As long as the world lasts, this passage ofScripture will be full of reverent interest to Christians. It is their dutyever to be watching for the advent of their LORD, to search for the signs of itin all that happens around them; and above all to keep in mind this great andawful sign which the text speaks of. At this season of the year, then, when weturn our thoughts to the coming of CHRIST, it is not out of place to review theintimations given us in Scripture concerning His precursor: this I shall now doin several Sermons; and, in doing so, I shall follow the exclusive guidance ofthe ancient Fathers of the Church.

I follow the ancient Fathers, not as thinkingthat on such a subject they have the weight they possess in the instance ofdoctrines or ordinances. When they speak of doctrines, they speak of them asbeing universally held. They are witnesses to the fact of those doctrines beingreceived, not here or there, but every where. We receive those doctrines whichthey thus hold, not merely because they hold them, but because they bearwitness that all Christians every where then held them. We take them as honestinformants, but not as a sufficient authority in themselves, though they are anauthority too. If they were to state these very same doctrines, but say, "Theseare our opinions; we deduced them from Scripture, and they are true," we mightwell doubt about receiving them at their hands. We might fairly say, that wehad as much right to deduce from Scripture as they had; that deductions ofScripture were mere opinions; that if our deductions agreed with theirs, thatwould be a happy coincidence, and increase our confidence in them; but if theydid not, it could not be helped-we must follow our own light. Doubtless no manhas any right to impose his own deductions upon another, in matters of faith.There is an obvious obligation, indeed, upon the ignorant to submit to thosewho are better informed; and there is a fitness in the young submittingimplicitly for a time to the teaching of their elders; but beyond this, oneman's opinion is not better than another's. But this is not the state of thecase as regards the primitive Fathers. They do not speak of their own privateopinion; they do not say, "This is true, because we see it in Scripture" -aboutwhich there might be differences of judgments-but, "this is true, because inmatter of fact it is held, and has ever been held, by all the Churches, down toour times, without interruption, ever since the Apostles:"-where the questionis merely one of testimony, whether they had the means of knowing that it hadbeen and was so held; for if it was the belief of so many and independentChurches at once, and that as if from the Apostles, doubtless it cannot but betrue and Apostolic.

This, I say, is the mode in which the Fathersspeak as regards doctrine; but it is otherwise when they interpret prophecy. Inthis matter there seems to have been no Catholic, no universal, no openlydeclared traditions; and when they interpret, they are for the most partgiving, and profess to be giving, either their own private opinions, oruncertain traditions. This is what might have been expected; for it is notordinarily the course of Divine Providence to interpret prophecy before theevent. What the Apostles disclosed concerning the future, war, for the mostpart disclosed by them in private, to individuals-not committed to writing, notintended for the edifying of the body of CHRIST,- and was soon lost. Thus, in afew verses after the text, St. Paul says, "Remember ye not, that when I was yetwith you, I told you these things?" and he writes by hints and allusions, notspeaking out. And it shows how little care was taken to discriminate andauthenticate his prophetical intimations, that the Thessalonians had taken upan opinion, that he had said-what he had not said-that the Day of CHRIST wasimmediately at hand.

Yet, though the Fathers do not convey to us theinterpretation of prophecy with the same certainty as they convey doctrine, yetin proportion to their agreement, their personal character, and the generalreception at the time, or the authority of the sources of the opinions they arestating, they are to be read with deference; for, to say the least, they are aslikely to be right as commentators now; in some respects more so, because theinterpretation of prophecy has become in these times a matter of controversyand party. And passion and prejudice have so interfered with soundness ofjudgment, that it is difficult to say who is to be trusted in it, or whether aprivate Christian may not be as good an expositor as those by whom the officehas been assumed.

