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mony of himself, among many others. Ego fum
Sermo Dei, Ego fum fpeciofus, Ego Paracletus,
Ego Omnipotens, Ego omnia Dei. Besides those
blafphemous Affertions of his, which are
quoted by Mofes Bar-Cephas, a Syrian Bishop,
in the Third Part of his Commentaries up.
on Paradise, which you may fee in the End
of Dr. Grabe's First Volume of his Spicilegium.
As is alfo that of Nero, in which I fhall on-
ly obferve, that his Apoftatizing (if I
may fo fpeak) from his happy Beginnings
in his Quinquennium, observed by almost all
the Hiftorians that fpeak of him, does moft
exactly answer to the Opinions of the Fa-
thers concerning Antichrift; as doth alfo
the Apoftacy of Julian. For thus faith Hip-
polytus concerning him, in his Oration de
Confummatione Mundi, published in the Bi-
bliotbeca Patrum, Tom. II. p. 13
p. 13 or 14.
his Beginnings he fhall be Merciful, Mild,
Religious and Peaceable; he fhall punish
Injuftice; he fhall not fuffer Idolatry;
he fhall love the Scriptures; he fhall re-
verence the Priests: After this he fhall
cleanse the Lepers; he fhall heal the Pa
ralytick; he fhall caft out Devils; he
fhall foretell Things to come; he shall
raise the Dead; he fhall fupport the Wi-
dows and Fatherlefs; he fhall reconcile
Differences. Then all the People, espe-
cially the Nation of the Jews, fhall meet
together to make him King: At first he
fhall craftily refufe this Honour; but they
perfifting in their Intentions, fhall make
him King: Then fhall he lift up his
Heart, and change his Manners; he shall

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become fierce, unmerciful, unjuft, proud, &c. agreeable to what is foretold by the Prophet Daniel concerning him, Chap. 11. V. 21. that they shall not give him the Honour of the Kingdom, (i. e.) by a ufual Hebraifm, The Honour of a Kingdom fhall not be given him; meaning that he fhall have no Right nor Title to it before this flattering Ufurpation, or else it contradicts what follows) but he shall come in Peaceably, and obtain the Kingdom by Flatteries; (php) by infidious treacherous Dealings. The Story of Mahomet is well known and the Parallel very eafy and Natural; befides whom there have been many others, who have in fome Refpects or other typified this Mystery of Iniquity.

$8. THE Man of Sin then whom thefe of the have reprefented fhall certainly arife in the Birth and latter End of the Kingdoms, i. e. of the Parentage fourth or Roman Empire, when the Tranfgref- chrift. of Antifors shall be come to the full, or (as the LXXII read it πληρεμένων τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν ) when the Measure of the Iniquities of the World (or perhaps Christendom) fhall be filled up, as we are told Dan. 8. 23. Hippolytus fuppofes (Pag. 30. Edit. Parif.) that he fhall be the Devil himself, who fhall take upon him the appearance of Human Flesh, and fhall falfly appear to be born of a Virgin, (which he exprefly afferts) not knowing otherwise how to reconcile to his Opinion that place of Mofes, Exod. 13 and 2. That whatfoever openeth the Womb is the Lord's, of as

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Some

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the Vulgar Latin has it, Sanctum vocabitur Domino. Which Opinion feems to have been transcribed from him by Ephrem Syrus in his Sermon concerning Antichrift. But this is a contrivance to falve an Hypothefis which is fo far from being neceffary, that it contradicts the very Letter of the Holy Scriptures, 2 Thef. 2. 3. (where he is exprefly called The Man of Sin) &c. as well as the common Sentiments of most other Writers. Others have been of Opinion that he fhall be an Incarnate Devil, which St. Hilary afferts in his Comment on the aforecited Place of the Theffalonians. This Opi nion (notwithstanding what has been faid De Carn. to juftifie the Poffibility of the Incarnation Chrifti,cap. of Angels by *Tertullian and † Origen) is, as 3.& 6 Ed. Rigalt. upon many Accounts unreasonable, so con† Tom. 2. tradicted by Damafcene, Lib. 4. Cap. 27. Chryin Job. foftom and Theophylact upon the Second Epiftle to the Theffalonians. Others are of Opinion that he fhall be born of a very impure unclean Woman, and begotten by an Incubus, or Evil Spirit. Whether fuch Procreation be poffible, and whether the Traditions of the Ancients concerning fuch Births be true, (as that of Remus and Romulus, and Servius Tullius, recorded by Dionyfius Halicarnaffæus, Lib. 1. that of Plato, by Diogenes Laertius; of Alexander the Great, by Plutarch, &c.) I fhall not here determine; but fhall The moft only fay, that it appears to me probable, Probable that his Generation fhall be according to the ordinary natural courfe, between two Perfons who fhall have filled up the measure

