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…

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 show that Babylon is fallen, and that Babylon doth fall by degrees? It is very palpable, we need no further proof for this second point. But here we are further to observe, that the Jesuits, perceiving the great decay of Rome, and the continual drying of their Euphrates, do bestir them to stop the leak,¹ 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 ⟨p. 291⟩Jesuits, perceiving the waters of their Romish Euphrates to impair 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 Prophecy: where S. John in a vision seeth three unclean spirits like frogs, ²coming 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 Jesuits and seminary Priests,³ which are compared to frogs for three reasons: First, that as frogs delight in filthy lakes and puddles; so the Jesuits delight in the filthy puddles of idolatry and superstition. Secondly, as frogs make a great croaking in their marish grounds; so the Jesuits make a great croaking in kings Courts, in Noblemen's houses, and Gentlemen's houses and almost every where, where they can get any entertainment, croaking and cracking of the Popes supremacy, the Popes holiness, the Popes blessing, the ⟨p. 292⟩Popes keys, 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 Jesuits are all of one mind and disposition in evil, croaking every where to maintain their Euphrates, and living daily in whoredom, Sodomitry, and all kind of outrageous beastliness.