Chapter LXXIV: Appendix: Annotations (4)

10. The tenth line of argument converges at the same point, namely, the _Spirit’s withdrawal_. There is a mysterious passage in 2 Thess. ii. 7, where we are told that there is some great Hinderer, whose presence prevents the final outbreak of the Mystery of Iniquity, and who must be withdrawn before the end of lawlessness can come, in the “reappearing of the Lord.” The advocates of this view contend that, by every sign, the Spirit of God is shown to have withdrawn or to be withdrawing from the church as a whole. It is maintained by very devout souls that there is left, in the church at large, neither spiritual worship, spiritual faith, spiritual work, nor spiritual life; that altho these all exist, they exist in a few elect individuals, and not in the church as a body; and that, especially in the matter of _administration_—the specific office of the Spirit—He is displaced by the spirit of the world, as evinced by the worldly men and maxims, secular oratory, artistic music, worldly entertainments, etc., which everywhere prevail.

Whatever grounds, above presented, may seem untenable or unsafe, one thing seems undeniable: there is a _convergence of signs upon this our day_, such as has never indicated any previous period as the probable time of the end. For example, if the Hebrew means _Rosh_, Russia, and this nation is thus in prophecy indicated as the “head” of the last great movement of history toward world empire, how like a fulfilment are all the present movements of that empire—the trans-Siberian railway, the encroachments on China, etc.! And if universal anarchy is to be the last great development of society, when was there a time when, both in church and state, there was such a development of lawlessness (ἀνομια)?

Upon this subject we can no longer, within these narrow limits, expatiate. But it may at least stir up the thoughtful reader to individual search into the signs of the times. What are the indications above the prophetic and historic horizon? If the signs of the coming of the Son of Man are indeed to be seen, it may well incite us to be among the watchers who, while others yet sleep, are awake and looking for the dawn!