VI. President Dwight-Stresses Historical View of Antichrist

TIMOTHY DWIGHT (1752-1817), Congregational clergyman, president of Yale, and stalwart defender of the earlier faith, was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, his mother being the daughter of Jonathan Edwards. With a remarkably acquisitive mind, he is said to have read the Bible through at four. ^{80Moses C. Tyler, Three Men of Letters, pp. 72-127.} At six, in grammar school, he learned Latin from the books of older boys while they were out at play. Beginning at the age of eight he read Josephus, Prideax, Rollin, Hooke, and other historians. At thirteen he entered Yale, ^{81Yale College was founded in 1701 at Saybrook, in Connecticut, as collegiate school for colony, and removed to New Haven in 1718. Its charter was granted in 1745, and a chair of divinity added in 1755. Later school of medicine, theology. And law were established.} and at seventeen, in 1769, was graduated with honors. In 1771 he returned as tutor for six years and assisted in administrative lines, receiving his M.A. in 1772. He was an intensive student, putting in four teen hours a day in study, and eating frugal and hurried meals.PFF3 242.3

During the Revolutionary War, Dwight served as chaplain in the Army, resigning in 1779, and served two terms in the legislature. He was ordained in 1783, and from 1783 to 1795 served as pastor of the Congregational church at Greenfield Hill, Connecticut. At the same time he established and was principal of a boys’ school. In 1795 he was elected president of Yale and professor of divinity, in which position he remained for twenty-one years, or until his death. Of commanding presence, he was perhaps the most conspicuous figure in New England at the time. He was a great preacher and theologian, a distinguished administrator and natural leader. ^{82Parrington, op. cit., pp. 359, 360.} The maturity of his life spanned the period of the French Revolution, the prophetic significance of which profoundly impressed him. His literary life also spans the closing decades of the eighteenth century and the early years of the nineteenth. He is therefore the last witness cited for the eighteenth century. (Portrait on page 144.)PFF3 242.4

When Dwight took charge of Yale, the blatant infidelity of French philosophy was rampant. Student membership at church was nearly extinct. He took up the cudgels with Hume and Voltaire. Dwight’s vigorous challenge to infidelity in his Discourse, on the Genuineness and Authenticity of the New-Testament (1794), and his 1797 baccalaureate sermon, Nature, and Danger, of Infidel Philosophy (1798), sounded his call to meet the issue. ^{83Charles E. Cuningham, Timothy Dwight, A Biography, p. 294.} Fresh from its own fight for freedom, America first felt that the French were aiming at the same objectives. This gave further receptivity and emphasis to infidelity in this country. ^{84Ibid., pp. 296, 297.} The vastness of the French convulsion and the splendor of its victories overawed the students of the American commonwealth. In 1796 there was only one freshman in Yale professing Christianity. ^{85Ibid., p. 302.}PFF3 243.1

Infidelity claimed Christianity could only be assumed by authority, not established by evidence and argument. Dwight’s “Lectures on the Evidences of Divine Revelation” ^{86Anonymous, in The Panoplist, and Missionary Magazine United (Boston), vols. 6, 7, 9, New Series, vols. 3, 4, 6. These articles appeared over a period of three years (1810-1813).} forced the enemy to take the defensive. He showed the fallacy of such reasoning. He deguled them with arguments, ridiculing origin by chance and exponding the low of cause and effects. He taught the Genesis view of creation the fall, the flood, and the origion of races. ^{87Cuningham, op. cit., pp. 306-310.} In 1802 a momentous revival broke forth, and one third of Yale’s students were converted. More than thirty of these became interested in the ministry, and the college church now embraced from one fourth to one half the student body. ^{88Ibid., pp. 303, 304, 393; Timothy Dwight, “Brief Account of the Revival of Religion Now Prevailing in Yale College,” Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, vol. 3 (July, 1802), pp. 30-32.}PFF3 243.2

1. PROPHETIC PORTRAYAL OF THE PERIOD

Back in 1781, in A Sermon Preached at Northampton, occasioned by the capture of the British under Cornwallis, Dwight dealt with the precursors of Christ’s glorious kingdom in the latter days, and with the apostasy of 2 Thessalonians, Timothy, and 2 Peter, and the general wickedness prevalent-a “deceit reduced to system, and wrought into maxims, or established rules of practice.” ^{89Timothy Dwight, A Sermon Preached at Northampton, p. 3.} He stresses the coincidence of these prophecies with current conditions as fulfillments among the nations, declaring:”PFF3 244.1

A slight survey of the affairs of Europe, the principal part of the globe, for two centuries past, will convince us, that the prophets above mentioned saw with intrutive [intuitive] certainty the general state of events among the Christian nations, during that period.” ^{90Ibid., p. 5.}PFF3 244.2

2. PAPAL ANTICHRIST SEATED IN CHURCH

Discoursing on the “character of antichrist” as “unfolded to us by St. Paul” in 2 Thessalonians 2, Dwight observes:”PFF3 244.3

This description, the clergy, especially the Popes, of the Romish church, have, for many ages, literally verified. They have seated themselves in the church, or temple of God, and shewed that they were God, by assuming powers, which belong only to God: The powers, for instance, of making laws to bind the consciences of men; of pardoning sin; of forming religious establishments; of introducing new laws for the conduct and government of the church; or, in one word, the mighty powers, denoted by that comprehensive title; The supreme Head of the Church; which belongs only to the Lord Jesus Christ. They have even gone farther, and claimed a power, to which God himself never pretended, the power of indulging in sin. Thus have they exalted themselves above all that is called God, or is worshipped.” ^{91Ibid., pp. 27, 28.}PFF3 244.4

