Antichrist is truly like his predecessor and prototype. He shoots up above his fellows, like some new and strange thing, so that all the world wonders after him.

3. His Greatness.-Three times over in these two verses, and once in the book of Chronicles, he is said to be "mighty," implying that there was something of pre-eminent might and elevation about him, not merely in his own eyes, but in the eyes of all who looked upon him. The word occurs about one hundred and sixty times in the Old Testament, and always in the sense of peculiar greatness, especially warlike greatness, so that the expression "mighty warrior" would express the force of it as well as any single word. In Gen. vi. 4. we read, "the same became mighty men." In 1 Sam. xvii. 51, Goliath is called the champion, or literally the mighty one of the Philistines. Frequently, in the historical books, we read of "mighty men of valour." In Dan. xi. 3, we read, "a mighty king shall stand up." Nay, it is the word applied to Messiah, Ps. xlv. 3, "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most Mighty," and Ps. lxxxix. 16, "I have laid help upon one that is Mighty;" Is. ix. 6, "His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God;" and it is the epithet applied more than once to God himself, Jer. xxxii. 18, "The great, the Mighty God, the Lord of hosts is his name." Some of the old translations render the word " giant," identifying Nimrod with the old race of giants of whom we read not unfrequently in Scripture, and still oftener in fable. But mighty as Nimrod was, raised up in his greatness above the mighty of his generation, there is a mightier than he among the sons of men, of whom he is but the type. The Man of Sin is the man of might. He rises up 'great in power, and spreads like a green bay-tree." His coming is said to be "with all power" (2 Thess. ii. 9), and to be after or by means of the working or energy of Satan," or, as it is elsewhere, "the dragon gave him his power and his seat, and great authority" (Rev. xiii. 2); and again it is added, more than once, power was given unto him," nay, "power and strength" are given to him (xvii. 13). He is set before us as the great rebel, the Nimrod, the mighty one of the last days,-the man that "exalteth himself" and seizes the dominion of the whole earth, compelling all its inhabitants to fall down before him.

66

66

66

4. The Extent of his Greatness.-The words "in the earth" mean more than merely upon this earth. Taken in that sense, they are unmeaning. They point to the extent of his dominion. He not only rose high, but he stretched his branches wide on all sides. He added city to city, tribe to tribe, that he might

sit alone in the midst of the earth (Isaiah v. 8). Ambitious of power, he enlarged his kingdom, circle after circle, himself the Mighty One in the midst of the far-ranging territory and towering cities. Hear the list of the cities that owned him for their founder: Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar;-nay, not content with these, he goes forth (ver. 11, margin) to Assyria, and builds Nineveh, and Rehoboth, and Calah; and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; the same is a great city." Romulus builds Rome, and is famed throughout the world as the founder of a mighty city. But here is a man who, in a less favourable, less populous age, builds eight cities-cities such as Babylon and Nineveh-cities, of the most unknown of which (Resen) it is said, "the same is a great city." He surely was no common chieftain or warrior that achieved such marvels. As the ambitious man of might, we see him widening his dominions on every side; but it is as the able and far-seeing statesman that we find him rearing eight vast cities, for the consolidation and perpetuation of his empire. Thus, in after ages, do we read of the Assyrian, at once the successor of Nimrod and precursor of Antichrist:-"Behold," says Ezekiel," the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature.

The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers. . . . His height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long. . . . All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations" (Ezek. xxxi. 3-6); and Isaiah describes him as boasting" Are not my princes altogether kings?" and, enumerating the kingdoms that have fallen under his yoke"Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?" (chap. x. 8, 9).. And in Nebuchadnezzar, another of Nimrod's successors and Antichrist's precursors, we have another instance of the same wide-stretching ambition. Daniel thus addresses him: "Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the heaven, hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all" (Dan. ii. 37). And the true Antichrist of the last days fills up the type, and presents us with the specimen of the true Nimrod reigning over the kings and cities of the earth, claiming not only their submission, but their worship.

5. His Restless Ambition. He was "a mighty hunter." That he was so literally there seems no reason for doubting. In his hunting, his superior strength and skill first got play. As the great hunter he would be known far and wide; and as such he would be honoured in an age when not only physical accomplishments were held in esteem, but when the too rapid multiplication of the beasts of the field and forest rendered such qualifications as his very needful. In hunting, two things are essential, strength and skill; and these two characteristics first getting scope in a lower field, soon ripened themselves and found vent in a higher sphere. Leadership in the perils of the chase, soon led to generalship in the dangers of the battle-field. The mighty hunter of the forest is soon the mighty soldier in the plain. The subduer of the savage beast is soon the conqueror of his fellow-men. Such is the restless ambition of Antichrist such the mixture of strength and craft that marks him-the strength of royalty, the craft of priesthood; for he unites both in his world-wide hunting. The whole line of Antichristian pretenders, from Nimrod downwards, have conjoined these two things; and in the last Antichrist we see them more fully conjoined than ever. While he subdues the nations of the earth, he commands that they worship him and receive the mark of his name. He is the great huntsman of souls; his name is "the spoiler," "the destroyer," and his employment is to wear out the saints of the Most High, and shed their blood upon the earth;-a true Nimrod in his rebellion, in his apostacy, in his lust of sway and spoil.