1. Now to turn to the passage inquestion, which I shall examine by arguments drawn from Scripture, withoutbeing solicitous to agree, or to say why I disagree, from modern commentators:"That Day shall not come, except there come a falling away first." Here it issaid that a certain frightful apostasy, and the appearing of the Man of sin,the son of perdition, i.e. as is commonly called, Antichrist, shall precede thecoming of CHRIST. Our SAVIOUR seems to add, that it will immediately precedeHim, or that His coming will follow close upon it; for, after speaking of"false prophets" and "false Christs," "showing signs and wonders," "iniquityabounding," and "love waxing cold," and the like, He adds, "When ye shall seeall these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." Again He says,"When ye shall see the abomination of desolation . . . stand in the holy placethen let them that be in Judea flee into the mountains." Indeed, St. Paulimplies this also, when he says that Antichrist shall be destroyed by thebrightness of CHRIST'S coming.

Now it may be objected to this conclusion, thatSt. Paul says, in the passage before us, that "the mystery of iniquity dothalready work," i.e. even in his day, as if Antichrist had in fact come eventhen. But he would seem to mean merely this, that in his day there were shadowsand forebodings, earnests and operating elements of that which was one day tocome in its fullness. Just as the types of CHRIST went before CHRIST, so theshadows of Antichrist precede him. In truth, every event in this world is atype of those that follow, history proceeding forward as a circle everenlarging. The days of the Apostles typified the last days: there were falseChrists, and troubles, and the true CHRIST came in judgment to destroy theJewish Church.

In like manner every age presents its own pictureof those future events, which alone are the real fulfillment of the prophecywhich stands at the head of all of them. Hence St. John says, "Little children,it is the last time; and as ye have heard that the Antichrist shall come, evennow are there many Antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time."Antichrist was come, and was not come; it was, and it was not the last time. Inthe sense in which the Apostle's lay was the end of the world, it was also thetime of Antichrist.-However, a second objection may be made, as follows: St.Paul says, "Now ye know what withholdeth, that he (Antichrist) might berevealed in his time." Here a something is mentioned as keeping back themanifestation of the enemy of truth. The Apostle proceeds: "He that nowwithholdeth, will, until he be taken out of the way." Now this restrainingpower being generally admitted to be the Roman empire, and the Roman empire (itis argued) having long been taken out of the way, therefore Antichrist has longsince come. I grant that "he that withholdeth," or "letteth," means the powerof Rome, for all the ancient writers so speak of it. I grant that as Rome,according to the prophet Daniel's vision, succeeded Greece, so Antichristsucceeds Rome, and our SAVIOUR CHRIST succeeds Antichrist. But it does nothence follow that Antichrist is come; for I do not grant that the Roman empireis gone. Far from it: the Roman empire remains even to this day. It had a verydifferent fate from the other three monsters mentioned by the Prophet; as willbe seen by his description of it. "Behold a fourth beast, dreadful andterrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured andbrake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it wasdiverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns." Theseten horns, an Angel informed him, "are ten kings that shall arise out of thiskingdom" of Rome. As, then, the ten horns belonged to the beast, and were notseparate from it, so are the kingdoms into which the Roman empire has beendivided, part of that empire itself,-a continuation of that empire in the viewof prophecy, however we decide the historical question. And as the horns, orkingdoms, still exist, as a matter of fact, consequently we have not yet seenthe end of the Roman empire. "That which withholdeth" still exists, though inits ten horns; till it is removed, Antichrist will not come. And out of them hewill arise, as the same Prophet informs us: "I considered the horns, andbehold, there came up among them another little horn ...... and behold, in thishorn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things."

