hath deceived all nations Then let the matter be referred to the judgment of any indifferent man to determine and set downe what punishment sorcerers and inchanters are worthy of especially spirituall sorcerers and inchanters Besides all this the holy Ghost saith Chap. 18. â— that Rome is the habitation of Divels and the hold of all foule spirits and a cage of every unclean and hatefull bird What thinke you is like to come of an habitation of Divels What trow yee will be the end of a shoale of foule fiends and a company of most ugly monstrous hel-cats What is like to become of a cage of howlets ravens and vultures yea a nest of vipers toads snakes adders cockatrices and all the most stinging serpents and venemous vermine in the world What will be the end of pild Priests filthy Friers mangy Monks rogning Jesuites Are not these a cage of unclean birds What do they study what do they plot what doe they practise every day but seditions perjuries murthers conspiracies treacheries and all manner of villanies If I had no other reasons to perswade me that Rome shall fall and come to a miserable end yet this onely would make mee so to think that these villanous Jesuites do teach and conclude in their cursed conventicles that it is not only lawfull but also meritorious to murther any Christian Prince that is not of their catholick religion Oh monstrous villains O most hideous hel-hounds have not these monsters suborned divers desperate caitifs to embrue their hands in the bloud of Christian Princes How many have been their plots How desperate have been their practices to murther and poyson our late Queen Elisabeth the French King and our most gracious and late Soveraigne King James and other Christian Princes But can such proceedings prosper can such courses be blessed can a man be established by iniquity No no let them know for a certainty that God will crosse and curse all such divelish proceedings as hitherto hee hath done his most holy name be praised But if any man list to know more of the practices and proceedings of Jesuits let him read M. Doctor Sutcliffe his answer to Parsons Ward-word a book worthy to be read and known of all men But now to grow to a conclusion of this point and to wind up together all the reasons and causes of Romes ruine thus I do determine that forasmuch as Rome is the great whore Chapt. 1.17.2 with whom have committed fornication the kings of the earth forasmuch as Rome hath made all nations drunk with the wine of her fornication forasmuch as Rome hath deceived all nations with her inchantments forasmuch as Rome is a den of divels and a cage of unclean birds forasmuch as Rome hath shed the bloud of the Apostles Num. 14.24 Martyrs and Saints forasmuch as Rome hath murthered the Son of God therefore it shall at last come to most miserable destruction being that Chittim which in the end must needs perish for what punishment what paine what torture what torment can be enough for this damnable whore which hath committed such execrable and most outragious villanies Be it therefore known unto all men by these presents that Rome for all her monstrous and prodigious sins shall fall still more and more and come to a fearfull destruction even in this life But some man may say What shall become of Rome and of all her friends after this life Ch. 14.9 10 11. Saint John answereth that if any man worship the beast and his image and receive his mark in his forehead or on his hand the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God and hee shall be tormented in fire and brimstone before the holy Angels and before the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment shall ascend and they shall have no rest day nor night which worship the beast c. Here is sentence of eternall damnation passed upon all the friends of Rome O that all Papists would consider this in time and think with themselves what a wofull thing it is to be a Papist for they and their kingdome must goe down in this life and in the life to come they must be tormented in hell-fire for ever For Saint John saith flatly that all Papists shall be cast into the great wine-presse of the wrath of God Chap. 14.20 where they shall be strained and tryed till bloud come out of the wine-presse unto the horses bridles by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs And again hee saith Chap. 19.20 that the beast and the false prophet were taken alive and cast into a lake of fire burning with brimstone Let all men therefore take heed how they joyn with the Papists for wee see what shall be their end both in this life and the life to come Therefore let all Gods people come out of Babylon and hasten out of Sodom lest they be wound up in their judgements Let all wise men practise the policie of the Gibeonites who when they saw that Joshua did so mightily prevaile against the Canaanites and beate downe all before him did very politickly provide for their owne safety and by subtill means enter into league with