A Plea Answered: Wilhelmus à Brakel's Commentary on Revelation Translated

It was just over 7 years ago today that I published "A Plea to Translate Wilhelmus à Brakel's Exposition of Revelation." When Father Brakel's "The Christian's Reasonable Service" was translated into English in the 1990s -- a great service to the church indeed -- a decision was made not to translate the final portion of it consisting of his commentary on Revelation because it represented a postmillennial eschatological perspective (common to all Puritans, whether Dutch, Scottish, English or American). This omission in translation left a gap for English readers desiring both to have a full translation of à Brakel's magnum opus, and those interested to read for themselves his understanding of the last book of the Bible.

I am pleased to report that this gap has finally been filled by J. Parnell McCarter and his team at the Historicism Research Foundation who have now produced an English translation of this work titled "Not to be Ignored: Rev. Wilhelmus à Brakel's Commentary on Revelation" (2016), which is now available for purchase in paperback or digital format. For those who have been waiting, as I have, for this important work to be accessible in English, please see the announcement of this publication here for details on how to purchase your copy.

Many thanks to Mr. McCarter and those who assisted in the project for this valuable contribution to the church! 

Victory Song For Christ

"On January 1, 1541, during his stay in Worms [Germany], [John] Calvin wrote the poem Epinicion Christo cantatum 'just for fun.' This 'Victory Song for Christ' was a poem with clear allusions to the events in Worms." -- Wulfert de Greef, The Writings of John Calvin, p. 140

This 124-line epic poem is Calvin's only known poetic work, originally written in Latin, and thus far, only translated in full into German and French. Written in 1541, and circulated amongst friends in manuscript form. It was finally published for the first time in Geneva in 1544, after it had already been added to a Catholic index of prohibited works by the inquisitor Vidal de Bécanis.

Calvin later, in a letter to Conrad Hubert, on May 19, 1557, stated: "By nature I was inclined to poetry, but I have bid it farewell, and for twenty-five years I have composed nothing, except at Worms, following the example of Philipp and Sturm, I was led to write for diversion that poem that you read." (Calvini Opera 16, no. 2632, col. 488) 

Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné later translated a portion of this poem from the French version into English, from History of the Reformation in the Times of John Calvin, Vol. 7, Chap. 19, which is here reproduced for our readers. "It is the only poem of his that we possess, and it contains some fine lines." It concludes with an eloquent cry of exultation in the victory of Jesus Christ over his enemies at the last day. 

Yes, the victory will be Christ’s, and the year which announces to us the day of triumph is now beginning. Let pious tongues break the thankless silence and cause their joy to burst forth. His enemies will say, What madness is this? Are they triumphing over a nation which is not yet subdued, are they seizing the crown before they have routed the enemy? True, impiety sits haughtily on a lofty throne. There still exists one who by a nod bends to his will the most powerful monarchs, his mouth vomiting a deadly poison and his hands stands with innocent blood. But for Christ death is life and the cross a victory. The breath of his mouth is the weapon with which he fights, and already for five lustra he has brandished his sword with a vigorous hand, not without smiting. The pope, leader of the sacrilegious army, wounded at last, groans under the unlooked for plagues which have just fallen upon him, and the profane multitude is trembling for terror. If it be a great thing to conquer one’s enemies by force, what must it be to overthrow them by a mere sign? Christ casts them down without breaking his own repose: he scatters them while he keeps silence. We are a pitiful band, low in number, without apparel, without arms, sheep in the presence of ravening wolves. But the victory of Christ our king is for that very reason all the more marvelous. Let his head then be crowned with the laurel of victory, let him be seated on the chariot drawn by four coursers abreast, that his glory may shine forth before all.

 Que tous ses ennemis qui lui ont fait la guerre 

Aillent après, captifs, baissant le front en terre:

Eck still flushed with his Bacchic orgies, the incontempent Cochlaeus, Nausea with his wordy productions, Pelargus with his mouth teeming with insolence, -- these are not the chief men, but the shameless multitude have set them for standard-bearers in the fight. Let them learn then to bow their necks under an unaccustomed yoke. And you, O sacred poets, celebrate in magnificent song the glorious Victory of Jesus Christ, and let all the multitude around him shout ‘Io Paean!’

The Sweetest Rest

John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, in Works, Vol. 3, p. 89:

As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place, where was a den; and I laid me down in that place to sleep: as I slept, I dreamed a dream.

Richard Baxter, The Saints' Everlasting Rest in Practical Works, Vol. 2, p. 330:

There remaineth a rest to the people of God.

Rest; how sweet a word is this to mine ears! Methinks the sound doth turn to substance, and having entered at the ear, doth possess my brain; and thence descendeth down to my very heart: methinks I feel it stir and work, and that through all my parts and powers, but with a various work upon my various parts. To my wearied senses and languid spirits it seems a quieting, powerful opiate; to my dulled powers it is spirit and life; to my dark eyes it is both eye-salve and a prospective; to my taste it is sweetness; to mine ears it is melody; to my hands and feet it is strength and nimbleness. Methinks I feel it digest as it proceeds, and increase my native heat and moisture; and, lying as a reviving cordial at my heart, from thence doth send forth lively spirits, which beat through all the pulses of my soul. Rest, -- not as the stone that rests on the earth, nor as these clods of flesh shall rest in the grave; so our beasts must rest as well as we: nor is it the satisfying of our fleshly lusts, nor such rest as the carnal world desireth: no, no; we have another kind of rest than these: rest we shall from all our labours, which were but the way and means to rest, but yet that is the smallest part. O blessed rest, where we shall never rest day or night, crying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of sabbaths:" when we shall rest from sin , but not from worship; from suffering and sorrow, but not from solace! O blessed day, when I shall rest with God; when I shall rest in the arms and bosom of my Lord; when I shall rest in knowing, loving, rejoicing, and praising; when my perfect soul and body together, shall in these perfect actings perfectly enjoy the most perfect God; when God also, who is love itself, shall perfectly love me; yea, and rest in his love to me, as I shall rest in my love to him, and rejoice over me with joy and singing (Zeph. iii. 17,) as I shall rejoice in him! How near is that most blessed, joyful day! It comes apace; even he that comes will come, and will not tarry. Though my Lord do seem to delay his coming, yet a little while and he will be here. What is a few hundred years when they are over! How surely will his sign appear, and how suddenly will he seize upon the careless world! Even as the lightning that shines from east to west in a moment, he who has gone hence will even so return. Methinks I even hear the voice of his foregoers; methinks I see him coming in the clouds, with the attendance of his angels, in majesty and glory.

Gibbon as Balaam

Among the classics of literature stands Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1789). While its pages bear witness to the unbelief of its author, yet various Reformed historicists have testified that Gibbon also bears witness to the truth of divine prophecy and its particular fulfillment in the history of Rome's fall.

Patrick Fairbairn, Prophecy Viewed in Respect to its Distinctive Nature, pp. 289-290, speaking of the prophecies in Daniel pertaining to Christ and his kingdom:

"The arms of the republic," says Gibbon, as if writing the interpretation of this part of the vision, "sometimes vanquished in battle, always victorious in war, advanced with rapid strides to the Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine, and the ocean; and the images of gold and silver or brass, that might serve to represent the nations and their kings, were successively broken by the iron monarchy of Rome."

