Fifthly, as to the doctrine of Antichrist, everything follows, from the assumption that he claims to be Christ. In claiming to be the Messiah predicted by the prophets, he is to claim to be the only object of worship. That he is to admit of no other God, whether true or false, nor of any idols, Bellarmin infers from 2 Thessalonians ii. 2, " He opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or is worshipped." " Certum est," says Bellar- min, " Antichristi persecutionem fore gravissimam et notissimam ; ita ut cessent omnes publicas religionis ceremonias et sacrificia .... [Daniel xii. docet] Antichristum interdicturum omnem divinum cultum, qui in ecclesiis Christianorum exercetur." 1 Thus also Stapleton says : " Pelli sane poterit in desertam ecclesia, reg- nante Antichristi, et illo moment o temporis in deserta, id est, in locis abitis, in speluncis, in latibulis quo sancti se recipient, non incommode quaeretur ecclesia." 2 During the reign of Antichrist, according to the notes to the Romish version of the New Testa- ment on 2 Thessalonians ii., " The external state of the Romish Church, and the public intercourse of the faithful with it, may cease. Yet the due honour and obedience towards the Roman see, and the communion of heart with it, and the secret practice of that communion, and the open confession thereof, if the occasion re- quire, shall not cease." Again on verse 4th it is said, " The great Antichrist who must come towards the world's end, shall abolish all other religions, true and false ; and put down the blessed sacrament of the altar, wherein consisteth principally the wor- ship of the true God, and also all idols of the Gentiles." " The oblation of Christ's blood," it is said, " is to be abolished among all the nations and churches in the world."
Finally, concerning the kingdom and wars of Antichrist, the Roman cardinal teaches, (1.) That from small beginnings, he is by fraud and deceit, to attain the kingdom of the Jews. (2.) That he is to subdue and take possession of the three kingdoms of Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia. (Dan. xi.) (3.) That he is then to reduce to subjection the other seven kingdoms spoken of by the prophet ; and (4.) That with an innumerable army, he shall make for a time successful: war against all Christians in every part of the world, and finally be overthrown and utterly de- stroyed, as described in the twentieth chapter of Revelation. From this review it appears that the doctrine of the Romish the-
derived their sustenance, wealth, and worshippers." An Exposition of the Apocalypse,
P' I Bellarmin, De Romano Ponti/ice, in. vii.; Disputations, Paris, 1608, vol. i. pp. 721 e, 723 c * Prinrip. Doct. cap. 2.
836 PART IV. Ch. III. — THE SECOND ADVENT.
ologians concerning Antichrist, agrees with that of a large body of modern Protestant writers in the following points : (1.) That he is to be an individual, and not a corporation, or " genus homi- num." (2.) That he is to be a worldly potentate. (3.) That he is to attain universal dominion. (4.) That he is to be, in charac- ter, godless and reckless, full of malignity against Christ and his people. (5.) That by his seductions and persecutions he is to suc- ceed for a time in almost banishing true religion from the world. (6.) That his reign is to be brief.
The principal difference between the early Protestants and the modern evangelical interpreters, is, that the former identify Babylon and Antichrist ; that is, they refer to one and the same power the prophecies of Daniel referring to the little horn ; the description given by the Apostle in 2 Thessalonians ii. ; and the account of the beast in chapter xiii. of the Apocalypse and that given in chapter xvii. Whereas, the moderns for the most part distinguish between the two. The papacy they regard as set forth under the symbol of Babylon ; and Antichrist, as a worldly potentate, under the beast which came up out of the abyss.1
The great truth set forth in these prophecies is, that there was future in the time, not only of Daniel, but also of the Apostles, a great apostasy in the Church ; that this apostasy would be Anti- christian (or Antichrist), ally itself with the world and become a great persecuting power ; and that the two elements, the ecclesi- astical and the worldly, which enter into this great Antichristian development, will, sometimes the one and sometimes the other, become the more prominent ; sometimes acting in harmony, and sometimes opposed one to the other ; and, therefore, sometimes spoken of as one, and sometimes as two distinct powers. Both, as united or as separate, are to be overtaken with a final destruc- tion when the Lord comes. So much is certain, that any and every power, be it one or more, which answers to the description given in Daniel vii. and xi. and in 2 Thessalonians ii. is Anti- christ in the Scriptural sense of the term.
According, then, to the common faith of the Church, the three great events which are to precede the second advent of Christ, are the universal proclamation of the Gospel or the conversion of the Gentile world ; the national conversion of the Jews ; and the appearance of Antichrist.
1 Ebrard says, " The Reformers and the early theologians, erred only in this, that they identified the beast that was to remain three and one half years mentioned in Rev. xiii. with that mentioned in chap. xvii. That is, they identified the papacy and the Antichris- tian kingdom." Christliche Dogmatik, Kbnigsberg, 1852, vol. ii. p. 736.