61. Having seen the prodigies of Antichrist, the elect shall be troubled and shall waver. That they be fully taken in error cannot come to pass. — For the keenness of the eyes is wounded by smoke. Smoke therefore is said to proceed from his nostrils, because from the snares of his miracles a shadowy doubt is for a moment generated even in the heart of the elect. From the nostrils of Leviathan smoke goes out, because from his lying prodigies the cloud of trepidation confounds even the eyes of good minds. For then in the hearts of the elect, when terrible signs are beheld, a dark thought is gathered into a mass. Whence this which we have already set forth above is said by the mouth of Truth through the Gospel:
'There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall give signs and prodigies, so that, if it were possible, even the elect should be led into error' (Mark XIII, 22). In which matter it must be greatly inquired how either they who are elect can be led into error, or why 'if it be possible' is subjoined as though from doubt, when the Lord, foreknowing all things, awaits what is to be done. But because the heart of the elect is both shaken with trembling thought, and yet their constancy is not moved, the Lord has embraced both in this one sentence, saying: 'So that they should be led into error, if it be possible, even the elect.' For to err, as it were, is already to waver in thought;
but immediately 'if it be possible' is subjoined, because without doubt it cannot come to pass that the elect be fully taken in error. And well in this smoky darkness is expressed also the very fervour of their spirits, when it is at once subjoined: