Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

may believe a lie; that they all may be damned that believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. ii. 11, 12.) What, if the Lord hath already sent this awful judgment upon us? Is it a thing impossible? A short time will make it appear whether the Church herself, or the preacher, whose warning voice would now awaken her to her danger, is the victim of delusion, and the believer of a lie; God will make it manifest in that day, when we shall appear before God, and before each other, at the judgment-seat of Christ.

ROMAN CATHOLIC ANNOTATIONS.

The Rhemish New Testament has the following annotations on Revelations xiii.:

"A beast coming vp.] This beast is the vniursal companie of the vvicked, vvhose head is Antichrist: and the same is called (Apoc. 17.) the vvhoore of Babylon. The 7 heades be expounded (Apoc. 17) seuen kings: fiue before Christ, one present, and one to come. The 10 hornes be also there expounded to be 10 kings that shal reigne a short vvhile after Antichrist. This dragon is the Deuil, by vvhose povver the vvhoore or beast or Antichrist vvorketh for in the vvordes follovving (v. 3 & 4) Antichrist is called the beast to vvhom the dragon, that is, the Deuil giueth that povver of feined miracles, and as vve adore God for giuing povver to Christ and his folov vers, so they shal adore the Deuil for assisting Antichrist and giuing him povver.

"14. The image of the beast.] They that novv refuse to vvorship Christs image, vvould then vvorship Antichrists. And vve may note here, that as the making or honouring of this image vvas not against the honour of Antichrist, but vvholly for it, as also the image erected of Nabuchodonosor, and the vvorship thereof vvas

altogether for the honour of him, so is the vvorship of Christs image, the honour of Christ himself, and not against him, as Protestants madly imagin.

66

"17. The character or the name.] As belike for the peruerse imitation of Christ, vvhose image (specially as on the Roode or crucifixe) he seeth honoured and exalted in euery Church, he vvil haue his image adored (for that is Antichrist, in emulation of like honour, aduersarie to Christ) so for that he seeth al true Christian men to beare the badge of his Crosse in their foreheads, he likevvise vvil force al his to haue an other marke, to abolish the signe of Christ. By the like emulation also and vvicked opposition he vvil haue his name and the letters thereof to be sacred, and to be vvorne in mens cappes, or vvritten in solemne places, and to be vvorshipped, as the name of IESVs is and ought to be among Christian men. And as the ineffable name of God vvas among the Jevvs expressed by a certaine number of 4 characters (therfore

called Tetragrammaton) so it seemeth the Apostle alludeth here to the number of Antichrists name.

"And here it is much to be noted, that the Protestants plucking dovvne the image of Christ out of al churches, & his signe of the crosse from mens foreheads, and taking avvay the honour and reuerence of the name IESUS, doe make roome for Antichrists image, & marke, and name. And vvhen Christs images and ensignes or armes shal be abolished, and the Idol of Antichrist set vp in steede thereof, as it is already begonne: then is the abomination of desolation vvhich vvas foretold by Daniel and our Sauiour.

"18. Let him count.]

Though

God vvould not haue it manifest before hand to the vvorld, vvho in particular this Antichrist should be: yet it pleased him to give such tokens of him, that vvhen he commeth, the faithful may easily take notice of him, according as it is vvritten of the euent of other

prophecies concerning our Sauiour, That when it comes to passe, you may beleeue. In the meane time vve must take heede that .vve judge not ouer rashly of Gods secretes, the holy vvriter here signifying, that it is a point of high vnderstanding, illuminated extraordinarily by Gods spirit, to recken right and decipher truely before hand, Antichrists name and person.

"18. It is the number of a man.] A man he must be, and not a Diuel or spirit, as here it is cleere, and by S. Paul 2. Thessal. 2. vvhere he is called, the man of sinne. Againe, he must be one particular person, & not a number, a succession, or vvhole order of any degree of men: because his proper name, and the particular number, and the characters thereof be (though obscurely) insinuated. Vvhich reproueth the vvicked vanitie of Heretikes, that vvould haue Christs ovvne Vicars, the successors of his cheefe Apostle, yea, the vvhole order of them for many ages together, to be this Antichrist. Vvho by his description here and in the said Epistle to the Thessalonians, must be one special man, and of a particular proper name, as our Lord IES VS is. And vvhosoeuer he be, these Protestants vndoubtedly are his precursors, for as they make his vvay by ridding avvay Christs images, crosse, and name, so they exceedingly promote the matter by taking avvay Christs cheefe minister, that al may be plaine for Antichrist.

"If the Pope had been Antichrist, and had been reuealed novv a good many yeres sithence, as these felovves say he is to them, then the number of this name would agree to him; and the prophecie being novv fulfilled,it vvould euidently appeare that he bare the name and number here noted; for (no doubt) vvhen he cometh, this count of the letters or number of his name vvhich before is so hard to knovv, wil be easie, for he wil set vp his

name in euery place, euen as we faithful men do novv aduance IESVS. And vvhat name proper or appellatiue of al or any of the Popes do they finde to agree vvith this number, notvvithstanding they boast that they haue found the vvhole order and euery of them these thousand yeres to be Antichrist, and the rest before euen from S. Peter, forevvorkers tovvard his kingdom.