David Steele, Notes on the Apocalypse, p. 91, writing on Rev. 8.7:

The infidel historian Gibbon has unwittingly recorded the fulfilment of these prophecies, as Josephus has done those of our Lord respecting the destruction of Jerusalem. Unconscious that he was bearing testimony to the truth of prophecy, Gibbon used with his classic pen the very allegorical language of the inspired apostle. Respecting the incursion of the barbarous Goths, as led by Alaric their chief into the fertile plains of southern Europe, he describes their alarming descent as a "dark cloud, which having collected along the coasts of the Baltic, burst in thunder upon the banks of the upper Danube." He who directed Balaam and Caiaphas to utter predictions, doubtless could direct Josephus and Gibbon to attest the truth of prophecy; and this may be one of the many ways in which "he makes the wrath of man to praise him."

John Cumming, Prophetic Studies: Lectures on the Book of Daniel, pp. 77-79:

But the most decisive testimony to the universal iron supremacy of Rome, the fourth empire of Daniel, is given by Gibbon, who, as usual, is here the undesigning, the unconscious, but the faithful witness to the truth of the prophecies of God. Gibbon thus speaks of the extent of the Roman dominions: -- "The empire was about two thousand miles in breadth, from the wall of Antoninus and northern limits of Dacia to the Atlas and the tropic of cancer. It extended in length more than three thousand miles, from the Western ocean to the Euphrates. The arms of the republic, sometimes vanquished in battle, always victorious in war, advanced with rapid strides to the Euphrates, and the Danube, and the Rhine, and the ocean ; and the image of gold, or silver, or brass, that might serve to represent the nations or kings, were successively broken by the iron monarchy of Rome."

Thus, strange enough, Gibbon states, as if he could find no language so truly descriptive of historic fact as the language of Daniel, "The image of gold, or silver, or brass, that might serve to represent the nations of kings, was successively broken up by the iron monarchy of Rome;" so completely does God's prophecy find its echo in man's unconscious history. In other words, the infidel historian could find no language so descriptive of fact as the very words of prophecy in the book of Daniel; and thus he proved, not only the fulfilment of prophecy, but the fulness, the beauty, and the force of the words in which that prophecy was couched.

This iron despotism or empire is further proved to be the fourth universal empire, by another extract which I will give from Gibbon. "There was," says the historian, "not an inch of ground then known exempt from its sceptre. The modern tyrant who should find no resistance in his own breast, or in his people, would soon experience a gentle restraint from the example of his equals, the dread of censure, the apprehension of enemies. The object of his displeasure escaping the narrow limits of his dominion, would easily obtain, in a happier climate, a secure refuge, freedom of complaint, and perhaps means of revenge. But the empire of the Romans filled the world, and when that empire fell into, the hands of a single person, the world became a safe and dreary prison for his enemies. To resist was fatal, and it was impossible to fly. On every side he was encompassed with a vast extent of sea and land, which he could never hope to traverse, without being discovered, seized, and restored to his irritated master. Beyond the frontiers, he could discover nothing except the ocean, inhospitable deserts, and hostile tribes of fierce barbarians."

Gibbon is my witness that the fourth kingdom should be "strong as iron; forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, so shall it break in pieces and bruise." Thus truly is history the echo of prophecy! God sketches the outline in his word, and kings, and heroes, and poets, and painters, and historians, as if smitten with some mysterious instinct, instantly rise to their places, and fill up with their details what God has so fully sketched.

John Cox Boyce, Nigh Unto the End: or, A Passage in Sacred Prophecy (Rev. xvi. 12-15), pp. 50-52:

The pages of Gibbon ('Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire') give, incidentally, valuable, though perfectly involuntary testimony to the remarkable manner in which the Turks have fulfilled, both in their own persons, and in their demeanour towards others, the sacred prophet's inspired utterances. Their fierceness of countenance and conduct has long since passed into the proverb -- 'As fierce as a Turk.' That they 'destroyed wonderfully' is repeatedly borne witness to by Gibbon. Witness the very first sentence in the chapter (vol. xii. p. 182) in which he describes the siege of Constantinople by the Turks -- as attracting, he says, 'our first attention to the person and character of the great destroyer.' When the reader remembers that the Sultan, in virtue of his office, and with the sanction of his religion, is at liberty to put to death, without responsibility, a certain number of his subjects daily—a prerogative by no means abandoned in modern times—he will see, in this fact alone, to what revolting deeds, which are plentifully chronicled on the historic page, his fierceness of nature would be likely to prompt him. The very Koran itself demands of him, in order that he should be true and faithful to it, the utmost cruelty—even to extermination—against the ' dogs,' or Christians. The words of Gibbon, again—infidel though he was—strikingly illustrate the truth of Daniel's prediction in this particular, when he says, with reference to Mahomet II., the Conqueror of Constantinople—'His passions were at once furious and inexorable: in the palace, as in the field, a torrent of blood was spilt on the slightest provocation' (xii. p. 185.) Daniel was led by the angel to see that the power destined to darken, in so grievous a manner, the records of future history, ' by his policy would cause craft to prosper in his hand.' And that such is the policy of the Turk—a policy to which he is bound by his religion—a policy that renders inexcusable the conduct of those statesmen in these modern times, who would not extort from him the most stringent guarantees for the performance of his promises, is thus borne witness to by Gibbon (xii. 187)—'The Mahometan, and more especially the Turkish casuists, have pronounced that no promise can bind the faithful against the interest and duty of their religion; and that the Sultan may abrogate his own treaties, and those of his predecessors.' 'By peace he shall destroy many,' is another characteristic of the Turk, and here again, who can fail to be struck by Gibbon's appropriate, though, of course, unconscious testimony to the existence of this trait in the character of the Conqueror of Constantinople—'Peace was on his lips, while war was in his heart.' (Ibid., p. 187.)

Matthew Poole on Revelation is Now Complete!

The third and final volume of the first-ever English translation of Matthew Poole's Synopsis Criticorum (Synopsis of Interpreters) on the Book of Revelation is now available. Revelation 15-22 can be purchased as a single volume, but if you order the full set of three volumes on Revelation this month (through August 31, 2010), you will receive a 20% discount on the first two volumes. Also, because of Lulu.com's summer special savings, if you order by August 23, 2010, you will receive free shipping on orders over $19.99.

Remember that these volumes include both his English commentary as well as the Synopsis (a collection of interpretative comments, which is a veritable history of exegesis), and so comprise much more than most commentaries on Revelation. Poole has mined the works of Puritan and Reformed, Arminian, Roman Catholic, Jewish and other scholars to bring extraordinary light to bear on this most challenging of prophetic books. He believed that John's Apocalypse was intended to be, not a concealment, but indeed a revelation. This exegetical treasury has been locked away from English readers since the Puritan era, but is now available to both scholars and laymen in the 21st century English-speaking world.

Project update: The Matthew Poole Project is working to both translate and publish the remainder of the Synopsis (Genesis [3 vol.] and Exodus [2 vol.] are complete and available, and Leviticus is the next book forthcoming), as well as Matthew Poole's other works (his first work, a defense of the Deity of the Holy Spirit, is forthcoming).

Take advantage of this opportunity to employ the exegetical labors of Matthew Poole on the Book of Revelation by ordering the full three-volume set today. The 20% discount is available through the end of this month, and Lulu's free shipping special expires August 23, 2010. Matthew Poole on Revelation is a goldmine of Scriptural wisdom and this is an opportunity not to be missed!

