The second is the prophecy of ‘the man of sin’ in 2 Thess. ii. And I cannot forbear the mention of one illustration of a verse in that prophecy which I saw myself in Rome. Many people think that the description in the fourth verse is too strong for Popery: but there is a curious illustration of it in St. Peter’s. You may there see what they call the altar in the usual place at the end of the chancel, and above it, surrounded by an elaborately decorated reredos, is what is called the chair of St. Peter, or the Pope’s throne, the seat of Papal power. On the altar below, according to their own teaching, is the living person of the King of Glory, perfect man and perfect God, and in front of that altar may be seen men worshipping the wafer because they call it God. But above it is the Pope’s chair, and if he were to occupy it he would sit there with that which they call God, and worship as God, beneath his feet. Can anything be a more exact fulfilment of the words, ‘Exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped?’ The third is the prophecy of the woman in Rev. xvii. The application of this to the Church of Rome is less disputed than that of either of the other two, for the seat of the woman is decided by the 9th verse to be the seven-hilled city, which is almost universally admitted to be Rome. Now it is not my object to study the details of these prophecies, and there is only one point to which I invite your careful attention—one most important point common to all three, viz., that the final overthrow will be preceded by a consuming process. It will not be a sudden destruction in the height of prosperity, but will be the final act after a period of wasting and defeat. If these three passages refer to Rome, as I fully believe they do, then Rome will be first consumed and then destroyed. In Daniel it says (vii. 26), ‘The judgment shall sit.’ It seems clear from the context, that this does not mean the great day of judgment, but the commencement of judgment on her sins here upon earth. ‘And they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end.’ There is, therefore, a consuming process before the end. The word here rendered ‘consume’ conveys the idea of a gradual process, and not a sudden blow; and teaches us that there will be a wasting before the final overthrow. In 2 Thess. ii. 8, exactly the same process is described, and in almost the same words: ‘Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming.’ He will first consume him by His word, and ultimately destroy him at His advent.