"18. The number 666.] Forasmuch as the auncient expositors and other do thinke (for certaine knowledge thereof no mortal man can haue vvithout an expresse reuelation) that his name consisteth of so many, & such letters in Greeke, as according to their maner of numbering by the Alphabete make 666, and forasmuch as the letters making that number, may be found in diuers names both proper and common: (as S. Irenæus findeth them in Latinos and Teitan, Hippolytus in αρνούμαι, Aretas in Lampetes, & some of this age in Luderus, vvhich vvas Luthers name in the Alman tongue :) therefore vve see there can be no certaintie, and euery one frameth and applieth the letters to his ovvne purpose; and most absurd folly it is of the Heretikes, to applie the vvord, Latinos, to the Pope: neither the vvhole order in common, nor euer any particular Pope being so called and S. Irenæus the first that obserued it in that vvord, applied it to the Empire and state of the Romane Emperour, vvhich then vvas heathen, and not to the Pope of his daies or after him and yet preferred the vvord, Teitun, as more agreable, vvith this admonition, that it vvere a very perilous and presumptuous thing to define any certaintie before hand, of that number and name. And truely vvhatsoeuer the Protestants presume herein of the Pope, vve may boldly discharge Luther of that dignitie. He is vndoubtedly one of Antichrists precursors, but not Antichrist him self."

:

THE INQUIRER.

SEPTEMBER, 1840.

What saith the Scripture ?-ROм. iv. 3.

THE DEATH OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

WHAT ARE ITS USES AND APPLICATIONS IN THE SCRIPTURE.

Part III.

1. THE death of Jesus, God's executed judgment against the law of leaven in us,-because executed on him, we are free from its guilt, and thereby called to purge out all practical leaven from ourselves (1 Cor. v. 7).-2. The Lord's death, as exhibited in the Supper, the guard against the abuse of that which God has made the centre of the church's gathering upon earth (1 Cor. xi. 26).-3. The Lord's death, his only way of putting away our sins, and having the church in fellowship with Himself in resurrection (1 Cor. xv. 1-7).-4. The memory thereof, the Christian's stimulant to be ready to be always delivered unto death himself for Jesus' sake (2 Cor. iv. 10).-5. As (in the last context) his preparative for suffering, so also for doing all the will of Christ; yea, for living entirely to Him (2 Cor. v. 13).-6. The Lord's death, the entire rupture and breaking up of all Jewish and earthly order, and blessing, and authority (Gal. i. 1).—And this on account of the imbecility thereof, through man's sin,-for no righteousness could be found for man, but by, and in the death of Christ (Gal. ii. 21).-7. The Lord's death, His clearance of the church from all charge against her, being the power of the judgment he bore for her, ere he rose into newness of life with her in Him (Eph. i. 20).-8. Jesus' death, the measure of his obedience, and the procuring cause of His redemption honours (Phil. ii. 8).--9. Conformity thereunto, the believer's path to glory as to outward experience (as in Rom. iv. 23. in the trial of faith) (Phil. iii. 10).—10. The Lord's victory, in resurrection, over death, the precursor and mean of all resurrection (Col. i. 18).-11. The Lord's death, the means of our privilege of being reconciled unto God in Him, presented holy, unblameable, and unreproveable in his sight (Col. i. 22).-12. Fellowship in the benefits of the Lord's death and resurrection inseparable:-If the believer can plead any benefit from the death, he has all benefit from the resurrection (Col. ii. 12).-13. This leads him into practical freedom from subjection and bondage to ordinances as of the world, and the conceits of man's mind about service and duty (Col. ii. 20).-14. The knowledge of the resurrection of Jesus, by God, from death, the church's and the saints' secret of power, and health, and strength (1 Thes. i. 9, 10).-15. The death of Jesus, the pattern of what we have to expect from man while so standing (1 Thes. ii. 15).-16. And this to the saint is no sad commandment; for in the pattern he sees the judicial act whereby his own sins are for ever put away, and the pledge given to him of his coming in glory with Jesus (1 Thes. iv. 14).-17. For Jesus' death has been to him the mean of

[blocks in formation]

fellowship in the present life of the Lord, so as to enable him to live as in the power of his life, who is upon the Father's throne (1 Thes. v. 9, 10).

1. 66 Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. v. 7).

