{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>Some think that the Apostle Paul referred to the Roman\r\nempire, and that he was unwilling to use language more explicit,\r\nlest he should incur the calumnious charge of wishing\r\nill to the empire which it was hoped would be eternal; so\r\nthat in saying, \"For the mystery of iniquity doth already\r\nwork,\" he alluded to Nero, whose deeds already seemed to be\r\nas the deeds of Antichrist. And hence some suppose that he\r\nshall rise again and be Antichrist. Others, again, suppose that\r\nhe is not even dead, but that he was concealed that he might\r\nbe supposed to have been killed, and that he now lives in\r\nconcealment in the vigour of that same age which he had\r\nreached when he was believed to have perished, and will live\r\nuntil he is revealed in his own time and restored to his kingdom.<a id=\"FNanchor_765_765\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_765_765\">[765]</a>\r\nBut I wonder that men can be so audacious in their\r\nconjectures. However, it is not absurd to believe that these\r\nwords of the apostle, \"Only he who now holdeth, let him hold\r\nuntil he be taken out of the way,\" refer to the Roman empire,\r\nas if it were said, \"Only he who now reigneth, let him reign\r\nuntil he be taken out of the way.\" \"And then shall the\r\nwicked be revealed:\" no one doubts that this means Antichrist.\r\nBut others think that the words, \"Ye know what\r\nwithholdeth,\" and \"The mystery of iniquity worketh,\" refer\r\nonly to the wicked and the hypocrites who are in the Church,\r\nuntil they reach a number so great as to furnish Antichrist\r\nwith a great people, and that this is the <i>mystery</i> of iniquity,\r\nbecause it seems hidden; also that the apostle is exhorting\r\nthe faithful tenaciously to hold the faith they hold when he\r\nsays, \"Only he who now holdeth, let him hold until he be\r\ntaken out of the way,\" that is, until the mystery of iniquity\r\nwhich now is hidden departs from the Church. For they\r\nsuppose that it is to this same mystery John alludes when in\r\nhis epistle he says, \"Little children, it is the last time: and\r\nas ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are\r\nthere many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last\r\ntime. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for\r\nif they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_383\">[Pg 383]</a></span>\r\nwith us.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_766_766\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_766_766\">[766]</a> As therefore there went out from the Church\r\nmany heretics, whom John calls \"many antichrists,\" at that\r\ntime prior to the end, and which John calls \"the last time,\"\r\nso in the end they shall go out who do not belong to Christ,\r\nbut to that last Antichrist, and then he shall be revealed.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK TWENTIETH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-610"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"1bea0bd9bd9cd0381d53e8be8e8262d401d06d403cdb55406434b3f1093b5f18","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"1JN","chapter":2,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"1 John ii. 18","verse":18,"verse_end":18}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_766_766","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Original transcription title leaves state T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1871; printed translator allocation retained. Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_766_766","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_766_766\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_766_766\"><span class=\"label\">[766]</span></a> 1 John ii. 18, 19.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_766_766","text_sha256":"20225f49d2809187639f8b85101122b0bdb139554529a4be4c027f7a6b4b37f3","verified":false,"work_id":null}