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I* roni the Witness.
2 THESS. 2: 3-12.
3. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall
come, except there come a falling away first, anti that man of sin
he revealed, the son of perdition;
4. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called
God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the tem¬
ple, of God, showing himself that he is God.
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you
these things ?
<». And now ye know what withoUleth that he might he revealed
in his time.
7. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who
now letteth will let. until he be taken out of the way.
H. And then shall that Wicked he revealed, whom the Lord
shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy
with the brightness of his coining:
'.). Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with
all power and signs and ug wonders,
10. ,
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them
that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that
they might, be saved
11. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion,
that they should believe a lie:
12. That they all might be damned who believed not the truth,
hut had pleasure in unrighteousness.
01 E promoter HAVE HERE and head an of inspired the final pen apostasy; sketch of the the
false Christ. Paul, writing as he was moved by the
Holy Ghost, tells us what manner of person he shall
be who will first try to play the tole of the Messiah
and then assert himself in impious blaspemy against
the Godhead. We have a considerable amount of di-
rect. information and many interesting side lights in
both the Old and New Testaments concerning this
awful demonic man. Under the necessity for brevity
we select a few of the salient points in the description
before us, for a few suggestions. Apostasy in various
degrees and in varying forms, has marked the history
of the church almost from the beginning. But he
must be blind indeed, who can not see that the clos¬
ing period of this age is to be characterized by the
great final apostasy in which will be summed up, de¬
veloped and brought to full fruition all the elements
which have entered into the movement away from
God, in the whole history of the Christian Church.
The central figure and inspiring cause of this climax
of sin and lies and of its past and present manifesta¬
tions, is “the man of the lawlessness,” “tha son of
perdition.” “Sin is the transgression of the law. ? >
Thejjdivine law must be the absolute guide of all crea¬
tures. Satan rebelled, then led man to rebel and has
since fomented unceasing rebellion against the gov¬
ernment of God, on the part of the human race. Law¬
lessness in the relations of human society is but the
echo of lawlessness pervading man’s whole disposition
with regard to God, Anarchy and Nihilism among
men foreshadow a tremendous convulsion in which
every bond of human and divine restraint shall be
broken. The rebellion in Eden has gathered force
tlirough the centuries and is rapidly becoming a
mighty avalanche whose destructive course will be
stopped b) the sudden outstretching of God’s omnip¬
otent hand. The awful Satanic man of the future
will personally embody all the forces of lawlessness
will be the head and center of the final and worldwide
alliance against God. His headship will be both civil
and ecclesiastical, his dupes and allies, both Jews and
Gentiles. Incredible as modern rationalism in theol¬
ogy may find it, he will gather the whole world ex¬
cept God’s elect few under the banner of this mon¬
strous revolt. Obtaining by flatteries the confidence
of the multitude “with signs and lying wonders”
“after the working of Satan,” “with all deceivable-
ness of righteousness in them that are perishing,” he
will establish in all the earth the power of hell. In
this strange and terrible personality we see both hu¬
man and Satanic elements. He will be truly a man,
so thoroughly possessed and energized by Satan, the
father of lies, as to be practically an incarnation of
the devil. As Christ is set forth as the divine man,
so the Anti-Christ is set forth as the Satanic man.
The doctrine which teaches that the Pope of Rome is
the Anti-Christ is a modern invention. True, Rome
holds many Anti-Christian elements and has a con¬
spicuous place in past and present apostasy. Her fu¬
ture will be identified conspicuously with the great fi¬
nal apostasy. But the Church is symbolized in the
Scriptures by a woman, the true church by a pure vir¬
gin, chaste and beautiful, and the false church by a
harlot, vile and abandoned. The Holy Spirit never
mixes comparisons. It is man’s meddling and mix¬
ing that has made confusion. The Antichrist is rep¬
resented as a man and not a woman, as an individual
and not as a line of individuals—nor yet as a system
or polity. The process of interpretation which makes
of the Anti-Christ a system or polity would consist¬
ently make of the Christ a system or polity. If one is
personal so is the other. Finally, the course of the
man of sin will be ii rup ed by the sudde i coming
of the Omnipotent Christ. Post-inillenialists tell us
that Rome is Anti-Christ. Now if Rome be the An¬
tichrist this glorious spiritual millennium can never
come while Rome exists. A curious millennium it
would be which would admit of the flourishing of
Anti-Christ. The Holy Spirit says that Anti-Christ
will be distroyed by the brightness of His(the Lord’s)
coming. The post-millenniaiist must acknowledge
that the Antichrist will be an element in his millen-
mum or that there will be no millennium at ail, either
of which assertions Scripture directly contradicts.
m RS. teriety, NATION, is an exponent with her of morbid the logical craving results for no- of
coercion in the field of morals. HeV antics advertise
the liquor business more effectively than could be
done in any other way. Satan uses her semi-insanity
to make reform ridiculous. Such work as she is doing
plants the seeds of anarchy and strengthens the gates
of hell. The liquor traffic is a monstrous evil. Every
Christian must pray and work for its overthrow. But
mob violence has no place in Christian tactics. Christ
said to Peter, “Put up thy sword.” The mission of
the church is, to preach the gospel of redemption, to
seek the salvation of individuals. The kingdom of
God, in the human heart is based upon individual re¬
generation. The ethics of the gospel appeal to those
who are the subjects of Gospel grace.
