Antichrist the Pope of Rome, Treatise 3 · Question 7
7. Queſtion. Touching the deſtruction of Antichriſt.
As the Romiſh Doctors ſet forth the birth of Antichriſt, with variety of inuentions: ſo do they alſo his death and deſtruction.Remondus cap. 50. Remondus painteth him out after a marueilous faſhion, falling backward at the voyce of Chriſt, deſcending from heauen with the ſame Croſſe in his hand, whereupon he was crucified. And afterward, better aduiſing himſelfe, he attributeth this diſcomfiture not to the voyce of Chriſt, but to S. Michael. cap. 51.The eld…ſt of the Angels (ſaith he) the chiefe Captaine and Colonel of the Armies of Ieſus Chriſt, who ſhall ſerue vnderunder his name of Michael, as a watch-word in this battell againſt Antichriſt, and ſhall ſlay him with his hand, for which cauſe the Apoſtle ſaith (theſe are Remonds owne words) that God ſhall ſlay him with the Spirit of his mouth: that is to ſay, according to the opinion of our Maiſters, Ieſus Chriſt ſhall truly ſlay Antichriſt by authority: But S. Michael ſhall kill him with his hand, as his Miniſter and Executioner. Eſay. 11.4.Eſay prophecied long agoe hereof, when he ſaith, That he …hall ſmite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the Spirit of his lips ſhall he ſlay the wicked. But what an abſurd conſequence is this? Chriſt ſhall ſlay the wicked with …e Spirit of his lips, Ergo, he ſhall ſlay him by his miniſter … Michael. The contrary is rather true, he ſhall ſlay him …ith the ſpirit of his lips, therefore not by S. Michael. If …ou vnderſtand not by S. Michael, him of whom mention … made in Daniel, to wit, the Sonne of God himſelfe, who …s indeed the true Michael: for who is there that can be named equall vntounto God, but he alone? Who being in the …orme of God, thought it no robbery to be equall vntounto God, Phil. 2.6.
Bellarmine proſecuting his ſext demonſtration,Bel. de Pont. R…m. lib. 3. cap. 9. wherein …he laboureth to demonſtrate that Antichriſt is not yet come, induceth many paſſages of Scripture, to proue and verifie, that the end of the world ſhall follow incontinently after the deſtruction of Antichriſt: wherein this is moſt remarkable, that albeit he produceth that ſpeech of the Apoſtle, 2. Theſſ. 2.8. The Lord ſhall conſume him with the ſpirit of his mouth, and aboliſh him with the brightneſſe of his comming: neuertheleſſe, he affirmeth that Chriſt our Lord ſhall not come, till forty fiue daies after the death of Antichriſt: with whom accordeth Pererius writing vponupon Daniel: Perer. in Dan. lib. 15.for if Antichriſt muſt be deſtroyed by the ſpirit of Chriſts mouth at his glorious comming; how can it be that he ſhould dye forty fiue daies before the comming of Chriſt? In briefe, not to ſtay longer vponupon this point, we grant vntounto them, that Antichriſt ſhall continue till the end of the world, though effeebled and weakned day by day, by the preaching of the Goſpell; and that his vtter deſtruction ſhall not onelyonly be a little before the end of the world, but together with it. But we deny that his comming into the world, ſhall not precede the end thereof, any more then three yeeres and an halfe, as they would perſwade vsus againſt the authority of the Apoſtles, and the experience of ſo many Ages.
As touching the place where Antichriſt muſt be deſtroyed by the Sonne of God, they ſay it ſhall be vponupon the Mount of Olyues, where he ſhall ſet vp vntounto himſelfe an Altar in the higheſt top of the Mountaine; and for proofe thereof, they alledge this paſſage of the Prophet Daniel. He ſhall place his T…e ancle at A…adno, Remend cap. 49.betweene the two Seas, on the glorious and holy Mountaine, and ſhall aſcend to the top thereof. Which S. I…rome hath interpreted of the Mount of Olyues,Peter, in Dan. lib. 5. and expoundeth this word Apadno his palace. So that the meaning is, that Antichriſt ſhall fix his Tabernacle and his Palace, or Throne, betwixt the two Seas, to wit, the dead Sea, and the Me…iterranean, betwixt which two Seas Ieruſalem is ſituate Thus they But if we marke the ſpeech of the Prophet Daniel, Dan. 11.45.as it lyeth word for word according to the Hebrew truth, tranſlated by Ari…s Montanus, it will make nothing for this purpoſe; theſe be the words. He ſhall plant the Tabernacle of his palace betweene the two Seas in the noble Mountaine. Now the Prophet ſpeaketh of Antiochus, who ſeeing himſelfe aſſayled on the Eaſt ſide, by the Parthian…, and on the North by the Romanes, determined to ſettle his Court in Iudea, for the better taming of the Iewes: by reaſon whereof, he committeth Antiochus his ſonne to Liſias, with a moyety of his forces and Elephants, to the end that he might addreſſe himſelfe againſt Iudea, and deſtroy all the inhabitants thereof, and diuide their Land by lot amongſt ſtrangers: whilſt in the meane while, he himſelfe directed his courſe into Perſia, to receiue the tributes of other Countries. But if any will needs referre this Prophecy to Antichriſt; where can a more expreſſe text be found for the Pope, who hath his ſeate in Rome, betwixt the Tythenian and Adriatick Seas?Remond. cap. 49. And ſo the diſcourſe that Remondus maketh, will not vnfit the purpoſe, that the Father of lyes delighteth alwayes to ſet vp his Idolatries in mountaines: but yet he ſhall ſpend his oyle, and loſe his labour in vaine, in the diſcourſe which he maketh of oyle, and of the Mount of Olyues, to build therein the imaginary Tombe of this Antichriſt.