founded on no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God."

At

This twofold meaning of the term Antichrist, has been illustrated by what occurred during the middle ages in the history of the Papacy itself. When pope was contending against pope, the one at Rome and the other at Avignon, the partizans of either hurled against his rival the opprobrious epithet AVTITаTas, or Αντιπαπας, Antipope. By that term they meant to convey the twofold idea that the one was both the enemy and the pseudo-substitute of the other. Avignon, the faithful reckoned the Pope at Rome the counterfeit as well as the antagonist of theirs. The faithful at Rome reciprocated the accusation, and thus unconsciously explained the Scriptural epithet for both the rival popes, and all the popes that ever reigned. The Greek fathers strongly held a similar conviction. In speaking of Antichrist, Irenæus describes him as "trying to show himself Christ;" Hippolytus as "likening himself to the Saviour in all things;" Cyril as falsely calling himself Christ;" and Chrysostom as one "who should command himself to be worshipped in the place of God." short, the words of Hippolytus, as quoted by a recent commentator on the Apocalypse, exhibit in a few antitheses, the true state of this question: "The Seducer will seek to appear in all things like the Son of God. As Christ a lion, so he a lion; as Christ a king, so he a king; as Christ a Saviour, so he a saviour; as Christ a lamb, so he a lamb, though inwardly a wolf; as Christ sent out apostles to all nations, so will he similarly send out false apostles." Language can scarcely say more, and truth, historical and scriptural, debars us from saying less.*

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In

We reckon it clear, then, and so plain as to need no elucidation, that

both from etymology and the usus loquendi, the word AvTixpisos means

an

opponent of Christ traversing his will, and purpose, and plansusurping his place, because boasting the possession of the Saviour's functions

nay, binding where He would not bind, and loosing where He would not loose. We may find the Gnostics, the Manicheans, and other false teachers of the early Church, exhibiting that spirit in the bud; but it germinated by degrees in the subsequent centuries. About the beginning of the seventh, it was springing into full bloom; before the twelfth, its bitter fruits began to be tasted-its worse than Upas influence to be felt; and then the Christians were led to discover that the Antichrist, whom John predicted and Paul so graphically described, had long been sitting upon Christ's throne, thwarting Christ's purposes, and making war against his saints. The Saviour's authority was usurped, his people persecuted, his truth corrupted, and the majority of the professing Church were in rapid progress away from Christ.

Let us now, then, consider the evidences of this in the history of the Church and of the Papacy.

Keeping before the mind the cognate ideas of antagonism and usurpation, as implied in the word Antichrist, we remark at the very outset, that the Papacy as a system, or the popes as its exponents, are antichristian, in as much as they have a standard opposed to that which the Saviour sets up. "The word of Christ" is the supreme and exclusive guide of the Christian. He abides by that which God has magnified above all his name, and remembering the anathema recorded against him who should alter or add to one Book of Scripture, he extends the prohibition to all its parts. He regards all Scripture as given by inspiration, and rejoices not merely in the aphorism that the Bible, and the Bible

alone, contains the religion of Protestants, but, moreover, in the consideration that the Christian religion is found there pure, perfect, and complete. On such a topic it is needless to dilate-it is well known and axiomatically plain to all, that the word of the living God is the light and the lamp of every man according to God's own heart-sufficient unto salvation exclusive of every human admixture or addition.

But here the antagonism and usurpation of the Papacy, which prove it to be Antichrist, appear fully developed. Instead of making the truth depend on Scripture, and Scripture upon God, it is made to depend upon the Church; and like the despot who made himself the state-L'etat c'est moi -the Pope exclaims, The Church, that is myself! He claims the power to interpret Scripture as he pleases-to make vice virtue and the reverse. Traditions are held in equal esteem with the word of the Eternal. Papists complain of its obscurity, and have often spoken contemptuously of that to which Jehovah ascribes man's regeneration, (James i. 18)-man's life, (Jo. vi. 63)-man's holiness, (Jo. xvii. 17)-in brief, all the blessings which the soul needs or can enjoy, are conveyed through the word according to Christ-through tradition, as well as the word, according to Antichrist. The Pope prohibits the use of the Word of God to men, except on conditions degrading both to it and to them. It is "mortal sin," and exposes to " punishment," according to Antichrist, to read without a license what Christ commanded all men to "search." Nay, the counter-christ is so completely the antagonist of the Christ of God, that "the secular arm" may be called in to chastise the man who is so much a Christian as to believe that it "is useful and necessary at all times, and all places," to study the sacred Scriptures. So intense is the hostility of Antichrist to the Bible, that where the reader himself cannot be burned, the sacred book is committed to the flames; and a Popish bishop once declared, when examined before the British parliament, that he would be amused

