The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Thessalonians — Section 63

working, and much advanced in its working; the restrainer still hindering. And let us ask ourMelves-What does this represent to u11? Is it not indicative of a. state in which th? ~awlessness is working on, so to speak, underground, nnder the surface of thin~,, ga1nm_g t~roughout these many ages more expansive force, more accumulated power, but at11l h1d<len and unconcentrated? And might we not look, in the progress of such a state of things, for repeated minor embodiments of this lawlessness; the many Anti- chriata (1 John ii 18) springing up here and there in different countries, the apostasy going onward and growing, just as there were of Christ hilllaelf frequent types and minor embodiments before he came in the flesh? Thus in the papacy, where so many of the-prophetic features are combined, we see, as it were, a standing embodiment and type of the final Antichrist-in the remarkable words of Gregory the Great, the prrecursor Antich1-isti; and in Nero, and in every persecutor 118 he arose, and Ma.hornet, and Napoleon, and many other forms and agencies of evil, other and more transient types and examples of him." 1 And Bishop Ellicott remarks, "The adversary is Antichrist, no mere set of principles or succession of opponents, but one single person, being 118 truly man as be whom he impiously opposes." And he observes, "The restraining principle is the power of well-ordered human rule, the principles of legality as opposed to those of lawlessness, of which the Roman emperor was the then embodi- ment and manifestation." 2 Similar views are adopted by Bishop Alexander,' Dr. Eadie, Lillie,• and Riggenbach. Meyrick, in his interesting and exhaustive article on "Anti- christ," in the appendix to Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible,' thus expresses bis view of the sum of Scripture teaching with regard to Antichrist: "It would appear that there is to be evolved from the womb of the corrupt Church an individual Antichrist, who, being himself a scoffer and contemner of all religion, will yet act as the patrou and defender of the corrupt Church, anrl compel men to submit to her away by the force of the secular arm and by means of blt>ody persecutions. He will unite -the old foes, superstition and unbelief, in a combined attack on liberty and religion. He will have the power of performing lying miracles and beguiling souls, being the embodiment of Satanic as distinct from brutal wickerlness." Or, as Lange puts it, "Antichrist may proceed from a coalition between completed absolutism and completed radicalism." Of course, according to this view, the fulfilment being yet future, we cannot apply to its truth or falsehood the characteristics gi,·en us iu the prophecy itself. It appears to be the uniform doctrine of Scripture, as seen both in the prophecies of the Old Testa- ment and of the New, that before the consummation of all things there will be a final and desperate struggle between the principles of good and evil. The revolt against all rule and authority, the spread of Nihilism, the increase of infidelity and agnosticism, the unblushing proclamation of atheism and the support given to it in the scientific and political world, the rleification of materialism, are all the precursors of Antichrist. It may only require a dissolution of order and a corruption of 11\orals, greater and more universal than that which occurred in the great French Revolution, to usher in the coming or the Man of Sin, who, amid the. confusion, will seize upon the sceptre of dominion. We may figure him as an individual, a man of more commanding abilities and far greater wickedness than the first Napoleon; one who will subdue the world, and in the height of his impiety and ambition proclaim his atheism, and that man himself is God. We cannot penetrate into the future, but we may rest cor,fident that, if such a state of things should happen, the final victory of the good over the evil cannot be doubted; the breath of the Lord is sufficient to overthrow tht• kingdom of Antichrist, and to baffle all bis pretensions. " Whom the Lord shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and annihilate by the appearance of his coming." • Alford'■' Greek Testament,' vol. \ii., Prolegomene., p. 67. 1 Ellicott, • St. P11ul's Epistle to the Theeealonians,' p. 109. 1 Commentary on the Thessnlonie.na in the• Speaker's Colllllleutury,' vol. iii. p. Hi. • Lillie'•• Lectures on the TheasaJ.oniana.' p. bS7, etc. 8  61 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [ce. w. 1-18.