Anthropopathy. See Anthropomorphism.
Antibaptists (from avri, against, and /SairTiZ^, to baptize), those who opjwse baptism. Of this descrip- tion there are two sorts : (1.) Those who oppose it al- together, as the Friends, usually called Quakers, who have from the beginning rejected it as an ordinance, declaring it to be superseded by the baptism of the
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Spirit, under whose peculiar administration Chris- tians live, and whose influences can be and are re- ceived (as they maintain) without any sacramental medium for their conveyance. But though these are Antibaptists essentially, they are not so technically. (2.) The class of persons to whom that name properly belongs are those who deny the necessity of baptism to any except new converts. " Baptism," they tell us, "is a proselyting ordinance, to be applied only to those who come over to Christianity from other re- ligions, and not to their descendants, whether infant or adult." This they infer from the words of the commission, and from the practice of the apostles and first Christians. It has been stated that there are in Ireland several growing societies of Antibaptists. See Baptism.
Autiburghers, a branch of seceders from the Church of Scotland, who differ from the Established Church chiefly in matters of church government; and from the Burghers (q. v.), with whom they were originally united (in the Erskine secession), re- specting the lawfulness of taking the Burgess oath, which ran thus : '' I profess and allow with my heart the true religion presently professed within this realm and authorized by the laws thereof; I shall abide thereat and defend the same to my life's end ; renouncing the Roman religion called Papistry." The seceders could not agree in their interpretation of this oath, some of them construing it into a virtual approval of the National Church, others maintaining that it was merely a declaration of Protestantism and a security against Popery. The contest was soon em- bittered by personal asperities, and in 1747 a schism took place. Those who rejected the oath were called the General Associate Synod, or Antiburghers, the others were known as the Associate Synod, or Burgh- ers. The former party were, in matters of church government, rigid adherents of the old Presbyterian system. (Marsden, Churches and Sects, i, 293; Eadie, U. P. Church, in the Encyc. Metrop.") See Erskine ; Seceders ; Scotland, Church of.
Antichrist (wrixptrrroc, against Christ ; others, instead of Christ [see below]), a term which has re- ceived a great variety of interpretations. Although the wTord Antichrist is used only by the Apostle John (Epist. i and ii), yet it has been generally applied also (1) to the " Little Horn" of the " King of Fierce Coun- tenance" (Dan. vii and viii); (2) to the "false Christ" predicted by our Saviour (Matt, xxiv) ; (3) to the " Man of Sin" of St. Paul (2 Thess.) ; and (4) to the "Beasts" of the Apocalypse (Kev. xiii, xvii).
I. Meaning of the word. — Some maintain (e.g. Gres- well) that Antichrist can mean only "false Christ," taking avri in the sense of "instead." But this is undue refinement: Avri bears the sense of "against" as well as "instead of," both in classical and N. T. usaL'e. So avTiKriiaiaSrai means to gain instead of, while ('ti>Ti\t-ytiv means to speak against. The word doubtless includes both meanings — "pseudo-Christ" as well as "opposed to Christ," much as "anti-pope" implies both rivalry and antagonism. According to Bishop Ilurd, it signifies "a person of power actu- ated with a spirit opposite to that of Christ." For, to adopt the illustration of the same writer, "as the word Christ is frequently used in the apostolic writ- ings for the doctrine of Christ, in which sense we are to understand to 'put on Christ,' to 'grow in Christ,' or to 'learn Christ,' so Ant'uhrist, in the abstract, may be taken for a doctrine subversive of the Chris- tian; and when applied to a particular man, or body of men, it denotes one who sets himself against the spirit of that doctrine." It seems, however, that the Scriptures employ the term both with a general and limited signification. In the general sense, with which Bishop Hind's idea mainly agrees, every person who is hostile to the authority of Christ, as Lord or head
of the Church, and to the spirit of his religion, is call- ed Antichrist; as when the Apostle John, referring to certain false teachers who corrupted the truth from its simplicity, says, " Even now are there many Anti- christs" (1 John ii, 18 ; iv, 3), many who corrupt the doctrine and blaspheme the name of Christ, i. e. Jew- ish sectaries (Liicke, Comment, in loc).
II. Types and Predictions of Antichrist in 0. T. — 1. Balaam. As Moses was the type of Christ, so Ba- laam, the opponent of Moses, is to be taken as an 0. T. type of Antichrist (Num. xxxi, 1G ; comp. Jude 9-11 ; 2 Pet. ii, 14-16 ; Rev. ii, 14). See Balaam.
2. Antiochus Epiphanes, the "King of Fierce Coun- tenance^ (Dan. viii, 23-2o) : " And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understand- ing dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and prac- tise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand ; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many : he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes ; but he shall be broken without hand." (Comp. also ch. xi, xii.) Most interpreters concur in applying this pas- sage to Antiochus Epiphanes as a type of Antichrist. Antiochus is here set forth (ch. viii) as a theocratic anti-Messiah, opposed to the true Messiah, who, it will be remembered, is generally described in 0. T. as a king. Jerome (quoted in Smith, Dictionary, s. v.) argues as follows: "All that follows (from ch. xi, 21) to the end of the book applies personally to An- tiochus Epiphanes, brother of Seleucus, and son of An- tiochus the Great ; for, after Seleucus, he reigned eleven years in Syria, and possessed Judrea ; and in his reign there occurred the persecution about the Law of God, and the wars of the Maccabees. But our people consider all these things to be spoken of Antichrist, who is to come in the last time. ... It is the custom of Holy Scripture to anticipate in types the reality of things to come. For in the same way our Lord and Saviour is spoken of in the 72d Psalm, which is entitled a Psalm of Solomon, and yet all that is there said cannot be applied to Solomon. But in part, and as in a shadow and image of the truth, these things are foretold of Solomon, to be more perfectly fulfilled in our Lord and Saviour. As, then, in Solo- mon and other saints the Saviour has types of His coming, so Antichrist is rightly believed to have for his type that wicked king Antiochus, who persecuted the saints and defiled the Temple" (Hieron. Op. iii, 1127, Par. 1704). See Antiochus Epiphanes.