Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On Antichrist · On the Roman Pontiff, Book III
Chapter 4: The First Demonstration: The Gospel Not Yet Preached to All Nations
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. II, De Antichristo, On Antichrist (On the Roman Pontiff, Book III). The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
The true opinion, then, is that Antichrist has not yet begun to reign, nor has come, but will come and reign about the end of the World — how far off that yet is, can in no way be known. This opinion, which destroys all the foregoing, and clearly shows that the Roman Pontiffs are not Antichrists, is demonstrated by six reasons.
For it must be known that the Holy Spirit in the divine letters has given us six certain signs of the coming of Antichrist: two preceding Antichrist himself, namely the preaching of the Gospel in the whole World, and the desolation of the Roman Empire; two accompanying him, namely the preaching of Henoch and Elijah, and a persecution the greatest and most notorious, so that the public sacred rites altogether cease; two following, namely the destruction of Antichrist after three years and a half, and the end of the World — of which we as yet see none existing.
The first demonstration, then, is taken from the first sign preceding Antichrist. The Scriptures testify that the Gospel is to be preached in the whole World before the last persecution comes, which will be stirred up by Antichrist. Matthew 24: This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations.
That this will be before the coming of Antichrist could be proved by this reason: that in the time of Antichrist the cruelty of that last persecution will hinder all public exercises of the true religion.
But because the adversaries do not admit this reason, nor is it now the time to deduce it from its principles, let us prove the same thing from the testimonies of the Fathers. Hilary, then, canon 25 on Matthew, expounding those words, This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, and then shall the consummation come, openly teaches that Antichrist — whom he calls the abomination of desolation — will not come unless the preaching of the Gospel in the whole World precede.
The same teach in express words Cyril, catechesis 15, Theodoret on 2 Thessalonians 2, Damascene Book 4, chapter 28, and others; and besides, the same is gathered from the text. For it is said that the Gospel is to be preached before that greatest and last tribulation comes, such as was not before nor will be afterward; and that by this tribulation is signified the persecution of Antichrist, the Fathers teach, and especially Augustine.
Now that the Gospel had not been preached in the whole World at the time in which the new Samosatenes say Antichrist came, that is, about the year of the Lord 200 or 300, is plain from Origen, who tract 28 on Matthew asserts that in his time the Gospel had not yet been everywhere preached; likewise from Rufinus, who [relates that in the time of Constantine] the Emperor, that is, after the year of the Lord 300, the Gospel was preached to the farther Indians, since before they had never heard anything of Christ; finally from Augustine, who in letter 80 says that he had found by most certain experience that in his time there were still many Nations which had heard nothing of Christ.
And that the preaching of the Gospel was not completed about the year 600 or 700, at which times the Centuriators, Chytraeus, Luther, and Bullinger place the coming of Antichrist, is plain from the conversion of the Vandals, Poles, Moravians, and the like, who, it is established, did not hear the preaching of the Gospel until after the year of Christ 800, as even the Centuriators confess, Century 9, chapter 2, columns 15 and 18, and Century 10, chapter 2, columns 18 and 19. Likewise, that the preaching was not completed in the time of blessed Bernard, at which time Wolfgang Musculus places the coming of Antichrist, is plain from Bernard himself, Book 3 on Consideration, where he asserts that even in his time there were Nations which had not heard the Gospel.
Finally, that even in our time the Gospel has not been preached in the whole World, experience teaches. For there have been found in the East and West most vast regions in which no memory of the Gospel exists. Nor can it be said that there had been the Faith there, but that it was afterward extinguished; for at least some traces would remain, either there or in the writings of the Ancients. Moreover we know that where all the Apostles preached, there were places known to many, not to say to all; but the new World now discovered was not known from the times of the Apostles until a little before our age.
Against this demonstration only one objection can be made: that perhaps the Scriptures which say that the Gospel is to be preached in the whole World do not speak of the whole World simply, but by a figure of understanding take the whole for a part, as in Luke 2, when it is said: There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that the whole world should be enrolled. Otherwise that which Paul says will be false, Romans 10, already then in his time: that the sound of the Apostles went out into all the earth. And that which he says, Colossians 1: Of the hope of the gospel which is come unto you, as also it is in the whole world, fructifying and increasing. And below: Which is preached, he says, in all the creation that is under heaven.