2. Now, in the next place, whatis told us about Antichrist by the sacred writers? This first of all, as hasbeen already noticed, that he embodies a certain spirit, which existed even inthe days of the Apostles. "The mystery of iniquity doth already work." "Evennow there are many Antichrists." And what that spirit is, St. John declares ina subsequent chapter. " Every spirit that confesseth not that JESUS CHRIST iscome in the flesh, is not of GOD; and this is that spirit of the Antichrist,whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in theworld." Here we see what its doctrine is to be; but on that I shall not hereenlarge. I am speaking of its working, which had begun in the days of theApostles, and has doubtless continued ever since. Doubtless this malignantprinciple has been at work since from time to time, though kept under by himthat "withholdeth." Nay, for what we know, at this very time there is a fiercestruggle, the spirit of Antichrist attempting to rise, and the political powerin those countries which are prophetically Roman, firm and vigorous inrepressing it. What that spirit is, it would be beside my purpose here toattempt to ascertain, any more than to enlarge upon its doctrine; thoughcertainly there is at this very time, as in the days of our fathers, a fierceand lawless principle every where at work,-a spirit of rebellion against GODand man, which the powers of government in each country can barely keep underwith their greatest efforts. Whether this which we witness be that spirit ofAntichrist, which is one day to be let loose, this ambitious spirit, the parentof all heresy, schism, sedition, revolution, and war,-whether this be so ornot, certainly the present framework of society and government, as far as it isthe representative of Roman power, would seem to be that which withholdeth, andAntichrist is that which will rise when this restraint fails.

3. It has been more or lessimplied in the foregoing remarks, that Antichrist is one man, an individual,not a power or a kingdom. Such surely is the impression left on the mind by theScripture notices concerning him, after taking fully into account thefigurative character of prophetical language; and such was the universal beliefof the early Church. Consider these passages together, which describe him, andsee whether we must not so conclude. First, the tee and following verses: "Thatday shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sinbe revealed, the son of perdition, who is the adversary and rival of all thatis called GOD or worshipped; so that he sitteth as GOD in the temple of GOD,proclaiming himself to be GOD . . . Then shall that wicked be revealed, whomthe Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with thebrightness of His coming . . . whose coming is after the working of Satan, withall power and signs and lying wonders."

Next, the following passages in the prophetDaniel: "Another shall rise after them, and he shall be diverse from the first,and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against theMOST HIGH, and shall wear out the saints of the MOST HIGH, and think to changetimes and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and timesand the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take awayhis dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end." Again: "In his estateshall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of thekingdom; but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom byflatteries......And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corruptby flatteries; but the people that do know their GOD shall be strong, and doexploits......And the king shall do according to his will, and he shall exalthimself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous thingsagainst the GOD of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation beaccomplished......Neither shall he regard the GOD of his fathers, nor thedesire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall magnify himself above all.But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces, and a God whom his fathersknew not shall he honour with gold and silver, and with precious stones, andpleasant things." Let it be observed, that Daniel elsewhere describes otherkings, and that the event has shown them to be individuals, as is generallyconfessed. And in like manner St. John: "There was given unto him a mouthspeaking great things, and blasphemies; and power was given unto him tocontinue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy againstGOD, to blaspheme His Name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them;and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations. And all thatdwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the bookof life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

Further, that by Antichrist is meant some oneperson is made probable by the anticipations, which have already occurred inhistory, of its fulfillment in this way. Individuals have arisen actuallyanswering in a great measure to the above descriptions; and this circumstancecreates a probability, that the absolute and entire fulfillment, which is tocome, will be in an individual also. The most remarkable of these shadows ofthe coming evil appeared before the time of the Apostles, between them and theage of Daniel, viz. the heathen king Antiochus, of whom we read in the books ofMaccabees. This instance is the more to the purpose, because he is actuallydescribed, (as we suppose) by Daniel, in another part of his prophecy, in termswhich seem also to belong to Antichrist, and as belonging, imply that Antiochuswas what he seems to be, a type of that more fearful enemy of the Church. ThisAntiochus was the savage persecutor of the Jews, in their latter times, asAntichrist will be of the Christians. A few passages from the Maccabees willshow you what he was.

