we cannot but hope the venerable bishop may yet live to see that the law of such commandments contained in ordinances is quite at variance with the law of Christ. In particular, we would ask his lordship, if we enter the Church by baptism, and then have remission of sins, how it comes to pass that we do not receive grace till fourteen years afterwards at our Confirmation? Is this the love which Christ has for the lambs of his flock ?-ED.]

ON THE REVELATION OF THE LAWLESS ONE.
To the Rev. C. D.

REV. SIR, I am not a resident in your neighbourhood, and have not often had an opportunity of benefitting by your greatly-valued ministrations. But circumstances placed me, not long since, in the vicinity of your church on a Sunday morning, and I gladly availed myself of the privilege so afforded. I am sorry to say that your sermon gave me, instead of pleasure and edification, much pain and trouble of mind; and it seems almost a duty to make you acquainted with my feelings concerning it; seeing that they are not feelings peculiar to myself; but would be shared by thousands of others much more entitled to your attention than I can claim to be.

Prophecy is an important part of the Word of God, not merely as a guide; a light to our path, but also as furnishing proof of the Divine authority of that word. It is so represented in the 40th to the 46th chapters of Isaiah: "I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done:"-" Let them show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods." It is very natural, therefore, and very intelligible, that those who are labouring to overthrow the authority of God's word should direct some of their chief efforts to show that there are no predictions of future events in the Old or New Testaments; or none, at least, which can be appealed to as evidences; none which, by their fulfilment, establish the Divine origin and authorship of the books in which they are found. But, surely, we should learn from these efforts the importance of resisting all temptations to obscure or explain away the historical proofs of such fulfilment. I have been accustomed to refer inquirers and young students of the Scriptures, to several well-known predictions, as furnishing clear and irrefragable proofs of the Divine authorship of the canonical books. Among these are the prophecies concerning the Messiah; concerning the Jews; concerning Babylon, Egypt, Assyria, &c.; and the outlines given of the Four Empires, the Little Horn, the Papal Apostasy, and the Revelation of the Lawless One. Now it may be said, that among so many it is no great loss to be deprived of one. But I cannot help feeling that the fulfilment of the prophecy of the Lawless One is one of the clearest and strongest facts in the whole array; and hence that, if the supposed fulfilment of that prophecy can be shown to be altogether a mistake, a cloud of doubt and suspicion must rest upon the interpretation of prophecy in general. There is nothing in the Bible which I can assert to be clearer than this fulfilment. If, therefore, you had convinced me, by the sermon to which I am alluding, that St. Paul's prophecy in 2 Thess. ii. 8, had never been fulfilled, you would have gone near to blot the item of "Prophecy" altogether out of my list of the evidences of Christianity.

For what is there, in the whole Bible, which can pretend to greater clearness, explicitness, or certainty, than this prediction and its fulfilment? It has been well described as lock with many wards, which, with its answering key, could never have been fabricated, long centuries before the event, by any human hand."

The hope of the Christian Church, as expressed in all creeds, is, that the words of the angel shall one day be fulfilled: "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go." The Thessalonians had been persuaded by some one that this Second Advent of the Saviour was to be immediately expected; and the consequence of this belief was, that they were unable to attend to their usual avocations. St. Paul writes to them to rectify this mistake. And his first word, written, be it observed, about the year A.D. 56, is-"That day shall not come until there has first been seen a falling away, an Apostasy."

The Apostle then goes on to describe this Apostasy, not as a false doctrine merely, like Arianism or Pelagianism, but as a visible, ruling, dominant system, taking Christ's place, and tyrannizing over the Church. Such a system, we all know, did arise, but not until three hundred years after. No one but a prophet, divinely inspired, could have thus foretold, in A.D. 56, what only began to be fulfilled in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries.

This leading feature, however, is only one out of several. The peculiar character of this Apostasy is next described, in several remarkable particulars or outlines. A "man of sin, a son of perdition, a lawless one,' was to be "revealed." He was to be revealed as soon as something which then existed, and which was known to the Thessalonians, was taken out of the way; and yet he was not to be destroyed until the Lord Himself came. His continuance or duration would thus be spread over many centuries. He must be, therefore, like the "head of gold," that symbolized the empire of Babylon, "a perpetual person," sitting on a throne, and seen with eyes, and yet continuing for hundreds of years.

