Armillus

ARMILLUS. The Jews call Antichrist by this name¹. He is to issue from the conjunction of certain Villains of different Nations with the statue of a perfectly beautiful Virgin, which will be to be seen at Rome. His stature will be prodigious; he shall proclaim himself to be the Messiah, and the God who ought to be adored. All the posterity of Esau, for so they call the Romans, shall submit to his laws. Nehemiah the Son of Joseph, the first Messiah (for they expect two) shall make War with him, and shall march against him at the head of thirty thousand Jews: Armillus shall be beaten, and two hundred thousand men shall perish in the first combat: Armillus shall return to the Charge, and after having lost an infinite number of Soldiers, shall unknowingly kill the Messiah Nehemiah.

Hereupon the Jews shall lose courage, and betake themselves to flight: all nations shall persecute them, and upon no occasion will they ever be treated with more rigour. At length they shall recover themselves. The Archangel Michael shall sound the trumpet three times: immediately the Messiah the Son of David shall appear together with the Prophet Elias; the Jews shall gather about him, and make war with Armillus, who shall be slain in the battle. After this will follow the reign of the Messiah, and the entire ruin of Christians and Infidels. Such is the idea which the Rabbins form to themselves of Antichrist. We find the name of Armillus in the Paraphrast Jonathan: but whether it be there from the first hand, or whether it be added and inserted afterwards we cannot tell.

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