Joshua and the Israel of God So let all that have any care of their owne salvation speedily forsake Babylon which otherwise will fall upon their heads and flye to Zion which shall stand fast for evermore And thus having reduced all the five following Chapters to prove these foresaid points I will proceed unto the twentieth Chapter for there is almost nothing of any moment or difficulty in the 15 16 17 18 and 19 Chapters but it hath been already opened and expounded CHAP. XX. SAint John having in the former Chapters plainly and plentifully set down the utter overthrow both of the beast and false prophet that is the Roman Empire and the Papacy doth now in this Chapter set forth the condemnation of the Dragon their grand Captain which set them all on work For there hath as yet been no motion of him which hath been the beginner and raiser up of the rest and the great worker of all mischiefe therefore now cometh his judgment and condemnation Now because he hath been a more generall worker and his mischiefe hath extended larger then the kingdome of Antichrist therefore in this twentieth chapter there is an history of him set forth by it self First how he seduced the nations before the coming of Christ afterward how Christ at his coming bindeth him by the light of his Gospel from seducing the nations and so holdeth him shut up for the space of a thousand yeeres in which the Church did greatly flourish and many were raised up unto the spirituall life But when the thousand yeers were expired Satan was let loose and went forth again to seduce and by the great Antichrist and the Turk gathered innumerable multitudes into his armies to fight against the Church which armies are called Gog and Magog
a beast by themselves that is an eighth in respect of their ecclesiasticall power Now the Angel saith flatly they shall both go together into destruction that is both the Empire and the Papacy For as the dominion of the Popes goeth down so also their worship and religion goeth down with it and for this cause it is expressely set down in the nineteenth chapter that the beast and the false Prophet that is Chap. 19 2â— the Roman Empire and the Papacy were both destroyed together Sith then the holy Ghost hath spoken it twice for failing that Rome shall go into perdition and shall go into destruction I take it to be a very sound consequence that Rome shall fall and shal be destroyed But how shall it fall may some man say Or wherein shall it fall I answer that it shall fall in the credit and estimation of her doctrine How Rome shall fall it shall fall in wealth and riches it shall fall in power and authority And in all these it shall fall by degrees as it did rise up by degrees it shall not fall at once as it did not rise up at once Chap. 16.12 This is set down in the sixteenth chapter where the fall of Rome is compared to the drying up of the river Euphrates which was dryed up by degrees Thus it is Euphrates was a great river which did run very neer unto the old Babylon in Chaldea and it was the wall and fortification of the city in so much that Cyrus and Darius the kings of the Medes and Persians laying siege against it could not take it till by policy they digged water trenches and turned the waters another way and so dryed them up that the holy Ghost saith The way was prepared for them to passe over Now as this Euphrates was the strength and fortification of old Babylon so the honour wealth riches power and authority of Rome is the very fortification of it Chap. 16.12 But the punishing Angel is commanded to powre down the vial of wrath upon this Euphrates that is upon all that upholdeth or fortifieth Rome and forthwith it dried up that is all the credit power riches and authority of Rome did diminish daily doth diminish and shall diminish by degrees unto the end of the world For the utter destruction of Rome is not yet come but it is greatly decayed from that it was fourscore yeers ago and if it continue decaying eighteen yeers more as assuredly it shall then will it be brought to a low ebb Since Luthers time we know how the Popes Euphrates hath dryed up but there is yet much water left and it is yet too deep for the kings of the earth to passe over and take it But it shall ebb so low that the kings of Europe shall easily passe over and take it as wee shall heare anon But in the mean time we see that it falleth and that it is in falling and the work of God goeth forward every day For now in this age God be thanked many Kings and Princes with great multitudes of their subjects have their eyes opened to behold that the Romish religion is abominable and that the Papacy is the very kingdom of the great Antichrist And whereas before they worshipped the beast The kings of the earth in this age renounce the Pope now they hold up their hands only to the God of heaven and glorifie him in his Son Jesus Christ Now wee see that many lawes are made in sundry kingdomes and provinces to abolish that usurped power of the