I answer: without doubt, not by a figure, but properly and simply, the Gospel must be preached in the whole world, that is, in every Nation, and Churches established. For, first, this Augustine expressly teaches, letter 80 to Hesychius; and the same think the other Fathers cited, and besides Origen, and Jerome, and others, on chapter 24 of Matthew.
Next, it can be proved by three reasons. First, Christ says that the preaching in the whole World is a sign of the consummation of the age; for so he subjoins: And then shall the consummation come. But if the Gospel were to be preached in the whole World not properly, but by synecdoche, that sign would avail nothing; for in that manner in the first 20 years the Gospel was preached by the Apostles in the whole World. Secondly, as Augustine reasons, properly all Nations are promised to Christ, Psalm 71: All nations shall serve him; and Christ died generally for all, and therefore in Apocalypse chapter 7 the elect are described out of all Nations, and peoples, and tribes, and tongues; therefore also the preaching properly ought to be general. Finally, Matthew 24, it is said that the Gospel is to be preached in the whole World for a testimony to all nations — that is, lest any Nation in the day of judgment be able to excuse its unbelief under pretext of ignorance; therefore before the general judgment a general preaching must precede.
To those places of Paul, Augustine answers in letter 80, and says that Paul, when he says Romans 10, Into all the earth their sound went out, took the past for the future, as David had done, whose those words are. But when he says Colossians 1 that the Gospel is in the whole World, he did not mean that it is so in act, but in power; because forsooth the seed of the divine word had been cast by the Apostles into the World, which by gradually fructifying and increasing was to fill the whole World — just as one who had set fire to diverse parts of a city would truly be said to have set the whole city on fire, because he had applied the fire which, by gradually increasing, was to consume the whole city. And this same the Apostle indicates when he says: In the whole World it is fructifying and increasing; for it had not plainly occupied the whole World, since it was still being propagated, and yet in a certain manner it had occupied it, that is, in power, not in act.
It could also be answered, with Jerome on chapter 20 of Matthew and blessed Thomas on chapter 10 to the Romans, that the Gospel came to all Nations in two ways: in one way by fame; in another way by proper preachers and the foundation of Churches. And that in the first way the Gospel came to all the Nations of the whole World then known in the time of the Apostles, and of this Paul speaks — in which way also Chrysostom on chapter 24 of Matthew must be understood; but in the second way it did not then come, but was to come in its own time, and of this the Lord speaks, Matthew 24, Luke last chapter, and Acts 1.
Add lastly that it is not absurd if we grant that the Lord spoke properly, but the Apostle figuratively. For the reasons by which we are compelled to take the words of the Lord in their proper signification do not have the same force if applied to the words of blessed Paul — especially since the Lord spoke of a future thing, but Paul of a past.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPDT iv.
Explicatur prima demonstratio , quod nondum
venerit Antichristus.
Est igitur vera sententia, nondum regna¬
re coepisse, neque venisse, sed venturum et
regnaturum circa Mundi finem, qui quantum
adhuc absit, nullo modo sciri potest. Haec
sententia, quae destruit omnes superiores, et
clare ostendit, Romanos Pontifices non esse
Antichristos, demonstratur sex rationibus.
Sciendum est enim, Spiritum sanctum in
divinis litteris sex signa certa adventus An¬
tichristi nobis dedisse : duo praecedentia ip¬
sum Antichristum, nempe praedicationem
Evangelii in toto Mundo, et Imperii Romani
desolationem : duo comitantia, videlicet
praedicationem Henoch et Eliae, et persecu¬
tionem maximam et notissimam, ita ut pu¬
blica sacra omnino cessent : duo sequentia,
nimirum , interitum Antichristi post tres
annos cum medio, et finem Mundi ; quorum
nullum adhuc videmus existere.
Prima ergo demonstratio sumitur ex pri¬
mo signo antecedente Antichristum. Scrip¬
turae testantur, in toto Mundo praedicandum
Evangelium, autequam veniet ultima perse¬
cutio, quae excitabitur ab Antichristo Matth.
XXIV : Praedicabitur hoc Evangelium' regni in
universo orbe , in testimonium omnibus Genti¬
bus (1).