Sea of Providence

Jonathan Edwards, A History of the Work of Redemption, pp. 429-431:

4. Hence we may see what a consistent thing divine providence is. The consideration of what has been said, may greatly serve to show us the consistency, order, and beauty, of God’s works of providence. If we behold events in any other view, all will look like confusion, like the tossing of waves; things will look as though one confused revolution came to pass after another, merely by blind chance, without any regular or certain end.

But if we consider the events of providence in the light in which they have been set before us, and in which the Scriptures set them before us, they appear an orderly series of events, all wisely directed in excellent harmony and consistence, tending all to one end. The wheels of providence are not turned round by blind chance, but are full of eyes round about, as Ezekiel represents, and are guided by the Spirit of God: where the Spirit goes, they go. All God’s works of providence, through all ages, meet at last, as so many lines meeting in one centre.

It is with God's work of providence as it is with his work of creation: it is but one work. The events of providence are not so many distinct, independent works; but rather so many different parts of one work, one regular scheme. They are all united, just as the several parts of one building: there are many stones, many pieces of timber, but all are so joined, and fitly formed together, that they make but one building; they have all but one foundation, and are united at last in one top-stone.

God’s providence may not unfitly be compared to a large and long river, having innumerable branches, beginning in different regions, and at a great distance one from another, and all conspiring to one common issue. After their very diverse and apparent contrary courses, they all collect together, the nearer they come to their common end, and at length discharge themselves at one mouth into the same ocean. The different streams of this river are apt to appear like mere confusion to us, because of the limitedness of our sight, whereby we cannot see from one branch to another, and cannot see the whole at once, so as to see how all are united in one.

A man who sees but one or two streams at a time, cannot tell what their course tends to. Their course seems very crooked, and different streams seem to run for a while different and contrary ways: and if we view things at a distance, there seem to be innumerable obstacles and impediments in the way, as rocks and mountains, and the like; to hinder their ever uniting, and coming to the ocean; but yet if we trace them, they all unite at last, all come to the same issue, disgorging themselves in one into the same great ocean. Not one of all the streams fail of coming hither at last.

Four Last Things

The Puritans were noted for pressing upon sinners and saints thoughts of the "four last things": Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Eternal life and death, a question that modern society would gloss over or avoid confronting altogether, was an important theme of Puritan preaching and teaching, because human nature has not changed too much since their day. Robert Bolton's treatise on these matters was published two years after his death, having been completed as he himself prepared to face his Maker. Richard Baxter warned sinners against carnal security: "O sirs, believe it, death and judgment, and heaven and hell, are other matters when you come near them, than they seem to carnal eyes afar off. Then you will hear such a message as I bring you, with more awakened, regardful hearts" (A Call ot the Unconverted). William Bates' discourses on this subject were prefaced by an epistle dedicatory to the "right honourable Rachel Lady Russel," to whom he addressed this plea:

Of all affairs for the compassing whereof men are so diligent and solicitous, there is none of that absolute necessity, and high importance, as the preparation for death and judgment, and the immediate consequence of them, heaven and hell, to obtain the one, and escape the other. This requires the whole man in his best vigour, and should be the work of the day, but it is usually delayed till the melancholy evening of the age, or the twilight of death. The trifles of this world divert them from that main business, to which all other things should be subordinate.

While John Bunyan was in prison in 1664 he published a series of poems, "to be sold by his wife or children, to aid in their humble maintenance," later collected and published together as One Thing Is Needful; or, Serious Meditations Upon the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. The reader would be blessed to prayerfully consider the full corpus of these poems, but here I have space to present only his "Introduction to the Ensuing Discourse":

1. These lines I at this time present
To all that will them heed,
Wherein I show to what intent
God saith, Convert with speed.

2. For these four things come on apace,
Which we should know full well,
Both death and judgment, and, in place
Next to them, heaven and hell.

3. For doubtless man was never born
For this life and no more:
No, in the resurrection morn
They must have weal or woe.

4. Can any think that God should take
That pains, to form a man
So like himself, only to make
Him here a moment stand?

5. Or that he should make such ado,
By justice, and by grace;
By prophets and apostles too,
That men might see his face?

6. Or that the promise he hath made,
Also the threatenings great,
Should in a moment end and fade?
O! no, this is a cheat.

7. Besides, who is so mad, or worse,
To think that Christ should come
From glory, to be made a curse,
And that in sinners’ room,

8. If nothing should by us be had
When we are gone from hence,
But vanities, while here? O mad
And foolish confidence.

9. Again, shall God, who is the truth,
Say there is heaven and hell
And shall men play that trick of youth
To say, But who can tell?

10. Shall he that keeps his promise sure
In things both low and small,
Yet break it like a man impure,
In matters great’st of all?

11. O, let all tremble at that thought,
That puts on God the lie,
That saith men shall turn unto nought
When they be sick and die.

12. Alas, death is but as the door
Through which all men do pass,
To that which they for evermore
Shall have by wrath or grace.

13. Let all therefore that read my lines,
Apply them to the heart:
Yea, let them read, and turn betimes,
And get the better part.

14. Mind therefore what I treat on here,
Yea, mind and weigh it well;
‘Tis death and judgment, and a clear
Discourse of heaven and hell.

Matthew Poole's Synopsis on Rev. 8-14 Now Available

The newest volume to be released in the (first-ever) ongoing translation of Matthew Poole's Latin Synopsis Criticorum (Synopsis of Interpreters) into English is Revelation 8-14, which is now available for purchase (softcopy and electronic download). This volume also contains the English Annotations (commentary) by Poole's continuator, John Collinges. For more information and to place an order, visit The Matthew Poole Project and Master Poole Publishing.

Remembering Loraine Boettner

Loraine Boettner, American Presbyterian theologian, died twenty years ago today, on January 3, 1990. It is worthwhile to pause and remember his contributions to the church. His writings did much to popularize and make respectable the Reformed Faith in 20th-century America. Some of his works which were particularly influential upon me include The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination (which helped to make famous the TULIP acronym); Roman Catholicism; The Millennium (a fair look at the spectrum of eschatological viewpoints which advocates postmillennialism); The Christian Attitude Towards War; and Calvinism in History. Some of these and other writings are available online still at an archived site known as The Loraine Boettner Anthology.

The following biographical sketch comes from Theopedia.com, which is extracted from that of the PCA Historical Center. Another brief biography written by Dr. C. Matthew McMahon is available online here.

Loraine Boettner (1901-1990) a Reformed Theologian, born on a farm in Linden, Missouri. After obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree from Tarkio College in 1925, he attended Princeton Theological Seminary where he studied Systematic Theology under Dr. Casper W. Hodge and received his Th.B. (1928) and Th.M. (1929). He taught Bible for eight years in Pikeville College, Kentucky. In 1933 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Tarkio College, and in 1957 the degree of Doctor of Literature. He was a member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. From 1958 until his own death in 1990, Dr. Boettner lived a quite life in Rock Port, Missouri. For the remaining 32 years of his life, he generously sold his books at cost to any who wrote to ask for them. In doing so, Boettner made good conservative theology readily available at a time when such material was often difficult to come by. Through his writings, he served to popularize the Reformed faith and influenced literally tens of thousands of men and women around the world.