Bishop of Rome Many acts edicts and injunctions are set forth in sundry nations and kingdomes of Europe to destroy root out and deface all monuments of idolatry and superstition which Antichrist had erected in all kingdomes Now the Popes which were honoured as gods in the earth are counted and adjudged as the most vile and abominable creatures that live upon the earth Doth not all this experimentally shew that Babylon is fallen and that Babylon doth fall by degrees It is very palpable wee need no further proofe for this second point But here wee are further to observe that the Jesuites perceiving the great decay of Rome and the continuall drying of their Euphrates do bestir them to stop the leake The Jesuites bestir them and why that it might not dry up altogether Even as when men let out the waters of great fish-ponds so as the water waxeth low we see the fishes skip and plunge and take on wonderfully So the Jesuites perceiving the waters of their Romish Euphrates to empaire and dry up daily do mightily take on digging and searching every day to open the springs and to find out some fresh fountains to maintain their great fish-pond and to keep the waters deep enough that there may be no safe passage over for the kings of the earth to come and take their great Babylon All this doth appear out of the 16th chapter of this Prophecie where S. John in a vision seeth three unclean spirits like frogs Chap. 16.13 coming out of the mouth of the Dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false Prophet By which frogs the holy Ghost meaneth the Jesuites and seminary Priests The Jesuites compared to frogs and why which are compared to frogs for three reasons First that as frogs delight in filthy lakes and puddles so the Jesuites delight in the filthy puddles of idolatry and superstition Secondly as frogs make a great croaking in their marish grounds so the Jesuites make a great croaking in kings Courts in Noblemens houses and Gentlemens houses and almost every where where they can get any entertainment croaking and cracking of the Popes supremacy the Popes holinesse the Popes blessing the Popes keyes the Popes power Peters chair Peters successors Christs vicar and many good morrows I know not what Thirdly as frogs are all of one nature and quality delighting in croaking and living in puddles so the Jesuites are all of one mind and disposition in evill croaking every where to maintain their Euphrates and living daily in whoredome Sodomitry and all kind of outragious beastlinesse But that I may more fully perswade the conscience of the reader that by these frogs are meant the Jesuites and seminary Priests let us seriously weigh that which goeth before and that which followeth after in this text and we shall discern it to be very cleer and apparant First it is said Chap. 16.10 verse 10. that when the fifth Angel powred out his viall of Gods wrath upon the throne of the beast by and by his kingdome waxed darke that is the majestie power pomp credit and estimation of Antichrist began to be diminished obscured and to suffer a great eclipse which thing was fulfilled shortly after Luthers preaching And presently it followeth that they gnawed their tongues for sorrow that is they were full of fury and rage barking and grinning like mad dogs or rather like
or their Authority Moreover they have Crownes of gold upon their heads which sheweth and signifieth that they were the Conquerours of the Earth and Lords of the World and who but they for in those dayes no man nay no Lord or King durst quitch against a Monke a Frier or a pild Priest for if any did they were sure to smart for it They had also faces like the faces of men that is they set faire faces upon matters and pretended great devotion in Religion flattering the people and making them beleeve that they could give them pardon of all their sinnes and bring them to Heaven when as in very truth for their bellies and for their gaine they did cunningly smooth with the Nobles the rich and the mighty setting faire faces upon their proceedings and as Saint Peter saith Through covetousnesse with fained words 2 Pet. 2.3 they made merchandize of mens soules and did closely winde themselves into the hearts of the simple people by their fawning insinuations being in very deed nost notable flatterers and hypocrites They had haire as the haire of women that is they were altogether effeminate being given to delicacy lust and wantonnesse they were drowned in whoredome and all kinde of beastlinesse being a shole of most filthy villaines Their teeth were as the teeth of Lions to catch and snatch at all they could come by They devoured all the fat morsels every where they got the Church-livings into their hands they first made impropriations they incroached upon temporall mens lands they swallowed up all every where If we looke upon the Abbeyes Priories and Nunneries we may easily judge what teeth they had Moreover it is sayd they had Habbergions like to the