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2. THess. 2.7. Onlie hee who now letteth, vvill let, till hee bee taken out of the vvay.
This Bellarmine expoundeth, accor∣ding to common consent, (lib. 3. de pont. c. 5.) to bee the decay of the olde Romane Empire.
Now that this is performed, let a clowde of Popish Authors testifye: Aqui∣nas on this place of Paul's, sayeth thus, That as it was a signe of Christ's com∣ming, to wit, the domining over all of the Romane Empire; so is it a signe of Antichrist's comming, to wit, the re∣volt of Countreyes from the Romane Empire. But (sayeth hee) Countreyes haue long since revolted from the Ro∣mane Empire. Wherefore hee is forced to grant, that in place there-of, there is onlie to bee seene a spirituall Monar∣chie at Rome: and from whence wee therefore conclude inevitablie, That An∣tichrist is come.
So sayth Haymo also, a Germane Arch∣bishop, on this place, who wrote in the 800. yeare of God: The Apostle sho∣weth, (sayeth hee) that our Lord shall not come to judgement, while first a de∣cay bee of the Romane Empire; which wee now see fulfilled, and that Anti∣christ doeth now appeare in the World, who shall kill the Martyres of Christ.
Lyra lykewyse, on this place of Paul, sayth, that in his time, the whole King∣domes of the World had alreadie revol∣ted from the Romane Empire.
And the Author of Fasciculus tempo∣rum, in the life of Honorius 1. showeth, that this irrecoverable decay begā anno 639. So that now, (sayth hee) all the
foure Monarchies are decayed, and there resteth none now, but that of Antichrists.
Revel. 17.12. And the ten hornes vvhich thou sawest, are ten Kinges, vvhich haue received no Kingdome as yet, but receiue po∣wer as Kings at one houre with the Beast.
This Bellarmine expoundeth (lib. 3. de Pont. c. 5.) to bee the dissolving of the Romane Empire, in-to severall free Kingdomes, which before were but tri∣butarie Provinces; and which must bee vnderstood of the olde Romane Empire, which was in Sainct Iohn's dayes, and so is alreadie fulfilled: and can-not so bee vnderstood of this new one, which con∣sisteth not of so manie Kingdomes, and is but an image onlie of the olde, ere∣cted by the Pope, and subject vnto him. And so (according to Iohn's wordes) is not divisible in so manie Kingdomes.
That this dissolution then of the olde Empire is alreadie accomplished, by the revolt of tributarie Kingdomes from the same, and their assuming of power, to bee free Monarches, is alreadie proven by the fore-named testimonies: and in speciall, by that of Lyra's, whose words are these, The whole Kingdomes of the
World (sayth hee) haue alreadie, as it were, revolted from the Romane Empire, denying to be subject there-to, or to pay tribute: and now manie Yeares agoe, the Empire hath also wanted an Em∣perour.
Whence it followeth, that as sure An∣tichrist is come, as it is sure that the olde Romane Empire standeth not entire, but is dissolved, by the revolt of Kingdomes there-fra, which of olde were subject there-to: and that at that same instant time, when those assumed power, as free Kings over their Countreyes, that even then Antichrist was alreadie come, and grew great in the Church: seeing it is expresselie saide, that those Kings at one houre receiue power with the Beast.