to be let loose[1], this ambitious spirit, the parent of all heresy, schism, sedition, revolution, and war, whether this be so or not, certainly the present framework of society and government, as far as it is the representative of Roman power, would seem to be that which withholdeth, and Antichrist is that which will rise when this restraint fails.
3. It has been more or less implied in the foregoing remarks, that Antichrist is one man, an individual, not a power or a kingdom. Such surely is the impression left on the mind by the Scripture notices concerning him, after taking fully into account the figurative character of prophetical language; and such was the universal belief of the early Church. Consider these passages together, which describe him, and see whether we must not so conclude. First, the tee and following verses : “That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who is the adversary and rival of all that is called God or worshipped ; so that he sitteth as God in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.......Then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming......whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders.” Next, the following passages in the prophet Daniel : “Another shall rise after them, and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws : and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.” Again : “In his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom ; but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries......And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries ; but the people that do know their God shall be strong,
- ↑ Vide Dodsworth’s Second Advent : Appendix.
