Lord Dunsany [Edward J. M. D. Plunkett] - "Time and the Gods"

Eliza Lee Follen - "Travellers' Stories"

Thomas Carlyle - "History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 2"

Friedrich de la Motte Fouque - "Undine"

The Riches of Bunyan

J >> Jeremiah Rev. Chaplin >> The Riches of Bunyan









XXIII. ANTICHRIST.

ANTICHRIST DESCRIBED.





ANTICHRIST is the adversary of Christ; an adversary really, a friend
pretendedly. So then antichrist is one that is against Christ; one
that is for Christ, and one that is contrary to him; and this is
that "mystery of iniquity."

Against him in deed; for him in word, and contrary to him in
practice: antichrist is so proud as to go before Christ, so humble
as to pretend to come after him, and so audacious as to say that
himself is HE. Antichrist will cry up Christ; antichrist will cry
down Christ; antichrist will proclaim that himself is one above
Christ.

Antichrist is the "man of sin," the "son of perdition;" a beast that
hath two horns like a lamb, but speaks as a dragon.

Christ is the Son of God; antichrist is the son of hell.

Christ is holy, meek, and forbearing; antichrist is wicked,
outrageous, and exacting.

Christ seeketh the good of the soul; antichrist seeks his own
avarice and revenge.

Christ is content to rule by his word; antichrist saith the word is
not sufficient.

Christ preferreth his Father's will above heaven and earth;
antichrist preferreth himself and his traditions above all that is
written, or that is called God or worshipped.

Christ has given us such laws and rules as are helpful and healthful
to the soul; antichrist seeketh to abuse those rules to our hurt and
destruction.

The spirit or soul or life of antichrist is that spirit of error,
"that wicked," that "mystery of iniquity," that under color and
pretence of verity draws men from truth to falsehood.

The body or flesh of antichrist is that church or synagogue of Satan
in which the spirit of antichrist dwells, or unto which the spirit
of antichrist is become a soul and life.

But God will destroy both soul and body.

Antichrist therefore is a mystical man, so made or begotten of the
devil, and sent into the world, Satan himself being the chief and
highest part of him.

Three things therefore go to the making up of antichrist: the head,
body, and soul. The devil, he is the head; the synagogue of Satan,
that is the body; that wicked spirit of iniquity, that is the soul
of antichrist.

Christ then is the head of his church, the devil is the head of
antichrist; the elect are the body of Christ, the reprobate
professors are the body of antichrist; the Holy Ghost is the Spirit
of life that acteth Christ's body; that wicked spirit of iniquity is
that which acteth the body of antichrist.

Thus therefore are the two great mighties set forth before us, who
are the heads of those two bodies.

RISE AND PROGRESS OF ANTICHRIST.

The reason why Christ came into the world was, that he might destroy
all the works of the head of antichrist, and them which he endeavors
to complete by his wicked spirit working in his body. And the reason
why antichrist came into the world was, that the church, which is
the body of Christ, might be tried and made white by suffering under
his tyranny, and by bearing witness against his falsehoods. For, for
the trial of the faithful and for the punishment of the world,
antichrist was admitted to come. But when he came, he first appeared
where one would have thought there had been no place nor corner for
his reception.

Here therefore was his first appearance, even in the church of God.
Not that the church did willingly admit him there to sit as such; he
had covered his cloven foot; he had plums in his dragon's mouth, and
so came in by flatteries, promising to do for Christ and his church
that which he never meant to perform; for he showed himself that he
was God, and in appearance set his heart to do as the heart of God.

And who could have found in their heart to shut the door upon such a
one? True, he came, when he came thither, out of the bottomless pit;
but there came such a smoke out thence with him, and that smoke so
darkened the light of the sun, of the moon, of the stars, and of the
day, that had they been upon their watch, as they were not, they
could not have perceived him from another man. Besides, there came
with him so many locusts to usher him into the house of God, and
they so suited the flesh and reason of the godly of that day, that
with good words and fair speeches, by their crafty and cunning
sleights whereby they lay in wait to deceive, they quite got him in,
and set him up and made him a great one, even the chief, before they
were aware. Further, he quickly got him a beast to ride on, far, for
sumptuous glory, beyond--though as to nature as assish a creature
as--that on which Balaam was wont to ride; and by this exaltation he
not only became more stately, but the horns of the beast would push
for him.