severe

by seeing a Protestant Bible cast into the flames with a pair of tongs, as too offensive to be touched with the hand. The first point adjusted at Trent, was the co-equal authority of tradition and Scripture, and Ranke has recorded that, when that was done, half the business of the Council was over.

This much regarding the entire word of God. The Papacy as Antichrist has claimed independence of all that is authoritative or binding in Scripture. The canon law asserts that "the Pope grants dispensations against an apostle, against the canons of the apostles; also against the Old Testament," for, as the Scriptures derive their authority from him, he can oppose, alter, or nullify them at his pleasure. "Papa potest contra Apostolum dispensare," are the significant words of the canon law. In Luther's language Antichrist thus sets the vanities of his naked words against the thunderbolts of God's eternal truth, and the doctrine of the Papacy is thus not the truth which the Spirit of God inculcated, but a human adulteration, warranting the worship of demons or departed saints, and introducing not the mystery of godliness, but the mystery of iniquity.

But this is especially true in reference to what is the burden of Scripture -the plan of Redemption, the system devised by Divine love for man's salvation-the Gospel. According to the papal system, salvation is not made to depend on the finished work of Christ. He is not Jehovah our righteousness. We are not complete in him. His blood does not cleanse from all sin. He does not redeem Israel from all his iniquities. He has not by one sacrifice for ever perfected them that are sanctified. It is not true that we may come freely to him and be washed and justified and sanctified. No doubt, these things form part of the word of God-they are written there so deeply that neither power nor craft can erase them. But surely if there be any power on earth that denies these plain, simple, and fundamental truths, that power must be Antichrist, and the papal system denies, dilutes, or travesties them all. Another gospel is introduced-Christ's is evacuated, and

the twice pronounced anathema incurred. (Galatiana i. 8-9.) Before the figments of the Papacy the mind of man must succumb, as if Jehovah were their author, for charity, or love in man, takes the place of Christ's finished work. Penance and self-wasting macerations must satisfy God's justice, as if Christ's atoning death were insufficient for that end. The "unbloody sacrifice"-the mass-must produce effects which the sacrifice offered by Christ once for all failed to accomplish. The Scriptures in a mass are proscribed, and as if that were not enough, they are corrupted in detail, especially in the vital doctrines of faith, justification, and the ground of a sinner's acceptance with God. According to the Scriptures, all leads to Christ; according to the Papacy, all leads away from him; and this one point, could we dwell on it at length, would suffice to prove that the title of the Papacy to the name of Antichrist -an antagonist to the Christ of Godis clear and unquestionable, the standard books of the Papacy-the decrees of its popes and its councils-being witnesses.

Take one illustration. Jansenius declared that "the Church is an assemblage of the children of God, adopted in Christ, united to him(subsistentium in ejus persona)-redeemed by his blood, and living by his spirit" but the Pope condemned the sentiment as 66 'false, pernicious, impious, blasphemous, savouring of heresy, heretical ;" and need we search farther for Antichrist? Though Jansenius was a Romanist, and never abandoned the papal communion, that could not screen him from the merciless censures of Rome. He ventured to state, that "no graces are imparted but through faith." He held that "Faith is the prime grace, and the fountain of all the others." He declared that "the reading of the Scriptures was free to all." He stated with admirable distinctness against the papal heresy, Pelagianism, and every other self-exalting system, that, "when God does not soften the heart by the internal unction of his grace, exhortations and external graces serve only to harden