Habbergions of Iron that is they were so strongly armed with the defence and countenance of the Pope that no Secular power durst once quitch against them Their wings were like the sound of Chariots when many Horses runne unto battell that is with flattering noise and terrible threatnings they strove to uphold their Kingdome Also in Churches and Pulpits they make a roring noise and take on terribly to maintaine their abhominable Idolatry They had tailes like unto Scorpions and there were stings in their tailes For with their poysoned Doctrine and stinging authority like Adders and Snakes they stung many to death Moreover power was given them to hurt men five moneths that is all the time of Antichrists reigne as before hath been shewed ver 10.11 They have a King over them which is the Angell of the bottomelesse pit whose name in Hebrew is Abbadon and in Greeke he is named Apollyon that is destroying As the Fowles have a King over them which is the Eagle and the Beasts the Lion and mortall Men some Chiefe Governour under whose protection and subjection they live so heere these hellish Locusts are sayd to have a King over them which is the Angell of the bottomlesse pit that is the Divell or the Pope which you will under whose Ensigne they fight and under whose defence they live Their Kings name in Hebrew is called Abbadon and in Greek Apollyon The words are both of one signification that is destroying for both the Divell himselfe and his Vicar the Pope are destroyers and wasters of the Church of God One woe is past and behold yet two woes come after this We have heard at large what this first Woe is namely the plage of the world by the Pope and his Clergie Now we are to heare of the second woe which is the most huge and murthering army of the Turkes wherein the third part of men were slaine Some do expound this second woe of the kingdome of Antichrist and his armies but that it is not so may appeare by these reasons following First the Angell denouncing woe woe woe denounceth three severall woes and therefore it is said One woe is past and behold yet two woes come after this It followeth then that this is a distinct and severall woe from the former and therefore cannot be the same Secondly this woe containeth specially a bodily slaughter of the third part of the world and of the wicked reprobates but the first woe was specially a plague of mens soules as we have heard and therefore this cannot be the same with the first Thirdly we are to understand that this booke describeth all the greatest calamities and plagues thaâ— should come upon the world in any age after Christ and therefore we may justly thinke that the kingdome of the Tuâ—ks is not left out seeing it was one of the greatest plagues that ever came upon the world But the kingdome of the Turks is described in no other part of this Revelation and therefore must of necessity be here described ver 13.14 Then the sixt Angell blew the Trumpet and I heard a voice from the foure corners of the golden Altar which is before God Saying to the sixt Angell which had the Trumpet loose the foure Angells which are bound in the great river Euphrates Now we are come to the description of the Second woe which followeth upon the blowing of the sixt Trumpet by the sixt Trumpet by the sixth Angell And first of all he sayth He heard a voyce from the foure corners of the golden Altar By the golden Altar is meant Christ as before hath been shewed with the reasons thereof From this Altar the voyce commeth to the Angell which blew the sixth Trumpet Chap. 8.3 that we might know it is the voyce of the mighty God and the commandement of our Lord Jesus The voyce commandeth the sixth Angell to loose the foure Angells which are bound in the great River Euphrates By these foure Angels which are thus bound at Euphrates is meant many Divels or Angels of darkenesse as we have heard before Chapter 7 Verse 1. Their binding signifieth their restraint by which they were held backe from doing that mischiefe which they desired to do Their loosing signifieth that power was given them to performe that which they wished They are sayd to be foure in number because they should raise an horrible plague in the foure corners of the Earth both East West North and South The sense is that the Divells have yet farther and greater scope given them to plague and destroy the inhabitants of the Earth These Divells had exceeding great power in the Kingdome of Antichrist but they are unsatiable in mischiefe and so after a sort lye still bound till they have their desire The place where they lye bound is Euphrates wherein is a mystery for Euphrates literally taken is a great River which ran so night the City Babylon in Chaldea that it was a mighty defence unto it so that the City could not be taken untill they that laid siedge unto it cut out trenches and derived the waters another way Now for the mystery it is this Rome in this book is called Babylon by a metaphor and after the same manner the great River Euphrates as we shall
