Chapter 23.— What Daniel Predicted Regarding the Persecution of Antichrist, the Judgment of God, and the Kingdom of the Saints.

"Daniel prophesies of the last judgment in such a way as to indicate that Anti-christ shall first come, and to carry on his description to the eternal reign of the saints. For when in prophetic vision he had seen four beasts, signifying four kingdoms, and the fourth  conquered by a certain king,  who is recognized as Antichrist, and after this the eternal kingdom of the Son of man, that is to say, of Christ, he says, My spirit was terrified, I Daniel in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me, etc. Some have interpreted these four kingdoms as signifying those of the Assyrians, Persians, Macedonians, and Romans. They who desire to understand the fitness of this interpretation may read Jerome's book on  Daniel, which is written with a sufficiency of care and erudition.  But he who reads this passage, even half asleep, cannot fail to see that the kingdom of Antichrist shall fiercely, though for a short time, assail the Church before the last judgment of God shall introduce the eternal reign of the saints. For it is patent from the context that the time, times, and half a time, means a year, and two years, and half a year, that is to say, three years and a half."  (The last 3 1/2, of the 7, my comment).


Next, the words of:    Bernard (1090-1153)


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