Again, this man of sin, when he came into the world, had the art of
metamorphosing, and could change himself, both in form and shape,
into the likeness of a beast, a man, or woman.

A lily among thorns, a pearl on a dunghill, and beauty under a veil,
will make one turn aside to look on it. Answerable to this, the
church, even in the wilderness or under persecution, is compared not
only to a woman, but to a comely and delicate woman. Thus the
church, though in her weeds of widowhood, is become the desire of
the eyes of the nations; for indeed her features are such
considering who is her head, where mostly to the eye beauty lies,
that whoso sees but the utmost glimpse of her is easily ravished
with her beauties. The church, the very name of the church of God is
beautiful in the world; and as among women, she that has beauty has
her head desired, if it might be, to stand upon another woman's
shoulders; so this and that and every nation that beholds the beauty
of the church, would fain be called by that name.

The church, one would think, was but in a homely dress when she was
coming out of captivity; and yet then the people of the countries
desired to be one with her: "Let us," said they to Zerubbabel and to
the fathers of the church, "build with you, for we seek your God as
you do."

The very name of the church is striven for of the world; but that is
the church which Christ has made so; her features also remain with
herself. Hear the relation that the Holy Ghost gives of the
intrinsic beauty of the church when she was to go to be in a
persecuted state: "She was clothed with the sun, had the moon under
her feet, and had upon her head a crown of twelve stars." And yet
now the dragon stood by. But I say, here is a woman! Let any one who
will attempt it show such another in the world if he can.

They therefore that have any regard to morality, civility, or to
ceremonial comeliness, covet to be of the church of God, or to
appropriate that glorious title to themselves.

And here indeed antichrist came in. She took this name to herself;
and though she could not come at the sun, nor moon, nor stars, to
adorn herself with them, yet she has found something that makes her
comely in her followers' eyes. See how the Holy Ghost sets her
forth: she was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with
gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her
hand. Hence she is called the well-favored harlot, the lady of
kingdoms.

But because the chaste matron, the spouse of Christ, would not allow
this harlot to run away with this name therefore she gets upon the
back of her beast, and by him pushes this woman into the dirt; but
because her faith and love to her husband remain, she turns again
and pleads by her titles, her features, and ornaments, that she and
she only is she whose square answereth to the characters which her
Lord had given of his own; and so the strife began. For so soon as
this mistress became a dame in the world, and found that she had her
stout abettors, she attempts to turn all things topsy-turvy, and to
set them and to make of them what she lists.

CORRUPTION OF THE CHURCH BY ANTICHRIST.

Mischief must needs follow this ugly deed of the man of sin. If a
house be on fire, though it is not burnt down, the smell of the
flame may long remain there: also we count it no wonder to see some
of the effects upon rafters, beams, and some of the principal posts
thereof. The calf that was set up at Dan defiled that people until
the captivity of the land.

For by antichristian darkness, though they might call it light, the
true light was darkened, and so the eye made dim, even the eye of
the truly godly. Also the Holy Ghost did much withdraw himself from
the church; so the doctrines, traditions, and rudiments of the world
took more hold there, and spread themselves more formidably over the
face of that whole church.

And this being the effect of light against light at first, is the
cause of what to this day we see in the church among the true
brotherhood. For as a cause produceth an effect, so oftentimes an
effect sets on foot another cause. Witness the jars, the
oppositions, the contentions, emulations, strifes, debates,
whisperings, tumults, and condemnations, that like cannon-shot have
so frequently on all sides been let fly against one another.

The godly all hold the Head; for there antichrist could never divide
them. Their divisions therefore are only about smaller things.

I do not say that the antichristian darkness has done nothing in the
church as to the hurting it in the great things of God. But I say,
it has not been able to do that which could sever their Head from
them. Otherwise, there appears even too much of its doings there.
For even as to the offices of our Lord, some will have his authority
more large, some more strait; some confine his rules to themselves
and to their more outward signification, and some believe they are
extended further; some will have his power in the church purely
spiritual, others again would have it mixed; some count his word
perfect and sufficient to guide in all religious matters, others
again hold that an addition of something human is necessary.

