rooted out; they had to grow in grace, using the means, and what they were to study was kindness, tenderness of heart, a disposition to forgive; so that the Church, composed, as it cannot fail to be, in this imperfect sphere of many heterogeneous and opposing elements, may yet, by the exercise of mutual forbearance and love, live in harmony. The exhortation is enforced by a plea of no ordinary power, "Even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." As God also in Christ, that is, in giving Christ to be a propitiation for our sins, hath forgiven us far greater sins than any injuries our fellow-men can possibly do to us.

Forgiven much, be very forgiving. God in Christ, the Father, as seen in the Son, in all He did and suffered, forgave you. Once for all, by the sacrifice of Himself, Christ put away sin, and God forgave you. As forgiven ones you are under obligation to forgive. Let us dwell much on the thought of our own forgiveness, and let the boon bestowed upon us impel us, not only in justice, but far more in love, to be forgiving. Forgiven? Reader! are you sure? Rest not till you can say, God in Christ forgave me.

ART. III. THE TYPES OF ANTICHRIST.

IN the Old Testament Scriptures we find that the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh was prefigured by certain individuals, who have been always, owing to their peculiar character, or the circumstances of their history, considered as types of the Messiah; and if a Jew endowed with the faith of his great progenitor Abraham had rightly understood and interpreted those types, he might have thereby gathered up the different links in the chain, and thus obtained a clear conception of the character, the attributes, and the history of Him of whom both Moses in the law and the prophets did write. But their eyes were holden, and they could not see Him. We, indeed, can read page by page the scroll of that eventful history. We read it in the offering up of Isaac, in the sufferings and the final triumph of Joseph, in the glorious career of Joshua, the noblest, the most single-minded of Israel's heroes, in the prophet Samuel, in the warrior David, in the splendid Solomon, whose dominion alone included the whole territory promised by God to the chosen race. Thus is the whole history of the incarnate God, Prophet, Saviour, Priest, and King revealed. All has

been now almost fulfilled. The Preacher of righteousness has proclaimed the everlasting gospel, the Lamb of God has been offered for the sin of the world; and it only remains that He who was openly proclaimed King of the Jews should take unto Himself His great power, and reign not alone over the tribes of Israel, but over all nations, even to the ends of the earth.

But there is another history which may be evolved from the pages of Holy Writ. We have spoken in a former paper of the probable future manifestation of an individual of whom the prophets have also written, who, being exalted on high, shall aspire even to the throne of God, and become the archenemy of Messiah and of Israel, the representation of an ungodly and infidel age. If we read correctly the history of those whom we believe to have been types of that wilful king, who will be arch-persecutor of God's chosen people, and the actual claimant of the throne of Jehovah on Mount Zion (where it is said by the prophet that Christ shall reign before His ancients gloriously), we may form some conception of the future Antichrist.

Before we enter into the consideration of the particular types of the Antichrist, we would offer some remarks relative to those typical personages who have been pre-eminent for their evil deeds, and the baneful influence of their character and example among mankind. And we would state these the result of much thought and consideration on a subject of such serious import-not in that spirit of dogmatism which would authoritatively enforce an opinion on others, but rather as those who, searching for truth, are yet always liable to err in their interpretation of things which pertain to a mysterious future.

It does appear, then, to us that there is in the history of our race what may be called a threefold typical representation of evil, corresponding with the three great adversaries of God and of His people, who will be manifested in the latter days, and head the great confederacy of the infidel and apostate nations. The first of these is Satan, the arch-enemy, who in the Book of Revelation is called the dragon or old serpent. There is the false prophet who deceives the nations by preaching to them a fictitious creed, and thus confirming by signs and wonders that delusion by which they will believe a lie. There is, lastly, the Man of Sin, the Antichrist, to whom Satan will commit for a time his power and seat and great authority. These three opponents of God and His Christ will be openly revealed at the end of this dispensation, when Satan, knowing that his time is short, will make a last desperate struggle to retain his empire. And the scene of that conflict will be on

this earth. The angels who kept not their first estate, who were cast down from heaven, can never aspire to regain their lost position among the principalities and powers who surround the throne of God. But on earth, owing to that inscrutable mystery of evil which human intellect can never fathom, God has permitted Satan for a time to gain an apparent advantage, and, by means of the frailty of man, to thwart the beneficent designs of Providence. And thus, as a fact, we must admit the existence of positive evil, although all this disorder and confusion will be overruled for the ultimate good of mankind. Satan has ruled and still rules as the prince of this world. Here he has prevailed for a season, and therefore he may naturally expect to triumph here again. He recognised the Son of God, when He appeared on earth and was manifested in the flesh; and by means of Judas Iscariot and the high priests, he procured the death of our Saviour (little knowing that thereby he was carrying out God's foreordained counsel). For the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world." Thus he hoped to postpone, or perhaps altogether to prevent, the Messianic reign of Christ on earth, and that his own power might be indefinitely prolonged. Such, we believe, to be still the object of Satan and his angels. There is a definite aim, a clear, well-understood purpose,-a hope based upon grounds not altogether unreasonable. Satan may argue that what has been done can be done again. He may dispute the kingdoms of earth with the Messiah. He may still deprive of his lawful inheritance the Prince who is of the throne and lineage of David, and thus make void the covenant given to Abraham and the patriarchs.