Next, he "opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped." Daniel had told us, six hundred years before, of such a power, which should appear in the latter days of Rome, and should" speak great words against the Most High, and think to change times and laws." The power foreshown by Daniel was to be "given to the burning flame," was to be "consumed and destroyed," at the coming of the Son of Man. The power foreshown by St. Paul was to be "consumed by the Lord with the spirit of His mouth, and destroyed with the brightness of His coming." Identity could hardly be more clearly exhibited, than it is in these two descriptions.

Fourthly; this Lawless One would be guilty of the utmost act of impious audacity; for "he, as God, would sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."

Fifthly; for the present, at the time when the apostle wrote, the revelation or appearing of this Lawless One was hindered or withheld by a power which the apostle judged it best not to describe in writing. But he adds, "When I was with you, I told you these things." All the ancient writers agree, that this withholding power, whom the apostle avoided distinctly naming, was the imperial power of Rome. Sixthly; after a time, this withholding power should be "taken

out of the way," and then should "that Lawless One be revealed," who was destined only to be finally "consumed and destroyed" when the Lord Himself came.

These things appear to me to have been visibly fulfilled in history; -so visibly and palpably fulfilled, that, as I have said, I should de spair of ever beholding any proofs of a more conclusive kind. Hence, to strike out the prediction of "the Lawless One" from the list of fulfilled prophecies of Holy Scripture, would be tantamount, in my view, to the abandonment of this branch of evidence altogether.

I have enumerated six distinct features or particulars which are seen in this prediction. Let me now briefly glance at the mode and manner of their fulfilment.

1. That an Apostasy, a falling away, did take place in the earlier periods of the Christian Church, is firmly believed by all Protestants. That it was "already working," though not openly manifested, in the apostle's time, is shown by many circumstances, such as the lofty assumptions of Victor of Rome, only about eighty years after the removal of the last of the apostles.

2. This Apostasy, although "already working," was not to be destroyed until the Lord Himself came for the second time. Thus the Lawless One was to endure for many centuries-for more than a thousand years. All Protestants recognize in the Papacy just such an Apostasy, of great antiquity and of long duration.

3. It is a system, too, of vast and lofty pretensions. Accordingly, we find the Roman Decretals asserting, that" Emperors ought to obey, not to rule over, the Pontiffs;" that "the Pope is to judge all men, and to be judged of none;" that "the Pope is styled God, and it is manifest that God cannot be judged by man.' Bellarmine boldly asserts, that "if the Pope were to enjoin vices, or forbid virtues, the Church would be bound to believe that vices are good and virtues evil." And again, that "the Pope is above Scripture, councils, princes, and all powers on earth, on account of his divinity." Thus has this "Lawless One" "exalted himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped."

4. Another remarkable feature or trait is added; written, be it remembered, whole centuries before there was any Pope. "He, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." A strange thing to do; yet has it been systematically done by the Pope. For centuries has it been the practice, on the election of a new Pope, to carry him forth in his pontifical chair and to place him on the high altar in St. Peter's, there to receive the "adoration" of the cardinals! So precisely has the prediction been fulfilled, that " He, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."

5. A further and a very singular circumstance is next named. Although the Mystery of Iniquity was already working, it was, in the apostle's day, withheld, kept down, and hindered by some repressive power. That power, all the old writers tell us, was understood to be the imperial authority of Rome, which, while it remained, allowed no Pope to assume the powers of government.

6. But, lastly, it was added, that when this withholding power was removed, then should "the Lawless One" be revealed. And exactly so did it occur. As the empire faded away, the Papacy arose in its room; and when the Emperors were no more, the Popes, "exalting

themselves above all that is called God, or that is worshipped," were manifestly "revealed" to the whole Christian world.*

Thus, in all six particulars, the prediction stands forth accomplished; and in no other way can such accomplishment take place. For let any one ask himself, How can a withholding or hindering power, which existed in the apostle's day, and which was known to the Thessalonians in the year A.D. 56-how can that power be now "taken out of the way"? What power can be pointed out as now existing, and as - still hindering the revelation of "the Lawless One," which was known to the Thessalonians in the days of St. Paul? Evidently there is none; and if the removal of the Imperial power, and immediate uprising of the Lawless One, has not taken place more than a thousand years ago, it never will, never can, take place at all. Prophecy, in such a case, instead of proving Scripture to be Divine, would rather prove it to be human, fallible, and actually in error! I deprecate, with all the earnestness of a believer in God's Word, such a conclusion. One other reason for shrinking from your interpretation of this prophecy, is this:-Our Lord has left us the plainest, clearest, and most emphatic injunctions, to expect His second coming, and to watch for it. He has solemnly warned us, that it is a characteristic of an evil or bad servant to say, "My Lord delayeth his coming." He has assured his people, that they "know neither the day nor the hour, in which the Son of Man shall come."