Applied to the children of this world they are a
misfit. Christ calls his disciples to get out of the
world for it is going to be destroyed. The devil
whispers, Oh no, do not get out of the world, stay
in it and make it better. Coerce people into being
good and force your millennium to grow in a hot¬
house.
m .
p ERSONAL TESTIMONIES. t t The coming of
the Lord is to me a most precious trnth and con¬
stant inspiration to work, Whoever neglects it has
only a mutilafed Gospel, for it is taught as clearly in
the New Testament as any other doctrine in it. I
have felt like working three times as hard, ever since
I came to understand that my Lord was coming back
again.—Dwight L. Moody.
For many years I have found the hope of our Lord’s
return my brightest joy and my most powerful inspir¬
ation for unwearied service. I have no expectation
of the world getting better, prior to his return; but
on the contrary, expect evil to become more and more
pronounced. Conventional religiousness with
nothing of the life of Christ in the soul I expect to a-
bound at His appearing. It is a cold, selfish, worldly
thing which will receive judgment at the hands of the
Lord. I am looking for Him, and waiting either to
be caught up to meet Him, or to shate in the blessing
of the first ressurrection.”—Archibald G. Brown.
“You ask me to state to you what I have found of
benefit and blessing from the cherished hope of the
pre-mtllennial coming of the Lord. In reply let me
say that it is nearly fifty years since I first felt its
power, and during all my ministry of now nearly
forty-eight year, the “blessed hope” has evidenced
itself to be indeed a doctrine accordiug to godliness.
It has cast a peculiar light on the pages of the pro¬
phetic Word. It has often cheered me when circum¬
stances were dark and threatening- It has proved it¬
self to be an awakening doctrine. It has comforted
very many saints and led timid and doubting believ¬
ers to full assurance. As for myself, it has stim¬
ulated me very greatly to do my utmost through the
the grace of God to gather in sonls at home and
abroad by home mission work and foreign mission
work. Though I cannot say with old Jerome, that
‘the sound of the last trumpet is ever in my ear,’ yet
I can say that from time to time, I have been stirfed
up to new zeal and earnestness in the work of the
Lcrd, from the consideration—so much the more as
ye see the day approaching.—Dr. Andrew A. Bonar.
01 E HAVE READ with great interest a pam¬
phlet entitled “The Return of the Lord,” a^
examination and review by Prof. Wm. Stewart, D.
D., Principal of the Bible Training school, Toronto,
Ont. The subject of his review is a volume recently
published by Dr. Calvin Goodspeed, entitled “Mes¬
siahs second advent a study in Eschatolgy.” We
gather from this review that the book in question, is
a rehash of the stock arguments and phrases of the
post millennial spirituahzers. The spiritualizing
brethren have a few pet objections and theories hand¬
ed down from father to son, based on proud human
opinion or on a system of interpretation which they
would not dare to apply to fulfilled prophecy. Sure¬
ly God’s manner of fulfilling prophecy in the past
should furnish a guide to His fulfillment of it in the
future.
^iWe quote from the introductory chapter of Prof.
Stewart’s able review, two paragraphs which give
the gist of the whole.
The whole book is written from the standpoint of
the partisan and polemic, not of the Bible theologian.
The author seems to know nothing of the new meth¬
od of careful, scientific Bible study, which seeks first
of all without any theorizing, to* bring out the exact
meaning and contents of the sacred writers. We find
him, therefore, indulging in the very beginning of
the book in sweeping assertions, which are contradict¬
ed by the highest lexical authority and the best New
Testament exegesis. Moreover, in his examination
of certain important questions, as for example, that
of “the two resurrections,” we And that the passages
which teach most clearly the truth on the subject are
dismissed without any attempt at exposition and with
the barest possible mention, Indeed, the
of the author are simply marvellous. Everywhere
the writers of the New Testament set forth our Lord’s
Return as holding a close relation to Christian
trine, experience, effort, and hope; but we look in
vain in the book before us for any adequate presenta-
tion of these vital aspects of this great theme Above
all, there is a very sad violation of the law of Chris-
tian love. The author allows himself to become an
accuser of his brethren. He charges
ists with divididing churches, paralyzing missionary
effort, and setting up rival institutions; and he
makes what he calls their “schemeof interpretation,”
responsible for the false teachings of • Annihilation-
ists. Seventh Day Adventists and other materialists.
It may perhaps be said, if this work is so weak in
scholarship, so defective in method, so inadequate in
scope, and so uncharitable in spirit, why should it
receive any notice? My answer is, that an
tion an examination and review will give the oppor¬
tunity not only of pointing out these serious imper-
fections. but also of presenting the true teaching
God’s Word, as explained and confirmed by the best
scholarship, on such important themes as “the Two
Resurrections,” “the Pre-Millennial Advent,” “the
Coming Age and Kingdom,” and “the Blessed
Hope.”
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never look as neat as
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up*to*the*minute sta*
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The
Record.
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General
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