes and other ecclesiasticall liuings by the Emperour These thinges fell out about the yeare one thousand threescore and ten Henrie the fift stroue so long with Gelasius the second and Calixtus the second for the bestowing of Byshoprickes till at length hee was constrained by the thunder-bolt of excommunication and by feare of depriuation through treasons and conspiracies by his letters to graunt it to the Pope for euer and the letters of the graunt in token of the Emperour being ouercome were hanged vp in the Laterane Church at Rome for a monument of the victorie Through this victorie Calixtus the second as seemeth waxed bould for thus hee decreed A Romana Ecclesia non licere dissentire quia vt filius venit facere voluntatē Patris ita oportet Christianos facere volūtatem Matris Romanae Ecclesiae It should not be lawfull to dissent from the Church of Rome because as the sonne came to doe the will of the father so must all Christians doe the will of their mother the Church of Rome Sicilie was a long time tributarie to the Pope and none almost should hold it but at his pleasure In the yeare 1130. Innocentius the second maketh warre against Rogerius duke of Sicily for it but it was like to haue cost the pope well for he himselfe was taken in the warre yet the pope got by the helpe of Lotharius the dukedome of Calabria from him and gaue it for a reward to Rainold captaine of Lotharius armie that helped him againe to his popedome Norweigh in the time of Eugenius receiued the faith of Christ and then became subiect to the pope in the yeere 1148. Liuonia had no sooner receiued the Christian faith about the yeere 1158 but pope Alexander seizeth vpon it and by asking a bishop of him they are brought in bondage to him It were long to tell how Frederike the first was handled of pope Adrian the fourth and Alexander the third The quarell at first of Adrian against him was because he required homage of his bishops and excluded his legate out of Germanie if he came when he was not sent for Adrian for these things cursed him and suborned one to faine himselfe a iester and finding oportunitie to kill him but the emperour escaped by leaping out at a window Then he procured one to poison him by an infected ring and that he escaped also Alexander the third pursued him for that he fauored Victor chosen against him therefore he cursed him made his chiefe captaine forsake him in fight traiterously and so was the emperour made to flee secretly away And at length when at Venice the emperours sonne fighting rashly against his fathers commandement before his comming was taken of the pope by the helpe of the Venetians hee to redeeme his sonne was constreined to come to Venice to submit himselfe to the pope At the staires in S. Marks church in Venice the emperour lying on the ground the pope putteth his foot on his necke vttring this verse of the psalme Vpon the aspe cockatrice shalt thou walke thou shalt tread vpon the lion and dragon This was the insolency of that beast Peter king of Arragon in Spaine maketh his kingdome and all that belonged to him tributary to the pope in the yere 1202 vt sic salutem animae mereretur saith Vincentius that he might thus merit the saluation of his soule King Iohn of England hauing deteined six yeres
the reuenues of the church at length is compelled to flee to the mercy of the pope Innocentius the third and maketh England and Ireland tributary to the church of Rome granteth the Peter pence promiseth to pay yerely an hundred marks of gold for both Ilands Innocentius the fourth sent certaine monks legats to the Tartarian emperour with his letters exhorting them to the faith of Christ and his obedience He thought that vpon the sight of his holinesse letters the Tartarian empire would yeeld it selfe vnto him Maudauus king of Lituania being turned to Christian religion falleth into the popes net in the yere 1255. The emperours had too much experience great feare of the euill that this beast might do vnto thē Henry the first would not receiue his crowne of the pope nor go into Italie for it He said it was sufficient for him that he was left emperour by his ancestors so saluted by his nobles When Frederike the first was going to Rome with his army the Romans sent messengers to him that they would not receiue him except he came in maner of triumph Thus they mocked the emperour meaning if he came so to waste him by his expences But he perceiuing it answered that he came to get mony out of Italie and not to leaue his owne there Rodolph the emperor put off the fetching of his crowne frō Rome saying that the emperors entring into Italy was pleasant stately but his going out was alwayes miserable and dolefull Boniface the eight that ordeined the first Iubile kept it an 1330 had great contention with Philip king of France In the presumption of his heart and to declare that he is this beast and Antichrist exalting himselfe he writ vnto