(2.) The work assigned to Antichrist in prophecy, extends over far too long a period to be accomplished by one man. (3.) Those who insist that the antichrist here predicted, is an individual man, are forced to admit that what is said in 2 Thessalonians ii. 7 (" He who now letteth, will let, until he be taken out of the way ") is to be understood of a power. It is generally under- stood of the Roman power. Luthardt understands it of the moral power which sustains the right, and therefore is opposed to the reckless disregard of all law, which is one of the characteristics of Antichrist. It is true that he supposes that reference is also made to one of the guardian or protecting angels spoken of by the prophet Daniel. But such an angel is not to be " taken out of the way." And there is nothing in the context or in Paul's writings anywhere to justify the assumption that reference is here had to any angelic personage.
The second question is, Whether the antichrist here described is an ecclesiastical or civil power ; whether it is to arise in the Church or in the world. The considerations which are in favour of the former of these assumptions are, —
1. That the designations "man of sin" and "son of perdi- tion " have a religious import, and are more appropriate to an ecclesiastical than to a worldly power or potentate.
2. Antichrist was to have the seat of his power in the " tem- ple of God." It is there he sits. This seems clearly to indi- cate that it is an ecclesiastical usurping, tyrannical, and per- secuting power, that is here depicted. By the temple of God in this passage is generally understood the Church which is so often elsewhere called, and especially by Paul, God's temple. Some, however, suppose that the reference is to the literal tem- ple in Jerusalem ; but this supposes, (a.) That the Jews are to be restored to their own land. (6.) That they are to be re- stored as Jews, or unconverted, and that the temple is to be there rebuilt. (<?.) That the Thessalonians knew all this and would understand the Apostle as referring to the temple made with hands; which is to the last degree improbable.
3. His coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders. This is not the way in which worldly potentates gain their power; they rely on force. But this is the way, as though traced by the pen of history rather than by the pencil of prophecy, in which the papacy has attained and maintained its fearful ascendancy in the world. Its power has been achieved mainly by fraud, " by the deceivableness of
816 PART IV. Ch. III. — THE SECOND ADVENT.
unrighteousness ; " by forged documents and false pretences ; by claiming that Peter was made primate over the whole Church and the vicar or plenipotentiary of Christ on earth ; that he was the bishop of Rome ; that his successors in that office were his successors in that primacy ; and that as the vicar of Christ he was superior to all earthly potentates, not merely as the spiritual is above the temporal, but as lord of the conscience, authorized to decide what was right and what was wrong for them to do in all their relations as men and as rulers ; which is a claim of absolute dominion. This, however, is a small matter so far as it concerns the things of this world. It was to the mass of the people of little moment whether their absolute sovereign was a bishop or a prince ; whether he resided at Rome or in Paris, whether his authority extended over one nation or over all nations. It is the false claim of the papacy to have supreme authority over the faith of men, to decide for them what they must believe on the pain of eternal perdition, that is the most fearful power ever assumed by sinful men. To this is to be added the false claim to the power to forgive sin. This is, as we have seen, a twofold power, an- swering to the twofold penalty attached to sin, namely, the eternal penalty as a violation of the divine law, and the penances still due after the remission of the eternal penalty, as satisfactions to divine justice. The former can be obtained only through the intervention or absolution of the priest ; and the latter can be im- posed or remitted at the discretion of the Church. This includes power over purgatory, the pains of which are represented as frightful and of indefinite duration. These pains the pope and his subordinates falsely claim the power to alleviate or remit. These claims have no parallel in the history of the world. If such pretensions as these do not constitute the power which makes them Antichrist, then nothing more remains. Any future antichrist that may arise must be a small affair compared to the papacy.
Then again, the Apostle tells us, these portentous claims, these unrighteous deceits, were to be supported by u signs and lying wonders." These have seldom, if ever, been appealed to by worldly powers to support their pretensions. They ever have been and still are among the chief supports of the papacy. There is not a false doctrine which it teaches, or 9. false assump- tion which it makes, which is not sustained by " lying wonders." Its whole history is a history of apparitions of the Virgin Mary or of saints and angels ; and of miracles of every possible de-