A35689:697
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…
The ruin of Rome, or, An exposition upon the whole Revelation wherein is plainly showed and proved that the popish religion, together with all the power and authority of Rome, shall ebb and decay ... written especially for the comfort of Protestants and the daunting of papists ... / published by Arthur Dent ; to which is added an epitome of Reverend Mr. Brightman his Exposition upon the Revelation.The ruine of Rome, or, An exposition upon the whole Revelation wherein is plainly shewed and proved that the popish religion, together with all the power and authority of Rome, shall ebbe and decay ... written especially for the comfort of Protestants and the danting of papists ... / published by Authur Dent ; to which is added an epitome of Reverend Mr. Brightman his Exposition upon the Revelation.
London: printed by T.H. and I.Y. for Jo. Waterson, 1644
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But behold yet a stronger and plainer proof. For Saint John saith,1 A mighty Angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, With such a violence shall that great city Babylon be cast down, and shall be found no more. All men know, that old ⟨p. 308⟩Babylon in Chaldea was destroyed by the Medes and Persians long before Saint John wrote this book; and therefore that is not here meant: but the new Babylon, which is Rome, as before hath been proved. The phrases of speech, and the signs which the Prophets used to declare the destruction and desolation of old Babylon, are here alluded unto the destruction of Rome. For we read in the Prophecy of Jeremiah, that the Prophet having written in a book all the evil that should come upon Babel, for holding Gods people so long in most miserable captivity,2 said to Serajah, When thou comest unto Babel, thou shalt read all these words, and when thou hast made an end of reading this book, thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the middest of Euphrates, and shalt say, Thus shall Babel be drowned, and shall not rise up from the evil that I will bring upon her, although they weary themselves. Now let us consider how this agreeth with the same which is here set down, and we shall find, that all things are here set down with greater force to express, as it were, a deeper vengeance, and a more heavy (and unrecoverable destruction.) First, there is a man; here is a mighty Angel: there the ⟨p. 309⟩man taketh up a stone; here the Angel taketh up a great stone like a mil-stone: there the stone is cast into the river; here into the deep sea. All these circumstances being applied to Rome, do greatly aggravate the matter, and very plainly show, that it shall fall without all hope of recovery.3 For the Lord declareth by this forcible sign of casting a mil-stone into the sea, that the city and kingdom of Antichrist shall be cast deep down into perdition, and shall lie overwhelmed and drowned in the same for ever.
But behold yet a stronger and plainer proofe. For Saint John saith,