LITMIR.BIZ

      CHRISTIANITY

      AND ANTI-CHRISTIANITY

      IN THEIR FINAL CONFLICT

      BY

      SAMUEL J. ANDREWS

      Author of "The Life of Our Lord Upon the Earth," "God's Revelations of Himself to Men," "Some Thoughts on Christian Unity"

      SECOND REVISED EDITION

      FOURTH IMPRESSION

      G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

      NEW YORK AND LONDON

      1899

      COPYRIGHT, 1898

      BY

      SAMUEL J. ANDREWS

      CONTENTS.

      ______

      PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION . . . . . . . . v

      PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

      INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

      PART I

      THE TEACHINGS OF THE SCRIPTURES RESPECTING THE

      ANTICHRIST, . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

      Teachings of the Old Testament, . . . . . . . . 3

      Teachings of the Lord, . . . . . . . . . . 10

      Teachings of the Apostles Collectively, . . . . . . 21

      * St. Paul and his Teachings, . . . . . . . . . 28

      Teachings of St. John, St. Peter, and St. Jude, . . . . 44

      Teaching of the Revelation, . . . . . . . . . 52

      PART II

      THE FALLING AWAY OF THE CHURCH, . . . . . . 69

      Its Origin and Nature, . . . . . . . . . . . 71

      Initial Stage of the Falling Away, . . . . . . . . 87

      1. In Relation of the Church to the Head, . . . . . 87

      2. In Relation of the Church to the Holy Ghost, . . . . 98

      3. In Relation of the Church to the World, . . . . . 103

      PART III

      TENDENCIES IN OUR DAY PREPARING THE WAY OF THE

      ANTICHRIST, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

      Modern Pantheistic Philosophy, . . . . . . . . 119

      Modern Philosophy and the New Christianity, . . . . 139

      Deification of Humanity, . . . . . . . . . . 159

      Tendencies of Modern Biblical Criticism, . . . . . . 169

      Tendencies of Modern Science, . . . . . . . . . 185

      Tendencies of Modern Literature, . . . . . . . . 201

      Christian Socialism and the Kingdom of God, . . . . . 221

       (iii)

      iv CONTENTS.

      PART IV

      THE REIGN OF THE ANTICHRIST, . . . . . . . . 237

      The Personal Christ in the First and the Nineteenth

      Century, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

      The Pantheistic Revolution, . . . . . . . . . . . 251

      Antichrist as Head of the Nations, . . . . . . . . . 264

      The Morality of the Future, . . . . . . . . . . . 284

      The Church of the Future, . . . . . . . . . . . 303

      The Church of the Beast and the False Prophet, . . . . . 319

      SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION, . . . . . . . . . 337

      NOTES, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

      PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

      _________

      The issue of a second edition of this book gives an opportunity to notice some objections, and, also, to re- move some misapprehensions of its aim which have found expression in various criticisms.

      The chief burden of these criticisms is that the book is pessimistic in its tone. It is said by one: "It does not acknowledge that there are any Christian tendencies; everything in our age is antichristian." By another: "It adopts a pessimistic theory of history." By another: "It represents the world as growing worse, rather than better."

      A brief examination will show how baseless is all criticism of this kind.

      We may assume that these writers accept as true the Lord's words : "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth"; and believe that in due time He will mani- fest this power in a kingdom of righteousness and peace which will embrace all nations. Because Himself im- mortal, the final victory of Christianity is assured; and we need not dwell upon the signs of its triumph which 80 many are engaged in pointing out. The objection based upon pessimism is not, therefore, that the glorious goal set before the Church will not be reached; but that the present stage of its progress, and its immediate future, are presented in a pessimistic way. We are told that an Antichrist in the future is an anachronism; he has no place there. The clouds and tempests are behind us; only a cloudless sky and a smooth sea are before ns, and the haven is at hand.

      (v)

      vi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

      In all questions as to the future of humanity, we must either picture this future for ourselves, or accept Divine revelation. Those who reject revelation, and map out the course of human history as pleases them, are of two classes. The first, which embraces not a few names dis- tinguished in science and literature, affirms that so long as men live on the earth there will be a mingling of good and evil, a perpetual struggle between them. They see no kingdom of God in the coming years. With the second class, which embraces many nominal Christians, it is the evolutionary theory which determines for them the future of humanity. Believing in its continual upward progress, they can find no place for any development of evil and an Antichrist. The kingdom must come because it lies in the ever-ascending order of nature.

      If we turn to those who believe that all true knowledge of the future of man is based upon Divine revelation, we find two classes: (a) those who hold that Christ will establish His kingdom by the peaceable and gradual diffusion of His principles; (b) those who look for its establishment through His personal acts in the separa- tion of the good and the evil, and in final judgment. These two interpretations of the Divine purpose in Christ, as it is revealed, are radically at variance. One rests upon the conception that the depths of wickedness in man's sinful nature have been already fathomed. There are no lower deeps, no new forms in which the hostility to God and Christ can manifest itself. The other con- ceives of depths not yet fathomed, of forms of wickedness not yet manifested. It sees actively working a spirit of pride and lawlessness which will find its culmination and highest expression in the man of sin who seats himself in the temple of God, " showing himself that he is God.''

      Which of these conceptions of the future shall we take? We turn to the parable of the tares and the w heat. Have