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But this charge was now so general, and SERMON sounded so high, that it reached the ears of others, besides prelates, and churchmen. Historians relate, that it made an impression on our military king, Richard I.; who, being at Messina in Sicily, in his way to the Holy Land, and hearing much of the learned Abbot Joachim of Calabria, (a man, famous in those times for his warm invectives against the Roman hierarchy;) had the curiosity to take a lecture from him on this subject. His text was, Antichrist, and the Apocalypse; which he explained in so pointed and forcible a manner, as was much to the satisfaction, we are told, of his royal auditor t.

6. The first appearance of the people, called Waldenses or Albigenses, was in this age;

t CAVE, H. L. v. ii. p. 278. ROG. DE HOVEDEN, ANNAL. Pars Post. p. 681. Ed. Franc. 1601.—In this age [XIIth], was composed a very remarkable tract on the subject of Antichrist, which may be seen in Mede's Works, p. 721.-Mr. Mede supposes, and seems indeed to have proved, that the true doctrine of Antichrist was, and was intended to be, a mystery, or secret, till the 12th century. Whence it follows that the testimonies, hitherto alledged, are only passionate or declamatory exaggerations, or to be esteemed, as he says, pro parabolicè et xár' av now dictis, declamatorum more. Works, p. 722.

I admit the truth of the observation: but hold, that the

SERMON but, in the next, the XIIIth century, they

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prevailed to that degree, that Crusades and Inquisitions were thought little enough to be employed against them. We may know what the guilt of this people was, when we understand from their books, and from the testimony of the great historian, Thuanus, that a leading principle of their heresy was, To treat the Pope as Antichrist; and the church of Rome, as Babylon; on the authority of the prophecies contained in the Revelation ".

use of the deduction, here made, is not in the least affected
by it. For my purpose in giving this catalogue of wit-
nesses to the doctrine of Antichrist, was not to justify that
doctrine, in the true, that is, Protestant sense of it (for
then, not only the preceding testimonies, but even some
of the following, would have been omitted) but merely to
shew that the general, at least, and confused idea of some
such doctrine did, in fact, subsist in the ancient Christian
church. That what idea they had of this doctrine was
founded on the prophecies, is clear from the terms in which
they express themselves. And, though the doctrine itself
was very imperfectly conceived, and inconsequentially ap-
plied by them, still their language shews that they had
some notion of a corrupt spiritual power,
which was,
their sense of the prophets, to domineer in the church of
Rome: whence I draw this conclusion (for the sake of
which, this whole deduction is made), That the present
application of the prophecies concerning Antichrist to
papal Rome, is not wholly new and unauthorized; as the
prejudice, I am here combating, supposeth it to be.

in

u VITRINGA in Apoc. p. 747. Amst. 1719. ÜSSER,

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Other testimonies occur in the history of SERMON this age. But I must not omit that of our famous historian, Matthew Paris; who hath taken care to inform us, that his contemporary, Robert Grostête, Bishop of Lincoln, the most considerable of all the English bishops, and equally renowned for his affection to civil and religious liberty, was so much in earnest in fixing this charge on the see of Rome, that, as it had been the common theme of his medita

De Eccl. succ. & stat. c. 6 and 8. THUANUS, 1. vi. s. 16. vol. i. p. 221. Ed. Buckley.

v See, especially, the famous speech of Everhard, bishop of Saltzbourg, at the assembly of Ratisbonne, in the time of Gregory the IXth; inserted at large in Aventinus, Ann. Poior. 1. vii. p. 684. The following extracts from it will be thought curious. Hildebrandus ante annos centum atque septuaginta primus specie religionis Antichristi imperii fundamenta jecit. p. 684.

Flamines illi Babylonice [meaning the Bishops of Rome] soli regnare cupiunt, ferre parem non possunt, non desistent donec omnia pedibus suis conculcaverint, atque in templo Dei sedeant, extollanturque supra omne id, quod colitur. Ib.

Nova consilia sub pectore volutat, ut proprium sibi constituat imperium, leges commutat, suas sancit; contaminat, diripit, spoliat, fraudat, occidit, perditus homo ille (quem Antichristum vocure solent) in cujus fronte contumeliæ nomen scriptum est, "Deus sum, errare non possum," in templo Dei sedet, longè latéque dominatur. Ib.

Decem Cornua

- Reges decem pariter existunt· Cornuque parvulum-Quid hâc prophetia apertius? p. 685.

SERMON
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tions during life, so it occupied his dying moments; the Pope, and Antichrist, being, as he tells us, among the last words of this zealous prelate ".

7. The XIVth century affords many authorities in point; among which the immortal names of Dante and Petrarchy are commonly

w MATTH. PARIS, ad ann. 1253. p. 874. ed. Watts, 1640. x Purgat. 32.

y Epistolarum sine titulo Liber. Ep. xvi. p. 130. Basil, 1581.- Many strokes in this epistle are, to the last degree, severe and caustic. Addressing himself to Rome, " Illa equidem ipsa es, says he, quam in spiritu sacer vidit Evangelista. Populi et gentes et lingua, aquæ sunt super quas meretrix sedes; recognosce habitum. Mulier circumdata purpurâ, et coccino, et inaurata auro, et lapide pretioso, et margaritis, habens poculum aureum in manu suâ, plenum abominatione et immunditiâ fornicationis ejus.- Audi reliqua. Et vidi (inquit) mulierem ebriam de sanguine sanctorum, et de sanguine martyrum Jesu. Quid siles?"—And so goes on to apply the prophecies of the Revelation to the church of Rome, in terms that furnish out a good comment on the famous verse in one of his poems

Gia Roma, hor Babylonia false è ria

Numberless passages in the writings of Petrarch speak of Rome, under the name of Babylon. But an equal stress is not to be laid on all of these. It should be remembered, that the Popes, in Petrarch's time, resided at Avignon; greatly to the disparagement of themselves, as he thought,

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cited. But the example of our Wicklif, who SERMON adorned that age, is most to our purpose, and may excuse the mention of any other. This extraordinary man saw far into all the abuses of his time: but he had nothing more at heart, than to expose the Antichristianism of the Roman Pontif.

8. Still, as the times grew more enlightened, the controversy concerning Antichrist became more general and important. The writings of

and especially of Rome; of which this singular man was little less than idolatrous. The situation of the place, surrounded by waters, and his splenetic concern for the exiled Church (for under this idea, he painted to himself the Pope's migration to the banks of Avignon) brought to his mind the condition of the Jewish church in the Babylonian captivity. And this parallel was all, perhaps, that he meant to insinuate in most of those passages. But, when he applies the prophecies to Rome, as to the Apocalyptic Babylon (as he clearly does in the epistle under consideration) his meaning is not equivocal: and we do him but justice to give him an honourable place among the TESTES VERITATIS.

z See the catalogue of his works in Cave's Hist. Lit. vol. ii. App. p. 63; in which is the following book of Dialogues. Dialogorum libri quatuor; quorum-quartus Romanæ Ecclesiæ sacramenta, ejus pestiferam vocationem, ANTICHRISTI REGNUM, fratrum fraudulentam originem atque eorum hypocrisim, variaque nostro ævo scitu dignissima, perstringit,