Daniel, when speaking of the last ages of Antichrist, says, "In those days Truth shall be cast down to the ground, and trodden under foot." Christ also himself forewarns us that in those days confusion and error will prevail to such an extent, that if it were possible the very † elect themselves would be deceived: and these things are to happen not amongst Turks and Heathens, but in the Holy Place, in the Temple of God, in the Church, in the Congregation and Assembly of those who profess the Name of Christ.

* Daniel viii. 12.

Matt. xxiv. 24.

The opinions of the Fathers of the Church on the subject of Antichrist, will perhaps afford the best and clearest illustration of the Doctrine here laid down by Bishop Jewell.

ORIGEN says, "Antichrist is the Abomination of Desolation." In Matt. Tract xxix.

ST. CHRYSOSTOM uses a similar form of expression, “This Antichrist is the Abomination of Desolation; for he shall cause the souls of many Christians to be Desolate, and forsaken of God." In opere imperfecto Homil. xlix. GREGORY NAZIANZEN affirms, that "Antichrist will come in the Desolation of the world, for he is the Abomination of Desolation."

Significatio in Ezek.

ST. JEROME considers "every perverse and Heretical Doctrine as the Abomination of Desolation ;" and when discoursing upon "the Man of Sin, the Adversary of Christ, that is Antichrist, who lifteth himself up above all," he says, "The Abo

And although these things alone would guard a prudent man against imposition, and induce him to weigh the doctrines of the Church by the Word of God, and not implicitly rely on the mere name; still in addition to this, many of the Fathers, both pious and learned men, have loudly complained that all these events had happened in their days. For God in the midst of that darkness was desirous that there should be some who, although they could not illumine the world by any very superior display of Genius and Intellect, might still as it were serve as a beacon to guide the wandering and distracted minds of the benighted multitude.

Hilary, whilst the Ecclesiastical Polity was yet uncorrupted, condemns their devotion for mere walls, and the worship of Houses and

mination of Desolation shall stand in the Church until the Consummation, or End of Time." In Matt. cap. xxiv. ST. AMBROSE declares "that the Abomination of Desolation is the cursed coming of Antichrist."

In Lucam. lib. x. cap. xxi.

ST. HILARY, THEODORET, EUSEBIUS, and most of the CATHOLIC FATHERS, have expressed the same opinions.

See the Defence of the Apologie, p. 447.

* Contra Auxentium.

Buildings: as if they alone constituted the Church of God, as if in them alone dwelt the Prince of Peace. Can you doubt, he adds, whether Antichrist shall sit there? The Mountains, Woods, Lakes, Prisons, and Gulphs appear to me to offer greater security: for in these, the Prophets, either abiding voluntarily, or driven by oppression, prophesied by the Spirit of God,

*

Gregory, as if he foresaw and absolutely contemplated the impending ruin, thus addressed John, Bishop of Constantinople, who first assumed the novel title of Universal Bishop of the Church of Christ; "If the Church should ever depend on one man alone its destruction will be certain." And who has not already seen the fulfilment of this prediction? It is now some time since the Pope attempted to bring the whole Church under his individual controul. We ought not therefore to marvelt if its ruin has long ago been completed. St. Bernard, above four hundred years before this period, declared that "there

In regist. Epist. ad Mauricium, lib. iv. Epist. 32. + These words of St. Bernard clearly prove, that the opinion of the declining state of the Church was not confined to any

was nothing pure and upright amongst the Clergy, and that the Man of Sin alone remained to be revealed." And in his Sermon on the conversion* of St. Paul, he adds; "Some persons may imagine that Persecutions have ceased: far from it; Persecution has but now commenced, and that even with those who have pre-eminence in the Church: thy friends, and thy neighbours have drawn near and stood against thee: from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there is no part sound. Iniquity has been manifested in thy Elders, Judges, and Vicars, who appeared to govern thy People. We cannot now say; "as the People, so are the Priesthood:" for the Laity are not at this time so abandoned as the Clergy. Alas! alas! oh Lord God! those men are the first to persecute thee, who aim at the highest dignity, and exercise the chief authority in thy Church. And the same pious

particular Sect or Party,-Intestinalis, et Insanabilis est plaga Ecclesiæ, "The wound of the Church is inward and incurable." Citatur ab Holcoto in Sapien. Lectio xxiii.

Baptista Mantuanus similarly complains to Pope Leo,"Sancte Pater succurre LEO, Respublica Christi

Labitur, ægrotatque Fides jam proxima Morti."

Baptist. Mant. Fast. iv.

Bernard. in Conversione S. Pauli. Serm, i,

divine exclaims in his Sermon* on the Canticles; "All are thy Friends, yet all thine Enemies; all Kinsfolk, but still Adversaries: who being Christ's Servants worship Antichrist: behold in the days of my Peace, my Bitterness is increased an hundred-fold." Roger Bacon† likewise a man of great reputation, when he had with powerful and touching eloquence lashed the prevailing vices and corruptions of the times in which he lived, thus concludes; "All these numerous errors proclaim the near approach of Antichrist."

Gerson complains that in his day "all the force of Theology was applied to a mere contest of Wit and Sophistry." The Lugdunensian Brothers, an order of men whose general conduct

* Serm. xxxiii.

+ In libello de Idiomate linguarum.

This learned man was considered one of the profoundest Scholars, and most able Disputant of his time: he was Chancellor of the University of Paris, and out of respect to his great Wisdom and extensive Erudition, was chosen Director of all the Bishops at the Council of Constance.

§ These men who are stiled "Pauperes a Lugduno," founde faulte with the Pride of the Pope: with the lewde life of the Cleregie: with Purgatorie: with Holy Water: with Pardonnes : and with other like deceivinges of the People. They translated the Bible: and praied in theire natural knowen mother tongue; these were their errors; therefore they were called detestable