it, then look for the preparative signs in the Church and world, and finally, for the counterpart, which, once in existence, no one can fail to recognise. The time, person, and work of Anti-Christ have been very clearly set forth in the Old and New Testaments, especially by Isaiah, in the fourteenth chapter and twelfth to sixteenth verses; by Daniel in the seventh and eleventh chapters, under the symbolism of this little horn; by Paul in second Thessalonians, second chapter and first to twelfth verses; also by John in Revelation, thirteenth chapter and nineteenth chapter and twentieth verse, besides many other references.
Of Anti-Christ the early Christian fathers had different views. 1st. Some thought that he would be Satan assuming the appearance of a man. 2nd. Some thought he would be a hybrid, the offspring of Satan by a harlot; of this opinion were Lactantius and Sulspitius. 3rd. Hilary, Jerome, and others thought he would be Satan incarnated. 4th. Chrysostom, Theopolact, and Theodoret thought he would be a real man under the influence of the devil. This latter view we accept as being the nearest to the Scripture teaching. In the Scriptures he goes by the names of Lucifer, man of sin, son of perdition, and that wicked one. Now all these names are indicative of some special feature of his character. Man of sin points out the intensity of the person in wickedness. As some time ago a man was called “the wickedest man in New York,” so Anti-Christ will be called the man of sin, having been the greatest sinner of human kind.
From the Scriptures we find that he will be characterised by some twenty peculiarities. These we will just enumerate: a cunning seducer, a vile imposter, a bold blasphemer, a great tyrant, a wonderful organiser and diplomatist; hence he will readily make alliances with other kings and strengthen himself; a pretentious and hypocritical Communist, dividing his lands, money, and treasure among the people; he will be very ambitious and aspiring, doing or being anything so he may gain his point;
he will be very self-willed; he will be very boastful, speaking great words; he will be very cruel, not heeding the plea of woman; he will be very sacrilegious, sitting in the temple of God—that is, the new temple, built by the returned Jews—and actually claim to be God; he will be a scientific spiritualist, able to work miracles, even to bring fire down from the clouds; he will be very powerful by his alliance, apparent generosity, and scientific deception; he will be a great liar, making treaties and breaking them whenever it suits him; he will be very wicked, guilty of all manner of crime; his reign will be short as a king, only about three-and-a-half years. Before this he will have been a man of power and position. He will suddenly be destroyed in the time of a fearful uprising of the people; he will remain unburied in the streets of Jerusalem for a time, then, finally, his remains will be burnt up. These and many other facts inspiration furnish us beforehand of this most wonderful character.
Against this person our Saviour warned the Jews and all the Church, but especially the Jews, and He did so for special reasons, which will appear hereafter in this discourse. Christ said, “I am come in My Father’s name, and ye receive Me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye shall receive.” At the time of Anti-Christ’s death there will be raging a fearful war, and coincident with this war there will be another Saint Bartholomew massacre in several of the ten-toed kingdoms. The beast and Anti-Christ are to be destroyed about the same time. It will be the last plot of the Jesuits, who are hounding to death poor Leo. XIII. A glimpse of that time the Saviour showed to His disciples, when He said: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world, to this time, no, nor ever shall be; and except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. Then, if any man shall say unto you, Lo! here is Christ, or there, believe it
not; for there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold! I have told you before” (Matt. xxiv. 21–25).
What a warning the Saviour gave the Jews, but how little have they and the Church heeded it! In the second century appeared the famous Bar Cochebas, with his thousands of followers, who in his final struggle was slain with some sixty thousand of his adherents. Also, think of Antiochus Epiphanes and his terrible delusions, the thousands and tens of thousands who flocked to his standard. So marvellous was this delusion, that many have actually made him out to be Anti-Christ, but those who thus reason take the shadow for the substance, and do violence to all true Scripture exegesis. Antiochus Epiphanes could not be Anti-Christ, for he was out of time, and meets but few of the special conditions of Anti-Christ. History records the appearance of not less than twenty-five Anti-Christs, or persons who have claimed to be the Messiah of the Jews. How unbelief exposes a man or a people!
Some have laboured to make it appear that Mahommed was Anti-Christ, but with all his badness, he is not bad enough to be Anti-Christ. He reviled not God, he never sat in His temple, he did not die in Jerusalem. He had an honourable burial.
Some have tried to prove that Romanism and the Pope were Anti-Christ, but this cannot be, you will see at a glance. The beast has its own character; that was long ago written out by the prophets, and up to the present time it has filled in the outlines with a marvellous minuteness. In these things many good and wise men have erred in making prophecies fit certain persons, and nations, and times, instead of waiting for these things to fit on to prophecy. Let us not be prophetic forgers. Let no one deceive you in these matters. Adventism, Millerism, Shakerism, Spiritualism, are untimely excesses. As systems they are, as yet, out of place. This subject of Anti-Christ,
as to who he will be, and when he will appear, I shall be obliged to leave for next Sunday evening, as my time is up. May the good Lord guide us into the ways of truth and peace.