observe one speciall thing to wit that the Gospel which this Angel flyeth withall containeth the brief summ of all the doctrine which Luther Calvin Peter Martyr and the rest have taught out of Gods Word and agreeth in all points with it For what other thing did they all preach teach and write but that men should turn from idols to the living God from fearing glorifying and worshipping creatures to feare worship and glorifie God alone which hath made all things What other thing doe all the preachers of this age publish and proclaime in all their Sermons but this Feare God and give glory onely to him Is not this the Epitome and short sum of all the doctrine of the Preachers of England Scotland Germany France Denmarke and all the rest and therefore I conclude that this Angel must needs be understood of the Preachers of this last age which now these fourscore yeeres have sounded the trumpet of the Gospel against all the inventions of Popery And blessed be God wee see these things fall out in our dayes and are eye-witnesses of the fulfilling of them And there followed another Angel saying Verse 8. It is fallen it is fallen Babylon that great city for she gave to all nations to drink the wine of the wrath of her fornication Here is set down the blessed effect of the preaching of this everlasting Gospel which is the downfall of Babylon For as when the cleer Sun ariseth upon the earth the thick mists and clouds are dispersed even so when the bright beames of the Gospel doe shine forth unto the world Babylon that dark kingdom vanisheth away incontinently And as it is written in the eighteenth chapter so soon as the earth was lightened with the glory of this everlasting Gospel Babylon immediatly falleth Therefore now before I go any further my purpose through the assistance of God Five maine points is to prove these five points out of this verse and that which followeth unto the twentieth chapter to wit First that Babylon here signifieth Rome Secondly that Rome shall fall and how Thirdly that Rome shall fall finally and come to utter desolation in this life Fourthly by whom and when it shall be overthrown Lastly the causes of the utter ruine and overthrow thereof How Rome is to be taken But before I go about to prove that Babylon here is Rome I would have it carefully observed what is meant by Rome viz. not the topography of Rome that is so much ground only as is compassed within the wals of that city but the regiment government and prerogative that is claimed by vertue of that Monarchy whereof Rome is the head By Rome is meant the power and authority of Rome or to speak plainly by Rome is meant the Roman Monarchy Further we are here to observe the reason why the holy Ghost calleth Rome Babylon for Rome literally and properly taken is not Babylon in as much as they were two divers cities one in Italy the other in Chaldea but Rome is called Babylon mystically figuratively and as the holy Ghost speaketh spiritually and by a kind of allusion Chap. 11.8 A reason why Rome is called Babylon For as the old Eastern Babylon did a long time oppresse the Church of the Jewes so Rome this Western Babylon hath long oppressed the Church of the Christians As the Eastern Babylon did many yeers hold down the people of God in miserable bondage and servitude so the Western Babylon did a long time keep the Christian Church in spirituall thraldome and misery In which respects Rome is spiritually compared to Sodom and Egypt to Sodom for filthinesse and to Egypt for idolatry and keeping Gods Church in spirituall bondage and slavery And thus we see the reason why Rome is called Babylon which is not simply and properly but after a sort that is by a phrase of speech or Trope which they call a Metonymie or changing of names when that is given to one thing which is proper to another for the likenesse of quality that it hath with it or adjoyned unto it Now having shewed the reason why Rome is called Babylon and what is meant by Rome we are to proceed to the first point which is to prove that Babylon in this place signifieth Rome which although it be granted of all sound Divines and avouched in the writings of the best learned both new and old so as it shall need no great proof yet will I add three or foure reasons out of this book to make it more plain and apparant First therefore I do thus reason out of the seventeenth chapter and last verse Babylon is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth But there was no other city which did reigne over the kings of the earth when John wrote this book but onely Rome Therefore Rome is Babylon For as for Jerusalem it was at that time made an heap of stones The first proposition is avouched by the Angel of God expounding unto John what is meant by the great whore whose damnation hee had shewed him before and by the woman which sate upon a scarlet coloured beast The woman which thou sawest Chap. 17.18 saith the Angel to Saint John is that