Chapter 24 — The enemies of religious try to prove that the times of antichrist are at hand

We will now consider how the enemies of religious attribute to them all the evils which will befall the Church in her latter days, by declaring that they are the forerunners of Antichrist. They adduce two arguments, in support of this proposition.

First, they say that the days of Antichrist are at hand.

Second, they say that religious are the emissaries of Antichrist, because they preach and hear confessions.

They try to prove that the latter days of the world are at hand, by the words of St. Paul, they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come (1 Cor 10:11). They also quote the words of St. John, children, it is the last hour (1 John 2:18). St. Paul writes again: for yet a little while, and the coming one shall come and shall not tarry (Heb 10:37). In James 5:9 we read: behold, the Judge is standing at the doors. Those who quote these texts in support of their arguments maintain that as so long a time has elapsed since the apostolic times, the advent of antichrist must be imminent.

We may, of course, gather from these passages that the time of antichrist is at hand. For Sacred Scripture always speaks of time as being very short in comparison to eternity. Thus, in 1 Corinthians 7:29, we read: the appointed time has grown very short. In this sense, the interpretation given to these words by our opponents is not reprehensible. Nevertheless, the texts which they quote cannot be considered as a confirmation of their opinion that the days which are to be dreaded in the days of antichrist are immediately imminent, and that they are caused by the religious of our day, into whose conduct (they say) it the bishops should make enquiries. It is presumption to conclude, from the texts just quoted, that antichrist is to come within some definite period of time, be it seven years, or a hundred, or a thousand years.

Our Lord said to his disciples, when they asked him: it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority (Acts 2:7). As St. Augustine writes to Hesychius: if it was not for the disciples to know, much less is it for any others. (Cf. Augustine, Epistle 199, ch. 2, para. 4 (CSEL 57:248; PL 33:906).) Again, we read: of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven (Matt 24:36). And in 2 Thessalonians 2:2 we read: we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited . . . as though the day of the Lord has come.

St. Augustine says (Epist. ad Hesychium): you say the Gospel tells us that no man knows that day or hour. I tell you, as far as my understanding will suffice, that no man can know the month nor the year of the coming of the Lord. This seems as if the words had been understood to mean that, though none can say in what year the Lord will come, it is possible to know in what septet or decade of years his coming may be expected. (Augustine, Epistle 199, ch. 6, para. 16 (CSEL 57:256; PL 33:910).) St. Augustine further says: although we cannot understand this, I would ask you whether we can know the time of the coming of the Lord, so far as to be able to say: he will come within the next fifty, or hundred years, or within some period more or less extended? (Augustine, Epistle 199, ch. 6, para. 16 (CSEL 57:256-257;PL 33:910).) And again: if you say that you cannot understand, I agree with you. (Augustine, Epistle 199, ch. 6, para. 16 (CSEL 57:257; PL 33:910).)

Certain men were condemned in the early days of the Church for teaching, as men teach now, that the coming of the Lord was imminent. We have this on the authority of St. Jerome (De illustr. viris), (Jerome, De viris illustribus, ch. 52 (PL 23:661).) and of Eusebius, (Ecclesiast. Histor.). (Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica 6.7 (PG 20:535B).) No period, either long or short, can be determined, in which is to be expected the end of the world, or the coming of Christ or of antichrist. It is for this reason that we are told that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night (1 Thess 5:2), and that as in those days before the flood . . . they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man (Matt 24:38). St. Augustine, in his epistle to Hesychius, speaks of three classes of men who made assertions respecting the coming of our Lord. (Augustine, Epistle 199, ch. 13, para. 54 (CSEL 57:292; PL 33:925).) One class expects him soon; another later; and the third declares its ignorance of the time of his coming. This last opinion meets with the approbation of St. Augustine, and he censures the presumption of the others.

Those who say that the second advent is at hand, try to establish the following argument. The last age begins with the coming of Christ. Foregoing ages have not lasted longer than a thousand years. As then much more than a thousand years have elapsed since the coming of Christ, his second coming must be shortly expected. This argument is answered by St. Augustine (83 Quaest. LX) as follows: age is supposed to include a time equal to the aggregate of all the periods that have elapsed. (This text is in reality found in q. 58: Augustine, 83 Questions, q. 58, para. 2 (CCSL 44A; PL 40:43).) He compares this latter time to old age. Then he concludes by saying: it is thus uncertain by what generations the final period of time, which begins with the coming of our Lord and is to end with the end of the world, is to be counted. (Augustine, 83 Questions, q. 58, para. 2 (CCSL 44A; PL 40:43).) God has chosen, for some wise purpose, to keep this hidden. So it is written in the Gospel. (Matt 24:36.) St. Paul also declares that the day of the Lord is to come like a thief in the night. (1 Thess 5:2.)

Those who believe in the speedy coming of Antichrist, say that his appearance is heralded by eight signs. (One example is found in William of Saint-Amoure, De periculis, 8.)

