the period between the apostolic age and the second coming of Christ. There were to be many antichrists ; many manifestations of malignant opposition to the person and to the work of Christ : many attempts to cast off his authority and to overthrow his kingdom.
2. Besides this general reference to the antichristian spirit which was to manifest itself in different forms and with different degrees of intensity, many believe that there is yet to be a per- son, in whom the power of the world shall be concentrated, and who will exert all his energies to overthrow Christianity, and to usurp the place of Christ on earth. This is the Antichrist of prophecy; of whom it is assumed that Daniel, Paul, and St. John in the Apocalypse speak. This is the view generally adopted by Romanists and by many eminent evangelical Protestant theolo- gians.
3. The common opinion, however, among Protestants is, that the prophecies concerning Antichrist have special reference to the papacy. This conviction is founded principally on the remark- able prediction contained in Paul's second epistle to the Thessa- lonians. The Apostle knew that the Thessalonians, in common with other Christians of the early Church, would be exposed to grievous persecutions ; to comfort them under their sufferings, to give them patience and to sustain their faith, he referred to the promised second coming of Christ. When the Lord should come all their sorrows would be ended; those who in the meantime had fallen asleep, would not lose their part in the blessing of his second advent. For " we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Where- fore, comfort one another with these words." (1 Thess. iv. 15-17.) These words it seems had been perverted and misinterpreted, by some who were " disorderly, working not at all, but " were " busy- bodies ;" unsettling the minds of the people, turning them off from present duties, as though the day of the Lord were at hand. To correct this abuse, the Apostle writes his second epistle. He does not set the doctrine of the second advent in the background, or say anything to weaken its power as a source of consolation to the suffering believers. On the contrary, he sets forth the glory
814 PART IV. Ch. m. — THE SECOND ADVENT.
of that advent and the richness of the blessings by which it should be attended, in more glowing terms than ever before. " We ourselves," he says, " glory in you in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure ; which is a manifest token of the righteous judg- ment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer ; seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you ; and to you, who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ : . . . . when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." (2 Thess. i. 4-10.) All this stands true. Nevertheless the Thessalonians were not to be deceived. The great day of de- liverance was not at hand. They had much to do, and much to suf- fer before that day should come. The time of the second advent was not revealed. In his first epistle he had said, " Of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." (1 Thess. v, 1, 2.) That being conceded, they should know that great things must occur before that day could come. First, there was to be a great apostasy. As the Church was then in its infancy, and had just begun to make progress among the nations, such language naturally pre- supposes a much more extended propagation of the Gospel, than had as yet taken place. The second event that was to precede the second advent was the coming of Antichrist, or, in other words, the man of sin was to be revealed.
The first question, to be determined in the interpretation of this prophecy, is, Whether Antichrist is a particular individual, or an institution, a power, or a corporation. Protestants generally adopt the latter view ; because they do not regard any one pope, but the papacy, as the Antichrist of Scripture. In favour of this view it may be urged, (1.) That it is according to the analogy of prophecy to speak of nations, institutions, or kingdoms, as indi- viduals. In Daniel, the ten kings are ten kingdoms or dynas- ties; the several beasts which he saw in vision, were not the symbols of particular men, but of nations. When therefore the Apostle speaks of Antichrist as " the man of sin," and " the son of perdition," it is perfectly consistent with Scriptural usage to un- derstand him to refer to an order of men, or to an institution.