explanation of this passage, says, "that Antichirst shall sit in the temple of God, either at Jerusalem (as some imagine,) or in the church (as we more truly judge,) showing himself that he is Christ and the Son of God: and unless the Roman empire be first desolated and Antichrist precede, Christ shall not come. And now ye know what withholdeth, that, he might be revealed in his time,' that is, ye know very well, what is the reason why Antichrist doth not come at present. He is not willing to say openly, that the Roman empire should be destroyed, which they who command think to be eternal. For if he had said openly and boldly, that Antichrist shall not come, unless the Roman empire be first destroyed, it might probably have proved the occasion of a persecution against the church."* Jerome was himself a witness to the barbarous nations beginning to tear in pieces the Roman empire, and upon this occasion he exclaims, "He who hindered is taken out of the way, and we do not consider that Antichrist approaches, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the spirit of his mouth."+ St. Austin, having cited this passage, affirms, that "No one questions that the apostle spoke these things concerning Antichrist; and the day of judgement (for this he calleth the day of the Lord) should not come, unless Antichrist come first. And now ye know what withholdeth.'-Some think this was spoken of the Roman empire; and therefore the apostle was not willing to write it openly, lest he should incur a præmunire, and be falsely accused of wishing ill to the Roman empire, which was hoped to be eternal." St. Chrysostom, in one of his homilies upon this passage, speaking of what hindered the revelation of Antichrist, asserts, that "when the Ro

* Et in templo Dei, vel Jerosolymis (ut quidam putant,) vel in ecclesia (ut verius arbitramur,) sederit, ostendens se tanquam ipse sit Christus et filius Dei; Nisi, inquit fuerit Romanum imperium ante desolatum, et Antichristus præcesserit, Christus non veniet.—Et nunc quid detineat, scitis, ut reveletur in suo tempore: hoc est, quæ causa sit, ut Antichristus in pæsentiarum non veniat, optime nostis. Nec vult aperte dice Romanum imperium destruendum quod ipsi qui imperant, æternum putant.—Si enim aperte audacterque dixisset, non veniat Antichristus, nisi prius Romanum deleator imperium, justa causa persecutionis in orientem tunc ecclesiam consurgere videbatur [Translated in the text.] Algasiæ Quest. 11, col. 209. prior pars, tom. 4, edit. Benedict. + Qui tenebat, de medio fit, et non intelligimus Antichristum appropinquare, quem Dominus Jesus Christus interficiet spiritu oris sui. [Translated in the text.] Ad Ageruchiam de Monogamia, col. 748. Secund. Pars, tom. 4.

Nulli dubium est, eum de Antichristo ista dixisse, diemque judicii (hunc enim appellat diem Domini) non esse venturum, nisi ille prior venerit.-Et nunc quid detineat scitis Quidam putant loc de imperio dictum fuisse Romano; et propterea Paulum apostolum nor id aperte scribere voluisse, ne calumniam videlicet incurreret, quod Romano imperio male optaverit, cum sperareter æternum. [Translated in the text.] De Civitat. Dei, lib, 20, cap. 19 col 451, tom. 7, edit. Benedict. Antwerp.

man empire shall be taken out of the way, then he shall come: and it is very likely for as long as the dread of this empire shall remain, no one shall quickly be substituted; but when this shall be dissolved, he shall seize on the vacant empire, and shall endeavour to assume the power both of God and men."* And who hath seized on the vacant empire in Rome, and assumed the power both of God and man, let the world judge.

In this manner these ancient and venerable fathers expound this passage; and in all probability they had learned by tradition from the apostle, or from the church of the Thessalonians, that what retarded the revelation of Antichrist was the Roman empire; but when the Roman empire should be broken in pieces, and be no longer able to withhold him, then he should appear in the Christian church, and domineer principally in the church of Rome. Even in the opinion of a bishop of Rome, Gregory the Great, who sat in the chair at the end of the sixth century, whosoever affected the title of universal bishop, he was Antichrist, or the forerunner of Antichrist. "I speak it confidently," says he, " that whosoever calleth himself universal bishop, or desireth so to be called, in the pride of his heart he doth forerun Antichrist."+ When John, then bishop of Constantinople, first usurped this title, Gregory made answer, "By this pride of his, what thing else is signified, but that the time of Antichrist is now at hand"" Again he says upon the same occasion, "The king of pride (that is Antichrist) approacheth; and that is wicked to be spoken, an army of priests is prepared." When the papal doctrines and the papal authority prevailed over all, it was natural to think and expect, that the true notion of Antichrist would be stifled, and that the doctors of the church would endeavour to give another turn and interpretation to this passage. That night of ignorance was so thick and dark, that there was hardly here and there a single star

