is almost inevitable that but few in a time of transi- tion like the present can have any definite conception whither they are going, for such a time is always one of obscurity and confusion. Christendom is a battlefield where the old elements and the new are struggling to- gether, assailants and defenders inextricably mingled. It is in such a transition period that the light of the pro- phetic word is indispensable to clear vision. Knowing what God has said of His purpose in His Son, and in humanity, and illumined by it, we may discern the signs of the times, and the real nature and significance of pass- ing events, and thus know the meaning of the present, and the goal to which it leads.
Assuming here (what the examination of the Scriptures will soon show us) that the antichristian spirit, which has often had its partial representatives in the past, is to be finally summed up in a single person, who is distinctively the Antichrist—the last product of the antichristian tend- encies — we are brought to the vital question. What will be the relations of the coming new age to him? Do we see in its spirit and principles a preparation for him? We are taught by the Apostle Paul that “he shall sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." Are we to have a new religion in which the Saviour from sin can have no place, but will be supplanted by one who will present himself as the representative of a Divine humanity, and so an object of worship? It is the purpose of this book to answer these questions. To those who look upon the present tendencies as the harbingers of a new and higher evolution of Christianity, it will be both false and offensive. Why, they will ask, these pessimistic utterances? Why
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dishearten the spirits of zealous men by forebodings of evil? Why speak of an apostasy when the Church is just arising into the full consciousness of its mission, and gird- ing itself anew for its accomplishment ? Why speak of an Antichrist when the world is honoring the Christ more than ever before?
To those, also, on the other hand, who think that the world is outgrowing Christianity, and that there is no longer a place for the Church or its Head, and that humanity, freeing itself from its old and burdensome religious traditions, is entering upon a new and higher development, this book will be an offense; if it be not rather wholly disregarded and despised as a vain attempt to revive an antiquated belief which the Church of to-day itself rejects.
Thus, both by Christians who believe that the trials and perils of the Church are in a great measure over, and the day of triumph at hand, and by Antichristians who believe that Christianity will soon pass away, or be merged into a larger religion, the belief in a coming Antichrist as here presented will be rejected. But for all who accept the Scriptures as an intelligible revelation of a Divine purpose, the first duty is to ask what they teach us. Putting away all prejudices and unreasoned beliefs, we must ask what the Holy Ghost, speaking by the prophets of old and by the Lord and His apostles, has told us of the final stages of the great conflict between good and evil so long waged in the earth, and of its chief actors in the time of the end.
It is only through Scriptural light that we can fully know the character and work of the Antichrist; and to. this light it is of vital importance that we give heed, for we are forewarned that he will present himself .to men under an aspect best fitted to deceive. Those despising the prophetic word, and not believing in his appearing, will be attracted and fettered by the power of his person:
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and those whose conception of him is that of an open blasphemer of God, a bitter enemy of all religion, detest- able because of his vices, will not discern him should he appear as a saviour of society and a religious leader. It is only through the attentive study of the Scriptures, and its prophetic outlines of the future, and especially of St. Paul (2 Thess. ii. 2), that we can be kept from fatal mis- conceptions. He who seats himself in the temple of God, “shewing himself that he is God," is not, as is often said, one who compels the world to pay him Divine homage by brute violence; it is done voluntarily. That he can pre- sent himself to men as the object of Divine honour, and receive it, shows a community of belief already existing between him and his worshippers. They see in him the representative of their own religious ideas. He will not come as a spectre of the night, but as an angel of light, the morning star of a new day; and the age that will welcome and worship him will not think itself, irreligious, but the most religious of all the ages. In him the modern spirit will find its truest representative and exponent. We may believe that he will be regarded by his generation as the highest type of our developed humanity, the noblest embodiment of its dignity, its "consummate flower." He will be recognized as a natural king of men, and his king- dom, rising grandly before the world, will be welcomed as the full evolution of the democratic idea» the realization of popular aspirations, the end of social strife, the unity of nations, the natural outcome and highest product of our civilization, and the goal of human history. It will be welcomed by the multitude as the long promised "King- dom of God."
It need not be said that this man and his kingdom are not the accidents of an hour; there is a long preparatory process. As with our Lord, so with him. There is a "fulness of time" for his appearing, and this is not till the antichristian leaven has spread through Christendom.
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Then will be the final test of Christian faith and discern- ment. Before the world will be two kings and two king- doms. He who will set up the kingdom of God, is the Incarnate Son returning from Heaven; he who will set up the kingdom of man, is a son of the earth; and the ques- tion which must then be answered is, Which king and which kingdom will Christendom and the nations have?
The order of our enquiry is, therefore, this: First, what do we learn from the Scriptures—from the prophets and from the teachings of the Lord and of His apostles— respecting the religious condition of the world and of the Church at the period immediately preceding His return? And what is predicted of the Antichrist? And in this enquiry we are especially concerned with the doctrine of St. Paul and of St John respecting the nature of the apostasy as preparatory to the coming of the man of sin, its final product Having a clear conception of that apostasy, its origin, its nature, and final development in the man of sin; we may proceed, secondly, to examine the religious and the philosophical tendencies of the present time, that we may know its real character, and how far it is a preparation for the fulfilment of the Scripture predic- tions. This enquiry necessarily embraces many distinct points, which must be separately discussed. But it will be noted that the present purpose is to state and illustrate the religious tendencies and movements of the time, and not to confute them. Their confutation lies in seeing the goal to which they lead.
Perhaps more space has been given to the philosophic tendencies of our times than many may think to be neces- sary. But no one can truly know them who does not discern the pantheistic spirit which underlies them, and determines their practical working, manifested in all de- partments of human life. To understand the prophetic descriptions of the Antichrist, as claiming Divine homage, we must see how the prevalent philosophy tends to the deification of man, and so helps to prepare his way.
INTRODUCTION
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The term Antichrist is to many, perhaps to most Christians of our day, a term of great vagueness. But to the early Christians, and to the Church for several centuries, it was of very definite and fearful meaning. It designated the last and greatest of the enemies of God and of His Christ—an apostate who would sum up in himself all wickedness. Endowed by Satan with all his power, he would receive from him the kingdoms of this world, and rule over the na- tions. He would make war with the saints, and would overcome them, and reign supreme for a little time; but be himself destroyed at the coming of the Lord.
It is the purpose of this essay to enquire what the Scriptures teach concerning the Antichrist and his times; and how far we may see in the