This darkness could not sever the true church from her Head; yet it
has eclipsed the glory of things. By two lights a man cannot see
this or that thing so exactly as by one single light; no, they both
make all confused, though they make not all invisible. As for
instance, sunlight and moonlight together, firelight and sunlight
together, candlelight and moonlight together, make things more
obscure than to look on them by a single light. The word reflecting
upon the understanding without the interposing of man's traditions,
makes the mind of God to a man more clear than when attended with
the other.

Things therefore will never be well in the church of God so long as
there is thus light against light therein. When there is but one
Lord among us, and his name one; and when divisions, by the consent
of the whole, are banished--I mean, not persecuted, but abandoned in
all by a joint consent, and when every man shall submit his own
single opinion to those truths that by their being retained are for
the health of all--then look for good days, and not till then.

CONFLICT BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND ANTICHRIST.

They that are the church do in God's light see light but they that
are not, do in their own way see. And let a man and a beast look out
at the same window, the same door, the same casement, yet the one
will see like a man, and the other but like a beast.

No marvel then if there is here a disagreement; the beast can but
see as a beast, but the church is resolved not to be guided by the
eye of a beast, though he pretends to have his light by that very
window by which the church has hers. The beast is moon-eyed, and
puts darkness for light, yea, and hates the light that is so indeed;
but the saints will not hear him, for they know the voice of their
Lord.

On both sides they are resolved to stand by their way: the church is
confident, the man of sin is confident; they both have the same
windows--that is, "the word"--to see by, and so they manage their
matters; yet not so simply by the windows as by the diverse judgment
they make of that which shineth in at them. Each one therefore that
hath the true or false profession will be confident of his own way:
he that was right, knew he was right; and he that was wrong, thought
he was right; and so the battle began: "There is a way that seemeth
right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

Nor is it in man to help it: there has been reasoning, there has
been disputing, there has blood also been spilt on both sides,
through the confidence that each had of the goodness of his own way:
but no reconciliation is made; the enmity is set here of God; iron
and clay cannot mix; God will have things go on thus in the world
till his word shall be fulfilled; the deceived and the deceiver are
his. Things therefore must have their course in the church in the
wilderness till the mystery of God shall be fulfilled. God will get
to himself great glory by permitting the hoar, the man of sin and
the dragon, to revel in the church of God; for they by setting up
and contending for their darkness, and calling it the light, and by
setting it against that light which is light in very deed, do not
only prove the power of truth where it is, but illustrate it so much
the more; for as black sets off white, and darkness light, so error
sets off truth. He that calls a man a horse, doth but fix the belief
of his humanity so much the more in the apprehension of all rational
creatures.

It is not therefore to be wondered at that we hear both parties
plead so much for their authority, crying out against each other as
those that destroy religion. So doth the church, so doth the man of
sin. The living child is mine, saith one. Nay, but the dead child is
thine, and the living child is mine, says the other. And thus they
spake before the king.

The church will not give place, for she knows she has the truth; the
dragon and his angels, they will not give place, but as beaten back
by the power of truth. Therefore there will, there must, there
cannot but be a spiritual warfare here, and that until one of the
two is destroyed, and its body given to the burning flame.

FALL OF ANTICHRIST.

Antichrist had a time to come into the world, and so must he have a
time to go out again. For although he saith that he is a god, yet he
must he subject to the will of God, and must go as well as come
according to that will. Nor can all the fallen angels, with all the
members and limbs of antichrist, cause this, that their brat should
abide so much as one day longer than our God's prefixed time. The
Lord Jesus shall consume him, and cause him to melt away; not all at
once, but now this part and then that, now his soul and after that
his body, even until soul and body are both destroyed.