* Η άρχη ἡ Ρωμαϊκη ὅταν ἀρθη ἐκ μεσω, τοτε ἐκεινος ήξει" και εικοτως· ἕως γαρ ἂν ὁ ταύτης ή της άρχης φοβος, έδεις ταχέως ὑποταγήσεται όταν δε αύτη καταλυθη, ἐπιθησεται τη αναρχικ και την των άνθρωπων, και την τε θου ἐπιχειρήσει ἁρπασαι άρχην. Quando Romanorum imperium de medio fuerit sublatum tunc ille veniet. Et merito. Quamdiu enim fuerit metus hujus imperii, nemo cito subjicieter. Quando autem hoc fuerit ever sum, vacans invadet imperium, hominumque et Dei imperium aggredietur rapere. [Translated in the text.] In locum p. 530, tom. 11, edit. Benedict.

+ Ergo fidenter dico, quod quisquis se universalem sacerdotem vocat, vel vocari desi derat, in elatione sua Antchristum præcurrit.-Lib. 6, epist. 30. Ex hac ejus superbia quid aliud, nisi propinqua jam esse Antichristi tempora designatur; lib. 4, epist. 34. Rex superbiæ prope est; et, quod dici nefas est, sacerdotum est præparatus exercitus [Translated in the text.] Lib. 4, ibid. See Jewel's Defence of the Apology, part 4, cap 6, p 413. Barrow's Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy, Suppos. 5, p. 123, edit. 1683.

"As

to be seen in the hemisphere. But no sooner was there any glim· mering or dawning of a reformation, than the true notion of Antichrist, which had been so long suppressed, broke out again. early as the year 1120 a treatise was published concerning Antichrist, wherein the faithful are admonished, that the great Antichrist was long ago come, in vain was he still expected, he was now by the permission of God advanced in years;" and the author, having described the corrupt state of the church at that time, says afterwards, "This state of man (not a single man) is Antichrist, the whore of Babylon, the fourth beast of Daniel, (to wit in his last state as it is said) that man of sin and son of perdition, who is exalted above every God, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, that is, the church, showing himself that he is God: who is now come with all kind of seduction and lies in those who perish."* The Waldenses and Albigenses propagated the same opinions in the same century. That the pope was Antichrist was indeed the general doctrine of the first reformers every where. Here in England it was advanced by Wickliff,+ and was learnedly established by that great and able champion of the Reformation, Bishop Jewell, in his Apology and Defence, and more largely in his Exposition upon the two Epistles of St. Paul to the Thessalonians. This doctrine contributed not a little to promote the Reformation; and wheresoever the one prevailed, the other prevailed also.

Such doctrine as this must necessarily give great offence to the bigots and devotees of the church of Rome; and no wonder therefore that in the last Lateran council the pope gave strait commandment to all preachers, that no man should presume once to speak of the coming of Antichrist. The king of France also "with the advice of his council interdicted, that any one should call the pope Antichrist." and Grotius, who was ambassador in France from the

* Anno Domini 1120-emissus est tractatus de Antichristo.-In hoc libro admonentur fideles "Antichristum illum magnum jamdudum venisse, frustra adhuc exspectari, esse jam Dei permissione ætate provectum:-Hunc hominum statum (non singularem hominem) esse Antichristum, meretircem Babylonicam, quartam bestiam Danielis, (nempe in statu ejus novissimo, ut dictum est) hominem illum peccati, et filium perditionis, qui extollitur super omnem Deum, ita ut in templo Dei, id est, ecclesia, sedeat, ostendens se tanquam sit Deus; qui jam venit in omni genere seductionis et mendacii in iis qui pereunt." [Translated in the text.] Mede's Works, b. 3. De numeris Danielis, p. 721, 722.