Quod autem hoc sit futurum ante adven¬
tum Antichristi, probari posset ea ratione,
quia tempore Antichristi, crudelitas perse¬
cutionis illius novissimae impediet omnia pu¬
blica exercitia veras religionis.
Sed quia hanc rationem adversarii non
admittunt, nec est tempus nunc eam dedu¬
cendi ex suis principiis, probemus id ipsum
ex testimoniis Patrum. Hilarius igitur can.
25 in Matth. exponens illa verba : Praedica¬
bitur hoc Euangelium regni in universo orbe ,
et tunc veniet consummatio , aperte docet, non
venturum Antichristum, quem abominatio¬
nem desolationis appellat , nisi praecedat
Etangelii praedicatio in toto Orbe.
Idem docent disertis verbis Cyrillus ca-
tech. 15. Theodoretus in II Tliessal. II. Da¬
mascenus lib. IV, cap. 28 et alii : et praeter¬
ea idem colligitur ex textu. Nam dicitur
praedicandum Evangelium, antequam veniat
illa maxima et novissima tribulatio, qualis
nec antea fuit, neque postea erit : qua tri¬
bulatione significari Antichristi persecutio¬
nem, docent Patres, et praecipue Augustinus
autem Evangelium non fuerit praedicatum in
toto Orbe terrarum eo tempore, quo dicun{;
novi Samosateni venisse Antichristum, id
est, circa annum Domini 200 vel 300, patet
ex Origene, qui tract. 28 in Matth. asserit,
tempore suo non fuisse adhuc ubique prae¬
dicatum Evangelium. Item ex Ruffmo, qui
tini Imperatoris, id est, post annum Domi¬
ni 300, Indis ulterioribus praedicatum fuisse
Evangelium, cum antea nunquam illi de
Christo quidquam audivissent. Denique ex
Augustino, qui in epist. 80 dicit, experientia
certissima se comperisse, suo tempore adhuc
fuisse multas Gentes, quae nihil de Christo
audierant.
Quod autem, neque completa fuit praedi¬
catio Evangelii circa annum 600 vel 700,
quibus temporibus ponunt adventum Anti¬
christi Centuriatores, Chytraeus, Lutherus,
et Bullingerus, patet ex conversione Wanda-
lorum, Polonorum, Moravorum, et similium,
quos constat non audivisse praedicationem
Evangelii, nisi post annum Christi 800, ut
etiam Centuriatores fatentur Gent. IX, cap.
2, coi. 15 et 18 et Cent. X, cap. 2. colum.
18 ct 19. Item, quod non fuerit completa
praedicatio tempore B. Bernardi, quo tem¬
pore ponit adventum Antichristi Wolfgan-
gus Musculus ; patet ex ipso Bernardo lib.
III de Consider. ubi asserit, adhuc suo tem¬
pore fuisse Gentes, quae non audierant Evan¬
gelium.
Denique, quod etiam nostro tempore non
sit praedicatum Evangelium in toto Mundo,
experientia docet. Inventae sunt enim in
Oriente et Occidente regiones vastissimae, in
quibus nulla exstait memoria Evangelii. Ne¬
que dici potest fuisse ibi Fidem, sed postea
esse extinctam : nam saltem aliqua vestigia
remanerent, vel ibi, vel in scripturis Vete¬
rum. Praeterea scimus, ubi praedicaverunt
omnes Apostoli, fuisse loca multis nota, ne
dicam omnibus ; at novus Orbis terrae nunc
inventus, non fuit cognitus ab Apostolorum
temporibus, nisi paulo ante nostram aeta¬
tem.
Contra hanc demonstrationem una tan¬
tum objectio fieri potest : quia nimirum for¬
tasse Scripturae, quae dicunt Evangelium in
toto Orbe praedicandum, non loquuntur de
toto Orbe simpliciter, sed per figuram intel¬
lectionis accipiunt totum pro parte, sicut
Luc. II cum dicitur : Exiit edictum a Ccesare
Augusto , ut describeretur universus orbis.
Alioquin falsum erit quod Paulus dicit Rom.
X jam tunc tempore suo : In omnem terram
exivisse sonum Apostolorum. Et quod ait Coi.