Yet the general tendency of the sermon which I heard with so much pain was, to convince all who accepted its reasonings, that they did know with certainty that the Son of Man would not, could not come, until several more years had passed away.

The Apostle was especially inspired to teach the Thessalonians, and, through them, the whole Church, that the coming of Christ would not take place until an Apostasy had shown itself, and a power justly termed "Lawless" had appeared. So far as this, but no further, was our Lord's own injunction qualified and restricted.

A great Apostasy has taken place ;-a Lawless power has appeared; and we are now looking for "the brightness of that coming "which shall destroy this usurper. Whoever, therefore, can now succeed in glossing over these facts, and in persuading us that the predicted Apostasy is yet future, and that "the Lawless One" has not yet been seen, does, in effect, tell us not to look for our Lord at present; inasmuch as great events, which must precede His Advent, have not yet begun to appear. The rise of the Papacy occupied whole centuries;the impostor of Mecca spent above twenty years in the propagation of his new faith, before his system could be deemed to be established. Hence, to represent the coming of the Lawless One to be an event

* I have heard one objection taken to this view, of the following kind: It is asked, How can the Pope's enthronement on the altar of St. Peter's be deemed a sitting in the temple of God"? I answer, that it is clearly such a sitting in the common apprehension of mankind; and those who expect some other sitting should explain their meaning. "Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost," says

St. Paul would the objector expect the Lawless One to sit in that temple? There is a spiritual and invisible Church can the Lawless One sit in that temple, "showing himself as God ?" In a word, the prediction speaks of a visible fact. Such a visible fact has long existed in Rome. Those who reject this interpretation should show, if they can, the possibility of any other.

still future, and yet an event which must precede the Second Advent of our Lord, is tantamount to a declaration, that this latter event, the great hope of the Church, cannot be looked for until after the expiration of some long but indefinite period. To all, therefore, who regard the Apostasy as a fact still unaccomplished, the expectation of their Lord's return must be held to be an event still far distant;-so distant, that death, in most cases, must seem much more near.

On both these grounds-that your denial of the fulfilment of St. Paul's prophecy threw doubt upon all the other predictions of Holy Writ; while it rendered all expectations of a speedy return of the Lord unreasonable and untenable-I deprecate, with all the earnestness which the occasion seems to justify, the view which you then presented of this important passage in the apostle's writings.

S.

NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

Lost Friends Found Again; or, Heavenly Solace for Christian Mourners. Edited by Edward Shepherd Smedley, and Dedicated, by permission, to the Right Hon. the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G. London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co:-The theme of this goodly octavo is sufficiently indicated by the title page. While confined to the state of the departed, during the period which elapses between death and the resurrection, and the re-union and recognition of Christian friends in the realm of everlasting blessedness, it discusses every point involved in these two grand subjects with power and eloquence. This is owing partly to the judicious selection made by Mr. Smedley from the works of celebrated authors, who have consecrated their hallowed talents to a theme as comforting as it is lofty. Suffice it that we mention the names of Drs. Price, Hunter, and Sherlock, and of Meek, Davies, Traill, and Bruce. Although they were, or are, ministers of different religious communities, there is a oneness of sentiment among them, both surprising and delightful. There is no clashing, no discord. The melody is perfectly harmonious; the river rolls onward toward the great ocean, without a ripple on its surface. We therefore tender our sincere thanks to the editor, and earnestly commend his neatly printed and elegantly bound volume to all those who yearn for re-association and enjoyment with their sainted friends, where there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying; neither any more pain."

PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

WE had scarcely closed our last number, when the nation was shocked with the tidings of the assassination of President Lincoln, while sitting in his box at the theatre. We could have wished that death had overtaken the ruler of a great nation amidst less worldly and frivolous scenes. The assassin fired a pistol from behind the President into the brain; he spoke no more, and soon afterwards