Chap. XVII.—Of the False Prophet, and the Hardships of the Righteous, and His Destruction.

But I will more plainly set forth the manner in which this happens. When the close of the times draws nigh, a great prophet shall be sent from God to turn men to the knowledge of God, and he shall receive the power of doing wonderful things.1381    [A final apparition of Elijah was anticipated by primitive believers, who regarded Mal. i. 5 as only partially fulfilled in the Baptist and the typical judgment of Jerusalem and the Jews under Vespasian. See Enoch and Elias, vol. v. p. 213; also iii. 591.]   Wherever men shall not hear him, he will shut up the heaven, and cause it to withhold its rains; he will turn their water into blood, and torment them with thirst and hunger; and if any one shall endeavour to injure him, fire shall come forth out of his mouth, and shall burn that man. By these prodigies and powers he shall turn many to the worship of God; and when his works shall be accomplished, another king shall arise out of Syria, born from an evil spirit, the overthrower and destroyer of the human race, who shall destroy that which is left by the former evil, together with himself. He shall fight against the prophet of God, and shall overcome, and slay him, and shall suffer him to lie unburied; but after the third day he shall come to life again; and while all look on and wonder, he shall be caught up into heaven. But that king will not only be most disgraceful in himself, but he will also be a prophet of lies; and he will constitute and call himself God, and will order himself to be worshipped as the Son of God; and power will be given him to do signs and wonders, by the sight of which he may entice men to adore him. He will command fire to come down from heaven, and the sun to stand and leave his course, and an image to speak; and these things shall be done at his word,—by which miracles1382    Rev. xiii.; 2 Thess. ii.   many even of the wise shall be enticed by him. Then he will attempt to destroy the temple of God, and persecute the righteous people; and there will be distress and tribulation,1383    Pressura et contritio.   such as there never has been from the beginning of the world.  

As many as shall believe him and unite themselves to him, shall be marked by him as sheep; but they who shall refuse his mark will either flee to the mountains, or, being seized, will be slain with studied1384    Exquisitis cruciatibus.   tortures. He will also enwrap righteous men with the books of the prophets, and thus burn them; and power will be given him to desolate1385    Dan. vii.; Rev. ii.   the whole earth for forty-two months. That will be the time in which righteousness shall be cast out, and innocence be hated; in which the wicked shall prey upon the good as enemies; neither law, nor order, nor military discipline shall be preserved; no one shall reverence hoary locks, nor recognise the duty of piety, nor pity sex or infancy; all things shall be confounded and mixed together against right, and against the laws of nature. Thus the earth shall be laid waste, as though by one common robbery. When these things shall so happen, then the righteous and the followers of truth shall separate themselves from the wicked, and flee into solitudes. And when he hears of this, the impious king, inflamed with anger, will come with a great army, and bringing up all his forces, will surround all the mountain in which the righteous shall be situated, that he may seize them. But they, when they shall see themselves to be shut in on all sides and besieged, will call upon God with a loud voice, and implore the aid of heaven; and God shall hear them, and send from heaven a great king to rescue and free them, and destroy all the wicked with fire and sword.  

CAPUT XVII. De falso propheta et incommodis piorum, et illius internecione.

Sed planius, quomodo id eveniat, exponam. Imminente jam temporum conclusione, propheta magnus mittetur a Deo, qui convertat homines ad Dei agnitionem, et accipiat potestatem mirabilia faciendi. Ubicumque non audierint eum homines, claudet coelum; et abstinebit imbres, et aquam convertet in sanguinem, et cruciabit illos siti ac fame; et quicumque 0793B conabitur eum laedere, procedet ignis de ore ejus, atque amburet illum. His prodigiis atque virtutibus convertet multos ad Dei cultum; peractisque operibus ipsius, alter Rex orietur ex Syria malo spiritu genitus, eversor ac perditor generis humani, qui reliquias illius prioris mali cum ipso simul deleat. Hic pugnabit adversus prophetam Dei; vincet, et interficiet eum, et insepultum jacere patietur. Sed post diem tertium reviviscet; atque inspectantibus et mirantibus cunctis, rapietur in coelum. Rex vero ille teterrimus erit quidem et ipse, sed mendaciorum propheta; et seipsum constituet ac vocabit Deum, et se 0793C coli jubebit ut Dei filium: et dabitur ei potestas, ut 0794A faciat signa et prodigia, quibus visis, irretiat homines ut adorent eum. Jubebit ignem descendere de coelo, et solem a suis cursibus stare, et imaginem loqui; et fient haec sub verbo ejus: quibus miraculis etiam sapientium plurimi allicientur ab eo. Tunc eruere templum Dei conabitur, et justum populum persequetur; et erit pressura et contritio, qualis numquam fuit a principio mundi.

Quicumque crediderint atque accesserint ei, signabuntur ab eo tanquam pecudes: qui autem recusaverint notam ejus, aut in montes fugient, aut comprehensi exquisitis cruciatibus necabuntur. Idem justos homines obvolvet libris prophetarum, atque ita cremabit; et dabitur ei desolare orbem terrae mensibus quadraginta duobus. Id erit tempus, quo justitia 0794B projicietur, et innocentia odio erit; quo mali bonos hostiliter praedabuntur: non lex, aut ordo, aut militiae disciplina servabitur; non canos quisquam reverebitur, non officium pietatis agnoscet; non sexus aut infantiae miserebitur: confundentur omnia et miscebuntur contra fas, contra jura naturae. Ita quasi uno communique latrocinio terra universa vastabitur. Cum haec ita erunt, tunc justi et sectatores veritatis segregabunt se a malis, et fugient in solitudines. Quo audito, impius rex inflammatus ira veniet cum exercitu magno, et admotis omnibus copiis circumdabit montem, in quo justi morabuntur, ut eos comprehendat. 0794C Illi vero, ubi se clausos undique atque obsessos 0795A viderint, exclamabunt ad Deum voce magna, et auxilium coeleste implorabunt; et exaudiet eos Deus, et mittet regem 0795A magnum de coelo, qui eos eripiat ac liberet, omnesque impios ferro ignique disperdat.