Antichrist Pointed and Painted Out in His True Colors, Chapter 9
CHAP. IX. Of the tyme when Antichrist should come and be revealed, 2 Thess. 2 7 8
HAving spoken of the Place where Antichrist is. We are next to enquire of the tym when he should come & be revealed, which the Apostle declareth to bee in these words When hee that letteth (speaking of his owne times) should be taken out of the way, 2. Thess. 2.7.and then that wicked man should be revealed, &c. To wit, Antichrists. Wherein wee have two things to consider. First, What the Apostle meaneth by him who did then lett or hinder Antichrists rising and revealing. 2. Whether he who then did lett be taken out of the way.
Bel. l. 3. de pont. Rō c. 5.First then Bellarmin acknowledgeth by the uniforme consent of Fathers, and of latter writers, that by him who did then lett, the old Roman Empire as it was then in it grandure and integritie, is understood; For who shall be taken out of the way, but the Roman state (sayth Tertullian) whose taking out of the way by the division thereof amongst ten Kings shall bring in Antichrist, Tertul. de refur car…is.So also sayeth Ambrose, That after the decay of the Roman Empire, Paull sayeth that Antichrist shall appeare;in 2. Thess 2. Cyril Catechesi 16. So speaketh Cyrill, Ierom ad Algasiam, Oecumenius, Theophy…act, Sedulius, Primasius, & Auselmus upon that place of Paull, and m…re remarkable Chrisostome, who sayeth That when the Empyre shall be dissolved, hee shall seize upon the vacancie, and shall challenge to himself the rule or governement both Humane and Divine, as Mantuan sayeth of the Pope, Ense potens gemino, &c. And as the Pope claimeth. Extrav. c. unam sanctam. Next, the same likewise doeth Romanists affirme, as Aquinas, Cajetan, Lyra and others upon this place of Paull.
It resteth then next to consider, If the …ld Roman Empire be taken out of the way (in so farre speciallie as it did lett Antichrists comeing or rising and appearing in his collours.) For probation whereof we hauehave a cloude of witnesses.
First Haymo a german Archbishope, who lived anno 800. writing upon this place sayeth, The Apostle showeth that our LORD shall not come to judgement, till first a decay be of the Roman Empyre, which wee now see fulfilled (sayeth hee) & that Antichrist doeth now appeare in the World, who shall kill the Martyrs of CHRIST; Lyra likewise upon the same words of Paull, sayth, That in his time (anno 1300) The whole Kingdomes of the World had alreadie revolted from the Roman Empire, denying subjection or tribute thereto. Aquinas in like manner upon these words sayeth thus, That it was a signe of CHRISTS comeing, to wit, the rule over all the World of the Roman Empire, so it is a signe of Antichrists coming, to wit, the revolt of Countreyes frrm the Roman Empire, but (sayth hee) Countreyes hauehave long since revolted from the Roman Empyre, and now in place of of that temporall Monarchie hath succeeded one which is spirituall, into which the temporall is changed, That is, in playner termes, that the Antichristian Monarchie foreprophecied by Paull is in the place therof erected. Salmeron also the Iesuit (on 2. Thess. 2. disput. 2. sayeth, The Roman Empyre is long ago overthrowne and divided in many Kingdomes, and as it were (sayeth hee) altogether extinct. So that hee who is now called the Roman Emperour is but a very smallest shaddow (sayth he) of the old Empyre, in so farre as hee possesseth not the very City of Rome from which hee is styled Roman (sayeth hee.) The like doeth the Iesuits Iustinian, Viega, and A…osta affirme, commenting upon Paulls words, with Stapulensis and others.
The Author likewise of Fasciculus tem…orum; A Charter Monck showeth that this irrecoverable decay begane, anno, 639. So that now (sayeth hee) all the foure Monarchies are decayed and there rests none now but that of Antichrists. Which decay in like manner when it begane by the invasion of the Gothes and Vandall's and became thereafter divyded into so many Kingdomes, There Paulus Iouius in the beginning of his Historie declareth, and sayeth, That at that time, Potentia Caesarū …ato cessit, or, the old Romā Empire expired and (as it were) gaue up the ghost, (sayeth hee) where I cannot omitt, how that Bellarmin and others frō the greeke Article foreign and foreign,Bell. l. 3. de pont. c. 2. that mā of sin, & son of perdition, would prove Antichrist to be an individuall person▪ & not collective or successive government of many, to whom I must for answer,2. Thess. 2 and 3. ask heere, whether doeth the like article v. 7. praefixed before foreign, He who letelh, verse 7.denotat one individuall Roman Emperour who then lived and did lett, or acollective & successive government of many singular Emperours, who were to come one after another, till the abolishing thereof, which therefore in the preceeding verse is called foreign.verse 6. And which I think no learned Romanist will hauehave face to deny.
