A P. S: touchingAntichril . 655 What,(hould the RomanEmpire tie made defolate,whi1e it had a Xing thereof remainingalive? no filch matter, but rather the whore of Rome fhould fleurifh exceedingly, while the thould be carriedon the backof this King -like Beall. Therefore the Roman Empire was not tobe dehroyed,when Antichriff was to come, but it is rather to be marvelloufly preferved,increafed, andamplified, during the time foreappointed by God. Let us therefore underhand that `Parsland Iohn fpeak of the fame impediment, but the Angel doth defcribe it moreexp refly and clearly, by theplace, the dignityof ix, and the number,by which,as by molt plainand trueflgnes we fhould be lead, as it were, by the hand to the very cradle and infancieof Antìchrifi'. Wherefore e/Intichri./l fhould come while the Roman Empire fhouldRand fafeand flourifhing, there was no more to be done,hut that the Emperor fhould yeeld up his place to the 'Pope, and fhould leave himhoufe-room enough aRome toplay Rex in,like that great Leviathan that (ports himfelf in the Ocean. You ground your felf therefore (O Bellarmine) upon as manifeft anerror as the Sun can fee,avhereby it (hall come to paffe, that unleffe you will take heed in time, that whileft you look little for any fuch thing as Anti- chrifl before the totali fubverfion of the Roman Empire, youyour felfihall be oppre(fed and thrown down to Hell by him, beforeyou can perceive thathe is come. Yourfecond propofition is this,that the Empire ofR.omedoth indure till now. Which I grant unto youwithout any oppofition, and that as you now fee, without any detriment to that caufe which I defend. Althowgh you are grofly deceived about the Headofthis Empire, which thing youare tobe informed better in with a fewwords. You think that this dignity is in the power of the Emperor, and fo do I acknowledge it is,as far as a name & a naked title can make an Em.. pero , but as for the Empire it felf, I fay it is belonging to the Pope. For the Roman Kingmuff be the Headof the whore ofRome, which the Emperor is nor, but the Pope himfelf, who maketh the feventll and the eighth Head, as it hathbeen declared, Rev. 17. II. Befides,the Error mots, from the time that the Bead began firft to put forth his Harns, have ferved him wholly, as the kyclation alto declareth ; - faying, they ¡ball give over both theirflrength and their polber to the Bead, and the experience of all ages confirmetla this to he true. For this fervitude of theirs hath proceeded fo far, that they have taken his mark, and have yeelded theOathofFealty tohim, not O000 2 to
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