at the full development of the evil principle. For we are assured that beneath the lowest depths there lies a deeper still. Christ will find His great antagonist in an individual, who, as our Lord was the manifestation of the highest good, will concentrate in his person all those especial forms of evil which have hitherto appeared in the world. He will be the Antichrist; and to him Satan will give power and his seat and great authority. Having fallen into the snares of the devil, he becomes his willing instrument, and the head of a vast confederacy against Jehovah.

That such an individual would appear at the end of this dispensation, we might infer from reason and analogy. But the testimony of Scripture leaves no doubt in the matter. Daniel, in his prophecy speaks distinctly of a wilful king who shall rise up in the latter days and prosper until the indignation be accomplished. This great adversary of the Messiah is spoken of in other parts of the prophetical writings as the Assyrian, who, having been exalted to heaven, is finally cast down to hell, is the oppressor of God's chosen people, whom the Lord at His coming will destroy by the breath of His mouth. In his epistle to the Thessalonians, St Paul speaks of him very clearly as the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition, who, as God, sitteth in the tempie of God, showing himself that he is God, thus claiming divine honours, and occupying the throne of David. We can ascertain the character of this future Antichrist, first, by a consideration of the chief characteristics of that age of which he will be the representative; and, secondly, by examining the character and career of those who, both in sacred and profane history, may be regarded as types of the lawless one and wilful king. Such were men pre-eminent for their evil deeds and open avowed rebellion against the laws of God and man, as Pharaoh, Sennacherib, Antiochus-Epiphanes. These types we propose to consider in their order at a future time. At present we shall resume the leading characteristics of the latter age, and thus endeavour to obtain a portrait, as it were, of him who will represent the last great development of the evil principle on earth.

In the last age of this world (which is still, and must continue, under the dominion of Satan until the advent of the Messiah), we may expect that there will be doubtless examples of evil, greater in degree, though not differing in kind, from those which have already emanated from our fallen nature. There will be, as there have ever been, deceivers and deceived, oppressors, selfish, ambitious, bloodthirsty men, who will regard only their own self-interest and sensual indulgence. But there is

one leading characteristic, (by which that age may be chiefly designated, Its brand) is faithlessness. This arises from a want of confidence-a kind of instinctive feeling that all is not right, combined with a distrust, not unreasonable, of all earthly power and institutions. Thus men have already come to regard lightly all that was formerly the objects of their veneration. The divine right of kings, the political combinations of statesmen, forms of government, national compacts, and long-established customs, are looked upon as obsolete, unworthy of an enlightened age. It may be that mankind are beginning to be influenced by that feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction which is expressed in the words of the preacher, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. All have been tried and found wanting. Of what avail, they say, are those institutions which have been so long the objects of popular veneration? Have they effected any considerable reform in the moral or physical condition of mankind? Have they done much to diminish the thousand ills which our flesh is heir to? It is natural that this feeling of distrust and hopelessness should exist. There is always a reaction when men find that their sanguine expectations have not been fulfilled. Therefore when there seems nothing beyond, no new manipulation of political kaleidoscopes, no theories of visionary philanthropists, when the old landmarks have been removed, and nothing set up as a certain or fixed standard in their place, then comes apathy, indifference, and unbelief. The foundations of the social fabric are breaking up. This indeed appears to be the tendency of the age in which we now live, and therefore we may conclude that things are approaching the final consummation. Can any one doubt who looks abroad upon the world what is the prevailing idea of our time? Compare it with any former period of the world's history. Formerly men had faith either in social systems or institutions, or in individuals, who, by their craft and policy, might inaugurate a coming avatar of prosperity and peace. There was faith in emperors and popes and heaven-inspired statesmen, or in churches, parliaments, and national assemblies. Where is that faith now? Who trusts in Cæsars, or Napoleons, or Pitts? Who believes that Papal bulls, and the assumption of a priesthood who claim apostolical descent, will avail to elevate our fallen nature into a condition of innocence and bliss. It is not very long ago since men believed, after the fall of the first Napoleon, that we had entered upon a long period of tranquillity, and that nations, wearied of war, would gladly cultivate the arts of peace. But what is the actual fact? As the late great earthquake seems to have pervaded almost every land, so as to make

us question the stability of our globe, thus the social and political convulsions have proved that there are disturbing elements at work which may ere long overturn the basis of society. The words of prophecy may be nearer their fulfilment than many persons imagine. "I will overturn, overturn, overturn, saith the Lord of hosts." Greater convulsions and more destructive wars have taken place in both hemispheres during the last fifty years than ever occurred before, but yet we seem only to be on the eve of further contests and revolutions. These are the beginning of sorrows. Where, then, is the remedy for these things? Where is the balm of Gilead? Is it on earth? No! Men are wearied of the times. They cannot by any crucible process reinvigorate effete institutions. The world is verging on senility, and the fresh hopes, the buoyant enthusiasm of its youth, has disappeared never to return. No more crusades, no uprising of the nations for an idea or a creed. For is it not clearly predicted by our Saviour himself, "When the Son of man cometh shall He find faith upon the earth." Thus the character of the last age is stereotyped, engraven, as it were, by the divine Author himself with a pen of iron. It cannot be mistaken.

