Antichrist Unhooded.
Preface Monitory.
THou Antichrist, thou Babylon the Great,
Whose Magnitude is founded on a Cheat;
Thou Armed Beast, with Horns no less than Ten,
Wherewith thou ruinest the sons of men:
Thou whom the Scripture calls a Mystery
(Not of the Truth, but) of Iniquity.
Thou Scarlet Whore, thou wicked Man of Sin,
That think'st thy Judgment never will begin:
Look in this Glass, behold thine ugly hue,
Common to all the Antichristian Crew.
Now to my work: these Titles I'le explain;
And you must know, th' are given not in vain:
In sense and meaning they are not so scant,
As Ceremonies, call'd significant.
Antichrist, under that Appellation.
HE is against Christ, also in his stead,
[...] Gr. Against, for instead of.
And on Christ's Body sets his Beastly Head:
Against him as a Prophet, Priest and Lord,
Against him in his People, Wayes and Word;
There is nothing 'gainst which he hath a spleen,
Like such wherein Christ's Image may be seen.
A holy Church, compos'd of these two Evils,
Christ's Picture banisht, and imbrac'd the Devils.
For Praising Saints, a sort of Bawling Sinners,
In Holiness who never were beginners.
An idle Idol-Shepherd for a Pastor,
For Minister, [well construed] Lord and Master.
For humble Paul, my Lord Arch Bishops Grace
In th'abstract, it is chained to his place.
Linnen and Wollen of a Sacred dye
Is put for Holiness, and I know why:
Such Holiness doth Antichrist best please,
Because it is put on and off with ease:
For Church, the Clergy, or a heap of Stones,
The lively Emblem of such lifeless Droans.
For Cup, the Chalice, Altar for the Table;
And all to turn the Truth into a Fable.
Now who but Idiots will not think it strange,
That Christ should hold his own in such a change?
His Church thus furnisht, you may safely swear
He's metamorphos'd, if you find him there.
Babylon the Great.
GReat Babylon,
From [...] to confound.
whose name implies Confusion,His decent Order bears the same conclusion.
A His Organ piping, bawling, canting Chanters,
A A man would think him got among the Ranters:
A Now they look one way, then they face about,
A And so Religion's faln into a rout.
B He Babylon is call'd, for his Oppression
B Of all that don't subscribe to his profession.
B BABYLONS Cruelty he doth exceed,
B In making Bodies and their Souls to bleed:
B Yet if you please, come under his subjection
B The benefit you I have of his protection:
B But when the Holy Watcher makes a fall,
B Then down comes Babylon the Great, and all
B His Champions, Limbs, and flatr'ers, helter skelter,
B Confounded and asham'd of such a shelter.
C 'Tis Babylon the Great, that doth include,
C Like th'other Babylon, a Multitude;
C And so 'tis Catholick in likelihood;
C But seldom go together Great and Good.
Beast with ten Horns.
A But why such Leanred men are call'd the Beast,
A This seems more mystical than all the rest.
A Yet pause a while, and see the matter try'd,
A You'l say the Man-like-Beast is not bely'd.
b A nasty filthy Beast he is I tro;
b There's not such filth, but down with him 'twil go.
b Corruptions Sipiritual are no Offences,
b For he perceives not but by carnal sences.
b A nasty filthy soul, that makes no matter,
b So he can clense the outside of the Platter;
b Yet if the outside in the dirt do fall,
b A holy Garment serves to cover all.
b Now guess, I pray you, what this Beast doth mean;
b Not a Beast only, but a Beast unclean.
c A greedy Beast, for's belly he doth plod,
c The Beast hath reason for't, it is his God:
c What is too precious for his belly then?
c The bodies? No, nor yet the souls of men.
Ten Horns.
d These are his Ornaments that make him brave,
d And whilst he wears them, who dares cal him knave?
d But if his Dictates one should say he scorns,
d He'l teach him better manners with his Horns.
d A Horn must serve to pour them down by force,
d And so poor man is served like a Horse.
d Yet he's concluded, and by all agreed,
d Without his Horns a silly Beast indeed.