Genealogy of the Pope

Benjamin Brook, Lives of the Puritans, Vol. 1, pp. 282-283, writes of Anthony Gilby (c. 1510-1585), one of the translators of the Geneva Bible:

He was the author of a work, entitled "A Viewe of Antichrist, his Lawes and Ceremonies in our English Church unreformed," 1570. The first part of this humorous piece is called "The Book of the Generation of Antichrist the Pope, the revealed Child of Perdition and his Successors;" and is so singular and curious, that, for the satisfaction of the inquisitive reader, the substance of it is here transcribed. The ecclesiastical genealogy is expressed as follows:

The devil begat darkness. Darkness begat ignorance. Ignorance begat error and his brethren. Error begat free-will and self-love. Free-will begat merit. Merit begat forgetfulness of the grace of God. Forgetfulness of the grace of God, begat transgression. Transgression begat mistrust. Mistrust begat satisfaction. Satisfaction begat the sacrifice of the mass. Sacrifice of the mass begat popish priesthood. Popish priesthood begat superstition. Superstition begat hypocrisy the king. Hypocrisy the king begat lucre. Lucre begat purgatory. Purgatory begat the foundation of pensions, and the patrimony of the church. Pensions and patrimony begat the mammon of inquity. Mammon begat abundance. Abundance begat fulness. Fulness begat cruelty. Cruelty begat dominion in ruling. Dominion begat ambition. Ambition begat simony. And simony begat the POPE, and his brethren the cardinals, with all their successors, abbots, priors, archbishops, lord-bishops, archdeacons, deans, chancellors, commissaries, officials, and procturs, with the rest of the viperous brood.

The pope begat the mystery of iniquity. The mystery of iniquity begat divine sophistry. Divine sophistry begat rejection of the holy scriptures. Rejection of the holy scriptures begat tyranny. Tyranny begat murder of the saints. Murder begat despising of God. Despising of God begat dispensation of offences. Dispensation begat license for sin. License for sin begat abomination. Abomination begat confusion in matters of religion. Confusion brought forth travail of the spirit. Travail of the spirit brought forth matter of disputation for the truth; by which that desolator, antichrist the pope, hath been revealed, and all other antichrists shall in due time be revealed. And they are antichrists, who make laws for the church, contrary to the truth, and deprive, imprison, and banish the members of Christ, both preachers and others, refusing obedience thereunto. -- Most of the points in this curious genealogy, are supported by an appropriate portion of scripture.*

* Parte of a Register, p. 56, 57.

Validity of Roman Catholic Baptism

The question of the validity of Roman Catholic baptism has been a thorn in the American Presbyterian Church since

James Henley Thornwell in the 19th Century squared off against Charles Hodge in an extensive debate that started on the floor of the Presbyterian (Old School) General Assembly and spilled over later into the Princeton Review, the Watchman and Observer, and the Southern Presbyterian Review. Thornwell rejected Roman Baptism, while Charles Hodge accepted its validity.

Before that time, the general consensus of the Reformed Church was that the Roman Catholic Church had indeed become apostate, but was in some sense still a church. Antichrist was correctly identified as the Papacy by the Reformed Church, in part because the man of sin "sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (2 Thess. 2.4).

(Both Thornwell and Hodge agreed that the Roman Papacy was Antichrist. The Westminster Confession's affirmation of this doctrine was not removed until 1903, when the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (the Northern Presbyterian Church, or PCUSA) did so.)

Peru Mission was forced to address this issue because of its missionary efforts in Roman Catholic territories, and having investigated the question of whether re-baptism is required of converts from Catholicism, is to be commended for publishing the fruits of its research as The Reformed Churches and Roman Catholic Baptism: an Anthology of Principle Texts. I commend this work as a valuable resource for those who may wish to study the issue for themselves. It cites both pre- and post-Council of Trent Reformed writers who addressed and affirmed the validity of Roman baptism, addressing also the subject of the Roman mass, and Roman ordination, in the context of Rome as an apostate church which is yet a church materially considered. Those who wish to delve into these questions will do well to study this anthology.

Birth of the Boy King

On October 12, 1537, a baby born was born, the first male heir of King Henry VIII. England rejoiced at the birth of Edward VI, and though his life was brief, he shined brightly as England's first Protestant king (as some describe him).

He died at the age of 15 having left an example of personal piety and having steered his country and his church away from Romanism and towards developing Anglicanism. His Literary Remains include for example a poem on the Eucharist that shows forth his Protestant conception of the Lord's Supper.

Among his papers is a treatise that he wrote identifying the Pope as Antichrist. He wrote this treatise against the supremacy of the Pope in French, having commenced it in December 1548 and completing it on August 31, 1549 at the age of 11. It can be read in French and English translation online here.

When he died on July 3, 1553, Protestant England had great fears for the future, despite Edward's specific appointment of Lady Jane Grey to the throne in his stead, and her brief 9-day reign, followed by her arrest and execution by Queen 'Bloody' Mary, and the failure of Wyatt's Rebellion, led to a reign of terror that grieved the hearts of god-fearing people in England and elsewhere. But, like Camelot, for one brief shining moment, a godly boy king ruled England, and indeed his light still shines.

Mediatorial Kingship of Christ

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. (Isa. 9.6-7)

Samuel Davies traces the course of God's redemptive plan through the historical rise, present reality and developing progress of the mediatorial kingdom of Jesus Christ in a famous delivered on May 9, 1756, at Hanover, Virginia, called The Mediatorial Kingdom and Glories of Jesus Christ:

The kingdoms of the world have their rise, their progress, perfection, declension, and ruin. And in these things, the kingdom of Christ bears some resemblance to them, excepting that it shall never have an end.

Its rise was small at first, and it has passed through many revolutions in various ages. It was first founded in the family of Adam, but in about 1600 years, the space between the creation and the flood, it was almost demolished by the wickedness of the world; and at length confined to the little family of Noah. After the flood, the world soon fell into idolatry, but, that this kingdom of Christ might not be destroyed quite, it was erected in the family of Abraham; and among the Jews it continued until the coming of Christ in the flesh. This was indeed but the infancy of his kingdom, and indeed is seldom called by that name. It is the gospel constitution that is represented as the kingdom of Christ, in a special sense. This was but very small and unpromising at first. When its founder was dying upon Calvary, and all his followers had forsaken him and fled, who would have thought it would ever have come to any thing, ever have recovered? But it revived with him; and, when he furnished his apostles with gifts and graces for their mission, and sent them forth to increase his kingdom, it made its progress through the world with amazing rapidity, notwithstanding it met with very early and powerful opposition. The Jews set themselves against it, and raised persecutions against its ministers, wherever they went. And presently the tyrant Nero employed all the power of the Roman empire to crush them. Peter, Paul, and thousands of the christians fell a prey to his rage, like sheep for the slaughter. This persecution was continued under his successors, with but little interruption, for about two hundred years.