And that you may be convinced of the truth of this thing, do but
look back and compare antichrist four or five hundred years ago,
with antichrist as he is now, and you shall see what work the Lord
Jesus has begun to make with him, even with the spirit and soul and
life of antichrist, both in confounding and blasting it by the
Spirit of his mouth, as also by forcing it to dishonorable retreats,
and by making it give up to him as the conqueror, not only some of
his superstitious and diabolical rites and ceremonies to be
destroyed, but many a goodly truth which this vile one had taken
from his church, to be renewed to them. Nay, further, he has also
already begun to take from him both kingdoms and countries, though
as to some not so absolutely as he shall do by and by.

And how has this long ago been fulfilled here in England, as also in
Scotland, Holland, Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, and
other places. Nor has this spirit of antichrist, with all his art
and artifices, been able to reduce to antichrist again those people,
nations, or parts of nations, that by the Spirit of Christ's mouth
and the brightness of his coming have been made to forsake him, and
to turn from him to Christ.

The reason is, that the Lord has not retreated, but is still going
on in the Spirit of his mouth and in his brightness to make that
conquest over him that is determined, in the way that is determined;
for the pathway that he goeth is as the shining light which shines
more and more unto noon.

The first and chief proceeding of the Lord with the man of sin is to
slay his soul, that his body may also be consumed; and when the
spirit of antichrist shall be made to leave both the body and
ordinances of antichrist, it will be easy to deal both with the one
and the other.

And first, for the ordinances of antichrist, because the spirit of
error is in them as well as in the body itself. When that spirit has
left them, they will of themselves even moulder away and not be; as
we have seen by experience here in England, and as others also have
seen in other countries.

For as concerning his masses, prayers for the dead, images,
pilgrimages, monkish vows, sinful fasts, and the beastly single life
of their priests, though when the spirit of antichrist was in them
they did bear some sway in the world, yet now of what esteem are
they, or who has reverence for them? They are now blown together
under hedges as the dry leaves, for the mice and frogs to harbor in.
By ordinances of antichrist, I do not intend things that only
respect matters of worship in antichrist's kingdom, but those civil
laws that impose and enforce them also, yea, enforce that worship
with pains and penalties, as in the Spanish inquisition.

These are the very pillars and sinews by which antichristianism
remains; and were these dispirited, the whole building would quickly
become a ruinous heap.

What could the king of Babylon's golden image have done, had it not
been for the burning fiery furnace that stood within view of the
worshippers? Yea, what could that horrible command to pray for
thirty days to neither God nor man but to the king, have done, had
it not been for the dark den and the roaring lions there in
readiness to devour those that disobeyed it?

As therefore the burning fiery furnace and the den of lions were the
support of the horrible religion of the Babylonians of old, so
popish edicts are the support of the religion of antichrist now; and
as long as there is spirit, that is, authority in them, they are
like to those now mentioned. The spirit of such laws it is that
makes them dreadful: for as the furnace would have been next to
nothing if void of fire, and the den as little frightful if
destitute of lions, so these laws will be as insignificant when
Christ has slain the spirit that is in them--that spirit which
causes that as many as will not worship the image of the beast
should be killed.

MANNER OF ANTICHRIST'S DESTRUCTION.

Antichrist shall be brought to ruin gradually; a part after a part:
here a fenced city and there a high tower, even until she is made to
lie even with the ground.

As for the order of the angels that pour forth this wrath, they
plainly show that this enemy must come down by degrees; for these
vials are by them poured out one after another. Now, since by these
vials antichrist must fall, it is evident that this man of sin, this
son of perdition, is to fall and die by degrees. He would not die at
all, as is manifest by his wrestling with it; but it is an almighty
God that judges, and therefore he must come down. His friends also,
with what cordials they can, will labor to lengthen out his
tranquillity; but God hath set his bounds, and he cannot go beyond
the time appointed.

We must also put a difference betwixt his being fought with and
wounded, and that of his dying the death. Michael and his angels
have been holding him in play a long season, but yet he is not dead;
but, as I said, he shall descend into battle and perish, and shall
be found no more for ever.

"And the cities of the nations fell," Rev. 16:19; the cities of the
nations, the antichristian churches, otherwise called the daughters
of the mother of harlots. This is a second stroke that God will give
this man of sin, and a third cometh quickly.