First, they quote the words of Daniel 7:25 concerning antichrist: he shall think to change the times and the law. That is to say, according to the Gloss, his pride is so excessive that he strives to alter laws and ceremonies. (Glossa ordinaria 4, 1586 at Dan 7:25.) On account of these words the days of antichrist are said to be at hand, because certain men try to alter the Gospel of Christ into another gospel, which they call “eternal.” The Gospel of which they speak is a certain Introduction to the books of Joachim, which is condemned by the Church. (Condemned by Pope Alexander IV on 23 October, 1255: Chartul., I, sect. 257-258.) Or else it is the doctrine of Joachim, whereby they say the Gospel of Christ is altered. But granted that this hypothesis were true, it would be no token of the approach of antichrist. For even in the days of the apostles, certain men tried to alter the Gospel of Christ. Thus St. Paul says: I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel (Gal 1:6).

The second sign of the coming of antichrist is supposed to be found in the words of Psalm 9:21: appoint, O Lord, a lawgiver over them. This the Gloss interprets to mean the antichrist, the giver of an evil law. (Glossa interlinearis, at Ps 9:21 (in Glossa ordinaria 3, 499-500).) As the doctrine which we have already mentioned, which they call the law of antichrist, was promulgated at Paris, (William of Saint-Amoure, De periculis, 8.) it is thought to be a sign that antichrist is at hand. But it is not true to say that the doctrine of Joachim, or that which is contained in the Introduction to the Gospel of Joachim, however reprehensible it may be, is the doctrine which will be preached by antichrist. For antichrist will proclaim himself to be God. St. Paul says expressly (2 Thess 2:4), so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God. For if, by the teaching of antichrist, all false doctrine is to be understood, just as all heretics are called antichrists; then, the alleged proof of the speedy coming of antichrist is no proof at all. For from the earliest days of the Church there has never been a time in which heretical teaching has not been disseminated. Even now there are many antichrists (1 John 2:18). On these words, the Gloss remarks: all heretics are antichrists. (Glossa ordinaria 6, 1387 at 1 John 2:18 (PL 114:697).)

The third supposed sign of the coming of antichrist is found in the book of Daniel 5:25 and in Isaiah 21:9. We read there the account of the hand that wrote Mane, Thecel, Phares on the wall of Babylon. Those who believe that Antichrist is at hand, maintain that the same prediction which formerly was written up in Babylon is now written in the Church. Mane was interpreted to mean, God has numbered your kingdom and has finished it; and the kingdom of Christ is now numbered, for it has been foretold that it its to endure a thousand two hundred and seventy years. Thecel signified, you art weighed in the balance and found wanting; and the “eternal gospel” is preferred to the Gospel of Christ. Phares meant your kingdom is divided, and is given to the Medes and Persians; and the kingdom of the Church is now finished and given to others. Thus, the writing on the wall signified both the destruction of the Church and the ruin of Babylon.

This, however, seems a very foolish idea. St. Augustine tells us (De civitate Dei, 18) that certain men said that Christianity was to last for three hundred and sixty-five years, and that at the end of that time it was to cease to exist. (Augustine, The City of God 18.53.2 (CCSL 47; CSEL 40.2:358; PL 41:617).) Thus, it is no new thing to assign a limit for the duration of Christianity, since this was done even before the time of Augustine. Hence this is no reason for believing Antichrist to be at hand. St. Augustine says likewise in the same place that in his time some men estimated that four hundred years, others that five hundred, were to elapse between the Ascension of Christ and his second coming. (Augustine, The City of God 18.53.1 (CCSL 47; CSEL 40.2:358; PL 41:617).) Others, again, reckoned that this period was to embrace a thousand years. But the words of our Lord, it is not yours to know the times or the moments (Acts 1:7), expose the folly of all such suppositions. St. Augustine, furthermore, blames the kind of arguments used in such conjectures. (Augustine, The City of God 18.52.1 (CCSL 47; CSEL 40.2:354; PL 41:614).) He compares them to the hypothesis of some that as there were ten plagues of Egypt, so there were to be ten persecutions of the Church. He says that such opinions are mere human conjectures, established on no foundation of truth. Those who interpret the handwriting on the wall as prophetic of the speedy coming of Antichrist, show their agreement with the Scripture that they reprobate; because, like the Scripture, they say that the beloved Babylon is soon to be destroyed. But there is no real similitude. For the handwriting in Babylon was divinely displayed, and it was therefore a proof of the truth; but the writing, of which these would-be prophets speak, is a figment of error, on which no argument can be founded.

They take their other five signs from the signs of which our Lord speaks in the Gospel of St. Matthew as portents of his coming.

The fourth sign is taken from the words recorded in Matthew 24:29: then shall they put you to death, and you shall be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. This sign is said to be now fulfilled. For, as men will not endure correction, they persecute those holy ones who reprove them, by hatred, by manifold tribulations, and even by death. But, this is no argument at all. For this sort of persecution befell the apostles and the martyrs, as our Lord foretold. Hence the fact that the Church suffers persecution at present, is no more proof that the second advent is at hand than it was in the apostolic age.

