The General History of the Christian Church

Dioclesian, &c. against the Christians, but these will be much exceeded by the cruelties of this last persecution. Some of those Roman emperors, for their inexpressible violence against religion, were thought by a part of the Christians to be Antichrist; but in the time we are speaking of, the Christians will experience the rage of the real Antichrist, to which nothing in the preceding ages will have been found equal. He is permitted to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, as St. John informs us, Apoc. xiii. 7. He is now in his full career of power, and crushes the saints of the Most High, as Daniel forewarned us, vii. 25. This ferocious monster, as in his war he seemed to imitate the cruel tyrant Nabuchodonosor; so in his hatred to religion he resembles the impious Syrian king, Antiochus Epiphanes, who by the Christian writers has been always marked out as the figure of him. That prince was an avowed enemy to the worship of God, and exercised a most horrible persecution upon the Jews, inasmuch that, having taken the city of Jerusalem by force of arms, he commanded the soldiers to kill, and not to spare any that came in their way, and to go up into the houses to slay.

Thus there was a slaughter of young and old, a destruction of women and children, and killing of virgins and infants. And there were slain in the space of three whole days four score thousand, forty thousand were made prisoners, and as many sold.

And when Antiochus had taken away out of the temple a thousand and eight hundred talents, he went back in all haste to Antioch, thinking, through pride, that he might now make the land navigable, and the sea passable on foot: such was the haughtiness of his mind." 2 Mach. v.

Antiochus, though retired out of the country, did not abate in his enmity to the Jews. For he sent Apollonius with an army of twenty-two thousand men, who made another dreadful slaughter of the people in Jerusalem. And,

"Not long after," continues the sacred writer, "the king sent a certain old man of Antioch, to compel the Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers and of God: and to defile the temple that was in Jerusalem, and to call it the temple of Jupiter Olympius.

And there went out a decree--to oblige them to sacrifice, (to the idol of Jupiter Olympius,) and whosoever would not conform themselves to the ways of the heathens should be put to death." 2 Mach. vi. Let these actions of Antiochus

against the Jews be looked upon as a faint draught of those violences which Antichrist will exercise upon the Christians.

But on account of the weakness of human nature, and to moderate our terror at the sight of such an unexampled persecution, our Saviour himself has also been pleased to give us previous notice of it. For there shall be then great tribulation," says he, "such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved; for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened." Matth. xxiv. 21, 22.-Happily, amidst this frightful prospect, there shines a ray of comfort. These extreme difficulties and rigorous trials, this war and slaughter, which, if continued, would sweep away the whole race of mankind, our Saviour informs us, shall be shortened, that is, contracted to the compass of three years and a half, for the sake of the elect, or, out of regard for his faithful and beloved servants, in the same manner as formerly Almighty God offered to spare the wicked city of Sodom, in case ten just men could be found in it. When mankind are brought to so severe a test, what wonder if, in an age of infidelity and irreligion, numbers give up their faith in Christ, and go over to the enemy, the beast, and adore him as a god? And such, we learn from St. John, will be unhappily the case. "And all that dwell upon the earth, adored him, whose names are not written in the book of life." Apoc. xiii. 8.

But besides what we have seen concerning this persecution, as the Almighty has judged extraordinary admonitions necessary for us in proportion to the rigour of the trial, he has vouchsafed to impart to us a further account of it by his prophet Daniel, xii. Î. "At that time," says this prophet, "shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people: and a time shall come such as never was from the time that nations began even until that time. And at that time shall thy people be saved, every one that shall be found written in the book." Here the angel tells Daniel, that at the time of the terrible persecution of Antichrist, the archangel Michael, who is the patron of the Christian Church, as he was of the Jewish, will rise up to the succour of the Christians, and fight against the powers of hell for them, in the same manner as we saw he did in the first persecutions under the Roman emperors, Apoc. xii. 7; that the persecution will also be such as never was from the time that nations began even until that time; and that those only shall be saved who

shall be found written in the book of life, as St. John has just told us; which indicates, that few will stand the trial and gain the crown of martyrdom, in comparison to the number of those who will give up the cause.-Then Daniel asked,

V. 6. How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? V. 7. "And I heard," says he, "the man, that was clothed in linen, that stood upon the waters of the river, when he had lifted up his right hand, and his left hand to heaven, and had sworn by Him who liveth for ever, that it should be unto a time, and times, and half a time."

