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and office, against the whole spirit and temper of Jesus of Naza- reth, now the exalted King of Glory. . .He will not assume the name of Christ, and so will not in the letter be a false Christ, yet assuming to himself Christ's offices, presenting himself to the world as the true centre of its hopes, as the satisfaction of its needs, and healer of its hurts, he will, in fact, take upon himself all names and forms of blasphemy; will be the false Christ and the Antichrist both at once.''

      In giving a brief outline of the various beliefs in the Church respecting the Antichrist, we find three periods clearly marked.

      First, the belief in the early Church, and in general down to the Reformation. Second, from the Reforma- tion to the French Revolution. Third, from the French Revolution to the present time.

      I. In the first period, extending over some fifteen centuries, there was not absolute uniformity of be- lief, but substantial agreement. To quote in detail the words of the early fathers would demand more space than we can give, nor is it at all necessary for our purpose. That there is such agreement is af- firmed by all who have investigated the matter, both Roman Catholics and Protestants. Some quotations from the more recent writers will be sufficient here. Thus it is said by Greswell ("Parables," Vol. II), "Another article of belief on which the fathers are unanimous is this: That before the end of the world Antichrist must be expected to ap- pear. It made no difference whether they were advo- cates or opposers of the doctrine of the millennium in particular; in the reception of this opinion there was

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      perfect agreement among all parties. . . The fathers are likewise agreed in considering Antichrist to be a real person, and not merely a figurative or symbolic character. . . They are unanimous that the appearance and rise of the Antichrist would be accompanied by the persecution of the followers of the true Christ, and that his kingdom would be estab- lished on the ruins of the Church." It is said by Bishop Wordsworth (Com. on 2 Thess.), "The gen- eral opinion of the fathers was that a personal .Anti- christ would appear a short time before the second coming of Christ."

      In like manner it is said by Todd ("Discourses," note p. 18), "All more ancient writers unanimously agreed that an individual Antichrist was described in the prophecy, and that he was to appear at the end of the world immediately before the second coming of the Lord." After stating the early opinions in brief, S. B. Maitland says: "I believe that the opinions which I here attribute to the early Church, were held by all Christian writers until the twelfth century." Prof. Eadie remarks ("Essay on Man of Sin") "That the man of sin was to be one human be- ing, one man, . . was the first and prevailing inter- pretation." So also J. H. Newman ("The Patristi- cal Idea of Antichrist"), “That Antichrist is one in- dividual man was the universal tradition of the early Church." Perhaps these statements should be some- what modified as regards the Alexandrian School.

      This agreement of the fathers embraced the fol- lowing points :

      1. That before the end of the world or age, there would be an apostasy, which in its culmination would be not merely a corruption of the Christian faith, but

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      a total denial of it—an apostasy not universal, but very general.

      2. That the last representative and leader of this apostasy would be a man, "the man of sin," "the wicked one," "the son of perdition," or "the Anti- christ."

      3. That this man would attain to universal domin- ion, all nations becoming subject to him.

      4. That this dominion would continue but a short time, forty-two months, or three and a half years.

      5. That he would claim divine honours for himself, and persecute all upholding the faith of Christ, and suppress, as far as possible, all Christian worship.

      6. That the time immediately preceding and dur- ing his reign would be one of great tribulation.

      7. That many of the Jews would receive him as their Messiah.

      8. That he would be destroyed with his adherents by the Lord at His appearing.

      Besides these points of general agreement, there were diverse particular opinions about the person of the Antichrist, of which we may mention: a. That he was Satan incarnated. b. That he was a son of Satan by a human mother, c. That he was a man possessed by Satan. d. That he was a man who vol- untarily gave himself up to do Satan's will, and was endowed by him with miraculous powers—Organum diaboli—and to him Satan would give the rule of the kingdoms of this world. e. That he was a man raised from the dead by Satan, and so a counterpart of the risen Christ.

      The surmises of some of the fathers as to his birth in Bethsaida, and his education in Babylon, are of no importance. It was held by many that he was to be

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      a Jew, and of the tribe of Dan, chiefly on the ground that Dan is not mentioned among the sealed tribes of The Revelation (ch. vii). It was said by Lactantius and some of the fathers, that he would come from the East and subdue the West.

      The points enumerated as those of general belief in the first age of the Church, are still held in substance in the Roman Catholic and Greek communions, and probably in the small Eastern sects. But some im- portant modifications gradually came in, the grounds of which will be better understood after speaking of the nature of the apostasy. It need only be said here that, as the expectation of a speedy return of the Lord gradually passed away, and it was believed that the prophecies respecting the success and glory of the Church were to be fulfilled during His absence, and that this might be indefinitely prolonged, the fear of Antichrist's speedy appearance ceased, and compara- tively little interest was taken in it; and the matter became practically of little importance.

      It does not really affect the unanimity of the pre- Reformation Church that in the twelfth and follow- ing centuries some small sects began to apply the prophecies respecting Babylon to the Church of Rome, and identified the Papacy with the Antichrist ; since this seems to have been done rather out of anger because of real or supposed oppression, than upon any clear view of the character of Antichrist, or upon any consistent principle of prophetic interpretation. At this time, too, or a little later, when the Roman Church was much distracted with the contentions of rival popes, it was not unusual for zealous partisans to brand the claimants they opposed with the title of Antichrist. Thus St. Bernard of the twelfth century

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      called Pope Leo, whom he regarded as an usurper of St. Peter's chair, the beast of the Apocalypse. (See Todd, "Discourses," p. 28, Note A.) But it will be noted that it was the usurper, not the real pope, whom he so called. It was not the bishop of Rome, the true vicar of Christ, as such, to whom the title of Anti- Christ in these disputes was applied, but to one who falsely claimed to be His vicar. And it was not until the Reformation that it was applied to the popes offi- cially without distinction—a series of Antichrists. Some changes during this period of the primitive be- lief will be spoken of later.

      II. Second Period, from the Reformation to the French Revolution.

      The application of the term Antichrist to the pope in his official position, or its application to the Papacy as a system, marks the Reformation period. It is said by the Roman Catholic commentator, Estius, in his remarks on Second Thessalonians 11, that "Luther, instigated by the Devil, was the first who applied the term to the pope as pope." ("Adversus execrabilem bul- lam Antichristi, " 1520.) But it is not clear that at first Luther meant it to apply to the whole series of popes. This was done later by many of the leading Reform- ers, and marks the growing estrangement from the Papacy. It shows also a wide departure from the early belief in affirming: a. That the Antichrist was not an individual; b. That he had already appeared; c. That the apostasy would not be a total denial of the truth.

      The designation of the papal system as antichris- tian, and its bead as Antichrist, is found in several of the Confessions of the Reformed Churches. (See "Hutterus Redivivus" of Hase, p. 342; and Schaff's

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