Wherefore it follows, upon the downfall of those cities of the
nations, that great Babylon came into remembrance before God, to
give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Now then, strike at great Babylon. Great Babylon! What is that? Why,
I take it to be the mother, the metropolitan, the great harlot
herself. For though sometimes by great Babylon we may understand the
church of antichrist in general, yet by it is meant more properly
the mother of the daughters, of whose overthrow we have spoken
before.

We are now, then, come to the threshold of the door of the house of
the old one--to the door of the mother of harlots and abomination of
the earth. This then that but now is said to come into remembrance
with God, is that which gave being to the cities destroyed before,
to wit, the ministers, the queen, the mother-church as she calls
herself.

And this is the wisdom of God concerning her, that she should not be
the first that should die, but that she should live to see the
destruction of her daughters, and pine away under the fright and
sense of that, even until judgment also shall overtake herself.

Thus Pharaoh and his chief ones did live to see the greatest part of
Egypt destroyed, before judgment overtook them; but at last it came
to their doors also. Zedekiah lived to see his children slain before
his face, before judgment overtook him to his own personal
destruction.

Babylon also, when God sent the cup of his fury unto her, yet was to
live to see the nations drink before her.

From all which I conclude that the mother, the metropolitan, the
lady of kingdoms, shall live to see her daughters executed before
her face; after which, she shall come into consideration herself,
for she must assuredly drink of the cup.

This destruction must be last for this reason also, because she most
deserves the bottom of the cup. The bottom is the dregs, the most
bitter part, and that where the most heat and fiercest wrath of God
do lie. And great Babylon came into remembrance before God: "To give
unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath."

Now then is the time of iniquity, when it will be come to the full;
and now also is the time of God's anger, when it will be come to the
full. Now therefore must the murders and thefts and blasphemies and
fornications belonging to this mother of harlots, be recompensed to
the full, to wit, with the dregs of this cup. Yet since the
hailstones come by weight and the wrath comes by measure--for so a
talent and a cup imports, Rev. 16:17-21--it follows that the
almighty God, even in the midst of the heat of all this anger, will
keep to the rules of justice and judgment while he is dealing with
this enemy: he has not passions to carry him beyond rules of
judgment, nor weakness to cause him to fall short of doing justice;
therefore he has his judgments for her by weight, and his
indignation by measure. But yet this weight and measure are not
suited to her constitution, not with an intent to purge or refine
her; but it is disposed according to the measure and nature of her
iniquity, and comes to sweep her as with the besom of destruction,
until she is swept off from the face of all the earth.

Now since she is dying, let us ring her passing-bell; for when she
is dead, we that live to see it intend to ring out.

PRESENT STATE OF ANTICHRIST.

Now I saw in my dream, that at the end of this valley lay blood,
bones, ashes, and mangled bodies of men, even of pilgrims that had
gone this way formerly; and while I was musing what should be the
reason, I spied a little before me a cave, where two giants, Pope
and Pagan, dwelt in old time; by whose power and tyranny the men
whose bones, blood, and ashes lay there, were cruelly put to death.
But by this place Christian went without much danger, whereat I
somewhat wondered; but I have learnt since, that Pagan has been dead
many a day; and, as for the other, though he be still alive, he is,
by reason of age, and also of the many shrewd brushes that he met
with in his younger days, grown so crazy and stiff in his joints,
that he now can do little more than sit in his cave's mouth,
grinning at pilgrims as they go by, and biting his nails because he
cannot come at them.

SLAYING OF THE WITNESSES.

Thus, as to sense and reason, all shall be hush, all shall be quiet
and still, Rev. 11:7-15: the followers of the Lamb shall be down;
the followers of the beast shall be up, shall cry, Peace and safety,
and be as secure as a hard heart, false peace, and a deceitful devil
can make. them. But behold, while they thus sing in the window,
death is striding over the threshold! While they are crying peace
and safety, sudden destruction cometh. By that they have well
settled themselves at their table with Adonijah, 1 Kings, 1, they
shall hear it proclaimed with sound of trumpet, The witnesses are
risen again.

Now the Christians' pipes will go again, and surely the earth will
be rent with the sound of their shouts and acclamations, while they
cry with joyful sound, "The kingdoms of this world are become the
kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever
and ever."

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