The

Here, then, the answer is given in the most solemn manner, and God called to witness, (which shows the importance of the thing,) that this dreadful period will last for a time, and times, and half a time, or three years and a half. That by the expression of a time, the prophet means a year, appears from another passage, where the same prophet, speaking of the sentence the Almighty had passed upon Nabuchodonosor, he says: "They shall cast thee out from among men, and thy dwelling shall be with cattle and with wild beasts, and thou shalt eat grass as an ox, and shall be wet with the dew of heaven and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the Most High ruleth over the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will." Dan. iv. 22. seven times here fixed for the duration of that proud king's punishment are acknowledged by all interpreters to mean seven years. The same period of three years and a half, as we have before observed, is given to the persecution by St. John, when he says: "And the holy city they shall tread under foot two and forty months." Apoc. xi. 2. Here it is expressed in months, and again in the same manner: "and power was given to him (Antichrist) to do two and forty months." Apoc. xiii. 5. We likewise see the same period expressed in days for the duration of Henoch's and Elias's preaching, which may be naturally supposed to equal the time of the Church's oppression: "And I will give unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty day." Apoc. xi. 3. In fine, Daniel, speaking of the Church's sufferings at this time, says: "from the time when the continual sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination unto desolation shall be set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days," xii. 11. Upon which St. Jerom writes thus:-"Therefore from the time that the continual sacrifice shall be taken away, and that Antichrist, being master of the world, shall prohibit the worship of God,

and a

to the time of his destruction, there will be three years half, that is, 1290 days." In Dan. xii. There can then be no real doubt, that the time of Antichrist's persecution is confined to three years and a half, or 1260 days, and not extended to 1260 years, as some moderns have pretended, with a view of calumniating the Catholic Church. For, though in some particular places of the scriptures, a day may be found to denote a year, or a month to denote a month of years, that is, thirty years, or a week to signify a week of years, or seven years; yet there is no instance of a period of time mentioned in scripture under the three denominations of years, months, and days, that is not to be taken in its natural sense. Besides, the nature and circumstances of the case, as appears from the preceding history, evince the same; and in this sense it has been understood by the fathers of the Church. "That the

reign of Antichrist," says St. Chrysostom, "will last three years and six months, the scripture in several places testifies, but particularly the Apocalypse of St. John." Hom. 49. in Matt. 24.-See also St. Irenæus adv. Hær. l. 5. c. 30. St. Cyril, Catech. 25. S. Hyppol. de consum. sæculi, St. Austin de civ. l. 20. c. 25. St. Jerom, Theodoret, and others.

But to resume the instructions given to Daniel concerning this interesting time.

Chap. xii. 7. "And when the scattering," continues he, "of the band of the holy people shall be accomplished, all these things shall be finished." That is, these severe trials and calamities will be put an end to, after that the Christians shall have been scattered for an appointed time, by flying into deserts and caverns, as formerly, for shelter from the face of persecution. But in the mean time,

V. 10. "Many shall be chosen, and made white, and shall be tried as fire." The Christians will be tried, and made white or purified, as silver in the fire: such will be the severity of the persecution. Conformably to Daniel speaks also the prophet Zachary: "And there shall be in all the earth, saith the Lord, two parts in it shall be scattered, and shall perish but the third part shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined; and I will try them, as gold is tried," xiii. 8, 9. This persecution will be distinguished, as we observed before, by seven particular scenes more shocking than the rest; that are intimated by the seven thunders, which St. John heard speak, but was not permitted to write what they said, Apoc. x. 3, 4.-Daniel proceeds,

V. 6. "How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? V. 7. "And I heard," says he, "the man, that was clothed in linen, that stood upon the waters of the river, when he had lifted up his right hand, and his left hand to heaven, and had sworn by Him who liveth for ever, that it should be unto a time, and times, and half a time.”

Here, then, the answer is given in the most solemn manner, and God called to witness, (which shows the importance of the thing,) that this dreadful period will last for a time, and times, and half a time, or three years and a half. That by the expression of a time, the prophet means a year, appears from another passage, where the same prophet, speaking of the sentence the Almighty had passed upon Nabuchodonosor, he says: "They shall cast thee out from among men, and thy dwelling shall be with cattle and with wild beasts, and thou shalt eat grass as an ox, and shall be wet with the dew of heaven and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the Most High ruleth over the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will." Dan. iv. 22. The seven times here fixed for the duration of that proud king's punishment are acknowledged by all interpreters to mean seven years. The same period of three years and a half, as we have before observed, is given to the persecution by St. John, when he says: "And the holy city they shall tread under foot two and forty months." Apoc. xi. 2. Here it is expressed in months, and again in the same manner: “and power was given to him (Antichrist) to do two and forty months." Apoc. xiii. 5. We likewise see the same period expressed in days for the duration of Henoch's and Elias's preaching, which may be naturally supposed to equal the time of the Church's oppression: And I will give unto my two witnesses and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty day." Apoc. xi. 3. In fine, Daniel, speaking of the Church's sufferings at this time, says: from the time when the continual sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination unto desolation shall be set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days," xii. 11. Upon which St. Jerom writes thus:-" Therefore from the time that the continual sacrifice shall be taken away, and that Antichrist, being master of the world, shall prohibit the worship of God,

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The General History of the Christian Church: From Her Birth to Her Final ...