St. Paul in the text speaks of an apostasy, andof Antichrist as following upon it; thus is the future typified in the Jewishhistory. "In those days went there out of Israel wicked men, who persuadedmany, saying, Let us go and make a covenant with the heathen that are roundabout us: for since we departed from them, we have had much sorrow. So thisdevice pleased them well. Then certain of the people were so forward herein,that they went to the king, who gave them licence to do after the ordinances ofthe heathen; whereupon they built a place of exercise at Jerusalem according tothe custom of the heathen; and made themselves uncircumcised, and forsook theholy covenant, and joined themselves to the heathen, and were sold to domischief." After this introduction the Enemy of truth appears. "After thatAntiochus had smitten Egypt, he returned again, . . . and went up againstIsrael and Jerusalem with a great multitude, and entered proudly into thesanctuary, and took away the golden altar, and the candlestick of light and allthe vessels thereof, and the table of the shewbread, and the pouring vessels,and the vials, and the censers of gold, and the veil, and the crowns, and thegolden ornaments that were before the temple, all which he pulled off. And whenhe had taken all away, he went into his own land, having made a great massacre,and spoken very proudly." After this, he set fire to Jerusalem, "and pulleddown the houses and walls thereof on every side. . . . Then built they the cityof David with a great and strong wall, . . . and they put therein a sinfulnation, wicked men, and fortified themselves therein." Next, "King Antiochuswrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people, and every one shouldleave his laws: so all the heathen agreed according to the commandment of theking. Yea, many also of the Israelites consented to his religion, andsacrificed unto idols, and profaned the sabbath." After this he forced theseimpieties upon the Israelites. All were to be put to death who would not"profane the sabbath and festival days, and pollute the sanctuary and holypeople: and set up altars, and groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrificeswine's flesh and unclean beasts," and "leave their children uncircumcised." Atlength he set up an idol, or in the words of the history, "the Abomination ofDesolation upon the altar, and builded idol altars throughout the cities ofJuda on every side. . . . And when they had rent in pieces the books of the lawwhich they found, they burnt them with fire." It is added, "Howbeit many inIsrael were fully resolved and confirmed in themselves not to eat any uncleanthing, wherefore they chose rather to die . . . and there was very great wrathupon Israel." Here we have presented to us some of the lineaments ofAntichrist, who will be such, and worse than such, as Antiochus.

What I have said upon this subject may be summedup as follows:-that the coming of Christ will be immediately preceded by a veryawful and unparalleled outbreak of evil, called in the text an apostasy, afalling away, in the midst of which a certain terrible man of sin and child ofperdition, the special and singular enemy of Christ, or Antichrist, willappear; that this will be when revolutions prevail, and the present frameworkof Society breaks to pieces; that at present the Spirit which he will embodyand represent, is kept under by "the powers that be," but that on theirdissolution, he will rise out of the bosom of them, and knit them togetheragain in his own evil way, under his own rule, to the exclusion of the Church.

Next the apostate emperor Julian, who attemptedto overthrow the Church by craft, and introduce paganism back again: he waspreceded, nay he was nurtured, in the first great heresy which disturbed thepeace and purity of the Church. About forty years before he came to the thronearose the pestilent Arian heresy which denied that CHRIST was GOD. It ate itsway among the rulers of the Church like a canker, and what with the treacheryof some and the mistakes of others, at one time it was all but dominantthroughout Christendom. The few holy and faithful men, who witnessed for theTruth, cried out, with awe and terror at the apostasy, that Antichrist wascoming. They called it the "forerunner of Antichrist." And true, his Shadowcame. Julian was educated in the bosom of Arianism by some of its principalupholders. His tutor was the Eusebius from whom its partisans took their name;and in due time he fell away to paganism, became a hater and persecutor of theChurch, and was cut off before he had reigned out the brief period which willbe the real Antichrist's duration.

The next great heresy, and in its consequencesfar more lasting and far spreading, was of twofold character,-with two heads,as I may call them, Nestorianism and Eutychianism, apparently opposed to eachother, yet acting towards a common end: it in one way or other denied the truthof CHRIST'S gracious incarnation, and tended to destroy he faith of Christiansnot less certainly though more insidiously than the heresy of Arius. It spreadthrough the East and through Egypt, corrupting and poisoning those Churcheswhich had once, alas! been the most flourishing, the early abodes and thestrong holds of revealed truth. Out of this heresy, or at least by means of it,the impostor Mahomet sprang, and formed his creed. Here is another especialShadow of Antichrist.