Dialogorum libri 4, quorum-quatus Romanæ ecclesiae sacramenta, Antichristi regnum, &c. perstringit. [Four books of Dialogues, of which the fourth touches upon the sacraments of the church of Rome, the kingdom of Antichrist, &c.] Cave Hist. Litt. vol. 2, Appendix, p. 63.

Conc. Lateral. sub Julio et Leone. Sess. 11. Jewel's Defence, Ibid. Prudentissimorum virorum usus consilio interdixit ne quis papa vocet Translated in the text.] Grot. de Antichristo in principio.

ntichristum

crown of Sweden, in a vain hope and expectation of reconciling the disputes and differences between papists and protestants, composed his treatise concerning Antichrist, not wickedly, but weakly : with an honest intention, it may be presumed, but it is certain with pernicious effect; more like an advocate for one party, than a moderator between both. At the same time in England, though James the First had written a treatise to prove the pope Antichrist, yet this doctrine was growing unfashionable during his reign, and more so in that of his son, who married a bigotted popish princess; even while Mr. Mede was living, who had exerted more learning and sagacity in explaining the prophecies, and in fixing the true idea of Antichrist, than perhaps any writer in any age. But pro bably for this very reason he was looked upon with an evil eye, and (to the disgrace of the times) obtained no preferment, though he was eminently deserving of the best and greatest. He says himself in one of his letters (Epist. 56,) that his notions about genuflexion towards the altar "would have made another man a dean, or a prebend, or something else ere this: but the point of the pope's being Antichrist, as a dead fly, marred the savor of that ointment." The abuse also that some fanatics made of this doctrine greatly prejudiced the world against it. It was esteemed a mark of a puritan, and was a certain obstacle to preferment, for any man to preach that the pope was Antichrist; and Dr. Montague, a famous court-chaplain at that time, who endeavoured to prove that the power of the king was absolute, endeavoured also to prove that the notes and characters of Antichrist belonged to the Turk rather than to the Pope;* and herein he was followed by several divines, and by no less a man than Bishop Fell, if he was the compiler or approver (as he is commonly said to have been,) of the paraphrase and Annotations upon all St. Paul's Epistles. + There are fashions in divinity as well as in every thing else and therefore the true doctrine of Antichrist was for some time suspended, and false hypotheses were invented; and it may surprize any one, that so little was said upon this subject in the long controversies, concerning popery during the reigns of Charles and James the Second. It is hoped that the truth is now emerging again. Some laudabie attempts have lately been made to revive and restore it :‡ * See his book entitled Appello Cæsarem, part 2, chap. 5.

+ Printed at the Theatre in Oxford 1684, and said to be published under the directiog of Bishop Fell.

Mr, Langford's Notes and Characters of the Man of Sin. Printed in 1746. Dr Benson's Dissertations concerning the Man of Sin, &c. &c.

and if I have not proved that this interpretation is preferable to all others, I have taken pains, and proved nothing.

But it hath been proved, as I conceive, that this is the genuine sense and meaning of the apostle, that this only is entirely consistent with the context, that every other interpretation is forced and unnatural, that this is liable to no material objection, that it coincides perfectly with Daniel, that it is agreeable to the tradition of the primitive church, and that it hath been exactly fulfilled in all particulars, which cannot he said of any other interpretation whatsoever. Such a prophecy as this is at once an illustrious proof of divine revelation, and an excellent antidote to the poison of popery. It is like a two-edged sword, that will cut both ways, and wound the deist with one side, and the papist with the other. The papists are in some respects like the Jews. As the Jews believe not that Christ is come according to the prophecies, but still live in expectation of him: so neither do the papists perceive that Antichrist is come according to the prophecies, but still maintain that he shall arise hereafter. The apostle not only foretels this blindness and infatuation, but likewise assigns the reason, because they received not the love of the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.' But to the protestants, who believe and profess that both Christ and Antichrist are come, we may say with the apostle, ver. 13, 14,—'We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the spirit, and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by the gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.' The apostle proceeds, ver. 15,- Therefore brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle :' and certainly there is not any oral tradition, that hath a juster claim to be thought apostolical, than this of the man of sin's' succeeding upon the decline of the Roman empire, and exalting himself over all. Wherefore, to conclude, as the apostle concludes the subject, ver. 16, 17,- Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God even our Father, who hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation, and good hope, through grace, Comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work.'