But, under all these pressures, the church bore up her head; yea, the more she was trodden, the more she spread and flourished; and at length she was delivered from oppression by Constantine the Great, about the year 320. But now she had a more dangerous enemy to encounter, I mean prosperity: and this did her much more injury than all the persecutions of her enemies. Now the kingdom of Christ began to be corrupted with heresies: the ministry of the gospel, formerly the most dangerous posts in the world, now became a place of honour and profit, and men began to thrust themselves into it from principles of avarice and ambition; superstition and corruption of morals increased; and at length the bishop of Rome set up for universal head of the church in the year 606, and gradually the whole monstrous system of popery was formed and established, and continued in force for near a thousand years. The kingdom of Christ was now at a low ebb; and tyranny and superstition reigned under that name over the greatest part of the christian world. Nevertheless our Lord still had his witnesses. The Waldenses and Albigenses, John Hus, and Jerome of Prague, and Wickliffe in England, opposed the torrent of corruption; until at length, Luther, Calvin, Zuinglius, and several others, were made the honoured instruments of introducing the Reformation from popery; when sundry whole kingdoms, which had given their power to the beast, and particularly our mother-country, shook off the papal authority, and admitted the pure light of the gospel. Since that time the kingdom of Christ has struggled hard, and it has lost ground in several countries; particularly in France, Poland, Bohemia, &c. where there once were many Protestant churches; but they are now in ruins. And, alas! those countries that still retain the reformed religion, have too generally reduced it into a mere formality; and it has but little influence upon the hearts and lives even of its professors. Thus we find the case remarkably among us. This gracious kingdom makes but little way in Virginia. The calamities of war and famine cannot, alas! draw subjects to it; but we seem generally determined to perish in our rebellion rather than submit. Thus it has been in this country from its first settlement; and how long it will continue in this situation is unknown to mortals: however, this we may know, it will not be so always. We have the strongest assurances that Jesus will yet take to him his great power, and reign in a more extensive and illustrious manner than he has ever yet done; and that the kingdoms of the earth shall yet become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. There are various parts of the heathen world where the gospel has never yet been; and the Jews have never yet been converted as a nation; but both the calling of the Jews and the fulness of the gentiles, you will find plainly foretold in the 11th chapter to the Romans; and it is, no doubt, to render the accomplishment of this event the more conspicuous, that the Jews, who are dispersed all over the world, have, by a strange, unprecedented, and singular providence, been kept a distinct people to this day, for 1700 years; though all other nations have been so mixt and blended together, who were not half so much dispersed into different countries, that their distinct original cannot be traced. Posterity shall see this glorious event in some happy future period. How far it is from us, I will not determine: though, upon some grounds, I apprehend it is not very remote. I shall live and die in the unshaken belief that our guilty world shall yet see glorious days. Yes, my brethren, this despised gospel, that has so little effect in our age and country, shall yet shine like lightning, or like the sun, through all the dark regions of the earth. It shall triumph over heathenism, Mahometism, Judaism, popery, and all those dangerous errors that have infected the christian church. This gospel, poor negroes, shall yet reach your countrymen, whom you left behind you in Africa, in darkness and the shadow of death, and bless your eyes with the light of salvation: and the Indian savages, that are now ravaging our country, shall yet be transformed into lambs and doves by the gospel of peace. The scheme of Providence is not yet completed, and much remains to be accomplished of what God has spoken by his prophets, to ripen the world for the universal judgment; but when all these things are finished, then proclamation shall be made through all nature, “That Time shall be no more”: then the Supreme Judge, the same Jesus that ascended the cross, will ascend the throne, and review the affairs of time: then will he put an end to the present course of nature, and the present form of administration. Then shall heaven and hell be filled with their respective inhabitants: then will time close, and eternity run on in one uniform tenor, without end. But the kingdom of Christ, though altered in its situation and form of government, will not then come to a conclusion. His kingdom is strictly the kingdom of heaven; and at the end of this world, his subjects will only be removed from these lower regions into a more glorious country, where they and their King shall live together for ever in the most endearing intimacy; where the noise and commotions of this restless world, the revolutions and perturbations of kingdoms, the terrors of war and persecution, shall no more reach them, but all will be perfect peace, love, and happiness, through immeasurable duration. This is the last and most illustrious state of the kingdom of Christ, now so small and weak in appearance: this is the final grand result of his administration; and it will appear to admiring worlds wisely planned, gloriously executed, and perfectly finished.

What conqueror ever erected such a kingdom! What subjects so completely, so lastingly happy, as those of the blessed Jesus!

Grand Protestant Union

In 1843, William Symington contributed an address to the Commemoration of the Bicentenary of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, which was later republished under the title "Historical Sketch of the Westminster Assembly of Divines." In his conclusion, as he contemplates the legacy of the Westminster Assembly, Symington spoke of lessons to be learned and the dream shared by those godly men who strove for "covenanted uniformity in religion" of a "grand Protestant union" grounded in the Biblical principle that the Lord is King, and his kingdoms in this earth are to serve him with one mind and one heart, and that this will be brought about one day "not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts" (Zech. 4.6).

William Symington, Historical Sketch of the Westminster Assembly of Divines (2002 PAP ed.), pp. 41-44:

Permit me, ere I conclude, to give expression to another fondly cherished hope. It must not be overlooked that the divines at Westminster contemplated, besides a religious uniformity in the three kingdoms, a grand Protestant Union throughout all the nations of Christendom. Their hearts were large, and the measures they conceived were catholic, generous, free. No sectarian prejudices, no weak partialities of kindred or of country were permitted to freeze or to confine the current of holy feeling that flowed in their bosoms. Their sympathies were universal as man; and their conceptions partook of the same lofty and munificent character. Their eyes penetrated beyond the limits of their own "sea-girt isle," and ranged freely over the nations of them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Their hearts, receiving inspiration at the cross, throbbed full with not merely "glory to God in the highest," but "peace and goodwill toward men." They, consequently, opened correspondence with foreign churches, and, in the largeness and the warmth of their affections, formed schemes of co-operation and intercourse which, in Providence, they were not permitted to see realised. They wrote letters to the Churches of Zealand and Holland; and on one occasion Baillie speaks of a deputation appearing at the Assembly and delivering in a letter from the classis of Walcheren.*

The Westminster Standards, accordingly, breathe no contracted spirit - wear no local aspect. They are, on the contrary, catholic and generous in their bearing, and adapted equally to the church in Britain, on the continent of Europe, in the republican states of America, in India, the Islands of the Southern Pacific, and New Zealand. Well did the divines at Westminster know that the Christian Commonwealth acknowledges no national distinctions, and spurns all geographical restrictions; and they had before their minds, when framing their formularies, no such anomalous contradiction as a Roman-Catholic, or an Anglo-Catholic church, but simply, a catholic church.

It is pleasing to think that the magnificent idea of a Protestant Union appears to have originated with one of the commissioners from Scotland, - Alexander Henderson, - of whose greatness of soul it was every way worthy. In prosecution of the favourite conception, he had proceeded so far as to obtain a passport to Holland, which, however, like many other good projects at that period, was rendered useless by the intervention of political intrigue. It is to the same glorious enterprise that Baillie adverts when he thus beautifully and piously expresses himself:- "We are thinking of a new work over sea, if this church were settled. The times of Antichrist's fall are approaching. The very outward Providence of God seems to be disposing France, Spain, Italy, and Germany, for the receiving of the gospel. When the curtains of the Lord's Tabernacle are thus far, and much farther enlarged, by the means which yet appear not, how shall our mouth be filled with laughter, our tongue with praise, and our hearts with rejoicing."**

Such were the bright conceptions and noble aspirations of men whom it has been too much the fashion to stigmatise as narrow-minded bigots, - aspirations and conceptions which we do not the less regard with admiration that they were clearly in advance of the age in which they were formed. The far-reaching perspicacity and large philanthropy of the men fairly anticipated what ages should elapse before being realised. Are we to entertain the gloomy idea that these bright and glowing thoughts are all to be lost? Admitting they were premature, may they not yet be accomplished? Who can tell but that the period of their realisation is at hand? Who can tell but that the seed sown two hundred years ago, still instinct with life, is destined now to reach maturity, and to yield an ample and glorious harvest? Minds of kindred mould and energy have at length arisen; times remarkably coincident have arrived; some of the causes which hindered the hopes of these illustrious patriots from being fulfilled have had time to develop and to exhaust themselves; and we see not a few ready to join in the prayer of faith, "Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old." Therefore it is that we feel disposed to regard it as something more than a baseless vision of imagination which leads us to hope that the period is not distant when the mighty principles of the Westminster standards shall be more extensively recognised than they have ever yet been, and shall put forth an energy of influence on society hitherto unknown.