These instances give us this warning. Is theenemy of CHRIST, and His Church, to arise out of a certain special falling awayfrom GOD? And is there no reason to fear that some such Apostasy is graduallypreparing, gathering, hastening on in this very day? For is there not at thisvery time a special effort made almost all over the world, that is, every hereand there, more or less, in sight or out of sight, in this or that place, butmost visibly or formidably in its most civilized and powerful parts, an effortto do without religion? Is there not an opinion avowed and growing, that anation has nothing to do with religion; that it is merely a matter for eachman's own conscience,-which is all one with saying that we may let the truthfail from the earth without trying to continue it? Is there not a vigorous andunited movement in all countries to cast down the Church of Christ from powerand place? Is there not a feverish and ever busy endeavour to get rid of thenecessity of religion in public transactions? for example, an attempt to getrid of oaths, under a pretence that they are too sacred for affairs of commonlife, instead of providing that they be taken more reverently and moresuitably? an attempt to educate without religion,-that is, by putting all formsof religion together, which comes to the same thing? an attempt to enforcetemperance, and the virtues which flow from it, without religion, by means ofsocieties which are built on mere principles of utility? an attempt to makeexpedience, and not truth the end and the rule of measures of state and theenactments of law an attempt to make numbers, and not truth, the ground ofmaintaining, or not maintaining this or that creed, as if we had any reasonwhatever in Scripture for thinking that the many will be in the right, and thefew in the wrong? An attempt to deprive the Bible of its one meaning to theexclusion of others, to make people think that it may have a hundred meaningsall equally good, or in other words, that it has no meaning at all, is a deadletter, and may be put aside? an attempt to supersede religion altogether, asfar as it is external or objective, as far as it is displayed in ordinances, orcan be expressed by written words,-to confine it to our inward feelings, andthus, considering how transient, how variable, how evanescent our feelings are,an attempt in fact, to destroy religion?

Surely, there is at this day a confederacy ofevil, marshalling its hosts from all parts of the world, organizing itself,taking its measures, enclosing the Church of CHRIST as in a net, and preparingthe way for a general apostasy from it. Whether this very apostasy is to givebirth to Antichrist, or whether he is still to be delayed, we cannot know; butat any rate this apostasy, and all its tokens, and instruments, are of the EvilOne and saviour of death. Far be it from any of us to be of those simple ones,who are taken in that snare which is circling around us! Far be it from us tobe seduced with the fair promises in which Satan is sure to hide his poison! Doyou think he is so unskillful in his craft, as to ask you openly and plainly tojoin him in his warfare against the Truth? No; he offers you baits to temptyou. He promises you civil liberty; he promises you equality; he promises youtrade and wealth; he promises you a remission of taxes; he promises you reform.This is the way in which he conceals from you the kind of work to which he isputting you; he tempts you to rail against your rulers and superiors; he doesso himself, and induces you to imitate him; or he promises you illumination,-heoffers you knowledge, science, philosophy, enlargement of mind. He scoffs attimes gone by; he scoffs at every institution which reveres them. He promptsyou what to say, and then listens to you, and praises you, and encourages you.He bids you mount aloft. He shows you how to become as gods. Then he laughs andjokes with you, and gets intimate with you; he takes your hand, and gets hisfingers between yours, and grasps them, and then you are his.

Shall we Christians, sons of GOD, brethren ofCHRIST, heirs of glory, shall we allow ourselves to have lot or part in thismatter? Shall we even with our little finger help on the Mystery of iniquitywhich is travailing for birth, and convulsing the earth with its pangs? "Oh mysoul come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be notthou united." "What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? andwhat communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath CHRIST withBelial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and what agreementhath the temple of GOD with idols? for ye are the temple of the living GOD.Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate . . . and touch not theunclean thing," lest you be workers together with GOD'S enemies, and be openingthe way for the Man of sin, the son of perdition.