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.
ANTI-CHRIST AND LITTLE HORN. DISCOURSE X.
SECOND DISCOURSE OF THE MONSTER—WHO HE WILL BE AND HIS NAME—HOW HE WILL OBTAIN POWER—TROUBLE FOR GERMANY, FRANCE, AND RUSSIA—COMMUNISM—ROMANISM—SHAKERS—MATTHIAS, WEST—CHESTER PROPHET.
“Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”—2 Thess. ii. 3, 4.
We may reasonably ask why Paul gave the Thessalonians this caution, and the answer will appear at once if we read his first epistle to this people. There you will find Paul writing to them about the second coming of Christ, which writing the Thessalonians had evidently misunderstood, and this misunderstanding was working mischief among them. They had false hopes and expectations. Their faith, instead of exciting them to holy activity in Church and State, had begun to paralyse all their efforts. “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that _we_ which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep; for the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first (that is, before Christ descends); then _we_ which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall _we_ ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. iv. 15–17). It was the frequent use of the pronoun “we” that had confused them—_we_ who remain, _we_ who are alive. The Thessalonians had inferred from this that the second coming of Christ would take place in their day. Hence, to correct this impression Paul thus writes in his second epistle. The two verses preceding the text show us Paul’s intent. “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” Then comes in the text, “Let no man deceive you,” &c.