ing studies of this transfiguration scattered through the Oxford, Lillie and Windsor collections. On Raphael's death the painting, then considered the finest in the world, became too precious to send out of Rome, and Cardinal de Medici bequeathed it to the monks of Montorio in whose church it remained till it was stolen by Napoleon First. It now hangs in the gallery of the Vatican.

IV.

THE ANTICHRIST.

St. John says in his first letter 4th chapter and 3rd verse: "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God." And this is that spirit of antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should come and even now already is in the world. And again in II John 1:7 we read: "For many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist." And in II Thes., 2:3, Paul says: "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 worshiped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." And in Daniel 11:36, we read: "And the king shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished." So that we see a wonderful unanimity among the recorded descriptions given of this "vile person"-made, centuries apart, of Daniel, B. C. 534; of Paul, A. D. 54; and of John, A. D. 90. But the one outstanding feature is the opposition to or denial

of the truth. Satan was called by our Saviour as "a liar and the father of it," (John 8:44). But like all expert deceivers he is even more successful in covering up his denials of the truth by diverting attention and throwing it on the wrong trail. When he told Eve that she should not surely die, he instantly followed the denial of God's word with a promise of greater knowledge, and it is this gift of his that must account for the fact that today every student of prophecy has been looking for the antichrist first, for years in the Roman Catholic Church, and now' most every one of them has laid the charge to Mrs. Eddy and Pastor Russell, in spite of the fact that they both were intense lovers and students of the Bible, and differ from orthodoxy in only a few matters of private interpretation. Do we ever hear of one trying to find the arch-enemy of the saloon in a Brewers' Association? It would be quite as reasonable to do so. No doubt Satan rejoices in his powers to thus blind Bible students to his arts while he is busily engaged in bringing to perfection his wily schemes. For not war, not intemperance, not vice of all kinds, but the schism and hatred of the Christian church has been, and is today, Satan's masterpiece, for with the churches united and joined in a body to fight evil with the weapons of our warfare, which are love and prayer to God, his kingdom would have fallen in one generation. As the antichrist is to be a production of Satan, I shall digress a moment to speak of a few personal experiences with this "prince of the world" at least such as I attribute to him. Mr.

Watson, to whom I owe all I know of the prophecies, was able and willing to spend and be spent in this work, but, if I may so speak, he had a "messenger of Satan" in the form of a most peculiar malady, that was probably finally the cause of his death, but I did not hear the particulars of it, so cannot speak positively, knowing only that he passed away soon after his book was published and that there were only a few copies printed, and I am unable, after years of search to find another copy, as is elsewhere explained.

The fumes of tobacco smoke were deadly poison to Mr. Watson, and yet he could not smell so that he was unable to enter any large auditorium, and thus was forced to give his great lectures in small towns, and now that I am trying to carry on his work, after having exhausted my skill in trying to obtain another copy my eyes give me very great anxiety, so that I am unable to make the research that would be so helpful, and as Jesus is authority for the statement that the woman he cured was one whom Satan had bound I see no reason to charge my affliction to any other source. God is the author of good and only good, and all his laws are for our good, and when I am afflicted in this way, I know that it is in violation of some law, either moral or physical, which will, in God's own good time, be seen to be overruled "That the works of God should be made manifest."

But to return to the antichrist: Does it not seem from the Bible account that we should look for him in those countries where the Bible it

self is opposed? Even Mohammed professed Abraham as his father; and his followers worship the God of Abraham, so that he will not likely be found in countries where the religion of Mohammed is dominant; and in China Confucius was not opposed to righteousness. But what of the Shintu religion? The World Wide Encyclopedia says: "Shintu is not truly a religion at all, but signifies the way of the gods. It has no moral code, the Emperor, or Mikado is thought to be a descendant of the sun-goddess, and in Shintu Japan is held to be the country of the gods. In it there also seems to be mixed up a system of hero worship, many renowned warriors and other personages of ancient days being exalted into what we would term demigods. By it, too, spiritual agencies are attributed to the elements or natural phenomena." Then when we reflect that Satan though at that time will be an incarnate king (the dragon) prefers to continue as a "wire puller" or power behind the throne, and that China is suggested by the dragon, and Japan is making every effort to enlist China on her side, does it not seem to indicate that the "times of the Gentiles" are "being fulfilled," and events are acutally culminating towards the reign of the three powerful kings of Revelation? The beast, or antichrist; the second beast, or false prophet; and the dragon, or devil (Rev. 16:13.) The antichrist will be a blasphemer (Rev. 13:15). "And there was given him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven. And all that dwell