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of

Paris.

of their Iniquities, the Devil fo magically
co-operating with them, as to take poffef-
fion of him in the very Womb, and make
him throughout as compleatly diabolical as
it is poffible for a Man to be. This is the
Opinion of Rabanus Maurus (to whom the
later Criticks attribute that little Treatise
de Antichrifto, publifhed at the end of the
Ninth Volume of St. Auftin's Works *,) he* P. 259.
shall be born (fays he) like other Men, not Edit.
of a Virgin, as fome affirm; in the begin-
ning of his Conception the Devil fhall en-
ter into his Mother's Womb, and there fhall.
cherish and defend him. So St. Cyril of Fe-
rufalem + fays, The Devil fhall ufe him as + Cat: 151
an Organ, or Inftrument through which § 6.
he fhall act. For fo he underftands that
Expreffion of his coming' évégyciar to
Ealava, 2 Thef. 2. 9. His Parents, as moft
Writers imagine, fhall be Jews; but I ra-
ther believe a Few and an Apoftate Chriftian,
fuch mixt Births having been obferved to
be fatal. Such were the Rebel-Giants, be-
gotten between the Sons of God and the
Daughters of Men (whether by the Sons
of God we understand only the Spiritual
Seed of Seth, or the 'Eyse, as in the Pro-
phecy of Enoch †) fuch was rebellious +Syncelli
Abfalom,the Son of Maachab, the Daughter
Chronogr:
of the King of Gefhar; and fuch it is com- Edit. Gear.
monly thought was Adonijab, the Son of
Haggith, whofe Country indeed the Scri-

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§ 9. His

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P. 12. + Lib. 5. Cap. 3.

§ 9. His Extraction by the Jewish Side fball come fhall be from the Tribe of Dan; this is generally afferted by Hippolytus, by Irenæust, who in a myftical Senfe interprets that Paffage of Jeremiah, Chap. 8. v. 16. The Snorting of his Horfes were heard from Dan (or as the LXXII read it, ansooμeda, we shall bear, &c.) of the coming of Antichrift. By thefe Words (faith he) Jeremiah Shows out of what Tribe be fhall arife; adding withall, That this is the Reafon why Dan is omitted amongst the Tribes that are fealed. Apoc. 7. St. Ambrofe alfo, de Bened. Patriarch. afferts the fame from thefe Words, Gen. 49. 16. Dan Shall Fudge his People (viz. the Jews) as one of the Tribes of Ifrael (or as the one fingle Tribe of Ifrael, to whom the Government is given, i. e. Judab ;) fpeaking thus, Chap. 7. Sampfon indeed came out of the Tribe of Dan, who judged Ifrael Twenty Years, but the Prophecy pointed not at him, but at Antichrift, who fhall arife out of that Tribe, a fevere Judge and cruel Quaft. Tyrant. Theodoret afferts the fame thing; 109. in adding withall, That as the Scepter given Genef. to Judah, did principally point out our Lord, who arofe out of that Tribe, so the promifing a fort of Rule or Government to Dan, did point out Antichrift, who fhould ufurp the Government of Christendom in the later Days. The fame is afferted by * De Pro Profper Aquitanicus, in thefe Words: It is mif. Edit. plain that Antichrift fhall arife out of the Duaci. Tribe of Dan, which is now in Perfia, according to the Prediction of the Patriarch,

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