A.D.1190. DESCRIPTION OP ANTICHRIST. 181 I am saying, I am not coining out of my own imagination, or inventing ; for in reading over books with care, I find all these things there written. According to what our authors say, Antichrist shall be born after the example of the Jews, namely, of the tribe of Dan, according to the prophecy that says : " Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path j" 9 8 for like a serpent shall he lie in the way, and be in the path, that he may smite those who walk in the path of justice, and may slay them with the venom of his malice. He shall also be born from the intercourse of a father and mother, just like other men, and not, as some say, of a virgin alone. But stiU, in sin shall he be wholly conceived ; in sin shall he be begotten, and in sin shall he be born. At the very moment of his conception, the devil shall at the same time enter the womb of his mother ; and by means of the Devil will he be cherished and protected in the womb of his mother, and the power of the Devil will always be with her. And just as the Holy Ghost came upon the Mother of "our Lord, and overshadowed her by his efficacy, and filled her with his divine power that so she might conceive by the Holy Ghost, and that what should be born might be sacred and holy ; so also the Devil shall descend upon the mother of Antichrist, and shall fill her entirely, surround her entirely, hold her entirely, possess her entirely, within and without, to the end that, the devil working through man, she may conceive ; and what shall be born shall be entirely noxious, entirely evil, entirely wicked. In consequence hereof, this man is also called " the son of perdition ;" because, so far as he possibly can, he shall bring mankind to perdition, and last of all he himself shall come to perdition. Behold ! now you have heard how he shall be born, hear also the place where he shall be born. For, as our Lord and Bedeemer in His foresight provided Bethlehem as the place where He should deign to assume humanity in our behalves, and be born, so the Devil knows of a fitting place for that wicked man who is called Antichrist, from which the root of all evils may take its rise, that is to say, the city of Babylon. For in this city, which was formerly a renowned and glorious city of the Gentiles, and the capital of the kingdom of Persia, Antichrist will be born, and it is said that he will be nourished and brought up in the cities of Bethsaida and Chorazin ; to 9 3 Gen. xlix. 17.