ANTICHRIST WHO HE IS AND WHAT HE IS.

Southland Times, Issue 562, 17 September 1866, Page 3

ANTICHRIST WHO HE IS AND WHAT HE IS.

A lecture on this subject was on Monday evening delivered in the Temperance Hall, Pitt-street, by the Rev. J. M c Gibbon The lecture was given in connection with the Protestant Alliance Friendly Society. Notwithstanding that an entrance fee was charged ■ for admission, the hall and gallery were crowded, many people being unable to obtain seats. Prior to the delivery of the lecture, a choir of musicians entertained the audience with some sacred music, after which the chairman, Dr Charles, briefly introduced the lecturer Mr M' Gibbon, after a passing allusion to the objects of the society at whose invitation he was lecturing, briefly spoke of the great truths of Christianity,,— -of the mission of Christ, — of the long night of darkness in tho Middle Ages, and oosf s the dawn of a brighter day with the Reformation, when civil and religious liberty began to be felt as a reality. Antichrist, he defined as " one who is opposed or contrary to Christ." The personal antichrist referred to by the i Apostle John, and of Christ himself, as those who should arise, were briefly touched upon, and then the spirit of Antichrist which had been gradually developing since the days of Christ, and was not yet perfect. This spirit was not openly opposed to Christ but working in opposition to Him, and had now manifested itself in a gigantic system of spiritual wickedness. The Rev. gentleman proceeded to speak of the word Antichrist in Scripture, and remarked that it was once thought to apply to one of the Roman Emperors, to Luther, to Napoleon, and last, and most absurd of all, to Napoleon the Third. He main- j tainedthat Antichrist as indicated in the Scriptures, might be developed in a system but not in a living man. He then read several passages from Holy Writ in reference to Antichrist, the one he most dwelt upon being that in the 7th chapter of the book of Daniel, wherein the Prophet described his vision, in which he saw four beasts. These beasts had been interpreted to mean the Chaldean, the Modo-Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman Empires. The verses supposed to refer to the Roman Empire are as follows :— " After this I saw in the. night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreaded and terrible, and strong exceedingly ; and it had great iron teeth : it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it ; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns ; and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots ; and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of? man, and a mouth speaking great things." The reverend lecturer contended that the power of ancient Rome was here fore-shadowed, and he stated that before the Roman. Empire began to decay it was divided into ten kingdoms, and as the Empire began to decline the Roman Church began to rise. Three of the ten kingdoms were absorbed by the temporal power of the mitred Prince, and thence he was called the " Triple-crowned Prince." The lecturer passed on to notice the testimony of St. Paul and St. John concerning Antichrist — of the forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meat — and compared them with that of Daniel. He contended that the characteristics of the Papal power marked it as the Antichrist referred to by these several prophecies. This system, he asserted, had assumed to itself dominant power in all ages and in all countries ; it had reduced persecution to a system — had always assumed the power of lise' and death, and exterminated all who were opposed to. In proof of his argument, he alluded to the persecutions on the mountains of the Alps, of the "Waldenses, of the massacres on St. Bartholomew's Day, and the Edict of Nantes — the cruelties in Italy and Spain, and the butcheries and burnings in England during the time of Mary. Mr M' Gibbon then took up another portion of Daniel's prophecy, in which he speaks of the kingdom that " shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change time and laws." Having based an argument on that passage, he directed the attention of his audience to the great central truth of Christianity, of one Mediator being provided between Q-od and man, whereas, he asserted that the system of which he was speaking set up many mediators, and especially asked the intercession of a woman. He also briefly alluded to the subject of relics — "rags and bones, and the holy coat — winking pictures and weeping statues," and argued that the impostures and frauds of this system marked it as the Antichrist of scripture. Towards the close of his lecture, Mr M' Gibbon referred to the " forbidding to marry " and abstaining from meat ; he impugned the honesty and the chastity of the priesthood ; he asserted that the power of the Papacy was declining, and that kings -no longer feared its interedicts. The above is but a mere outline of a discourse which occupied about two hours in its delivery, and which evoked frequent bursts of applause from the audience. — Sydney Mail, 18th August.