C H A P.2. *file to theTheffaioriiäso. V S R.6. VERS.6,7,8. 4nd now ye know what withholdeth, that he might de re- vealed in his time. For themyierie of iniquitie loth already works' : one!, he who now letteth, willlet, vntill he be taken out of the way. ,Ind then (ball that wicked be revealed. PrH E words haue this fcope : as to checke them for their wavering after their information by the Apofile and knowledge receiued, fo withal' to proue the minor belonging to the antecedent of ChrifIs comming, the re- uelation of Antichrifi. That he was not yet reuealed ap- peares, becaufe the impediment of his Reuelation was yet in the being of an impediment. And becaufe it might be quared;; Is he not yet in the world ? orgorn.rrgie.c he an- fwers; he is in the world, but fecretly, arid in fiery ; mani- fefled not yet, nor likely to be : whereof are two Reafons : t God, that fweetly forts all things to their feafons, had allotted to Antichrifl his feafon of reuealing. 2 And the reuelation mull not be till the impediment be remoued. This the fum and feries of the text. To than xov to Chryfoflome founds zo xo,xtíov;to Oecume- nius iterod'*v;that which hindereth his reuealing or difco- uerie. What that is for realtie is the firfl queflion. I wil- lingly forbeare the various conieOlures arnongft Interpre- ters, leafl I grow ouer voluminous. t Generallconfentof Expofrtors old and new, Prote- Rant and Popifh,is that its menu the Roman Empire.If any aske why not fpecified by the Apoftle, Saint eAugu.flíne, Hierome,&c. anfwer, leafI thereby rage of thofe then per - fecuting Emperors and their people, who promifed them - (clues eternitie of Imperiali rule, might be exafpeiated a- gainfi Chriflians : probably. 2 Meanes he the heathenifh or the Chriflian Empire Refp. Perhaps or without perhaps both. ile the Hea- thenifh preuailed, was no place for Church ien°s ambiti- on; thofe were dayes of perfecution. And wli§e the Chri. K 2 fiian I3I
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