But Popery has in our own day put forth another claim, which proves the correctness of the title applied to it. We allude to the doctrine of Development as lately expounded by Mr Newman in his essay on that subject. On his way to Rome, he acquired much of Rome's spirit regarding the word of the eternal God; and in vindicating his change of creed, he gave his views to the world in a way which proves that, in as far as his doctrines are those of the Papacy, that system is essentially hostile to the word of Christ. On this point we may ask, what is the theory on which the Scriptures proceed? It is, that in the inspired volume the mind of God for man's salvation is perfectly and fully embodied, and that the mind of man is to be brought into conformity with that as the architype. By this simple process, carried out by free and sovereign grace, according to the supreme wisdom, pardon through the blood of atonement being the basis of the whole, man is to become likeminded with God again; and being like-minded with him, is to be restored to happiness and Eden. Such is simply the theory of Revelation in its bearings upon man ; and in accomplishing that object, the Scriptures are ever regarded as the grand ultimatum

the perfect standard, the model of truth-in a word, the full embodiment of Jehovah's mind. In keeping with

this are the statements which relate to them "that were slain for the word of God"- "that were beheaded for the word of God”—“ that were kept by the word," and generally, born, perfected, and glorified through its instrumentality.

Such is Jehovah's representation, and such the truth as it is in Jesus. But to counterfeit or obliterate this, comes the doctrine of development, according to which the mind of God is not perfectly embodied in the word. On the contrary, the Bible is merely a seminal book, containing religion in its elements or embryo, to be developed by the Church as time rolls on and exigencies demand. The apostles learned but the alphabet of the faith. Succeeding ages expanded their views a little more, and shaped them into an elemental science. Then Papacy was busy developing for more than a thousand years; and now in Mr Newman's volume, we see the abundant fruitage of the system-Protestantism is abandoned and Popery embraced. He tells us explicitly that the truths in Scripture were not comprehended all at once by the recipients," but have required longer time and deeper thought for their full elucidation ;" and, of course, as the result of such thought, or with a view to such elucidation, Mr Newman has passed over to the Papacy. The sufficiency of God's word is denied to make room for apostacy, and this new ally of Popery has already learned to supersede, or practically to paralyze, that before whose power and light the Papacy is and has ever been abashed.

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Now, this we regard as a distinct exhibition of the anti-Christian tendencies of Rome under a subtle form. It is an attack, covert, but all the more dangerous, against the very citadel of religion and of truth. It brings the eternal mind to the bar of man's judgment. It affiliates with the grossest exhibitions of Neology-prepares the way for building masses of wood, hay, and stubble on the sure foundationand forms, in brief, one of the new aspects of infidelity, against which the Church of Christ should be put on its guard, and the friends of truth should

wage war with every legitimate weapon. According to this theory, Scripture is like melted wax, ready for any impression which caprice, enthusiasm, or ignorance may choose; and as the result of the whole, the mind of man is laid prostrate before an infallible church, the guide and directors of the development.

We cannot enter upon the various details which the view of the Papacy now under our notice suggests. Its united antagonism to Christ's truth, and usurpation of his authority, might be illustrated by considering the popish doctrine of the sacraments as conveying grace and life ex opere operato, to the depreciation both of Christ and his truth. We might shew how the antiChristian system puts man's authority in the place of the Redeemer's, and human rites in the place of his institutions, superseding both the finished work of the Son, and the sanctifying work of the Spirit. Or we might tell how Antichrist exhibits his true character, or lays bare his inmost soul in reference to prayer, where saints, relics, creature gods, and countless mediators, are substituted for the one MediatorGod with us- "To venerate-to adore -to worship" are the canonical phrases for the reverence offered to these objects of unblushing idolatry. Or we might exhibit the character of Antichrist as displayed in the doctrine of purgatory, according to which the Pope can forgive sins and liberate souls from suffering, with an efficacy which belongs only to him who is Lord of all; and in no respect is the Papacy more thoroughly opposed to the Saviour than as regards this doctrine, which smoothes the way to perdition, by removing obstacles from the way to sin,—a man's own works, the saints and purgatory, supersedes all that Christ accomplished. Or we might exhibit the pretentions of the Papacy in reference to its miracles and lying wonders. False miracles are wrought to add to the authority of the clergy, or aggrandize them in the eyes of the superstitious-to confirm the dogmata of a false religion and increase the revenues of the priesthood; in short, the whole world was once deceived by such pretexts, and

