Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Ver. 4. Who opposeth himself] αντικειμενος, who standeth in full opposition to Christ, as a counter-christ. The enemy and adversary is this wicked Haman,Ezra 7:6, so this "man of sin" that Antichrist of Rome. When the pope sets forth any bulls, commonly he thus concludes, Non obstantibus constitutionibus Apostolicis, caeterisque contrariis quibuscunque, The constitutions and ordinances of the apostles, and all things else to the contrary notwithstanding. The pope's interpretation of Scripture, though it never so much cross the text, yet it is to be esteemed the very word of God, saith Hosius: Tamen est ipsissimum Dei verbum.
And exalteth himself] Perfrica frontem, said Calvus to Vatinius, et digniorem te dic qui Praetor fieres quam Catonem. Pope Boniface III set a good face upon it, and arrogated the title of Universal Bishop. The ancient Romans painted Pride with three crowns on her head. On the first was inscribed Transcendo, I transgress, on the second, Non obedio, I do not obey, on the third, Perturbo. I through into confusion, The modern Romans see all this daily acted by their bishop.
Above all that is called god] In the year 1540 Pope Paul III suffered himself to be thus blasphemously flattered, Paulo tertio optimo maximo in terris Deo, to Paul III, the greatest and best God in the world. In the year 1610, books were printed at Bonony and at Naples, with this inscription, Paulo V vice-deo, Christianae reipublicae monarchae invictissimo, Pontificiae omnipotentiae conservatori acerrimo: To Paul V, vice-god, most invincible monarch of Christendom, most stout defender of the papal omnipotency. The pope can do all that Christ can do, and is more than God, saith Hostiensis the canonist, and after him Zabarel: Of wrong he can make right, of vice virtue, of nothing something, saith Bellarmine. (Lib. i. de Pontif. Rom.) He is lifted above the angels, so that he can excommunicate them; he can dispense against not only the law of nature, but against all the evangelists, prophets, and apostles, saith Pope John XXIII in extrav.; one of his parasites clawed him thus,
" Oraclis vocis mundi moderaris habenas:
Et merito in terris diceris esse Deus. "
Or that is worshipped] σεβασμα. Or, that is august, above princes and potentates. He is cried up for "Lord of lords and King of kings," one that hath both the swords throughout the world, and an illimited empire over all reasonable creatures, Dulia adorandus, &c. How he trod upon the emperor of Germany, and how he lashed Henry II of England, and Henry IV of France till the blood followed, is better known than that I need here to relate. Sed exorto Evangelii iubare sagaciores (ut spero) principes ad nutum Romani Orbilii non solvent subligacula, saith one. Our Richard I, going for the Holy Land, had conference with one Joachim, a Cistercian abbot, being then in Calabria, near Sicily; whom, at his coming, he heard preaching and expounding the Apocalypse touching the afflictions of the Church, and concerning Antichrist, which (said he) was then born and in the city of Rome, and shall be advanced to the see apostolic; of whom the apostle said, "He shall extol himself above all that is called God;" and that the seven crowns were the kings and princes of the earth, that obeyed him: (Hoveden.) Much about the same time, Pope Celestine crowned the emperor Henry and his empress Constantia at Rome with his feet, and kicked off the same crown again. (Speed.)
Sitteth in the temple of God] Sitting is a style proper to the pope; who is said not to reign, but to sit so many years or months; and his place of dominion is called his "see," or "seat." Robert Grossetete, bishop of Lincoln, called him in a letter, "heretic, Antichrist sitting in the chair of pestilence, and next to Lucifer himself." Benedictus the Sorbonist affirmeth that the ass in the history of Balaam signifieth the Church. An quia Pontifex Balaam est qui ei insidet? saith Dr Raynolds, i.e. Doth he not mean by it, that the pope is Balaam that sitteth upon that ass? (De Idolol. Rom.) England was once called the "pope's ass," for bearing his burdens, and obeying his mandates. But beside the present Reformation (which is such as ages past despaired of, the present admire, and the future shall stand amazed at), in the year 1245 (lo, so long since) the pope was denied entrance into England; it being said that he was but like a "mouse in a satchel," or a snake in one's bosom, who did but ill repay their hosts for their lodging. (Scultet. Annal.)