6. His Defiance of Jehovah.-He was a mighty_hunter before the Lord. It was in the sight and presence of Jehovah that he acted thus, as one who was ready to brave the divine displeasure. The presence of Jehovah (whether the expression denote something visible or not) restrained him not. He did not, like Cain, go out from the presence of the Lord, but perpetrated all his wickedness and indulged all his ambition under the very eye of Jehovah. Possibly there may be more than this, as some have supposed, in the expression. It may be that he claimed to be worshipped as divine, or at least set himself up as priest as well as king. Universal monarchy and universal priesthood, these were the two great ideas of his ambition. His assumptions were religious as well as political, and these assumptions (as in all ages such have been) had reference to the woman's seed. From ancient tradition and history, we learn that he called himself by the name of Belus, the sun-god, and, as such, he was worshipped in later ages in Babylon. He stood in the position of an Antichrist-the first of the great Antichristian dynasty-presenting himself

not only for obedience but worship, and in all likelihood, as the seed of the woman, sent to establish the universal monarchy upon earth. In Nebuchadnezzar's setting up the great image for worship, we have an instance of the same thing; for it was not so much the image, as himself, that he sought to be worshipped. And Antichrist is to avow the blasphemy, and present his own person in the temple of God for worship, "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High" (Isa. xiv. 13, 14). In Nimrod, we see Antichrist in the bud-the great rebel, the great apostate, the adversary of God, the supplanter of Christ, the aimer at universal monarchy and priesthood.

So great had been Nimrod's eminence, and such the position he had secured for himself, that his character passed into a proverb, and as we should say of some one, He is as ambitious as Alexander or Napoleon, so it was said ages after, He is like Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord. Awful greatness of ambitious rebellion and apostacy! Remembered for oppression, and profanity, and defiance of Jehovah. My soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united!"

66

To Nimrod there is born no son. At least so we judge from the remarkable fact that none is recorded. He is written childless. He rises up and then passes away. He has successors, but no heirs. Melchizedek was a type of Christ, in that he had no father; so Nimrod seems a type of Antichrist, in that he has no son. Great as are the pretensions of Antichrist, and vast as is the height to which he rises, yet in the pride of power and pomp of greatness he passes away. He comes to his end, and there is none to help him. He has neither son nor heir. His kingdom passes from him; and the true seed of the woman-the very Christ of God-ascends the throne and establishes the universal dominion, the priestly royal monarchy of which there shall be no end. And as it was Babel that was the beginning of his empire, so is "Babylon the great" its consummation and close. There were, doubtless, heard shouts of triumph when first the walls of Babel rose under the eye of Nimrod; there shall rise yet a louder shout of more universal acclamation when the walls of the greater city, like Jericho of old, fall prostrate, and the cry is heard, "She is fallen, she is fallen, Babylon the great."

*We may say of Nimrod's history what Augustine says of other parts,— "Non ea sine aliqua præfiguratione futurorum gesta atque conscripta, neque nisi ad Christum et ejus ecclesiam, quæ civitas Dei est, esse referenda."City of God.

ART. VII.-TERRIBLE THINGS IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.

"AND when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held; and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" (Rev. vi. 9, 10).

66

It is as if to this cry the solemn response were given, By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation "terrible things" form so chief a part of the Book of Revelation, which is scarcely more than a series of predicted judgments, one following hard upon another in rapid succession and ever-deepening intensity, until the climax is reached, in that all things are made "new."

"Terrible things;" yea, so terrible, that we could not endure the study of them were they not "terrible things in righteousness." But "the righteous Lord" ordains them. "The righteous Judge " executes them. And in and by them the righteousness of our God is so illustriously displayed and glorified, that we take delight to read and ponder reverently the revelation of them which the Spirit has made "unto the churches." It is their "righteousness" that calls forth the adoring admiration of angels and of the redeemed in heaven, as well as of the Church of God on earth.

66

They sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just (Sinaiai) and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments (Sikaióμará) are made manifest" (Rev. xv. 3, 4).

66

And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy " (Rev. xvi. 5, 6).

"And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty; true and righteous are thy judgments" (Rev. xvi. 7).

"And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and