CAP .2. touchingAntichrift. ;x to be wife above that which is Written; T. Cor. q...6. I will leave thefe men thereforeas I finde them wavering and floating in their uncer- tainties, and fo I might let paffeyouranfwers to our writers, feeing theycome not neer to hurt any ofthe things whichI have laiddown touching this matter , yet that you may perceiveyour felt to be no leffe weake , and wearifh a defender ofyour own caufe,then youare an impugner of ours , I will beftowthis labour alloupon you in ex'. amining the force of your anfwers. You propound three argumentsofour men, two ofTheod.73ezw, the third of John Calvins,the firfl argument ofBeza, is this Antichri,f# in notforce one man,becaufe the myfieryofiniquity didworkjn the time of S. Paul,and Antichriii is to be killed towards thecoming ofChrift. Youanfwered ; that Antichrill began to do mifchief up and down in the Apostles time, but not- in hisforerunners, to Wit, Simon Magus, Nero, andthe like. To this I fay that Theod. Reza and all our men confeffe,that Antichrift himfelfproperly fo called was not extant in the timeofthe Apoftles themfelves,but his forerunners onely. For that which he faith , let themgive meany one man that could remain alive from S. Paull age to the dayof judgement, is fpoken af- ter theordinary mauer offpeaking by way of amplrfication,and asit were at the largest extent, and it is to be underfl:ood ofionicone that fhouldbe alittle after that age. And íhould not he be born within a short time after, whofe forerunnersdid keep foch a coilewhile the Apoffles were living ? The Revelation fpeaking of Antichrift under that feventh Head , faith ; Andanother is not yet come, Chap.I7.I0. Whichkinde ofwords we arewont to ufe in matters thatbe foneer; asthat theymay feem to become , though they benot come as yet ; and we donot at all fpeak fo of things that are to come fifteen hun- dredyeers after. All the things thereforewhich you would inferre from hencearc idle and trifling, as if youwould prove by Bezas reafon, that Peter and Paul were Antichrifts,andthat Simon Magau and Nero wereas it were Chrifis. Why do you not ( I prayyou) go about toprove, that theoriginali of Antichrift was not to muchas nighat hand at that time ? Is it not enough for the confuting ofhis fingular per- fon,if he Ihould have his beginning for fotne Ages after Paul ? But you like an unskilfull fighter at (harp; hold upyour buckler tokeep of ablow, where there is noneoffered you, and where you are laid on and wounded even to thedeath you never care hownaked and ill warded you leaveyour felfe. L111 The i
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=