even at this day, where the Papacy dare, it parades such lying wonders, calculated only to confirm reflecting men, who know not the truth, in infidelity and aversion to revelation. Or still farther, we might illustrate the anti-Christian character of the Papacy by exhibiting its deadly hatred against men who venture to challenge its dogmas, or oppose its tyranny. Christ loved sinners, and gave himself for them. He prayed for his persecutors, and chid his disciples when the spirit of persecution appeared. But, opposed to this, the Papacy is in its element when hurling anathemas, which it designates thunders and lightning, against offenders. When the Emperor Henry IV. was excommunicated, the act was so described. When Pope Innocent excommunicated the Emperor Frederick, similar language was employed; and annually at a certain festival all heretics are anathematized, while all the faithful are blessed. The religion of Christ is one of love, mercy, grace-the religion of the Antichrist is characteristically one of oppression and spiritual despotism. Its appalling power when a kingdom was wont to be laid under an interdict, is such as proves it to be indeed the mystery of iniquity-a fathomless deep of diabolic cunning, directed alike against God and man. Churches closed, the dead unburied, society dissolved and convulsed by one who professes to be the vicar of Christ-whose creatures worship him even as a God-all tend to prove that the Papacy is indeed the Antichrist— the product not of heaven's benevolence but of Satan's malignity. Even Petrarch ventured to call the papal court "the Babylonian harlot, the mother of idolatries and fornications;" and if the Papacy be now less grossly revolting, it is only that it may adapt itself to the times, the more surely to destroy. The Vaudois, under their hot persecutions, at last reached the conviction that the Papacy was the Apocalyptic harlot, Babylon and Antichrist; and the seas of blood shed since their days by Rome, in Spain, Italy, Britain, the world, demonstrate, with cumulative certainty, that the papal system is essentially

what those persecuted saints concluded it to be.

But we must pass from all these topics, reluctantly satisfied with merely naming them, to consider some more prominent peculiarities of the Papacy, and still more convincing evidence of its anti-christian character. The mass of facts which bear upon this subject is so great, that with difficulty can we select and condense as we are forced to do.

Thomas Aquinas speaks of false apostles who would "exalt their head, Antichrist, as we exalt Christ;" and the angelic Doctor, in using these words, was unconsciously prophesying of his own order, for the exalting of the Pope above the Saviour is one of the most obvious characteristics of the papal system. "The Pope is judge in place of God, and can himself be judged by no mortal!" "We behold in thee the substitute (or proxy) of Christ”—“ a judge appointed in the place of Christ !" "We cannot tolerate men uttering blasphemies against our Christ!”—that is the Pope. “Our Lord God the Pope!" Such are some of the blasphemies sanctioned by Antichrist. The canon law says, "It is evident that the Pope was called God by Constantine, and it is clear that God cannot be judged by men." Men were ordered to bow at the Pope's name, as at that of Christ. The angels were subject to the Pope, and obeyed his commands"as Christ was God, the Pope was vice-god." "Romanus Pontifex non puri hominis sed veri Dei vicem gerit in terris." "The most vigilant conservator of pontifical Omnipotence." "The honour which is due to Christ as God, is due to the Pope, because it is due to power, and Christ's power as God, is the same as that of the Pope." "To Paul III. the High Priest and God upon earth." "Leo X. is God in the world." "All the kings of the west reverence the Pope as a God on earth." "Pope Stephen was received as a divinity." "The people think of the Pope as the one God that has power over all things in earth and heaven." In 1600, a papist said, "God is the Pope, and the Pope is God." "Even if the Pope were of most impure life, and so

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