Antichrist Pointed and Painted Out in His True Colors, Chapter 14
CHAP. XIV. Of the Popes or Antichrists bloodie crueltie, Revel. 17.6.
OF Antichrist his Bloodie Crueltie, Iohn speaking Revel. 17.6. Sayth thus, And I saw the Woman drunk with the blood of the Saints and Martyrs of Iesus, which to be true of the pope, I will, 1. instāce their famous forecited Petrarch in the third Chapter of this Treatise,Petrarch. l. 1. ep. 18. & in that Epistle of his, wherin he deploreth the calamitie of the citie of Rome, & speaking of the Pope and his Cleargie there, sayeth to his friend to whom hee writteth, being then at Rome, There thou seeth (sayeth hee) not onlie CHRISTS Adversarie (meaning the Pope as Antichrist) but which is more grievous to see, under the Banner of Christian profession, fighting against CHRIST, and drunk with his Blood (to wit, by persecution of his Saints.)
Bernard likewise in his first sermon of Pauls conversion cryeth out thus, Heu, Bern. ser. 1. cōvers. B. Pauls.heu, Domine Deus, quia ipsi sunt in persecutione tua primi, qui videntur in Ecclesia tua primatum deligere & gerere principatū, That is, Alas, alas, LORD GOD, that these are first in the persecution of Thee, who are seene to louelove the primacie in thy Church, and to hauehave the chief place, (meaning the Pope) and thereafter to cleare himself more particularlie and plainlie he sayeth, Egressa est haec iniquitas à senioribus judicibus, Vicariis tuis, qui videntur regere populum tuum, that is, This iniquitie is come foorth from the eldest that are Iudges, even these that pretend to be thy vicars, and who seeme to governe thy people.
In-like-manner that charter Monk, who is author of Fasciculus temporum, Fascicul. temp. ann… 900.hee cryeth out upon the 900. yeare of CHRIST, saying, O worst times that ever were (sayeth hee) wherein the godlie man doth perish, and trueth is decayed amongst the sonnes of men, and after rehearsall of other vices in the Roman sea, hee sayeth, O what persecution is now? Alas, what company, what Assemblie, yea, what man may bee now secure.?
Likewise Platina the Popes Secretarie in the life of Silvester the third showeth, That in these tymes good men were opprest by the Popes, who had entered in by pride and Simonie, and which fashion (sayth hee) I wish our times had not observed, and except GOD prevent it wee are to see worse.
An example whereof both he in the life of Pope Honorius the second setteth down,In chron. Hir. Sangiensi. as also the Abbot Tritemius in his Chronicle, Platina telleth us thus, That one Arnolphus, Christianae religionis praedicator egregius, Plat. in vita Honorii 2.that is a notable preacher of the Christian religion, whom (sayth he) many of the Roman Nobilitie did follow as a true disciple of CHRIST, and as a Prophet, was killed by the Cleargie at Rome, Quia acerbe nimium in eorum lasciviam & libidinem inveheretur, & quia eorum pompam & in comparandis divitiis nimium studium improbaret, &c. Hunc laudibus ad Coelum tollebant, hinc odium, hinc irae, in perniciem bene sentientis usque ad necem excitatae. That is, because he vehementlie enveyed against their voluptuousnes & lusts, and because hee reproved their pride and their too great care to gather riches, whō the Roman Nobilitie extolleth therefore with praises to the very heavens, but hence was the Cleargies hatred against him, hence was their wrath stirred up against him, who did rightlie think of these thinges (sayth he) even to the very murthering of him.
The like may be said of that famous Ierome of Sauanarola, whom for the same cause thy burned in ashes, as is said of him. Periit ignivomis Sa…anarola rogis. Hence it is also that Michaell Cecaenas (aboue 400 yeares ago) Generall of the gray Friers, or order of S. Francis, in his book, Contra tyrannidem Papae complayneth, That there were two Churches, the one of the wicked, which then flowrished, & over which the Pope doth raigne (sayeth hee) and the other of godlie and good men which the Pope (sayeth he) doth persecute. which made likewise that forecited worshipfull Esquyre and famous Poët in his time Chaucer to speak thus of the Pope and his Cleargie.Chaucer in his ploughmans Tale.
Were CHRIST on the earth eftsoone,
These would damne Him to die,
All his hestes they hauehave foregone
And sayes hi… Lawes beene H…resie,
And against his commands they cry
And damne all His to be hrend,
For it lyks not them such lose…grie
GOD Almightie them amend.
