AND FATHER. Indeed how could it have been otherwise? And how can any future building standing in its place, erected after the pattern shown to Moses in the Mount, erected by Israel for the service of the God of Israel, be otherwise? for did not God saywhen the first house was reared by Solomonto put my name "I have hallowed this house .. there for ever; and mine eyes and my heart-shall There can be then, I be there PERPETUALLY."* think, no doubt whatever that when Paul spoke of "the man of sin sitting in the Temple of God," he meant, that he should sit in a Temple to be reared and dedicated unto God, the God of Israel, in Jerusalem, where the Temple built by HEROD was then standing, and where that by SOLOMON had stood in days of old: The Temple in which God had put His This proud opposer then must be a man YET TO BE REVEaled.

name "FOR EVER.'

But farther; He will ASSUME THE POSITION OF GOD. "He, as God, sitteth in the Temple of God, showing himself that HE IS GOD." And this he will do by a power not his own, for we read that his "COMING IS AFTER THE WORKING (xat' èveprecav i. e. after the in-working) of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness.”

And again; THIS MAN WILL BE ALIVE WHEN CHRIST SHALL COME; for it is he "whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His Mouth, and destroy with the brightness of His coming."

Thus does the Apostle speak of one to be re

* 1 Kings ix. 3.

vealed, "THAT MAN OF SIN," who will most certainly deserve the name of "ANTICHRIST."

Now to the same effect is the word of DANIEL. Let us refer to his prophecy, and see how accurately he and the Apostle PAUL agree. In the Eighth Chapter we read of a vision in which the Angel Gabriel addressed the Prophet, saying, "Behold I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation.' "When the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up: And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand: and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many; he shall also stand against the Prince of Princes; but he shall be broken without hand."*

But let us look for farther corroboration in the Eleventh chapter of the same prophet. In this chapter we are carried through a course of events from the time of the Medes and Persians onwards, until the reign of a certain King, who, arising from a low estate-a vile person†-shall make a "league" with Israel; "work deceitfully;" "enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province;" and do "that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; .... he shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and shall place

Daniel viii. 19-25.

† Daniel xi. 21. Compare Daniel xi. 23, with Daniel ix. 27.

the abomination that maketh desolate:" he shall cause the people who "do know their God," and "understand," to "fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil: . . . . he shall do according to his will, and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every God, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished." "He shall plant the tabernacle of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end and none shall help him. And at that time

shall Michael stand up. ... And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation," and at that time shall the people written in God's book "be delivered," and the first resurrection (as explained before)* shall take place.†

Thus PAUL and DANIEL agree accurately. They both present for our contemplation a "MAN OF SIN" to be revealed in "the last time:"-A MAN CLAIMING FOR HIMSELF the Honor DUE TO THE ALMIGHTY, AND EXERCISING MORE THAN HUMAN POWER because in

dwelt by Satan-A King, moreover, standing up against the Prince of Princes, to be destroyed when He appears in glory-AN ANTICHRIST, therefore, indeed.

Now no man can assert that such an one as here is mentioned has yet reigned upon the earth. It is idle to speak of the Roman Empire, or Antiochus Epiphanes, or the Papacy. No one surely, who will examine honestly what Paul and Daniel have predicted can be otherwise than well convinced that the † Daniel xi., xii.

*See Chapter II.

King spoken of is a man of deep, dark mystery, who is YET TO BE REVEALED.

Having found so much information on the sacred page concerning the GREAT EVIL ONE who is to reign as King upon the earth, let us dwell awhile on the POSITION and PECULIARITY of his kingdom and government, that we may see clearly, not only that he is An Antichrist, but THE GREAT ANTICHRIST especially foretold.

We will leave the Prophet Daniel for awhile, and take the testimony of ISAIAH. In the fourteenth chapter of his prophecy, we have BABYLON; Babylon of the last days-brought before us; The Babylon, upon the overthrow of which the prophet says “the whole earth is at rest and is quiet, they break forth into singing." No doubt therefore it is the same Babylon as that dwelt upon in the seventeenth and eighteenth chapters of REVELATION, "that great city Babylon, that mighty city" with which the Kings of the earth "have committed fornication and lived deliciously;" wherein is merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple . . . . and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil.... and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men;" that "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."

Now the Prophet ISAIAH in this fourteenth chapter speaks much concerning the LAST KING thereof. He views that monarch at the end of his career, and says "Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet

thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee." He portrays all the kings of the nations lying in their graves astonished at his overthrow. "Art thou become weak as we? Art thou become as one of us? How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to Hell, to the sides of the pit. . . . . The Lord of Hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand; that I will break the Assyrian IN MY LAND, and UPON MY MOUNTAINS will I tread him under foot. Then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. This is the purpose that is proposed upon the whole earth; and this is the hand which is stretched out upon all nations."

Such was the burden which Isaiah was commissioned to proclaim concerning this last monarch "in the year that King Ahaz died;" and thus, though not with the same fulness of detail, does he foretell his reign of terror in entire agreement both with Daniel and St. Paul, specifying in prophetic symbol, the great nation he shall rule: The BABYLONISH EMPIRE of the prophetic word: the ROME of History.

But is it so? Are we right in thus deciding that his empire will be ROMAN? Let us carefully examine. Again we will refer to DANIEL, the seventh