Bible. New Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Christianity -- Origin; Paul, the Apostle, Saint
Not a few are the divines, who have discovered Antichrist sitting in St.
Peter's chair, with a triple crown on his head. In the chair of Luther,
or in that of Calvin, would the triple monarch be disposed to discover
the hobgoblin, if he thought it worth while to look for him. Has he
ever, or has he not, made this discovery already?
"Oh, but," says somebody, "_we_ does not here mean _we_ only who are
alive at this present writing; it means, _we_ Christians of all
ages:--any number of ages _after_ this, as well as this, included. In
the designation thus given, neither the individuals he was addressing,
nor he himself, were necessarily comprehended." This accordingly, if
anything, must be said, or the title of the self-constituted Apostle, to
the appellation of _false prophet_, must be admitted. Oh, yes! this may
be said, and must be said: but what will it avail him? In no such
comprehensive sense did _he_ use it; for, in that sense, it would not
have answered his purposes: not even his spiritual and declared
purposes, much less his temporal, selfish, and concealed purposes. Why
was it that these disciples of his, as well as he, were to be so
incessantly upon the watch! I Thess. 5:6, 7, 8. Why, but because "you
yourselves," says he, ver. 2, "know perfectly, that the day of the Lord
cometh like a thief in the night." Who, on that occasion, could be meant
by _we_, but himself and them? In no such comprehensive sense was it
understood by _them_: if it had been, no such consequences as we have
seen following, could have followed. After the experience he and they
had had, of the mischief produced by the narrow sense put upon the
all-important pronoun, would he have continued thus to use it in that
same narrow sense, if it had not been his wish that in that same sense
it should continue to be understood? Would he have been at all this
pains in creating the spiritual monster, for the declared purpose of
putting off their expectation of the great day, if, but for this
put-off, it would not have come on?[75] In what part of all his
preachings can any distinct ground be seen for any such supposition, as
that any portion of the field of _time_, beyond that by which his own
life was bounded, was ever present to his view? In the field of _place_,
yes: in that field his views were of no small amplitude: for in that
field it was by his ambition that they were marked out: but in the field
of _time_, no symptoms of any the smallest degree of enlargement will
anywhere be found. But, on this occasion, suppose other ages, and those
others to any extent, included in his views: from their including such
future ages, would it follow that they had no application to the age
then present?--But, supposing them understood to apply to that age,
thereupon in comes the mischief in full force.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account