C A r.13. Akvelation ofthe Apocalyple. 421 The fecond thingabout which queftion is made, is touching the time ofbps beoinrin2: ; the which we think muit be defined to be at the tune whenDiocle/an and Maximinus Hercalius betook themfelves to a folitary ltfe,at Which time bothof themfeemed to (rive over their Em- pire oftheir oWn accord,about the yeer 306. as bathbindeclared before. But becaufe there is no man, perhaps, that loth fetch Antichrris beginning from this head ; and becaufe Bellarmine atfirmeth that all our men do place the coming of Antichrtß after the fixhundreth yeer, and after the death of gregory the firft ; (although this is to be underftood of his birth : for our Writers do hold his conception to be more ancient) left I alone fhould feem tobe the man that dutdk hold an opinion that was never heard of before, I will fet down rea` fons for this my opinion, which feem to me to be moft thong. Firft of all, this Beal domineers during all that time, that the Woman lyeth hid in the Wildernefe, and the tWo Witnefes prophecie clothed in fackcloth, as it is manifèft after out of the firft verfe. where power ugiven to work two andforty moneths; which is the fame fpace with that ofthe Prophets andofthe Woman.Nowwe haveevinced by necef- fary arguments, that the Womangot her away into thewildernefe, and that the Witnefesput on their mourning Weed at that time Which We havefpoken of;namely,when Conffantine entredupon his kingdom. And therfore the Beaf/ alfo began to arife out of the Sea at the fame time. BeÇdes, what other thing doth that fpeech ofSocrates mean, who lived when Theodotlus the younger was Emperor, in the time of Ce- leffine the Pope of Rome, about the yeer 424. fourfcore yeers from ('onfantines raign,faying thefe words: The BifhoprickofRome in like manner, as that of Alexandria, had noW long fincegrown on from a Priefhhoodto a Trincehood, Book 7. Chaps r. What did it advance it felf beyond the bounds ofthe Priefthood?Whither e1.fe,I pray ye,but unto Antichrif#ian tyrannie ? And did it thus advance it felt now of old,and a long time fince ? Certainly Socrates cometh neer to my cal- culation, or I rather to his ; or, as it is more agreeable to the truth, both ofus come to the account of the Holy Ghoff himfelfe. ',but will fome fay,he fpeak no more of the Bifhop ofRome, either hereor above, Book7.7. then of the Bishop ofAlexandria. I anfwer, that it is true indeed, that doth taxe the ambition of both of them in common, but there were many properties befides, that were peculiar to the true Antichrift the Tope ofRome, which did by no means agree to theBifhep of esllexandria and therefore, though they ran together, perhaps, at firft, with equall paces, yet the Iii 2 7emifb
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