Whence it is likewise that the forecited Arch bishope of SALISBURG Eberhardus in his oration before the imperiall meeting at Reinsburg, anno 1246. Said of the Pope avowedlie, VnderUnder the tytle of High Priest and chief Pastor (sayeth hee) except we be blind, Aventin· annal. l. 7. p. 547.wee may see a most cruell devouring Wolffe.
And yet no marvell that they were so cruell against the faythfull witnesses of CHRIST in former times, who opposed them, (as wee see foreprophecied, Revel 11.7.) When they were so cruell each one against another, as Platina witnesseth in the life of Sergius the third, who tooke the dead carkise of his Predecessour Formosus out of the graue, and as he had beene alive beheaded him, and thereafter did cast the trunck o… his body into Tyber, whereupon sayeth Platina, See how farre the Popes did degener from their Predecessours, who being most holy men and giving themselves to prayer, and preaching of Christian doctrine refused any such dignitie when it was offered, but these (sayth hee) hunting after the Popdome by Simonie and ambition, and having so attayned therto, misregarding all worship of GOD, Inimieitias non secus ac sevissimi quidam Tyranni inter se exercebant. That is, They did exercise hatred & crueltie one against another amongst themselves, no lesse than the most cruell Tyrants that ever were, (sayeth hee)
What bloodie warres likewise they stirred up thorow all Christendome, that Noble Roman Vall… as the Abbot Tritemius calleth him, telleth us in his treatise of Constantins counterfite donation▪ in the end thereof: saying, Papa & ipse bella pacatis populi… infert, & inter civitates & principes bella & discordias serit that is, The Pope both warreth himself against peaceable people, and soweth discord & warres amongst cities and princes, wherupon hee (about the middle) exclameth thus. O Romani Pontifices …xemplum facinorum omnium caeteris Pontificibus, O improbissimi Scribae & Pharisei qui sede…is super cathedram Moysi, & opera Dathan & Ahiron facitis. That is, O ye Bishops of Rome who are an example of all most wicked crymes to all other Bishops, O most wicked Scribes and Pharisees who sitteth in Moyses chayre, and yet doeth the works of Dathan and Abiron. The instance of the trueth whereof may be seene in that Tragicall Historie betweene the Emperour Frederick the second and Gregorie the nynth, set down trulie and impartially by Pandolphus an Italian & Romanist, concerning which (sayeth that author) When I consider with my self that CHRIST (whose vicars the Roman B…shops boasteth themselves to bee) said to his disciples that they should follow Him, and imitate his example as their Master and Teacher, and commanded them further that they should not draw the sword, but put it up in the sheath, &c. And when I compare the Bishops of Rome, how neere they follow Him whose vicars they say they are, & considereth so many and great conspiracies, treasons: & rebellions stirred up by them. &c. And when I meditate with my self the destruction of so many great and famous Cities, the subversion of such Common-Wealthes, the slaughter of so many men, and effusion of so much Christiā blood. &c. I am perswaded with my self to think and believe that to bee true (sayeth hee) which Aeneas Sylvius writteth in his historie of Austria, that there is no great and notable destruction, no notorious & speciall calamitie that hath hapned either to the Common-Wealth, or to the Church of GOD, whereof the Bishops of Rome hauehave not beene the authors.
And as for the Popes crueltie against the poore Waldenses the author of Fasciculus temporum, a charter mo…k, telleth us in the life of Innocent the third, that an hundreth thousand of them wer partlie s…ayne, and partlie put to flight by the Earle of Montferrat the Popes Generall, of whom their own Reynerus testifyth,L. contra… Wald. c. 4 That they lived before men both piouslie and justlie, and helieved all things rightlie concerning GOD, and the articles of the Creed, onelie that they hated and spake evill of the Church of Rome, calling her the malignant Church, and that whoore spoken of in the Revelation, and which sort of people (sayeth hee) are thought to hauehave continued from the very Apostles times, and were spread abroad in all places, for (as Yhuanus telleth us in the preface of the Historie of his time) being overcome by armes, they fled for refuge, some into the countrey of Provence and to the Alpes bordering upon France, and found in thes… places refuge for their lives & doctrine, a part also went into Calabria & continued there long (sayth …e) till the time of Pius the fourth, a part passed also into Germanie, and dwelt amongst the Bohemians, some also went to Pole and Liue-land, and others turning Westward (sayeth hee) found refuge in Britane.
