Note 138 — SERMON VII. PROPHECIES CONCERNING ANTICHRIST. 1 Ep. John ii. 18.

M. d’Alembert, indeed, goes further. He acquaints us, that this charge is now out of date, and that nobody, either within or without the Romish communion, makes it any longer. For, speaking of a public inscription at Geneva, in which the Pope is called Antichrist, he animadverts on this disgrace of that Protestant people, and very kindly suggests to them what their improved sentiments and language should be on that subject. As for the Catholics (says he, very gravely,) the Pope is regarded by them, as the Head of the true Church: By sage and moderate Protestants, he is seen in the light of a sovereign prince, whom they respect, though they do not obey him: But, in an age like this, he is no longer Antichrist in the opinion of anybody. “Pour les Catholiques, le Pape est le chef de la veritable Eglise; pour les Protestants sages & modérés, c’est un Souverein qu’ils respectent comme Prince sans lui obéir: mais dans un siécle tel que nôtre, il n’est plus l’Antichrist pour personne.” Encyclopedie, Art. Geneve.—If the present age be, here, truly characterized, it was high time, or rather it was too late, to found this Protestant Lecture.