Let us mark, then, the indications, let us follow the leadings of Providence; let us prove ourselves, like the sons of Issachar of old, men of understanding to know the times and what Israel ought to do. Rising above the little jealousies of sectarian rivalry, laying aside all personal asperities, let us show a readiness to meet, on the arena of frank and friendly consultation, brethren of other denominations, and to discuss with them our points of difference in a spirit of Christian candour and charity. Surely the friends of the Redeemer are not to be for ever separated. The reign of disunion is not to be perpetual. "There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all. There is one body and one Spirit." And, believing as we do that these statements of Holy Writ are to receive a visible as well as an invisible fulfilment, we must hold professing Christians bound to use all proper means for bringing this about.

Is it not more to be desired that the Churches of the Reformation, holding by the Westminster standards, should, like rational and moral creatures, come to unite on the basis of truth, by the blessing of God, on the scriptural use of mutual consultation, explanation, advice, and prayer; than that, like insensate masses, they should wait to be melted by the fire, and welded together by the hammer, of Divine judgments? That these meetings commemorate the men and the doings of former days may result in a closer union of Christians, must be the fervent desire of every enlightened friend of the Redeemer. No one who wishes well to the glory of Christ or the good of Zion, can derive satisfaction from the thinking that the dissensions and divisions of modern times are to be much longer perpetuated. Let us, then, crucify and repress the spirit of party strife; let us feed the flame of that sacred affection which many waters cannot quench, neither can the floods drown; let us stand prepared to take to our hearts, in fraternal embrace, all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity; let us converse closely and oft with those predictions which foretell a coming period of unity and peace; and let us drink daily and deeply into the spirit of the intercession, "That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us."

May the Lord the Spirit give the ministers and members of the divided Churches of the Reformation one heart and one way, that they may fear him for ever, for the good of them and their children after them! Then - and not till then - should be fulfilled the great, the bright, the glorious conceptions of the Solemn League and of the Westminster Assembly; it being the explicit design of the latter "to bring the church at home into nearer agreement with other Reformed Churches abroad," and of the former, "to bring the churches of God in the three kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity, and to encourage other Christian Churches to join in the same or like association and covenant, to the enlargement of the kingdom of Jesus Christ; and the peace and tranquillity of Christ's kingdoms and commonwealths." When "the people" - the saints of the Most High - are "gathered together," then - but not till then -- shall "the kingdoms serve the Lord."

* Baillie, vol. 2, pp. 115, 117, 142
** Baillie, vol. 2, p. 192.

All Israel

Herman Witsius writes that one of the "benefits of the New Testament" is "the restoration of Israel." What does he mean by "the restoration of Israel"? We shall see what he has to say about Israel based on the Apostle Paul's words in Romans 11.

Herman Witsius, The Economy of the Covenants Between God and Man, Vol. 2, pp. 414-415:

XXII. From what we have said before, it appears, that they depart from the apostle's meaning, who, by all Israel, understand the mystical Israel, or the people of God, consisting both of Jews and Gentiles, without admitting the conversion of the whole Jewish nation to Christ, in the sense we have mentioned. Notwithstanding this may be confirmed by the following arguments, 1st. The apostle speaks of that Israel, to whom he ascribes his own pedigree, ver. 1 whom he calls his flesh, that is, his kindred, ver. 14. and the natural branches, ver. 21. whom he constantly distinguishes from the Gentiles; to whom, he testifies, blindness is happened. All this is applicable to Israel properly so called. 2dly. He lays before us a mystery: but it was no mystery that a very few Jews were converted to Christ together with the Gentiles; for we have daily instances of that. 3dly. He reminds the Gentiles not to exult over, or despise the Jews, from this argument, that, as they themselves were now taken in among the people of God, so, in like manner, the Jews were in due time to be taken in again. But if the apostle meant, that the body of the Jewish nation was to continue in their hardness; and but a few of them to be saved, who, joined to the Gentiles, should form a mystical Israel, the whole of that discourse would be more adapted to the commendation of the Gentiles than of the Israelites; and encourage rather than repress the pride of the Gentiles. 4thly. As the fall and diminishing of Israel, ver. 12. and their casting away, ver. 15. are to be understood; so likewise the receiving and saving of them; for here the rules of a just opposition must be observed. But the fall, diminishing, and casting away of Israel are to be understood of the generality of the Jewish nation; therefore the receiving and saving of Israel in like manner.

He sums up the expectation Christians ought to have based on this exegesis of Romans 11 (p. 418):

As from all this it is evident, we are to expect the general conversion of the Israelites in time to come, not indeed of every individual, but of the whole body of the nation, and of the twelve tribes.

And how is this promise of God a "benefit" for which Christians are to be thankful? Witsius answers (p. 419):

Lastly, To this restoration of Israel shall be joined the riches of the whole church, and as it were, life from the dead, Rom. xi. 12. "Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?" and ver. 15. "For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world; what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" The apostle intimates, that much greater and more extensive benefits shall redound to the Christian church from the fulness and restoration of the Jews, than did to the Gentiles, from their fall and diminuation; greater, I say, intensively, or with respect to degrees, and larger with respect to extent.

What a day to look forward to, and to hasten, if the Lord wills, by our humble prayers for the conversion of the Jews. As Samuel Rutherford memorably wrote, Letters, XXXIX, p. 89:

Oh, to see the sight next to Christ's coming in the clouds, the most joyful! our elder brethren, the Jews, and Christ fall upon one another's necks, and kiss each other! They have been long asunder, they will be kind to one another when they meet: O day! O longed for, and lovely day, dawn! O sweet Jesus, let me see that sight that will be as life from the dead, thee and thy ancient people in mutual embraces!

Happy Reunion of the Divided Church Promised By God's Word

Thoms M'Crie, The Unity of the Church, pp. 57-62:

Discourse 2 - On the Removal of Church Divisions and Application of the Doctrine

"They shall be one in mine hand" Ezekiel 37:19

Having taken a view of the scriptural unity of the Church, and of the nature and causes of those divisions by which it is broken, let us now turn our eye to a more agreeable and cheering prospect.

Removal of Divisions in the Church

III. Of the removal of the divisions of the Church, and the restoration of her violated unity.

1. A happy reunion of the divided Church is promised in the Word of God. It is implied in those promises which secure to the Church the enjoyment of a high degree of prosperity in the latter days - in which God engages to arise and have mercy on Zion, to be favorable to his people, pardon their iniquity and hear their prayers, cause their reproach to cease, and make them a praise, a glory, and a rejoicing, in all the earth; in a word, in which he promises to pour out his Holy Spirit and revive his work. God cannot be duly glorified, religion cannot triumph in the world, the Church cannot be prosperous and happy, until her internal dissensions are abated, and her children come to act in greater unison and concert. But when her God vouchsafes to make the light of his countenance to shine upon her, and sheds down the enlightening, reviving, restorative and sanctifying influences of his Spirit, the long delayed, long wished-for, day will not be far distant. It will have already dawned.

But there are, in the Bible, promises that bear directly on this part of the Church's felicity, and pledge the divine faithfulness for the restoration of her lost peace and violated unity. Some of these I shall lay before you as grounds of your faith, and encouragements to your hopes and endeavors.

