If God promises once He does so fifty times, that He will restore Israel and Judah to their own land. To this one thing all Providence is concentrating, and this is the key that unseals prophecy and Providence. “And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them as at the first” (Jer. xxxiii. 7). They will form a free province, electing their own rulers and governors. They will be quite democratic, doing away with all titles, being the children of the Lord. “And the nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them” (Jer. xxx. 21); or, as stated by Isaiah, chap, i, verse 26, “And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning; afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.” Thus they will be a free province, managing their own affairs under the patronage and protection of England. Now it is this freedom that will open the door and prepare the way for Anti-Christ. He will be elected governor because of his supposed superiority in manners, science, and benevolence. He will appear as a lamb at first, according to John, but once in power his true character will appear. He will be a great scientist, and in the eyes and faith of the multitude He will be able to work miracles—to bring, scientifically, fire down from heaven. So clever will he be that he will deceive some of the very elect. Before his election he will have been a man of great power and influence. Once in power he will contrive to centre all power and interests in himself. He will pander to the Communists—to the Romish Church—to the scientific infidels of the day. In this feature he will draw heavily upon the Germans, and create quite a sympathy in England and this country. “For some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white even to the time of the end” (Dan. xi. 35). The Scriptures having pointed out the special features of his character, we see that many of these features are already in the world. This is Anti-Christ. This is the spirit of Anti-Christ. And when God withdraws His restraining power, Anti-Christ will embody all these forces and characteristics in himself. And all men having these features, will sympathise with him, and aid him. God alone is now keeping back and down this spirit of Anti-Christ until His own chosen time. “And now ye know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time; for the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way (that is, till God withdraws Himself), and then shall that wicked be revealed.”