XXXII.
But many who are hearers of the divine Scriptures, [1967] and have them in their hand, and keep them in mind with understanding, will escape his imposture. For they will see clearly through his insidious appearance and his deceitful imposture, and will flee from his hands, and betake themselves to the mountains, and hide themselves in the caves of the earth; and they will seek after the Friend of man with tears and a contrite heart; and He will deliver them out of his toils, and with His right hand He will save those from his snares who in a worthy and righteous manner make their supplication to Him.
[1967] [Note this. The faithful are to have the Holy Scriptures in their hand. But this has been condemned by repeated bulls and anathemas of Roman pontiffs; e.g., by Clement XI., a.d. 1713; and no Bible in the vulgar tongue ever appeared in Rome till a.d. 1870, on the overthrow of the papal kingdom.]
XXXIII.
You see in what manner of fasting and prayer the saints will exercise themselves at that time. Observe, also, how hard the season and the times will be that are to come upon those in city and country alike. At that time they will be brought from the east even unto the west; and they will come up from the west even unto the east, and will weep greatly and wail vehemently. And when the day begins to dawn they will long for the night, in order that they may find rest from their labours; and when the night descends upon them, by reason of the continuous earthquakes and the tempests in the air, they will desire even to behold the light of the day, and will seek how they may hereafter meet a bitter death. [1968] At that time the whole earth will bewail the life of anguish, and the sea and air in like manner will bewail it; and the sun, too, will wail; and the wild beasts, together with the fowls, will wail; mountains and hills, and the trees of the plain, will wail on account of the race of man, because all have turned aside from the holy God, and obeyed the deceiver, and received the mark of that abominable one, the enemy of God, instead of the quickening cross of the Saviour.
[1968] [Deut. xxviii. 66, 67.]
XXXIV.
And the churches, too, will wail with a mighty lamentation, because neither "oblation nor incense" is attended to, nor a service acceptable to God; [1969] but the sanctuaries of the churches will become like a garden-watcher's hut, [1970] and the holy body and blood of Christ will not be shown in those days. The public service of God shall be extinguished, psalmody shall cease, the reading of the Scriptures shall not be heard; [1971] but for men there shall be darkness, and lamentation on lamentation, and woe on woe. At that time silver and gold shall be cast out in the streets, and none shall gather them; but all things shall be held an offence. For all shall be eager to escape and to hide themselves, and they shall not be able anywhere to find concealment from the woes [1972] of the adversary; but as they carry his mark about them, they shall be readily recognised and declared to be his. Without there shall be fear, and within trembling, both by night and by day. In the street and in the houses there shall be the dead; in the streets and in the houses there shall be hunger and thirst; in the streets there shall be tumults, and in the houses lamentations. And beauty of countenance shall be withered, for their forms shall be like those of the dead; and the beauty of women shall fade, and the desire of all men shall vanish.
[1969] [The reference is to Mal. i. 11, and incense is expounded spiritually by the Ante-Nicene Fathers generally. See Irenæus, vol. i. p. 574, Tertullian, iii. p. 346 and passim.]
[1970] [Isa. i. 8.]
[1971] [The public reading of Scripture-lessons is implied, Acts xv. 21. See Hooker, Eccl. Pol., book v. cap. xix.]
[1972] pathon. B reads pagidon, snares.
XXXV.
Notwithstanding, not even then will the merciful and benignant God leave the race of men without all comfort; but He will shorten even those days and the period of three years and a half, and He will curtail those times on account of the remnant of those who hide themselves in the mountains and caves, that the phalanx of all those saints fail not utterly. But these days shall run their course rapidly; and the kingdom of the deceiver and Antichrist shall be speedily removed. And then, in fine, in the glance of an eye shall the fashion of this world pass away, and the power of men [1973] shall be brought to nought, and all these visible things shall be destroyed.
[1973] R reads daimonon, demons.