I begin with the declaration of the evangelical prophet, which has been often reechoed in the prayers of the friends of Zion, and which deserves your particular attention from its occupying a place in the midst of promises referring immediately to the times of the New Testament: "Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion" (Isa. 52:8). The divisions and distractions of the Church have, in every age, been greatly owing to the conduct of her overseers and guardians. If they "follow their own spirit, and see a lying divination," how can it be expected that they shall "go up into the gaps, to make up the hedge, or stand in the battle in the day of the Lord?" (Ezek. 13:3-6). If in giving forth instructions respecting sin and duty, danger and safety, their voices be dissonant and contradictory, must they not cause great distress and perplexity to their people, and prove, instead of messengers of peace, "the snare of a fowler in all their ways, and hatred in the house of their God?" (cf. Hos. 9:8; Micah 7:4). How cheering, then, the assurance that they "shall see eye to eye" in the matters of God, and lift up their united voice in "publishing salvation, and saying to Zion, 'Thy God reigneth!' " (Isa. 52:7-8).

To this may be added another passage from the same prophecy which bears an equally undoubted reference to the latter days, although clothed in Old Testament language: "He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the enmity[1] of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim" (Isa. 11:12-13). Then, instead of waging an unnatural war, and forming ungodly alliances to enable them the more effectually to harass one another, they shall, with united strength, assail the avowed enemies of religion: "They shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them" (Isa. 11:14).

The remark made as to the period referred to in the above predictions may be applied to the following, although some parts of the description relate more immediately to the deliverance from the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities: " 'At the same time,' saith the Lord, 'will I be the God of ALL the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.' " (Jer. 31:1, 6). "For there shall be a day that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, 'Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God.' " "Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first" (Jer. 33:6-7).

Suffice it to add these two evangelical promises: "Then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent" (Zeph. 3:9). "It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, 'Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord: I will go also.' Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord" (Zech. 8:20-22). "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be ONE Lord, and his name ONE" (Zeph. 14:9).

These, brethren, are "exceeding great and precious promises" (2 Pet. 1:4); and do they not amply secure the attainment, in due time, of the blessing to which they all so evidently refer? Yes, "these are the true sayings of God" (Rev. 19:9) - of Him who cannot lie nor change nor call back his words. They are the sayings of him "that frustrateth the tokens of liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish; that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers" (Isa. 44:25-26). They are "written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord" (Ps. 102:18) for the fulfillment of them. Give him glory by placing your hope and confidence in his promises; and let the cheering prospect which they hold forth console and animate your hearts, amidst all the distress which you feel in contemplating the present disordered and divided state of the Church. Are you still disposed to say, "How can these things be?" Do you find it difficult "against hope to believe in hope?" (cf. Rom. 4:18). Consider what I have farther to say. [Continue reading here.]

1. See Bishop Lowth's note on the passage.

Antichrist

John Brown of Haddington, Brown's Dictionary of Bible Characters (2007), pp. 123-125:

ANTICHRIST

An adversary of Jesus Christ. Heretics who deny the doctrine of the Trinity, or the divinity or incarnation of Christ, etc., are called antichrist. Of this sort, there were many in the time of the Apostle John. (1 John 2:18, 23, 4:3; 2 John 7) But one particular system of wicked persons, principles, and practices, is chiefly referred to, in the daily fear of which the early Christians lived. The Scripture presents this Antichrist as a very man of sin, and son of perdition, as a strong delusion overspreading the whole Roman Empire like a terrible judgment introduced by ignorance and hatred of the truth, and apostasy from it. He springs from the bottomless pit amid the terrible smoke of superstition and error; as sitting in the Temple or Church of God; as exalting himself above magistrates, angels, and everything to do with God; as a despiser of the gods of the idolatrous heathen, and the God of his professed fathers in the early Church, and setting up a new class of Mahuzzim, deities to protect his different dominions, giving them over to the vilest blasphemy, error, cruelty, and persecution; as possessing civil and ecclesiastical power over the ten parts of the Roman Empire, and seizing upon three of them as his rightful domain; as establishing his abominations unnumbered with false miracles and lying wonders; as excluding from civil commerce those who do not more or less solemnly acknowledge, and submit to, his power.

United under one head - the destructive angel of the bottomless pit - the promoters of this delusion are many and mischievous, like locusts and scorpions, ruinous to those who know nothing of the true grace of God, having their conscience seared as with a hot iron, speaking lies in hypocrisy, propagating the doctrine of devils, forbidding to marry, or, on occasion, to use lawful and wholesome meats, while their hearers had itching ears, heaping up teachers, and giving attention to their fables. They are lovers of themselves, covetous, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, breaking their word, false accusers, despisers of those that are good, treacherous, headstrong, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, creeping into houses and leading captive silly women burdened with sins. The chief residence of this monster would be Rome; his name, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth. The number of his name is 666, whose numeral letters constitute Latinus or Romish, denying the articles of the faith, and upholding many other things in the Romish church.

This antichrist began his work in the apostolic age, but was checked by the power of the Roman Empire till its destruction, when a fearful apostasy from the faith happened in the Church. His duration is 1260 years, during which he promotes idolatry, lies, and blasphemy; treads the church under foot; and persecutes the saints who, all along bear witness against his abominations. Nor do the terrible ravages of the Eastern angels loosed from the Euphrates in the least make his subjects repent of their idolatries, murders, sorceries, fornications, and thefts. At the end of his reign, he will, with craft and fury, almost entirely cut off faithful witnessing for Christ. But, all of a sudden, by the pure preaching of the gospel, by the pouring out of sevenfold plagues, or vials of divine wrath, by the revolt and opposition of his own subjects, he will be terribly destroyed, to the consternation of his adherents and the great joy of the saints, both Jew and Gentile. (Dan. 7:18-12, 20-26, 11:36-40; 2 Thess. 2:3-12; 1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 3:1-7, 4:3-4; Rev. 9:1-11, 20-21 and chs. 11, 13-19)

The above characteristics drawn from Scripture cannot be wholly found in the heathen Emperors of Rome, much less in the fanciful Danish-Antichrist of popish writers, or the Armillus of the Jews, or the Daggial of the Mahometans. The Mahometan system may indeed be considered as a lesser antichrist, but neither contain all the characteristics applicable to it. It does not sit in the Church, nor appear to men to have a power equal to God's. It allows no idolatry, nor is it notable for the persecution of the saints, nor was it established by lying wonders, but by the power of the sword. Actually, every characteristic is clearly found in the papacy.

If with the two great Newtons (Isaac and Thomas), and Moses Lowman, we date the rise of antichrist from the pope becoming a civil prince in AD 750 or 756. I rather incline to date the rise of Antichrist from his claim to universal headship over the Christian Church in AD 606, or 608, for in this, I suppose, his character of Antichrist chiefly consists. (See Antichrist: in 1 John 2:18, 22, 4:3; 2 John 1:7; and Antichrists in 1 John 2:18)

[See John Brown of Haddington's Dictionary of the Holy Bible for the expanded entry on Antichrist from which the extract above is derived.]

Revelation: Disclosure, Not Concealment

The Book of Revelation is intimidating to many. There have been so many various and strange views that one has to sort through even if one wishes to find a commentary to assist them in studying the book, that many set Revelation aside -- effectively, many Bibles end with the Book of Jude, not the Apocalypse.