[ocr errors]

There is much worthy of observation in this context. Every believer, as we see from the 8th chapter of the epistle to the Romans, has in him the carnal mind which is enmity against God, yet power withal provided for him to walk contrary to it; for he knows that though this be so, yet has he also the spirit of life in Christ Jesus in him, and that God estimates him according to this-one with Jesus, and free from all condemnation through the death of the Lord upon the cross vicariously for the sin of the church. But these Corinthians not only had this evil in them, but had been walking according to it; and we find that fornication (and that of a very offensive kind), had been allowed. It is about the correcting the working of this leaven, that Paul is here writing: "Know ye not, that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened." Observe they had leaven in principle in them in nature, and this leaven, moreover, had been allowed to work, and therefore the apostle was rebuking them: and yet he says, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." Were they, then, at one and the same time, leavened and unleavened? Yes, in two different ways. In Christ they were, as we all (who are Christians) are, unleavened, for Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. This sacrifice has made atonement for the sin in us; and in His person we find full unhindered access to God, to whose eye the principle of leaven in us is not counted as sin, so long as it be not allowed to work. In Christ they were unleavened; but this very thing brought with it the claim and responsibility to purge out the working of the old leaven. This they had neglected to do, and so in themselves not only they contained leaven, but had leaven working. The principle they could not purge out; the working they could, and were bound moreover to do. There were many offerings of the old sanctuary which typified this state in the church, such as loaves having leaven but baked; as having leaven, unfit to be offered up to God; yet as being baked leaven, in a state not able to work. Now, as it was the death of the lamb in the passover which was the sign for the leaven to be put out of the house, as it were, so truly, antitypically, it was the death of the Lord which did put the leaven out in principle, and as before God, from the church. 'Ye are unleavened, for Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." And this, dear brethren, is universally the way of our God, in teaching us obedience. "You have a spiritual privilege in Christ, which requires you to act in practice in this way and that way." Oh this is a loving way, in which He leads us on into the perfect liberty of His service. May we all then keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. A little, and not a grievous commandment is this, if we remember in whose house, and at whose cost, the Lamb has been provided, and we have eaten of it? Too poor, and our family truly too little, to provide a lamb, our lot in this matter has been thrown into the hands and house of another, according to the liberty given even to Israel of old (Exod. iii. 4). Our God has provided

66

himself a lamb-truly one without spot and blemish-and in His house have we fed upon that lamb. The door into this holiest is by a new and living way consecrated for us, even the rent veil of Jesus' flesh. Surely if in spirit, and by faith within the veil, feeding in blissful security in God's house (as one with Jesus) upon him, as the Lamb slain and alive again for evermore, it is a little thing, in the ample and rich provision there found, to put away our own poor, stale, defiled, and defiling provender. And if we feel there is a little self-renunciation in so doing, what is it more than the children of this world do daily, in the hope of regaining health of body, giving up the food they love, for, or exchanging it with, bitter nauseous medicines. May we be wise in our generation, as they in theirs.

2. "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come" (1 Cor. xi. 26).

The especial sins which drew from the Spirit the portion in which this is found, were these defiling the Supper of the Lord, by making it a place of riotous eating and drinking, and neglect of brotherly love thereat. And both of these sins had their cure in the meaning of the Supper, if rightly understood. Death, the Lord's death, the death of the Son of God, was God's estimate of man's way of choosing to please himself. In the Supper, this too was presented as being the subject of mutual delight to God and the church; to God, because therein was the expression of his own grace and truth, and of the inestimable value of His Son; to the church, because therein she found that by which alone she could rejoice in the holy justice of God, as being, through grace, for herself, though most strongly against her sins. And how, while so exercised in such delights, could so filthy a mean of self-pleasing be indulged? Impossible. Ere the body could be given to such scenes, the soul must needs have lost its fresh savour of the very truth of the Supper. And, on the other hand, if the truth presented in the Supper met man's passions in their very root and source of self-pleasing, how distinctly does the way in which that truth is presented correct the attendant sin of neglect of brotherly love. He died for the church collectively; and no man can know his own fellowship in the blessing, without having at the same time strongly brought to his mind those who are thus bound up in one bundle of life with himself; and this most especially at the Supper, where the many brethren are always assembled together* in celebration. These seem to have been the two sins at Corinth. But it is blessed to see how the Bible is a book of principles, and how, therefore, the failure in one instance brings in from the Spirit a correction to ten thousand others. Had man been looking at the case, he would have satisfied himself by setting the failure in practice to rights. Not so the Spirit; in doing this, he will so do it as to give the church a principle to guide her, not only in a case exactly similar, but also in others, in which though the form of the evil may be different, the principle of it is the same; and,

It is singular how the Establishment has undermined and subverted both the Supper, and the blessed mystery of the union of Christ and the church, by her corruption of Scripture in the communion service. In the Scriptures connected with the subject, the church collective is always addressed, "ye," "ye," "ye;" in the communion service, the individual recipient, "thee," "thee," "thee;" and this is strikingly exhibited in that service itself, for, having quoted the Scriptures correctly, she then corrupts them in using them.

« PredošláPokračovať »