the king as foloweth Se esse dominū omnium tam temporalium quà m spiritualium per orbem terrarum c. That he is lord of all as well temporall as spirituall thinges through out the world that consequently the kingdome of France ought to be receiued of him which because he had not done he had deserued to be depriued but the king despised his legates and burnt his letters in an open fire and stopt the wayes of his kingdome that none might passe to Rome But the pope preuailed against him for he excommunicated him gaue his kingdome to Albert the emperour caused him to be taken by his owne housholde seruants and layd all his treasures open to the spoile Iohn the two twentieth excommunicated Ludowike the emperour because he tooke vpon him the name of the emperour without his consent Benedictus the twelft confirmed that excommunication against the emperour and vsed the empire as his owne placing officers in it himselfe Clemens the sixt absolued those that did fauour Lewes but vpon these conditions that they should sweare fidelitie to the pope and acknowledge none to be emperour but such as was confirmed by him Sigismund the emperour when three popes did striue together shewed himselfe so much a seruant to that seat that he trauelled into France and sailed into England and passed into Italie and came to the councell of Constance and sung the Gospell like a deacon in great humilitie before the pope the Gospell which he did sing was Exijt edictum à Caesare Augusto All this he did trauelling from one king to another to make these beasts agreed so glad he was to please And the greatest care of Frederike the third was that neutrality being remooued out of Germanie he might submit himselfe his people to the bishop of Rome in the yeere 1440. In this age wherein we liue Cosmus Medices was made by the pope great duke of Ferraria that he might trouble the world in the yeere 1570. Thus kings haue willingly serued him in times past and some haue bene brought vnto it whether they would or no yet at length all content to doe it In this age he hath yet some that fauour him and labour to holde him vp fight for him with all their power the king of Spaine and those that depend vpon him the duke of Sauoy the duke of Parma and the states of Italie and some fauourers he hath in France The beast is now much weaker then he was and it is maruell that there are any found in this land or els where that make so great account of his fauour I haue shewed vnto you how this beast hath had kings his assistants and as it were his seruants which neuer came to passe in any gouernment in the world that kings not subdued by armes but scarsely threatened by words so many and so willingly should submit themselues to one be content to holde their crownes of him and in all things to be at his commandement They receiued his decrees they forsooke their kingdomes they waged warre against one another they resigned a great part of their subiects they suffered their land to be tributarie they would attempt to winne the Holy land as they called it with hazzard of their liues and intolerable paines and exceeding great expences and all at his commandement When was there any power in the world that coulde worke this bring them thus to obedience The emperors of Rome had kings vnder them which remained kings but they were ouercome by battell few voluntarily did yeelde thēselues They fought oft for Spaine for Afrike for Greece for Egypt for France for Britaine for euery part of Italie it selfe before they could obteine it but the pope had all the West part subiect to him and scarse euer fought for any by the sword he subdued almost none of them vnto him nay he neuer fought for any except it were for some small dukedome or citie of Italie which he counted Peters patrimonie Is not this plainely that which the Angel saith to Iohn These haue one minde shall giue their power to the beast And againe God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will and to doe with one consent for to giue their kingdome to the beast vntill the words of God be fulfilled They shall giue it they shall not be conquered constreined by his power vnto it Thus much of the kings that assist the beast After the kings assisting the beast there are placed also armies vnder him Not one army but many armies are leuied for his defence They boast much of multitude and number And the Holy ghost giueth vnto them the greatest number as a sure marke of the beast This cause standeth not by number but by weight of voices If number should carie the matter of religion the Turks should haue the truth of it on their side There is more dirt thē golde moe stones then pearles more chaffe then good corne and so moe that holde on superstition then on trueth Our Sauiour saith Many are called but few are chosen and narrow is the way that leadeth to life few there be that find it but broad is the way that leadeth to destruction many there