many Antichrifts; many perfons, now, appear in the spirit of that future Antichrist, and deferve his name: whereby, indeed, we know that it is the last hour: for Christ himself had made the appearance of false Chrifts and falfe prophets, that is, of Antichrifts, to be one of the figns by which that bour should be distinguished [c].

The meaning of the whole paffage, then, is clearly this: "That the appearance of falfe Chrifts and falfe Prophets (of which there were many, according to our Lord's prediction, in St. John's time) indicated the arrival of that bour, that was to be fatal to the Jewish ftate: and that they were, at the fame time, the types and forerunners of a still more dreadful power, which should be fully revealed in the latter times, in a future period, when that cala-. mity was past." For the truth of the affertion, That fuch a power fhould arise in the Christian church, he appeals to a tradition, then current among the disciples: [c] Math. xxiv. 24. Mark xiii. 21.

and

and his hated name of Antichrist is here: applied, by way of anticipation, to the falfe prophets of that time; as poffeffing much of his character, and acting with his fpirit.

Hence we see the meaning of the word, Antichrift; which ftands for a perfon or power, actuated with a fpirit oppofite to that of Christ. And fo indeed the Apostle explains himself, in another place of this very Epistle. For, fpeaking of certain falfe teachers, who preached up a doctrine, contrary to that of the Gofpel, he adds"This is that fpirit of Antichrist, whereof

st

ye have heard that it fhould come, and even now already is it in the world [d]." And I lay the greater ftrefs on this obfervation, because the etymology of the word, Antichrift, makes it capable of two different meanings. For it may either fignify one, who affumes the place and office of Chrift, or one, who maintains a direct enmity and oppo

[d] 1 Ep. John, iv. 3.

fition

fition to him [e]. But the latter, is the fenfe in which the Apostle ufeth this term; although it be true that, in the former. fenfe, it very well fuits the Bishop of Rome, who calls himself the Vicar of Chrift, as well as the fucceffor of St. Peter. Nor can there be any difficulty in fixing the charge of Antichriftianifm, in the fenfe of an enmity and oppofition to Chrift, on the Roman -Pontif (though I know how abfurd the attempt seems to the writers on that fide;) for, to merit this charge, it is not necessary that he should formally reject Chrift, which undoubtedly he does not, but that he should act in defiance to the true genius and character of Chrift's religion: a charge, which may be evidently made good against him.

In fhort, as the word, Chrift, is frequently used in the Apoftolic writings for the doctrine of Chrift; in which fense we are faid to put on Chrift, to grow in Chrift,

• [e] 'Atlixe1ses—al, in the fenfe either of pro, or

contra.

to

to learn Chrift, and in other inftances: So Antichrift, in the abstract, may be taken for a doctrine fubverfive of the Chriftian; and when applied to a particular man, or body of men, it denotes one, who fets himself against the spirit of that doctrine [ƒ].

[f] Grotius fays, "Sicut Anticæfarem dicimus qui contra Cæfarem fe. Cæfarem vult dici atque Cæfar haberi, fic Antichriftus eft qui fe vero Chrifto opponit es modo ut ipfe Chriftus haberi velit." Or. t. iv. p. 490. -The learned commentator did not reflect, that words are not always used according to the strict import of their etymologies. Falfe Chrifts, we will fay, are, in the ftrict fenfe of the word, Antichrifts. But the queftion is, in what sense this word is used of the perfon called, by way of eminence, THE ANTICHRIST. This must be collected from the attributes given to him in the prophecies themselves, not from the rigorous etymology of the term. The cafe was plainly this. St. John is fpeaking of the falfe Chrifts, who had appeared in his time; and, to difgrace them the more effectually in the minds of those to whom he writes, he brands them with the name of Antichrifts: not so much respecting the exact sense of the word, as the ideas of averfion, which, he knew, it would excite. For the tradition of the church concerning Antichrift, had made this appellation, of all others, the most opprobrious, and hateful.-Befides, it is not fo clear, as Grotius

In this last sense, the word Antichrift is clearly employed by St. John: and from his example, the word grew into general use in the Chriftian church; and is fo to be understood, whenever mention is made of Antichrift by the primitive fathers, or any other ecclefiaftical writers.

II. I am now to fhew in what manner the prophecies concerning Antichrift, or a perfon or power, fo called, and, though variously described, always confidered under the idea of an adversary to the true doctrine of Christ, have been construed and applied by many eminent members of the Chriftian Church, in all ages.

fuppofes, that the strict fenfe of the word, Antichriftus,. *must be-is, qui fe vero Chrifto opponit co modo ut ipfe Chriftus haberi velit. Cæfar, who generally expressed himself with exact propriety, thought fit, on a certain occafion, to affume the name and character of ANTICATO. Was it Cæfar's purpose to say, or was it his ambition to pretend, "that he opposed himself to the true Cato, EO MODO ut ipfe CATO haberi vellet ?"

1. When