The ruin of Rome, or, An exposition upon the whole Revelation wherein is plainly…The ruine of Rome, or, An exposition upon the whole Revelation wherein is plainly…

This being then granted, that Babylon here is Rome; it followeth, that Rome shall fall: for the holy Ghost saith, Babylon is fallen, speaking in the present tense, as the manner of the Scripture is in prophesying of things to come. For whatsoever God hath determined to come to pass, is, as it were already done, because of the certainty of it: and for this cause also the word is doubled: It is fallen, ¹it is fallen. We see then most clearly, that almost 1500 years before Rome began to fall, the certain fall thereof was fore-told. This place it self is clear enough to prove my second point, which is, That Rome shall fall. But my purpose is to reduce and gather all the five chapters following to certain heads, to prove the main points which I have propounded: first then I reason ⟨p. 285⟩thus to prove the second point, that Rome shall fall: That city and kingdom which hath the seven vials of Gods wrath emptied and poured down upon it, cannot stand, but must needs fall: But Rome is that city, which hath the seven vials of Gods wrath poured down upon it: Therefore Rome cannot stand long, but must needs fall. The proposition is manifest, and not to be denied. The assumption is proved throughout all the sixteenth chapter, and especially in the tenth and second verses; in the tenth verse the vials of Gods wrath are expressly said to be poured down upon the throne of the beast: and in the second verse of that chapter it is avouched, that the second vial was poured down upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped her image. How then can the throne of the beast hold out? or how can they which have received the beasts mark stand up long? For there is a great emphasis or vehemency in the manner of speech. For he doth not simply say, the wrath of God;² but the fullness of Gods wrath: he doth not say, should be a little sprinkled; but poured down as it were by pail-fulls upon the kingdom of the beast. How then can the kingdom of the beast ⟨p. 286⟩stand, which hath so many great Ordnance, and so many double Canons discharged and shot off against it? Surely it must needs fall.

This being then granted, that Babylon here is Rome; it followeth, that Rome shall fall: for the holy Ghost saith, Babylon is fallen, speaking in the present tense, as the manner of the Scripture is in prophesying of things to come. For whatsoever God hath determined to come to passe, is, as it were already done, because of the certainty of it: and for this cause also the word is doubled: It is fallen,