Antichrist Pointed and Painted Out in His True Colors, Chapter 7
CHAP. VII. Where Antichrist is to bee found; or his place in generall, 2 Thess. 2.4.
HAving thus seene who is Antichrist; Next we are to search and try where hee is, and first His place in generall. 2. in particular. First then as for his place in generall, Paull telleth us,2. Thess. 2▪ 4. That hee shall sit as GOD (pretending to be his Vice-gerent and usurping his power) in the Temple of GOD, by which not any one materiall Temple is to be understood, (as that of IERUSALEM, which the papists fancie tha… Antichrist shall reedifye and which their own Pintus upon ISAIAH 25. …howes shal never be reedifyed.) But the Professour… of the Christiā Name in cōmon ar therby to be understood, which therefore hauehave the name of the Church,So also expoundeth Oecumenius and Theophylact. and Auselmus in 2. Thess 2. sayeth thus, in mē tibꝰ christā nor… quo… seduces, qui fuerūe templ…m Dei. and as we see thē so called, (especiallie these who are truelie Christians.) 1. Cor. 3.16. & Ephes. 2.21. And therefore sayth Chrisostome upon this place. 2 Th…ss 2.4. Sedebit in Templo DEI non eo quod est Hierosolymis, sed in Ecclesiis, That is hee shall sit in the Temple of GOD, not in that which is in IERUSALEM, but in the Churches, and what is meaned by these words of Sitting. Theodoret telleth us, (The Spirit of GOD using the same word that the papists use, speaking of the Pops raigne, saying, Sedittot annos, & calling Rome the Apostolicall Sea or Sedes Apostolica▪) Thus therefore sayeth Theodoret, Templum appellavit Ecclesias i… quibus primam sedem arripiet, That is, the Holie Ghost called the Churches the Temple, in which Antichrist shall usurpe the first seat or primacie. Thus also speaketh Aquinas. Aquin. in 2. Thess. 2 4.Therefore it is expounded (sayth hee) In templo DEI. Idest in Ecclesia, quia multi de Ecclesia eum accipient, vel secundum Augustinum, in templo DEI sedeat, idest, ut principetur & dominetur ta… quam ipse cum suis nunciis sit templū DEI, sicut CHRISTVS est cum suis. That is he shall sit in the temple of GOD, that is in the Church, because many that are of the Church shall receive him, or according to Aug…stin, he sits in the Temple of GOD, that is, the Prince or Monareh thereof, and hath Dominion therein, as if hee with his Cleargie were the church of GOD, as CHRIST is with His followers; So likewise speaketh the ordinar glosse and Lyra upon this place, & the expresse words of Augustin are these Rectius putant latine dici, Aug. De civi…. D…i, l. 20 c. 19.sicut in graeco est. Non in Templo DEI, sed in Templū DEI sedeat, tanquam ipse sit Templum DEI quod est Ecclesia, sicut dicimus, sedit in amicum, idest, ut Amicus. That is, they think that more rightly it may bee said in the latin, as it is in the greeke, not in the Temple of GOD, but that Antichrist should sit as the Temple of GOD, that is, as if he were the Temple of GOD, which is his Church. Even as we say, hee sits for a Friend, that is as if hee were a friend, and (which tytle of the Church) we see that that the Pops parasits giveth unto him, calling him the Virtuall Church wherein onelie is infallibilitie.Rad. Canonicꝰ frifingensis l. 2. c. 51. &c. Whereupon Radevicus a Roman channon, speaking of Pope Victor 2. sayeth thus, Ipse Antichristi tempora prafigurans, usque adeo erectus est supra se, vt in Templo DEI sederit, ostendens se tanquam sit DEVS, & multi abominationem desolationis stantem in loco sancto, non sine multa lachrymarum effusione corporis oculis inspexerunt. That is, he prefiguring the tyme of Antichrist, was so farre exalted aboue himself, as that hee did sit in the Temple of GOD, showing himself as if he were GOD, and many did behold this abhomination of desolation standing in the Holie place, not without much effusion of tears, & which sitting of Antichrist as the vicar of Christ in the Church, (whose horns he resembleth, by a deceiveablenesse of unrighteousnes) did so seduce simple and unsound Christians, that except by the Scriptures, hee could never otherwise bee knowne, nor his Dragon mouth perceived. Therefore sayeth Chrysostome, Haeresis impia quae est exercitus Antichristi, stabit in sanctis l…cis Ecclesiae, obtinens Ecclesias vt si velit quis cognoscere quae sit vera Ecclesia, unde cognoscet similitudinis confusione, nisi tantummodo ex scripturis. That is, that wicked heresie, which is Antichrists armie. shall stand in the holy places of rhe Church: pretending that they are the Church; so as if any would know what is the true Church. How or wherby shall hee know this in so great a confusion of likenes, but allanerlie by the Scriptures?
From the former words then and explication of them wee reason thus. He who sits in the Temple of GOD, that is, his Church, as GOD (His vice-gerent to wit, or vicar of CHRIST) and therefore usurpeth the first place and primacie therein, and as Monarch thereof who shall claime dominion over the same; Yea moreover, who shall sit in the Church as if he himself were the church (to wit, virtuall as they call him, and being onelie infallible) he I say who doeth this is the grand Antichrist, But the Pope doeth this, Therefore hee is the grand Antichrist. The Major is Scripture, expounded by fathers and Romanists thēselves, The minor is cleare likewise by the Pops own claime & Bellarmins doctrine of him. LIB. 2. de pont. Rom. cap. 12. and LIB. 2. d… Ecclesia, cap. 15.16. &c. Therefore the Conclusion inevitablie followeth.