The 1835 American edition of Richard Baxter's Jesuit Juggling: Forty Popish Frauds Detected and Disclosed (original 1659 title: A Key for the Catholics, to open the Juggling of the Jesuits, and satisfy all that are but truly willing to understand, whether the cause of the Roman or Reformed Churches is of God), includes an address to the American Church which makes the following observation (p. ix):

It is also not a little perplexing, that the Apocalypse, to the reading and hearing of the words of which book alone of the sacred canon, a unique blessing is attached by the "Faithful Witness, and prince of the kings of the earth"—the Apocalypse, or the revelation of John is far less studied in its connection with the past annals of the Christian church, than any other portion of "the oracles of God." Hence, there is an almost universal ignorance or misconception of the genuine attributes and ungodly proceedings of the Romish "seducing spirits, and false teachers, who speak lies in hypocrisy."

My pastor, Steven Dilday, has been translating the Synopsis Criticorum of Baxter's friend, Matthew Poole, including Synopsis of the Book of Revelation. One volume thus far has been published, and two more are forthcoming, Lord willing. Pastor Dilday is also preaching through the Book of Revelation to our congregation. One point made by him in his preaching which impressed me and that I have considered in my own studies of this book, which have been deeply enriched by the labors of Matthew Poole and Steven Dilday, is that there is a fundamental principle that emerges from the very first verse: "revelation is a disclosure, not a concealment." If students of the Bible would keep this principle in mind and apply it to the Book of Revelation particularly, then -- while acknowledging that this is a difficult book to understand and requires exegetical labor to do so -- we would benefit greatly in the appreciation that God did not make a mistake in making this book part of the canon. No matter how much the book has been abused, God has not given it to us to confound his people, but to reveal, to disclose words of great importance for our edification, makes all the difference, I think, in how we relate to the book. If it can be understood, then there is hope that it may be understood. With this principle in mind, the diligent student of God's Word will not throw up his hands in despair when he finishes reading Jude but will press forward in the hope of entering into God's promise that "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein" (Rev. 1.3).

Pray for the Reign of Grace Over All the Earth

William Swan Plumer, The Rock of Our Salvation, pp. 434-439 (HT: Holdfast):

God's people can pray for the reign of grace over all the earth.. Such supplications are agreeable to the will of God. Psa. 122:6. The first three petitions of the Lord's prayer embrace the same subject. There is too little united, hearty calling on God. All the progress hitherto made in bringing men to a saving knowledge of the Redeemer has been in answer to the fervent cries of the children of God. There is nothing more powerful for good than prayer.

Those who know somewhat the doleful case of the heathen, ought to plead their cause before all Christian people. Mankind are slow to believe how terribly the perishing nations have multiplied their sorrows by hastening after other gods than Jehovah.

Every member of the church should be trained and urged to do his full share of the great work. He should know his place, and keep it. He should love to do what he can for so blessed a cause.

All the churches should be trained to liberality in giving their worldly substance for spreading the gospel. Systematic, benevolence is loudly called for. We must learn to carry our liberality to the extent of self-denial. We must remember the power of littles. The ocean consists of the aggregation of drops.

Our young men must freely give themselves to the work of the ministry at home and abroad. Parents must cheerfully give their sons to this service. It must come to be, in popular esteem, an honor to serve the Lord in any way his providence may permit. Why is the ministry so lighty esteemed ? Why do we so seldom find a Hannah, a Eunice, or a Monica in the church of God? One well-qualified, laborious minister of the gospel is commonly far more useful than two men of equal talents in any other calling. It is enough to break the heart to see revival after revival without a host of young men rising up to publish salvation.

There should be a much deeper tone of piety in all the churches. Love is too cold. Faith too often staggers. Repentance sheds too few tears. Joy has but few feasts. Pity for the perishing too seldom stirs the soul to its depths. Adoring views of God have too little power over men's minds. Hope is too feeble to impart much animation. "In doing good," says Burke, "we are generally cold, and languid, and sluggish, and of all things, afraid of being too much in the right. But the works of malice and injustice are quite in another style. They are finished with a bold, masterly hand, touched as they are with the spirit of those vehement passions that call forth all our energies when we oppress and persecute." Oh that ministers and people, fathers and mothers, young men and maidens loved as they should a dying world, and labored as they ought to turn many to righteousness.

Prayer.

Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts! The whole earth is full of thy glory. Blessed be the Lord for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth, and the fulness thereof. Still more would we bless thee for the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush, and for thy precious loving-kindness, and for the precious seed of gospel truth, and for the precious promises, and for precious faith to believe thy word, and for the precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, and for the precious death of thy saints, and for the precious name of Jesus, which is as ointment poured forth, and for the precious blood of the Son of God, through whom we have redemption.

Look in mercy on this dark world. Remember Zion. Make Joseph a fruitful bough, whose branches run over the wall. Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion. Bring back the captivity of thy people, that Jacob may rejoice and Israel be glad. Thou hast set thy Son on thy holy hill of Zion. Righteousness is the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. Hasten the time when the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the young lion and the fat-ling together, and a child shall lead them; and the cow and the bear shall feed, and their young ones lie down together, and the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the nations shall learn war no more, and thy ancient people the Jews and the fulness of the Gentiles shall be brought in; when the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ; when the Lord shall call them his people which are not now his people; when the angel shall fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.

Lord God of hosts, cut short the work in righteousness. Let the ploughman overtake the reaper, and let a nation be born in a day.

"Pity the nations, 0 our God;
Constrain the earth to come;
Send thy victorious word abroad,
And bring the strangers home."

We are indeed asking great things, but we do it at thy command. We ask no more than thou hast promised to thy Son, and no more than he has purchased by his most precious blood, and no more than he himself intercedes for in heaven. Amen.

Dies Irae

Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) is a 13th century Latin liturgical poem or hymn (which is still used in Tridentine Latin liturgy today) about the Last Judgment whose authorship is traditionally attributed to Thomas of Celano. It has influenced many composers and poets since, including Michael Wigglesworth's epic poem, The Day of Doom. One of the best English translations of this poem (although it does differ from the original) is that of Richard Crashaw, called The Hymn, Dies Irae Dies Illa. In Meditation of the Day of Judgment (1646), who was raised a Protestant but during the English Civil Wars converted (Alexander Pope says he was "outwitted") to Roman Catholicism while in France. Protestants have acknowledged Crashaw's greatness as a poet while lamenting his apostacy to Rome.

Richard Alleine quoted extracts from this poetical meditation in his classic on spiritual warfare entitled, The World Conquered by the Faithful Christian (1668, 1995 SDG ed.), pp. 149-150, as follows:

Oh! that fire, before whose face
Heaven and earth shall find no place:
Oh, those eyes! whose angry light
Must be the day of that dread night.

Oh, that trump! whose blast shall run
An even round with the circling sun,
And from the murmuring graves shall bring
The risen dead to meet their King.

Oh, that book! whose leaves so true
Will set the world in judgment due:
Oh, that Judge! whose hand, whose eye
None can endure; yet none can fly.

Mercy, O Lord! mercy I cry,
With blushing cheek and streaming eye;
Great though my sin, love can forgive;
Oh, may my soul through Jesus live!

Those mercies, Lord, thy saints have found,
Who've been by Him confess'd and crown'd,
Hope tells my heart the same may be
Through Him obtained, and that by me.

Though both my prayers and tears combine,
Both worthless are, for they are mine.
But Thou thy bounteous self still be;
And show Thou art, by saving me.