destroy the reeds of paganism with your spark that he may gather
Egypt, Africa and Ethiopia, which no longer share our belief, into
the rules of his law, and "sinful man, the son of perdition,"[88]
will find others resisting him? See how the Gospel cries out that
"Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the time of
the nations will be fulfilled."[89]"The time of nations" may be
understood in two ways: either that they ruled at will over the
Christians, and for their own pleasures have wallowed in the troughs
of every kind of filth, and in all of these things have found no
obstruction (for "to have one's time" means that everything goes
according to one's wishes, as in "My time has not yet come, but your
time is always ready,"[90] and one customarily says to voluptuaries,
"You have your time;") or else the "time of nations" means the
multitudes of nations who, before Israel is saved, will join the
faith. These times, dearest brothers, perhaps will now be fulfilled,
when, with the aid of God, the power of the pagans will be pushed
back by you, and, with the end of the world already near, even if the
nations do not turn to the Lord, because, as the Apostle says, "there
must be a falling away from faith."[91] Nevertheless, first,
according to the prophecies, it is necessary, before the coming of
the Antichrist in those parts, either through you or through whomever
God wills, that the empire of Christianity be renewed, so that the
leader of all evil, who will have his throne there, may find some
nourishment of faith against which he may fight. Consider, then,
that Almighty providence may have destined you for the task of
rescuing Jerusalem from such abasement. I ask you to think how your
hearts can conceive of the joy of seeing the holy city revived by
your efforts, and the oracles, the divine prophecies fulfilled in our
own times. Remember that the voice of the Lord himself said to the
church, "I shall lead your seed from the East, and I shall gather you