great city which raigneth over the kings of the earth that is to say Rome or the Romish synagogue and malignant Church For the Angel could not speak more plainely except he should have named Rome then to say thus The woman the great whore of Babylon is the great city which raigneth over the kings of the earth For if one should say The great citie of England every man knoweth that thereby is meant London if one should say The great citie of France every one knoweth that thereby is meant Paris so when the Angel saith The great citie which reigneth over the kings of the earth all that lived in those times knew that thereby was meant Rome Babylon is Rome for Rome was the chief citie of the Monarchy and is put in this book for the whole Monarchy and the religion thereof as hath been said before My second reason is this Chap. 17. Babylon is the mother of whoredomes and abominations of the earth Babylon is that great whore with whom have committed fornication the Kings of the earth and the inhabitants of the earth made drunk with the wine of her fornication But Rome and none but Rome is such a one Therefore Rome is Babylon My third argument is this Babylon is that city which hath had seven severall governments But only Rome hath had seven severall kinds of government Therefore Rome is Babylon The proposition is proved from the words of the Angel expounding unto John what is meant by the seven heads of the scarlet coloured beast whereupon the woman sate The seven heads saith hee are seven kings Chap. 17.9 that is seven orders or states of kingly government for seven kings in this place are not put for seven severall men which were kings
hel-hounds against all such as set the Gospel abroach whereby their Babylon began to shake For at the first when the Gospel began to peep forth they did despise it as a thing which they could easily suppresse but within a short time they found that neither by excommunication wherewith in former times they had even as it were with lightning and thunder caused kings and nations to tremble neither by force of wars and bloudy slaughters neither by any skill in learning nor by treacheries they could any thing prevaile but that the Gospel did still more and more lay open their filthinesse and shame then did they become and so do they continue unto this day even as mad-men in sorrow and rage which the holy Ghost expresseth in saying Chap. 16.11 that they gnawed their tongues for sorrow and blasphemed God c. whereby it is evident that the beast and all that received his mark are full of fiery hatred and malice and cannot tell which way to be revenged For the more they strive the more they lose Faine would they have Popery restored to his ancient credit and dignity and they devise what they can to bring it about but it will not be For their kingdome waxeth darker and darker weaker and weaker and that is a dagger unto them and a griefe of all griefe which maketh them gnaw their tongues and gnash their teeth for sorrow Chap. 16.11 But yet for all this they repented not of their works saith Saint John and therefore God is more incensed against them and causeth the sixth Angel to powr out another viall upon the great river Euphrates and the water thereof dryed up as wee have heard Now then observe carefully Note this and note it diligently that the frogs came forth upon the darkning of the kingdome of the beast and the drying up of their Euphrates For who knoweth not the Pope and his complices perceiving the weakening and diminishing of their kingdom have sent out these Jesuits and seminary Priests into all parts of Europe to repair the ruines of Rome if it were possible and this is one circumstantiall reason to prove these three frogs to be understood of the Jesuites But let us proceed to open the whole description of the holy Ghost that it may yet more plainly appear First Chap. 16.13 these frogs are called unclean spirits because they are the very limbs of the Divell full of all filthinesse and uncleannesse Secondly they are called spirits because they come out of the mouth of the Dragon the beast and the false prophet Thirdly they are called three in number being in truth neerer three thousand because they proceed out of three severall mouthes the Dragon the beast and the false prophet that is the Divell the Roman Empire and the Papacy three horrible monsters three terrible bug bears which with one consent conspire together against the Gospel to uphold their Babylon and to stop the leak of their Euphrates Now these three frogs are said to come out of the mouth of the Dragon the beast and the false prophet because they come with the very minde and message of the Pope and the Roman Empire and so consequently with the very mind and spirit of the Dragon For they are the very breath of the Pope and the spirits of the Divels as like him as if they had been spit out of his mouth They are sent on the Divels errand and the Popes embassage into all countries and kingdomes and are