A51839:279
XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing…
XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing the description, rise, growth, and fall of Antichrist : with divers cautions and arguments to establish Christians against the apostasy of the Church of Rome : very necessary for these times / by that late reverend and learned divine, Thomas Manton ...XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing the description, rise, growth, and fall of Antichrist : with divers cautions and arguments to establish Christians against the apostacy of the Church of Rome : very necessary for these times / by that late reverend and learned divine, Thomas Manton ...
London: printed by J.D. for J. Robinson, 1679
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
First, Of the rising of Antichrist, and then shall that wicked be revealed.
1. The Title given to Antichrist, [Greek or Hebrew], that lawless one, or Son of Belial: it is the property of Antichrist to boast himself to be above all laws, and to be judged by no power upon earth; for therein he resembleth A•tiochus, of whom it is said, he shall do according to his own will, Dan. 11.36. Now if this b• one of his Characters, it will not be hard to find him out: for who is that infallible Judge, that taketh upon him to decide all Controversies, and judgeth all things, and is judged of no man? and whosoever doth but mutter against his Decrees and delusions; if a private person, he is to be destroyed with Fire and Sword; if a Prince, to be excommunicated, deposed, and his Subjects freed from all Allegiance to him? Who is he, that taketh upon him with Faculties, Licences, and Pardons, to dispense with the Law of God, and to allow open and notorious sins? Who is he that by his own Writers is said to be solutus omni lege humanâ, freed from all humane law (Hostiensis) ⟨p. 132⟩nec ullo jure humano ligari potest, that hath a Paramount Authority to all Laws, that he cannot be bound by them, whether they concern Parricide, the murder of Princes; or Perjury, the obligation of Oaths; or Matrimony, the bond of conjugal Relations? but one expressly saith, that he is supra jus, contra jus, extra jus, above Law, against Law, and without Law; a plain description of the lawless one in the Text: And another, not without some spice of Blasphemy, apud Deum & Papam sufficit pro ratione voluntas, God and the Pope have their Will for a Law. Lastly, Who is he that hath brought into the Church the great impiety of worshipping of God by Images, and the worship of the Saints and Angels, with a worship which is only due to God? which is the great [Greek or Hebrew], the lawlessness, which the pure Christian Rule condemneth, and brandeth for such: if there be not such a power extant in the Christian World, then I confess we are yet to seek for Antichrist; but if there be, none so wilfully blind as they that cannot see Wood for Trees, and know not where to fix this Character.