Mystery of Iniquity.
A Mystery! 'tis somewhat like a Trade,
But that's mechanick, and doth much degrade
Those sublime souls fixt in a heav'nly Sphear
So high, you need good eyes to spie them there.
But if you doubt their earthly, dirty dealing,
Put out your eyes, you'l find it by the feeling.
What means the greatness of his Holiness,
And others, who then Popes are little less?
These sell by whole-sale to the petty Clerks
(Whose swallows are as wide as any Sharks)
A flock of Folk, in number more or less,
From a poor Cure to a Diocess:
To some, one Living, and to others ten,
To trade themselves, or by their Journy-men;
But not a Living goes without a Bribe;
'Tis vain to plead, Sir I am of your Tribe.
Yet he that can but reade a Prayer-Book
May catch a Living with a Silver hook.
The retail Clergy being at this cost,
Their Trade must be improved to the most,
And screwed up unto the highest peg,
Of all their Tithe they'l bate you not an Egg;
Besides your cost for every petty chare,
A Christning, Burial, or a Churching-Prayer:
Yet what they sell to you they'l still retain,
A thousand times you'l have the same again.
To pay for one thing twice, is no fair play,
But the Sun shines, and they will make their Hay:
If this won't serve to stuff their stretched skins,
They'l help to fill them with the Peoples sins;
Sins against God come not within their lurch,
But heinous sins, which are against the Church,
Whose Officers as busie are as Bees,
To suck from thence the honey of their Fees.
Such Remedies will cure any Fall;
They've learn'd that Proverb, Money answers all.
But to contemn the Church, that is an evil,
Deserves a plague no less than Take him Devil.
Stretch out your Purse, & she'l stretch out her Arm,
Make Satan redeliver without harm.
Antichrists Church mysterious was of old;
'Tis still a Doubt his Doctors can't unfold:
Some say the Pope, with's Cardinals say others,
Who are the Conclave, and conjunct as brothers:
Some say the Council [...] she;
Others, the Clergy total it mu [...] [...]
The Church [...]tional another [...]es?
The Roman Catholick will swear he lies.
Well shot of all, yet all the Mark do miss,
That seek it any where, but where it is:
And till the Church is known, he's very quick,
That can tell who is the true Schismatick.
And like her self, in Mystery she is drest;
(A fashion of a general request,
With all the Kindred of the Romish Whore,
By which you'l know them, if I say no more.)
With Crossier, Mitre, and the Fryars weeds,
The Staff Pastoral, and the mumbling Beads;
The Rocket, Tippit, Cassock, Cope and Hood,
Lawn sleeves and Surplice, more if you think good.
A Sacred Girdle binds them all together,
Of finer stuff than was John Baptists Leather.
These Mysteries set forth Religious men,
But to the rest, they are not one of ten;
Yet all ordained are to signifie
Some Truth or Falshood in a Mysterie.
The WHORE.
A Subtil Whore, a Whore of Impudence,
Whose brazen Forehead is her best defence.
A gaudy Whore, her out-side is her best,
Strip her of that, and [...] is all the rest.
A deep-dy'd Who [...] [...]o his than Scarlet red,
Her Garmen [...] [...] are dip [...] [...] bloo [...]
Yet call her Whore, & she shall [...] rotectors,
The Horns o'th Beast wil take her part like Hectors.
A Spotted Whore, and of her spots she's proud;
Against all purity she's sworn and vow'd.
A flattring Whore, do but her lusts fulfill,
She'l say both what, and when, and how you will.
A Common Whore, for all men she hath room,
But those that hate and will not at her come.
A Whore contagious, I dare avouch her,
You'l be infected if you do but touch her.
A fruitful Whore, a thing that's very rare,
The World's half fill'd with Harlots she did bear.
And though like Whores they scold one at another,
They are as like as Daughter and the Mother.
You need not then go seek the Whore at Rome,
These Spectacles will find her nearer home.
The Man of Sin.
THe premises my pains have saved here,
Two lines sufficiently bring up the Rear;
He is a Man, but of all men the worst,
Made up of Sin, and above all men curst.
FINIS.