Now, as for the revealing of this man of sinne, whereof Paull speaketh, There are two principall degrees; The first, when Boniface the third assumed to himself the supremacie over the whole universall Church, which he did when hee usurped the tytle of Vniversall Bishope & Head of the Church, which his predecessour Gregorie the first had declared to bee Antichristian, and that hee nor none of his predecessours had ever usurped the same, which was done about the yeare 607.
The second degree was when Boniface the eight (as their own author of Fasciculus temporm speaketh) In tantam arrogantiam seipsum erexit, ut Dominum totius mundi se diceret, tam in t…mporalibus, quam in spiritualibus, That is, (sayeth hee) who exaltet… himself to that hight of pride▪ that he affirme… himself to bee the supreame Lord of the whole World, aswell in temporall as in things spiritual. Which is that proper mark of Antichrist, whereof the Apostle speaketh 2. Thess. 2.4. & which Gregorie also the first, setteth down in his moralls & expos…ō of Iob, 29. of whom also Platina the Pops Secretarie speaketh thus, Who endeavoureth (sayeth hee) more to strick with terrour, Emperours, Kings, Princes, Nations and People, then to promove Religion, and who attempted as it pleased him, to give or take away Kingdomes, and to depose Kings from them or restore them to them. Sigeb. monachꝰ Gēb lacen in Chr. anno 1088.Which is the Pops practise unto this day, and whereof their own Sigebert in his chronicle speaketh thus, Haec novitas, non dicam Haeresis nondum in mundo pullular…. That is, before this time, this noveltie, not to call it Haeresie, had not before that time sprung up in the World, which maketh this usurpation of supremacie over Emperours and Kings by Gregorie the 7. (alias Hildebrand) and Boniface the 8. his successour, after the Thousand yeare of GOD, to be esteemed the second degree of the revealing of Antichrist: Whence it was, that (as their own Aventin reporteh,Annal. B… jor. l. 5.) Plerique tunc Hildebrandum Antichristum esse praedicabant. That is, that sundrie did preach that Hildebrand was Antichrist, and under the tytle of CHRISTS vicar, did play the part of Antichrist▪ sitting in the Temple of GOD, and exalting himself aboue all that is called GOD, as if hee were GOD: glorying also (said they) that he cannot erre, and what ever hee sayeth, that it is the Law of GOD. So that Omnes boni▪ aperti, justi, ingenui eo tempore Antichristi Regnū cepisse cernebant. That is, all good, playne, just, and ingenuous men, (sayth hee) saw that then beganne the Kingdome of Antichrist. Wee hold then that Antichrist was come, and first revealed himself in Boniface the Third, and thereafter came to his full growth and clearer revelation, in the person of Gregorie the 7. and his successours, Boniface the 8. and others, in whose time Platina reporteth that there was such a terrible Earthquake that the like was never seene before and a dreadfull Comet portending great calamity to come upon the World.
From all which former wee frame this argument, how soone as the Roman empyre (which did lett in Paul's time) was abolished and taken out of the way, then Antichrist was to come: and thereafter to be revealed. But the Roman Empyre which did lett in Paul's time, is manie ages agoe abolished, and taken out of the way: Therefore, many ages agoe Antichrist is come, and revealed, and consequentlie is not yet to come, as the Papists do fancie.
The major proposition is contained in scripture. 2. Thess. 2.7.8. Expounded to be the Roman Empire by the generall consent of Fathers and Romanists themselves, the assumption likewise is clearly proven by a cloud of witnesses of Romanists themselves in like manner, therefore the conclusion inevitablie followeth.
Having then seene 1. Who is Antichrist, for his person. 2. Where he is, for place, & 3. When he was come, for time, Followeth now 4. How hee is to bee known by his marks, and first.