taught their lesson what they shall say and instructed what they shall doe and what courses they shall take with men both kings Nobles and the meaner sort and for this cause the holy Ghost saith they came out of the very mouth the very heart and the very bowels of the Pope and of the Divell And although these Jesuits and seminary Priests are called of the favourites Catholick Doctors The holy Ghost calleth the Jesuits the spirits of Divels Chap. 16.14 holy Fathers c. yet the holy Ghost saith flatly they are the spirits of Divels working false and fained miracles and with great efficacy of error deluding and deceiving the simple and blind multitude We see then that the holy Ghost in all this description doth plainly note out the Jesuites and seminary Priests for to whom can these things here spoken of agree but onely to them And do not wee which live in these dayes sensibly see and discern the fulfilling of all these things Surely wee cannot but see and feel them unlesse wee be wilfully blind and do of purpose blind-fold hoodwink our selves But the holy Ghost goeth yer further and doth more fully and as it were demonstratively point them out unto us describing them by their office which is to go unto the kings of the earth Verse 14. and of the whole world to gather them to the battell of that great day of God almighty Who is ignorant that the Jesuites and seminary Priests are sent out to all Kings and Nobles of the whole world that favour them and their proceedings Are they not croaking in corners thick and threefold in all parts of this land Are they not practising of treacheries and treasons against our most gracious King and the whole state Are they not plotting the destruction and subversion of this Church common-wealth Nay as the holy Ghost saith the chiefe end of their coming abroad is to solicite gather the kings of the earth unto battell against God against Christ and against all true professors of religion The battell betwixt them is here called The battell of the great day of God almighty that is that battell wherein the Almighty God will have the day and goe away with the victory For it followeth The Jesuites by their crafty perswasions shall bring the popish kings and their armies to a place where they shall be destroyed that the Jesuites and seminary Priests did prevaile with the seduced kings of the earth so far as to gather them together to a place which in Hebrew is called Armageddon that is to say a place where they shall be destroyed and that with such an horrible slaughter that the place shall take a name thereof For it was an usuall thing among the Hebrews to call the place where any famous thing fell out by a name which did report the same to all posterity as Kibroth Hataavah Numb 11. the graves of Concupiscence Hamon Gog Ezek. 39. the multitude of Gog and divers such like And so here Armageddon the destruction of an army because the kings of the earth and their armies which shall fight against the Church at the instigation of the Jesuites shall come to a place where they shall have a notable overthrow This word Armageddon may fitly be derived of two Hebrew words that is to say Cherem which signifieth destruction and Gedudh which signifieth an army that is the destruction of an army or as some say and that very judicially it may come
fellowes passe by the great Monasteries and Abbeyes and see them made ruinous heapes and withall remember the fat revenues the good cheer the pleasure and delight which sometimes they have had in those places it cuts their hearts and maketh them shake their heads at it saying Alas alas Verse 16. that great city that was clothed in fine linnen and purple and scarlet and gilded with gold and precious stones and pearls for in one hour so great riches are come to desolation Mark then that the ruine of their great city with all the pomp pleasure and riches thereof is that which doth yet stick in their stomacks Thirdly the mariners doe greatly mourn and lament for the losse of their profit and commodity For while Rome had dominion over the kingdomes and the Pope ruled over all even us God upon the earth there was nothing but trudging over the seas to Rome out of all Lands and againe from thence there was carrying and recarrying insomuch that multitudes of mariners and ship-masters were continually set on work and gained greatly thereby No marvell then though these mariners are brought in amongst other friends of Rome bewailing her destruction even with dust upon their heads weeping and crying and saying Alas alas that great city wherein were made rich all that had ships on the sea by her costlinesse For in one houre shee is made desolate Thus wee see how the kings and merchants and mariners shall bewaile the utter ruine and great desolation of Rome for the losse of their pleasure their gain and their profit Moreover wee are to observe that that which is spoken by the old Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah as touching the