The natural result of this faithlessness is the rejection of any fixed standard of morality or legal restraint. Thus men will fall into habits of sensual indulgence, like the Epicureans during the later period of the Roman empire, whose theory of animal enjoyment found ready acceptance in a community where patriotism and loyalty and self-abnegation were no longer esteemed. The motto of the Epicurean, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die," has often been urged when want of faith, want of hope, has induced men with a kind of recklessness to cast away all thought of the future, and to wallow in the mire of sensual pleasure. Nothing can be more deplorable than such a state of society. Thus it has been at a time of some great unforeseen calamity, as when earthquakes have involved whole cities in ruin, or during seasons of penal visitation when God has brought famine or pestilence on a guilty land. It is better that war should sweep over a land, with all its horrors, than that a people should sink into that heartless apathy, that poco curante indifferentism, which is alike callous to hope or fear, and conceals the gross vices of the sensualist beneath the outward gloss of a superficial refinement. “When God's judgments are in the land, the people will learn righteousness." But sometimes chastisement has the contrary effect. It produces in the unbeliever greater impenitence and hardness of heart until he has himself barred all access to the

throne of mercy. Thus it was with Pharaoh and Saul, thus with the men of Sodom and the idolatrous Canaanites. They had overpassed the term of divine forbearance, and nothing now remained save vengeance and righteous retribution. The sentence had gone forth, the last sentence, which can be pronounced against a hardened impenitent race, "Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone.”

Who, then, will be the hero of the latter times, the representative man to whom the nations will bow down, whom they will honour as King of kings, as the incarnation of all the lowest attributes of our fallen nature? A man utterly faithless, selfish, sensual, who thinks lightly of moral obligations, whose powerful intellect and strong will, free from all conscientious scruples, will enable him to despise all the weaknesses of humanity, and to pursue his end regardless of the misery which his ambition or lust may entail. Such is the fitting representative of those latter times which prophets and apostles have designated as pre-eminent in wickedness-such the monarch whom infidels and revolutionists, and sensual, ungodly men will delight to honour.

It may be conjectured that an individual so pre-eminent in evil qualities would be especially subject to the direct influence and agency of Satan. And thus we are led to consider a peculiar feature of the latter age, by which it may be distinguished from any other, at least since the introduction of Christianity. There will be a greater manifestation of Satanic power. The devil will come down in wrath, knowing that his time is short. And here, too, the Spirit speaketh expressly. Men will give heed to lying spirits and doctrines of devils. A superstitious reverence and love of the marvellous, arising from that desire of sensational excitement, now so prevalent, will induce men to look into forbidden things and penetrate beyond the confines of the supernatural. Such a spirit (which was partly manifested in France after the Revolution) will undoubtedly become more prevalent as the end draws nigh, and the final struggle between the powers of light and darkness is imminent.

It is said in the Scriptures that God will send a strong delusion on men, so that they will believe a lie. This may be done, as in the case of Ahab, by the direct agency of a lying spirit. There have been periods in the history of mankind when the power of Satan seems to have been more openly exercised. Generally these times corresponded with some religious awakening among the people, or manifestation of divine authority. Thus it was probably in Egypt when Moses was commissioned

by God to call the Israelites out of bondage. The magicians were able to perform lying wonders by their enchantments, though they could not avert the divine judgments. How far the influence of Satan and his angels extended, during those days of darkness and heathenism which preceded the coming of our Saviour, we can scarcely realise. That influence seems to have been much greater in those days, immediately previous to our Lord's first appearing. The powers of evil displayed then a malignity, and exercised a dominion not alone over the souls, but even the bodies of men, which they have never since possessed. But that power may be only in abeyance. It still exists, and may prove itself as before to be a fearful reality, although many would fondly believe that Satanic temptation and hell and eternal punishment are but myths invented by a designing priesthood. Such was not the belief of the early Christians. To them Satan was a real power, a being of fearful malignity, the prince of the power of the air, the god of a world which willingly submitted to his sway. There appears to have been in the dark ages of the world a recognised intercourse with demons, similar to that which the Spiritualists profess to hold at the present day. There were wizards and diviners who dealt in magical arts, and professed to give oracular responses from spirits that peep and mutter. Nor were their pretensions founded merely on juggling or imposture. The laws of Moses, which denounced witchcraft as punishable by death, are a proof of the reality of the crime. Again, the fact of demoniacal possession is clearly proved by the authority of Scripture. Our Lord addressed the demon as a person entirely distinct from the possessed, whose body for a time he seems to have occupied. He adjures it, as a deaf and dumb spirit, to come out of the man. But the demons themselves gave evidence of their identity in a remarkable manner, when they acknowledged as the Son of God him whom the Jews denied. We cannot consider these cases of possession to be mere madness, and not the result of the agency of malignant spirits, who thus for a time were permitted to torment the bodies as well as the souls of men.

That power has been hitherto restricted within certain limits. But we must remember that what has been may be. There is nothing to warrant the conclusion that the power of Satan may not be more openly manifested previous to the second coming of our Lord. On the contrary, we believe that it will be that, as evil increases on the earth, so will the influence of Satan increase in a corresponding ratio, and the intercourse with demons be renewed by the followers of an infidel Antichrist.