'We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts'-2 Pet. i. 19. THE APOCALYPSE WITH A. COMMENTARY AND AN INTRODUCTION ON THE REALITY OF PREDICTION, THE HISTORY OF CHRISTENDOM, ANTICHRIST OF ST PAUL AND ST JOHN BY THE REV. EDWARD HUNTINGFORD, D.C.L. VICAR OF ST SAVIOUR'S, CHOBHAM LATE FELLOW OF NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD 'The giving ear to the Prophets is a fundamental BIBLIOTHECA FEB '882 SODLEIANA LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, & CO., 1 PATERNOSTER SQUARE The city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it'-Rev. xxi. 23. 'And there no sun shall daily need to rise: And there no moon shall nightly sail the skies: (The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved.) PREFACE. THE AUTHOR of this volume has not attempted to speculate upon unfulfilled prophecy, except in a very general manner, and so far only as the observed results of the working of good and evil principles in Christendom, and the plain words of Holy Scripture, may seem to justify. It is his chief object to show by a somewhat eclectic, but, as he hopes, consistent interpretation, how much of the Apocalypse has been in course of fulfilment in the Roman World from an early date up to the present time, and therefore what hopes and fears we may fairly entertain about the future trials and prospects of the Christian Church. He has not ventured even to conjecture the time of the Second Advent, although he has closely studied the chronological predictions of Scripture, and is convinced that a day is in figurative prophecy the symbol of a year. The date of the Second Advent is, he believes, a profound secret; and the evident failures of those who have attempted to predict it have done more than almost anything else to create a distaste for the |