That covenant will undoubtedly be fulfilled to the letter, not only in a spiritual sense, as referring to the Church of God and to those who will inherit the heavenly Canaan, but also to the nation of the Jews, the lineal descendants in the flesh of Abraham, who have been preserved and kept distinct for the very purpose, that they may be restored to their own land and to the privileges of God's chosen people.

These considerations may enable us more fully to realise the nature and import of the great conflict of the latter days, in which Satan, the false prophet, and Antichrist the Man of Sin, will head the confederacy against the Messiah. It is a conflict which involves tremendous issues. Although the scene may be laid upon earth, yet probably the interests of the whole universe are involved in the trial which will determine for ever the steadfastness of God's promises and the truth of His Holy Word. We know what the result will be, and that every jot

and tittle of the Word must be fulfilled. The Lord will reign, not only in the highest heavens as Ruler of all the celestial principalities and powers, but also over the kingdoms of the world, on Mount Zion as King of the Jews, the rightful inheritor of the throne of David and Solomon.

This consummation Satan and his powers are engaged, banded together to prevent. They aim at the earthly throne, knowing that if they could by any means frustrate or make void the covenant which God Himself had confirmed by an oath to Israel and his descendants, they might hope to create a disturbance in the moral order of God's government, to excite distrust and unbelief, and thus perhaps to retain their influence over mankind, and to postpone, at least for a time, that triumph of the Messiah which will necessarily entail their exile to the place of torment.

It is, then, for the land of Israel, which has long been desolate on account of the apostasy of the Jews, for the kingdom of David, and the throne set upon Mount Zion, that this trinity of hell, Satan, the false Prophet, and the Antichrist, will contend. Such a conflict has been already typified in the history of the Jews, when the Philistines, with their giant champion Goliath, a type of the great adversary Satan, were discomfited in the valley of Elah; when again Sennacherib, a type of Antichrist, was deprived of his army in a single night by a sudden blast of almighty wrath.

We can thus trace throughout the pages of history the foreshadowings of a terrible and decisive conflict between the powers of light and darkness. Intimations also, not obscure, have been given of the character and working of those who will hereafter appear upon the scene as the chief actors in the final consummation when all those things of which Moses and the prophets have spoken shall be fulfilled. As the giant of Gath was a fitting representative of the arch-enemy of God and man, so we may consider Balaam, who loved the wages of iniquity, by whose counsels the Israelites were enticed to sin; Hananiah and such like deceivers of the people, to be types of the false prophet who will lead astray the nations by preaching, as they did, a spurious gospel of peace. And have there not been, and are there not still, in the world, many who would gladly propagate such a gospel, and cry, Peace where there is no peace? Are there not many who talk of love and charity, and a law of universal toleration, by which all distinctions of class and creed will be abolished and men permitted to act as their reason dictates, and to follow the simple impulses of their nature? Such teaching, which savours much of the doctrine

of the false prophet, has already found acceptance, and will undoubtedly gain many adherents as the time of the end draws nigh. It contains a germ of truth, and therefore it is more dangerous, more calculated to mislead. The devil never preaches atheism. He knows well that, as the world becomes more intellectual and enlightened, their reason will revolt against the dogma which proclaims, There is no God. The great Napoleon, who cared little for creeds or religions, and regarded with equal favour both Christian and Turk, was yet no unbeliever in an Almighty Governor of all things. He saw nothing practical in a mere denial of a supreme power. Pointing to the magnificent star-lit expanse of the Eastern heaven, he said to those around him who professed an infidel creed, "All very fine reasoning, gentlemen; but who made these splendid starry worlds?" The creed which Satan has preached by means of his false prophets is a half gospel. He wilfully perverts and hides the truth under a fictitious semblance. The false religions of the world, the Koran of Mahomet, the teaching of Rome, all profess to be based on certain principles, such as benevolence, love, self-denial, temperance, which undoubtedly are constituent elements in the Christian's creed. But they allow men to indulge in sensual desires, if only they conform outwardly to their ordinances. They pander to the heart's lusts by a system which admits of compromise and compensation for guilt, which a righteous God will by no means overlook or condone. They tithe mint, anise, and cummin, but omit the weightier matters of the law. The new teaching is, indeed, somewhat different, though it leads to even a more fatal delusion. Its leading principle is the boundless long-suffering and compassion of the Almighty, who looks down upon His imperfect and frail creatures with such an eye of pity, that He cannot even behold any moral transgression or infraction of His divine law. He is too kind, too beneficent, to punish the guilty; therefore, there is no hell, no eternal punishment, no necessity for any sacrifice for sin. Such teaching brings its natural result in a general antinomianism and a disregard of moral obligation. It tends also to subvert the bases of society, and thus may prepare the way for a loosening of bonds, and disruption of all human institutions. Let us, then, be forewarned. The last false prophet who shall appear as a forerunner of Antichrist will be, like many of his types, a perverter of the truth, an instigator to sensual indulgence and lawlessness. But he will also deceive the nations (and herein lies the strongest delusion) by a false and imperfect estimation of the