The fifth sign is taken from the following words: then shall many be scandalised (Matt 24:10). This prediction is supposed to be fulfilled, because religious are calumniated and men take scandal at that. But this interpretation of the text is opposed to that of the Gloss which says: men shall be scandalised, that is, they shall fall from the faith, through fear of the greatness of the torments inflicted on believers. (Glossa interlinearis, at Matt 24:9 (in Glossa ordinaria 5, 393-394).) Thus this prediction was fulfilled at the time of the martyrs. It is nothing new for holy men to be spoken ill of by the impious. Even the apostles were told: blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely (Matt 5:11). We also read in ecclesiastical history how tyrants caused faithful Christians to be accused of the blackest crimes.

The sixth sign is taken from the words: many false prophets will arise and lead many astray (Matt 24:11). We are told that this sign is now manifested, because certain religious appear who are called false prophets, because they commend themselves and for other reasons of the same kind. But this interpretation will be seen to be erroneous if we compare it with the Gloss Mark 13:21, where false prophets are understood to mean heretics, or those who, after the Passion of our Lord and before the destruction of Jerusalem, seduced the Jewish nation. (Glossa ordinaria 5, 620 at Mark 13:21 (PL 114:227).) We have also already spoken at length on the subject of false prophets.

The seventh sign is taken from the words: because iniquity has abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. (Matt 24:12.) It is maintained that we now see the accomplishment of this prediction; inasmuch as those who seem to be the most zealous defenders of the Church, forsake the Gospel of Christ, and adhere to the “eternal gospel,” whereby they show that the love which they owe to Christ has grown cold. But this statement is untrue. For those about whom it is made have not abandoned the Gospel of Christ, and do not profess to believe in any other Gospel. But, granted that the accusation were true, there have been in all ages men in the Church who appeared perfect, and yet originated heresies. We may mention Pelagius, Nestorius, and Eutyches. There have also been many others of the same description. But they did not, therefore, prove that their charity had grown cold. For, although they did not follow the teaching of the Gospel, they did not persecute it. There is no need of persecution, where there is no defender of the truth. Such a persecution would revive extinct errors; and, under pretext of refuting them, would teach them to the people; and this is the greatest of dangers. Hence St. Gregory says (Moral., 14) that after Eutyches had died leaving no followers, he would not labor to exterminate his errors, lest he should again fan them into flame. (Gregory the Great, Morals 14.56.74 (CCSL 143A; PL 75:1079B).)

The eighth sign is taken from the words: this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world. (Matt. 24:14.) These words are said to be fulfilled in themselves, because they proclaim the signs and dangers which they wish all men to avoid, according to the words of St. Paul (2 Tim 4:2): preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season. We are told that those who do not preach these signs are false apostles, who have not, like the animals mentioned in the fourth chapter of the Apocalypse, eyes before and behind, to know both the future and the past. (William of Saint-Amoure, De periculis, 14.9; Collectiones, 4.49.) But this sign is worth nothing. Even in the early ages of the Church, there were, as ecclesiastical history relates, (Cf. Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica 6.7 (PG 20:535B).) many who proclaimed similar prophecies, and who were on this account reproved by other Catholics of weight. The Gloss on the words, many will come in my name (Mark 13:6) says: many, at a time when ruin was imminent, came, proclaiming themselves to be Christs and falsely declaring that freedom was at hand. And many in the Church, even in the apostolic ages, threatened the faithful with the speedy coming of the Lord. (Glossa ordinaria 5, 616 at Mark 13:6 (PL 114:226).) Hence they who foretell these signs are not numbered among those who proclaim the Gospel, but among those who seduce many. Consequently, when our Lord said, this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached, (Matt 24:14.) he referred not to the preaching of these vain signs, but to the teaching of the Christian faith which, before his second advent, will be disseminated throughout the whole world. Hence as St. Augustine proves, in his letter to Hesychius, the day of the Lord could not in his time be at hand, since there still existed nations to which the Gospel had not, as yet, been preached. (Augustine, Epistle 199, ch. 12, para. 46 and following (CSEL 57:284; PL 33:922).) Those who proclaim this sign, themselves fall into the snare which they have prepared for others. For they call a certain new doctrine, “the gospel of the kingdom,” and affirm themselves to be the signs which announce the gospel of the kingdom.

St. Augustine sums up the folly and worthlessness of these five last signs, in the following words: perchance, if we diligently compare and examine all that the three Evangelists have said of the coming of Christ, we shall find that it points to his daily advent in his body the Church, of which coming he said: "a little while and you shall see the Son of man coming, or sitting.” (Epist. ad Hesych.). (Augustine, Epistle 199, ch. 11, para. 45 (CSEL 57:283; PL 33:921).)