utter desolation of old Babel is applyed by Saint John no new Babel which is Rome Touching the Easterne Babylon the Prophet saith thus Babel the glory of kingdomes Isa 13.19 the beauty and pride of the Chaldeans shall be as the destruction of God in Sodom and Gomorrah It shall not be inhabited for ever neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there neither shall the shepherds make their folds there But Ziim shall lodge there and their houses shall be full of Ohim Ostriches shall dwell there and the Satyrs shall dance there that is fairies hobgoblins night-spirits and such like whereby is signified the utter desolation of old Babylon Chap. 18.2 Now Saint John applyeth all this to Rome saying Babylon that great city is become the habitation of Divels and the hold of all soule spirits and a cage of every unclean and hatefull bird Noting hereby both the filthinesse of Rome and also her utter desolation But now let us proceed to our last and greatest argument to prove the finall fall and utter destruction of Rome and all Romish power and authority In the nineteenth chapter of this Prophecie our Lord Jesus is described sitting upon his white horse which is the ministery of the Gospel as hath before been proved and is most gloriously brought in by Saint John as grand Captain and Generall of the field fighting with all his army against Antichrist and his souldiers S. John giveth him goodly names and titles Chap. 19.12 13 14 c. calling him the Word of God the King of kings and the Lord of lords and saith that hee hath a Name written that no man knew but himself which is his infinite glory and majesty And moreover that his eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head many crowns and a sharp sword in his mouth and clothed with his warlike garment dipt in bloud and all his heavenly souldiers followed him upon white horses meaning thereby all Christian kings dukes lords nobles captains preachers and professors of true religion This grand Captain with all these worthy souldiers saith Saint John shall muster together and prepare themselves to fight against the beast and the false prophet and all their forces and at last hee seeth them joyn battell Verse 19. I saw saith Saint John the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make battell against him that sate upon the white horse and against his army Now all this is to be understood of the battels betwixt the Papists and the Protestants in these last dayes But may some man say Who shall have the victory What is the successe What is the issue let us hear of that The holy Ghost answereth The Protestants shall have the day that the beast and the false prophet were taken foiled and overcome using a warlike phrase because in the wars they use to take their greatest Captains and Commanders alive and to put them to their ransomes The like unto this we have in the seventh chapter where Saint John telleth us that when the Popish kings and potentates shall make war against Christ and his Gospel they shall have the like successe unto this For saith hee These have one mind Ch. 17.13 14. and shall give their power and authority unto the beast they shall fight with the Lamb and the Lamb shall overcome them for he is the Lord of lords and King of kings But may some man say When the Leaders and Commanders of the Popish armies shall be taken captives and set at their ransomes what shall become of the inferiour Captains and souldiers The holy Ghost answereth that the remnant were slaine with the sword of him that sitteth upon the horse that is they were put to the sword and all the fowles were filled full with their flesh And for this cause Saint John saith Chap. 19.21 that he saw an Angel stand in the Sun who cryed with a loud voice saying to all the fowles that did fly by the middest of heaven Come and gather your selves together unto the supper of the great God Now to make this plain We know that they which proclaim any matter seek some market-crosse or high place to stand in where they may be heard so this Angel which proclaimeth the victory against Antichrist before any stroke be strucken because of the certainty of it standeth in the Sun as it were in the theater and middest of the world as in a place most fit for the purpose that hee may be heard throughout all the earth Now this proclamation is directed to all the fowls of the ayr to bid them to a supper which is here called the supper of the great God But it may be demanded What cheer shall they have The holy Ghost answereth Verse 18. that they shall eate the flesh of Kings and the flesh of great Captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of hors-men and the flesh of all free-men and bond-men and of small and great This wee know that when men are slain in great numbers in the wars their bodies lie scattered as meat for the fowls of the air And therefore here all fowles are invited and bidden to a great supper made them by the great God whose hand is in all