Critical Apparatus for this Page
Commentary on the Text
Names and Places on this Page
Unavailable for this Edition
929 [929]

K. Henry. 7. Prophecies concerning the Turkes and Antichrist.

It foloweth in þe Prophesie: Their power shalbe in their mouthes, and in their tayles. For their tayles be like serpentes hauyng heades, and with them they hurt.  

Commentary   *   Close

Rev. 9:19

&c.MarginaliaApoc. 9. meanyng that these Turkes with the woordes of their mouthes, shall threaten great destructiō of fire and sword, to them that will not yelde vnto them: and in the end, when the Christians shall yelde vnto them, trustyng to their promises, they, like serpentes, shall deceaue them in the end, and kill them, as appeareth by the story of the Turkes aboue past, pag. 895. 893. 892. &c.

[Back to Top]

The lyke Prophesie also after the lyke woordes and sense, is to be sene and read in the. 16. chap. of the Apoc. MarginaliaApoc. cap. 16.Where S. Iohn entreatyng of seuen cuppes filled with the wrath of the lyuing God, geuen to the handes of vij. Augels, MarginaliaThe 4. beastes in the Apocalips meane the 4. monarchies.by one of þe foure beastes (that is in the time of one of the iiij. monarchies, which was the monarchie of Rome) speaketh lykewise of þe sixt aungell, which poured his viale of Gods wrath vpon the great ryuer Euphrates, and the waters therof dryed vp, that the waye of the kinges of the East should be prepared.  

Commentary   *   Close

Rev. 16:12

&c.

[Back to Top]

By the sixte Aungell with the sixt viall, is ment as before, the last plage, saue one, that shall come vpō the Christians. MarginaliaThe kinges of the East.By the kinges of the East, are ment the Saracenes and xij. Ottoman Turkes. MarginaliaDrying vp of Euphrates.By dryeng vp of the riuer Euphrates, is signified the waye of these Turkes to be prepared by the Lordes appointment, to come out of the East to the West partes of the world, to molest and afflicte the Christians. It foloweth more in the text. And I saw iij. vncleane spirites lyke frogges, come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false Prophet: for they are the spirites of deuils, doyng wonders, to goe vnto the kinges of the whole earth, to assemble and gather thē together to the battaile, agaynst the day of the great God omnipotent.  

Commentary   *   Close

Rev. 16:13-14.

&c. And it foloweth shortly after: MarginaliaIbid.And he assembled them together into a place which is called in Hebrue, Armagedon, that is, a trappe or trayne of destruction. And immediatly it foloweth in the same place: and the seuenth Aungell poured out hys viall in the ayre: and a mighty voyce came from heauen out of the throne, saying: Factum est. It is done, or finished.  
Commentary   *   Close

Rev. 16:17. Foxe quoting the angel as saying 'factum est' suggests that he was consulting the Vulgate.

&c. Wherby it is to be vnderstand, that toward the last consummatiō of the world, great force shall be sene, and a mighty armie of the enemies shalbe collected and gathered agaynst the people and sanctes of the hyghest, and then commeth the consummation, with Factum est. &c.

[Back to Top]

MarginaliaApoc. cap. 16.Wherfore it is not for naught, that the holy spirite of God in the same place, a litle before þe vi. aungell do poure out his viall, doth exhort all the faithfull, saying: MarginaliaAn exhortatiō of the holy ghost, to the faythfull.Beholde I come like a theefe in the night: Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth hys garmentes, lest he walke naked, and men see his filthynes. &c.  

Commentary   *   Close

Rev. 16:15.

[Back to Top]

MarginaliaApoc. cap. 13.Nicol. de Lyra, and Paulus Byshop of Burgens, and Mathias Dorinke, writyng vpō þe xiij. chap. of the Apoc. and expoundyng the mystery of the second beast rysing out of the earth, hauing the hornes of a lambe. &c. do apply the same to Mahumete and the Turkes, with a solemne declaration made vpon the same.  

Commentary   *   Close

The marginal motes made by Paul de Santa Maria, archbishop of Burgos, in a copy of the celebrated 'Postilla' of Nicholas of Lyra, which the arch-bishop sent to his so, were posthumously publuished. These amplifications of Nicholas's work were criticized and largely rejected by Matthias Döring, the provincial of the Franciscans in Saxony. Foxe is drawing this summary of the comments of the three on the identification from Matthias Flacius, Catalogus testium veritatis (Basel, 1562), p. 553.

[Back to Top]
MarginaliaThe prophecie of the Apoc. cap. 13. discussed.Whiche interpretation of theirs, although in some pointes it may seme to haue some appearaunce of probabilitie, neither can it be denied but that Mahumete and the Turke be pestilent and wicked enemies of Christ our Lorde, & most bitter persecutours of his Churche: yet as touchyng the proper & naturall meanyng of the Apostle in that place, speakyng of the false lambe. &c. MarginaliaThe beast hauing hornes like the lambe must needes meane the pope.if we consider well all the circumstances of that beast, & marke the consequence of the text, both of that whiche goeth before, and foloweth after: wee must nedes graunt that Nicol. de Lyra, with his felowes, and with all such like of the popes schole, þt folow that scholie, be deceaued, and that the description and interpretatiō of that falsehorned lābe must necessarely be applyed onely to the Byshop of Rome, and none other: Whiche is to be proued by vi. principall causes or argumentes.