I : A spe Evangelii quod pervenit usque ad vos,
sicut et in toto mundo est, fructificans et cres¬
cens. Et infra : Quod praedicatum est, inquit,
in universa creatura quae sub coelo est (2).
Respondeo : sine dubio, non per figuram,
sed proprie et simpliciter in toto mundo, id
est, in omni Gente praedicari debere Evan¬
gelium, et Ecclesias constitui. Nam in pri¬
mis id expresse docet Augustinus epist. 80
ad Hesych. et idem sentiunt alii Patres cita¬
ti, et praeterea Origenes, et Hieronymus, et
alii in cap. XXIV Matth.
Deinde, tribus rationibus id probari po¬
test. Primo, Christus ait, praedicationem in
universo Mundo esse signum consummatio-
nis saeculi ; sic enim subjungit : Et tunc ve¬
niet consummatio (3) : at si non proprie,
sed per synecdochen deberet praedicari
Evangelium in toto Mundo, nihil valeret il¬
lud signum : Nam eo modo primis 20 annis
(1) Matth. XXIV, 14. — (2) Luc, II, 1 ; Rom. X, 18 ; Coloss. I, 6 et seq. — (3) Matth. XXIV, 14.
fuit prsedicatum Evangelium ab Apostolis in
toto Mundo. Secundo, ut Augustinus ratio¬
cinatur, proprie omnes Gentes sunt Christo
promissee Psal. LXXI : Omnes gentes servient
ei (1) : et Christus generaliter pro omnibus
mortuus est, et ideo in Apoc. cap. YII de¬
scribuntur electi ex omnibus Gentibus , et
populis, et tribubus, et linguis ; igitur etiam
praedicatio proprie debet esse generalis. De¬
nique Matth. XXIV dicitur praedicandum
Evangelium in toto Mundo in testimonium
omnibus Gentibus (2), id est, ne ulla Gens in
die judicii possit excusare infidelitatem suam
praetextu ignorantiae ; igitur ante generale
judicium, generalis praedicatio debet prae¬
cedere.
Ad loca illa Pauli respondetAugustinus in
epist. 80. ac dicit, Paulum, cum ait Rom.X:
In omnem terram exivit sonus eorum (3), acce¬
pisse praeteritum pro futuro, sicut fecerat
David, cujus illa verba sunt. Cum autem ait
Coloss. I : Evangelium esse in toto Mundo (4),
non voluisse dicere esse actu, sed virtute,
quia nimirum jactum fuerat per Apostolos
semen verbi divini in Mundum, quod pau-
latim fructificando , et crescendo , totum
Mundum repleturum erat : quomodo aliquis,
qui ignem supposuisset diversis partibus ci¬
vitatis, vere diceretur totam illam urbem
incendisse, quia ignem applicuerat, qui pau-
latim crescendo, totam urbem absumpturus
erat; et hoc idem Apostolus indicat cum ait:
In toto Mundo est fructificans , et crescens :
non enim Mundum totum plane occupave¬
rat, cum adhuc propagaretur, et tamen suo
quodam modo occupaverat, id est, virtute,
non actu.
Posset etiam responderi cum Hieronymo
in cap. XX Matth. et B.Thoma in cap. X ad
Rom. duobus modis pervenisse Evangelium
ad omnes Gentes : uno modo per famam ;
alio modo per proprios praedicatores, et Ec¬
clesiarum fundationem. Et quidem primo
modo pervenisse Evangelium acT omnes Gen¬
tes totius Mundi tunc noti tempore Aposto¬
lorum, et de hoc loqui Paulum : quomodo
etiam debet intelligi Ghrysostomus in cap.
XXIV Matth. Secundo modo non pervenisse
tunc, sed perventurum suo tempore, et de
hoc loqui Dominum Matth. XXIV, Luc. ult.
et Act. I.
Adde ultimo, non esse absurdum, si con¬
cedamus, Dominum proprie, Apostolum fi¬
gurate esse locutum. Rationes enim, quibus
cogimur Domini verba in propria significa¬
tione accipere, non eamdem vim habent, si
accommodentur ad verba B. Pauli : praeser¬
tim cum Dominus de re futura, Paulus de
praeterita sit locutus.