180 ANNALS 03? ROGER DE HOVEDEN. A.D. 1190. solitary places of the rocks, and shall preserve the Christian faith in the fear of the Lord, until the consummation of Antichrist ; and this is meant where it is said : " The woman fled into the wilderness of Egypt, where she had a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there, a thousand two hundred and sixty days ; and her man child shall rule all nations with a rod of iron." This is especially our Lord Jesus Christ, who after His Passion and Resurrection, has ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Pather Almighty, and shall come to judge the living and the dead, and the world by fire ; of whom, if we are followers, and shall continue to obey His commands, we shall be caught up into the air to meet him, and shall always be with him." But although the said abbat of Curazzo gave these opinions ha relation to Antichrist, still "Walter, archbishop of Rouen, and the archbishop of Apamia, Gerard, archbishop of Auxienne, John, bishop of Evreux, Bernard, bishop of Bayeux, and other ecclesiastical men of great learning in the Holy Scriptures, endeavoured to prove the contrary ; and although they brought forward many arguments on both sides, with strong indications of truthfulness, the dispute is stiH undecided. For the ancients, when making mention of Antichrist in their writings, have written to the foBowing effect : " Those persons who wish to know something about Antichrist, ought first to mark why he has been so caBed. The reason is, because he wiB be the opposite of Christ in aB things, and wiB do what is contrary to Christ. Christ came in humility, he wiB come ih pride. Christ came to raise the humble and to justify sinners; on the other hand, Antichrist wiB cast down the humble, and wBl magnify sinners, will exalt the unrighteous, and wiB always teach those vices which are opposed to virtues, wBl destroy the law of the Gospel, wiB recall to the world the worship of devils, wiB seek his own glory, and wUl caB himself " the Almighty God." This Antichrist wiB therefore have many to serve him in his wickedness, of whom many have already preceded him in the world ; such as Antiochus, Nero, and Domitian ; in our times too we know of many Antichrists. Whatever person, whether layman, whether monk, or whether canon, lives contrary to the laws of righteousness, and impugns the rules of his order, and blasphemes that which is good, he is Antichrist and a minister of Satan. But now as to the origin of Antichrist." What