A notable example of which bloodie crueltie against the remainder of these Waldenses, Lib. 2. p. 119.Wee reade in the historie of the councell of Trent. anno 1545. While that bloodie councell was sitting, who inhabiting the Alpes of Provence were suddenlie and unexpectedlie persued by the President of the Parliament of Aix, Who neyther having Weapons, nor thought otherwise than by flight to defend thēselves, al such who could not flie, but stood to their merciemercy, without sparing old or young, of what age or condition soever, they slew above 4000. persōs who without making defence begged for merciemercy, & razed the Countreyes of Cabriers in Provence and Merindoll, in the Countie of Viinoifin; wherein they formerlie had their abode.
From which time of that bloodie crueltie against the Waldenses, what also hath beene likewise used against Iohn Huss & Ierom of Prague, and these who after thē they called Hussits in BOHEMIA, & Lollards in ENGLAND; The Historie of the councell of CONTSANCE, and of the BOHEMIAN warres by the Emperour Sigismund and the popes Emissaries, writen by Aeneas Sylviꝰ afterward Pope. As also the annalls of ENGLAND, can testifie, and tho the exact number of them bee not set down who suffered death & torments for the Trueth in severall places, yet it is certane that in lesse than 300. yeares, their number farre exceeded thē who suffered in the times of of the ten Heathen persecutions.L. 8. Demōnst. 34. As Sanders the priest maketh mention in his book of the Churches visible Monarchie. AND from the rysing of the Iesuits to the year 1580. which was little more to that time nor 30 yeares, Baldwin de A…christo counteth almost nyne houndreth thousand to hauehave beene put to death.C. 6. nuus. 42. The Duke of Alva likewise used to glorie that in few yeares in the Low-countreys hee had cut off 36000. Hugenots, as Iunius likewise and Tilenus testifie.Iunius & Tilē. cont. Bell. l. 3. de pont. c. 7. Paulus Vargerius also a Roman Bishope (who best knew the same) testifieth that in the inquisition in the space of 30. yeares, 150000. were destroyed, as Downam of the Antichrist showeth.
The Author likewise of the Historie of the Councell of Trent, Lib. 5. p. 413.declareth that at Pope Paull the fourth his instigation, and by the great perswasion of the Cardinall of Loraine for the French, and of Granuell Bishope of Arras for the Spaniards, in a very short time, before the yeare 1558. 50000. were executed for religion by the hand of the Hangman in the Low-countreyes, besids these huge multituds that suffered in France in the raigne of Henrie the second, and his son Francis, who succeeded aswell in his Fathers crueltie: as in his kingdome, and who having appoynted the Inquisitor Antonius Democares to discover them of the religion, by the instigation of George Cardinall of Armignac destroyed in Paris Poytou, Tholouse and Aix of PROVENCE, and other places so great a number as could scarce be counted, and for discoverie of such they caused the pict ure of the Virgine MARIE, and of saints to bee placed in every corner of PARIS, and throughout all FRANCE, and men to stand by them▪ with little boxes to ask almes for buying waxe candles to bee burnt before them, and whosoever refused to give, or bowed not to these images in passing by, was taken for a Hugenot & committed to prison, what crueltie was used likewise by Philip the 2. in Spayne against Iohannes▪ Pontius Count of Bayleno who with a preacher and many of the Colledge of S. Isidor, wer burnt as Heretiks, may be seen in the forenamed Historie of the Councell of Trent, Lib. 5. p. 417.also against Constantius Pontius confessor to Charles the 5. and 13 Noblemē. and 28 of the prime Nobilitie of Valladolid who were burnt in his presence, all done by thy Popes instigation.
As also that bloodie decree of Charles the 9. king of FRANCE in Iuly 1562. by the Parliament of Paris is not to be omitted, wherby it was decreed that it should be lawfull to slay all the Hugenots, which by publick order was read every sunday in every parish Church declaring them Rebells, publick enemies, infamous, and all their posteritie, and their goods confiscate. Hist. of the Councell of Trent, LIB. 7. p. 648.
I omitt the particularizing of the bloodie warres of Germanie, in the time of Charles the fift Emperour, recorded by Sleidan. The bloodie persecution likewise of queene Marie in ENGLAND, which the book of Martyrs reporteth▪ L 52. hist. …. 1001.That never enough detestable massacre of Paris also; wherein as Thuanus witnesseth were killed 30000 protestants and aboue. The intended crueltie inlikemanner of that Spanish Armado, anno 1588. The Gun-powder Treason of England likewise. The bloodie warres and of long continuance in Germanie of late, and the Rebellion also and cruell massacre of protestants in Ireland, all stirred up by the Pope, and plotted by his Conclave at Rome.
So that justlie it may be said, as Revel. 18.24. That in Her was found the blood of the LORDS Prophets, and of his Saints, and of all that hauehave beene slayne upon the earth.