[Back to Top]

MarginaliaThe first reason.The first is, for þt thys beast is described to beare the hornes of a lambe. By the which lambe, no doubt, is mēt Christ. By þe hornes of the lambe is signified þe outwardshew or resemblance of Christ our Sauiour: which shew or resemblance can haue no relation to Mahumete, for that he taketh him self to be aboue Christ, & Christ as an excellent Prophet of God sitting at his feete. MarginaliaEx Bonif. 8. Extr. de Maiorit. et obediēt.Wherfore seyng Mahumete commeth neither as equall to Christ, nor as vicare vnder Christ, this Prophesie can not agree in him, but onely in hym whiche opēly in playne wordes protesteth, that all Christes lambes and shepe not singularly, but vniuersally through the whole world, are committed to hym, as vicare of Christ, and successour of Peter, and that all men must confesse the same of necessitie, or els they are none of Christes shepe. &c. Wherein it is easy to see where the pretensed hornes of the lambe doo growe.  

Commentary   *   Close

Foxe is quoting the passage from Boniface VIII's 1248 collection of canon laws accurately, but he is implying that the pope was claiming secular, as well as spiritual, dominion and this is untrue.

[Back to Top]

MarginaliaThe second reasō.The second argument: And he spake lyke the dragon. &c.  

Commentary   *   Close

Rev. 13:11.

A lambes hornes, and the mouth of a dragon do not agree together. And as they do not agree together in nature, so neither can they be found in any one person, either Turke, or other (if we will iudge truly) so lyuely, as in the Byshop of Rome. When thou hearest hym call hym selfe the Apostolicall Byshop, the vicare of Christ, the successour of Peter, the seruaunt of Gods seruaunts &c. thou seest in hym the ij. hornes of a lambe, and would thinke him to be a lambe in dede, & suche a one as would washe your feete for humilitie: but heare hym speake, and you shall finde him a dragon. See and read the Epistle of Pope Martine the v. aboue mentioned, MarginaliaVid. supr. pag. 679.pag. 769. chargyng, commandyng, and threatnyng Emperours, kynges, dukes, princes, marquesses, earles, barons, knightes, rectours, cōsuls, procōsuls, with their shyers, counties, and vniuersities of their kyngdomes, prouincies, cities, townes, castels, villagies, and other places. See the aunswere of Pope Vrbane 2. and his message to king William Rufus pag. 243. MarginaliaThe pope hath the hornes of a Lambe, but the mouth of a Dragon.Behold the workes and doynges of Pope Innocent agaynst kyng Iohn. Note also the aunswere of an other Pope to the kyng of England, which for the price of the kynges head, would not graunt vnto him the inuestyng of his Byshops. Marke well the woordes and doynges of Pope Hildebrand agaynst the Emperour Henry the fourth, pag. 232. Also of Pope Alexander the 2. treadyng vppon the necke of Fredericus Barbarossa, not lyke a lambe treading vpon a dragon, but lyke a dragon treadyng vppon a lambe: so that hys owne verse myght be turned vpon hym self: Tanq̃ aspis & basiliscus super ouiculam ambulans, & tanq̃ leo & draco conculcans agnum. Consider moreouer the behauiour, maner, condition, and propertie, almost, of all the Popes, whiche haue bene these. 600. yeares: and what dragon or serpent cound be more viperous, then theyr owne doynges and woordes can speake and geue testimonie agaynst them selues.

[Back to Top]

MarginaliaThe thyrde reason.It foloweth moreouer in the same Prophecie of the Apocal, for the thyrde argument: And he doth all the power of the first beast, presently before his face, and causeth the earth and all the inhabitauntes therin, to honour the first beast, the stripe of whose deadly wounde was cured. &c.  

Commentary   *   Close

Rev. 13:12.

[Back to Top]

MarginaliaThe two beastes in the. 13. cap. of the Apocal. expended.In this prophecie ij. thyngs are to be noted: first, what the first beast is, whose power the second beast doth execute. Secondly, what this second beast is whiche so doth exercise his power in his sight. The first of these beastes here in þe Apoc. described, hauyng vij. heades and tenne hornes, must nedes signifie the Citie of Rome, whiche may easely be proued by ij. demonstrations. MarginaliaA descriptiō of the Citie and monarchie of Rome.First by the exposition of þe xvij. chap. of the same Apocal. where is declared and described the sayd beast to stand of vij. hylles, and to conteyne x. kynges, hauyng the whole power of the dragon geuen: and also the same Citie to bee named the whore of Babylon dronken with þe bloud of sainctes. All whiche properties ioyned together, can agree in no wise but onely to the heathē Imperie of Rome: whiche Citie at the tyme of writing these prophesies, had the gouernement of the whole worlde. The second demonstration or euidence, may bee deducted out of the number of the monethes assigned to this beast Apocal. 13. for so it

[Back to Top]
is writ-