" and ye fhall go forth, and grow up as calves of the "ftall. And ye fhall tread down the wicked; for

they fhall be afhes under the foles of your feet, "in the day that I shall do this, faith the Lord of "Hofis *."

* Chap. iv. 1, 2, 3.

CHAP.

CHAP. VI.

ON ANTICHRIST.

1 John ii. 18." Little Children, it is the aft time and as ye have heard that ANTICHRIST fhall come, even now there are many "Antichrifts; whereby we know it is the laft "time."

Ibid. ver. 22.-"Who is a liar, but he that "denieth that Jesus is the Chrift? He is Anti"chrift that denieth the FATHER and the "SON."

1 John iv. 2, 3.-"Hereby know ye the Spirit " of GoD: every spirit that confeffeth that Jefus "Chrift is come in the flesh, is of God; " and every spirit that confeffeth not that Jefus "Chrift is come in the fleth is not of God: and "this is that fpirit of Antichrift, whereof you "have heard, that it fhould come, and even "now already is it in the world."

2 John, ver. 7.-" For many deceivers are "entered into the world, who confeís not that "Jefus Chrift is come in the flesh: this is a deceiver, and an Antichrift."

THERE is no fubject of prophecy upon which fo much has been written, and to fo little purpose, as upon the great Antichrift. It seems to have

been a favourite theme of the commentators upon the prophecies, from the age of the primitive fathers

down

down to the prefent day. And yet, however bold it may found to affert it, time and its events have now proved, that all of them have been mistaken. The amount of what the fathers have faid is, that Antichrift would be a great and direct adverfary to Chrift, to come at the decline of the Roman empire, and in the last days. Had they refted there, they would not have been very diftant from the truth: they would have said no more than Daniel had faid before them, and John himself has predicted in the text. But taking upon themselves the office of prophets, and foretelling that he fhould come with certain marks and figns, unfortunately not to be found in holy writ, they conceived that he was to be a Jew, of the tribe of Dan, to come from Babylon, to refide at Jerufalem, and to conquer Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia. And thefe ftrange ideas of him, vifionary as they really were, continued down to the æra of the Reformation. It now happened, that in this great controverfy between proteftantifm and papal apoftafy, refentment and paffion gained fo much the afcendant as to obfcure, in fome degree, the light of truth on both fides. The two parties did not hesitate to ftigmatize each other, with the most opprobrious names to be found in the Scriptures. With the Roman Catholics all Proteftants were Schifmatics. On the other hand, the Reformers, forgetting the long-established opinion of the pri mitive fathers, that Antichrift was to come in the last day, charged the church of Rome with being the prototype of that most hateful enemy of Chrift, THE GREAT ANTICHRIST. Nor were they, however mistaken as to truth, miftaken in their policy, for they brought over many profelytes by it, and the church of Rome remains branded with the opprobrious name to this day: and yet the Proteftants did not deferve the name of Schifmatics, nor was Antichrift the real type of the church of Rome, but of another

more

1

more wicked and mischievous enemy of the church of Chrift; as I hope to prove in the fequel of this commentary.

In the mean time, I fhall examine into the validity of the argument, upon which the proteftant commentators have built this mifapplication of the great Antichrift to the church of Rome. And here, it would be inconfiftent with the intended brevity of thefe commentaries, to traverse minutely all they have faid upon it. Bishop Newton, that learned and unwearied feeker after the truth of prophecy, has, however, confidered their principal argument, and given it his unreferved fanction, and therefore I fhall confine my remarks, to what he has offered upon the fubject.

The Bishop, whofe mind was piously engaged. to promote the Reformation, by continuing the ftigma of Antichrift upon the church of Rome, begins his argument with rejecting the opinion of the primitive fathers, as containing* ftrange and wild notions concerning this "Antichrift." And yet, willing to apologize for their mistake, he adds, "But "it is no wonder that the fathers, nor indeed that

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any one, fhould mistake, in particularly applying "the prophecies which had not then received their "completion." To this I cheerfully affent: for there is no truth more evident to my mind, than the impoffibility of unfolding all the particular circumftances of a great prophetic event before its completion. Confcious of this impoffibility, the great Lord Bacon advises us to "fort the prophecies;' that is, after we have fufficiently explored all that the prophets have faid upon them, to feparate thofe which have been fulfilled, from those which have

* Newton, Difc. v. i. p. 271.

not:

not: that thus, in refpect to the first clafs, we may have in the books of prophecy the signs and marks, and in the hiftories of the times; the events predicted as it were before us; from which it will be eafy, by comparing the figns of each prophecy with itslappropriate event, to fhew with certainty its completion, and to demonftrate the truth of prophecy. And in regard to the fecond, all that we ought, all that is intended that we fhould, and therefore all that we can know, is the general nature of the events foretold, and that they fhall come to pafs in the course of the providence of God in his own time. So much may be known by a ferious and pious application of the mind to the ftudy of the prophecies, and fo much it feems to be our duty to know, and fo deliver it down to thofe that fhall come after us; because it will render the prophecies, which relate to future events, more cafy to be understood by thofe that fhall be alive when the events fhall come to explain and fulfil them; befides, it will prepare and imprefs upon the minds of men, difpofed to godlinefs, that reverential awe and fear of the GOD of PROPHECY and TRUTH, which may recommend them to his merciful protection, amidst all his dreadful judgments upon the wicked. But to explain, with any degree of certainty, all the myfterious prophetic marks of fuch future events relating to the manner, the means, and circumftances by which, and the time when, they fhall come to país, is impoffible! Of this truth the learned bifhop feems to be well apprized, in his apology for the fathers; and yet he, and all his modern followers, have committed the very errors of the fathers, for which he himself has thought an apology neceffary. Inftead of "fort"ing the prophecies," and confining his particular explanations to the event of thofe that were past, he has travelled through all the prophecies relating to future events, and brought thence all the marks and figns

GG