3. ANTICHRIST’S RUIN AT SECOND ADVENT

Dwight de nominates this the “most fatal opposition ever made to the kingdom of Christ,” and adds that Providence calls for an “entire separation between civil and ecclesiastical things.” ^{92Ibid., p. 28.} He then stresses the climax of Paul’s prophecy-the second, literal coming of Christ to “accomplish the ruin of the enemy.” ^93Ibid.PFF3 245.1

4. THE JESUITS, FRANCE, AND THE DEADLY WOUND

Alluding to the loss of the supporting power of the Jesuits, and the abolition of persecution, Dwight felt in 1781, that these con temporary events might be that “most fatal wound.” ^{94Ibid., p. 30.} And France’s part was duly noted. Dwight’s climax concerns America’s part, and her revolution to bring about for the first time civil and religious liberty. Here “constitutions of civil government have, for the first time, been formed, without invasion of God’s prerogatives to govern his church.” ^{95Ibid., p. 33.}PFF3 245.2

5. MILLENNIUM BEGINS WITH ANTICHRIST’S DESTRUCTION

Despite his close relationship to Jonathan Edwards, the post-millennialist, Dwight is strictly a pre-millennialist, and makes this clear observation on the still future thousand years:”PFF3 245.3

The great period of a thousand years, in which the church shall enjoy unexampled peace and felicity, is yet to begin. Its commencement is expected by the most judicious commentators, at a time, near the year 2000. It begins, in the Revelation of St. John, with the destruction of Antichrist, under the seventh vial. ^{96Ibid., p. 27.}PFF3 245.4

6. AMERICAN REVIVALS FOLLOW FRENCH INFIDELITY

In another Discourse on Some Events of the Last Century, preached January 7, 1801, when president of Yale, Dwight alludes first to the great American revival in New England, and bears witness to its freedom from fanaticism:”PFF3 245.5

Of the last of these revivals of religion, that which still extensively exists, it ought to be observed, that it has absolutely, or at least very nearly, been free from every extravagance.” ^{97Timothy Dwight, A Discourse on Some Events of the Last Century, p. 18. (Title page reproduced on p. 206.)}PFF3 245.6

7. PRESENT TIME MARKED OUT BY PROPHECY

Dwight reviews the “change in the religious character of the people of this country” for the worse, beginning about 1755. Next, the American war “increased these evils.” And then “infidelity began to obtain in this country.” ^{98Ibid., pp. 18, 19.} With the searching question, “What shall the end of these things be?” Dwight makes this impressive statement:”PFF3 246.1

The present time is, at least in my view, distinctly marked out in prophecy, as a time of singular deception, sin, and hostility against religion and against its author. In exact accordance with Revelation, spirits of singular falshood, foulness, pertinacity, and impudence, have issued from the mouth of the Dragon, or secular persecuting power, of the Beast, or ecclesiastical persecuting power, ... That these two persecuting powers are in the view of the scriptures wholly united, and that they entirely co operate, cannot, I think, be reasonably questioned. Both of them are described as having seven heads, and ten horns. From the angel interpreter we know, that the seven heads are the seven mountains of Rome, the great city which at that time reigned with undivided empire over the kingdoms of the earth; and that the ten horns are the ten kingdoms, into which that empire was finally divided. Those spirits, therefore, that is. the false teachers designated by them, were to spring, as they have sprung, from Antichristian ground.” ^{99Ibid., p. 35.}PFF3 246.2

8. VARIOUS PROPHETIC NAMES FOR ANTICHRIST

Discuss ing the prophesied Antichrist, Dwight gives this illuminating exposition of its comprehensive scope:”PFF3 246.3

The Romish Hierarchy, or ecclesiastical persecuting power already mentioned, is exhibited in the scriptures under various names; as the Beast, the Man of Sin, the Son of perdition, and the Wicked, or rather the Lawless One. Each of these names is intended to denote some particular characteristic of this power. Thus the Beast directly exhibits its ferocious, sanguinary, or persecuting character; the Man of sin its pre-eminent wickedness; the Son of perdition its certain destination to singular perdition; and the Lawless One its distinguished refusal of being restrained by the laws of either God, or man.” ^{100Ibid., p. 36.}PFF3 246.4

9. ITS OVERTHROW Is UNDER WAY

Climaxing with the prophesied destruction of the Wicked One, Dwight expresses the belief that the process is under way-though he adds, “Yet some time must doubtless elapse before this abomination of desolation shall be finished.PFF3 246.5

“The kings, or states, into which the secular persecuting power was divided, have begun to hate the Whore, to eat her flesh, and to burn her with fire. The ecclesiastical persecuting power is in a fair way to be soon destroyed. The secular persecuting power is rapidly wasting itself, and that not the less because of the present splendour of one of its constituent parts. The reign of the spirits of deceit is exhibited in prophecy, as short, and the coming of Christ to destroy them, as sudden, unexpected, and dreadful.” ^{101Ibid., p. 39.}PFF3 247.1

10. PAGAN DRAGON PERSECUTES WOMAN-CHURCH

In A Discourse in Two Parts, delivered in the chapel of Yale College on July 23, 1812, on the occasion of a sobering “Public Fast,” Dwight based his sermon on Revelation 12-16. He began by showing how through death Christ triumphed over principalities and powers, and by His resurrection He led captivity captive ^{102Timothy Dwight, A Discourse in Two Parts, p. 8.} The devil’s sense of shortened time and futility excited his wrath and activity to greater persecution in the early church period of Pergamos, where Satan dwelt. ^{103Ibid., pp. 8, 9.} Imprisonment, slavery, exile, and massacre by pagan Rome reached their climax just before Constantine. ^{104Ibid., p. 10.} Dwight depicts the woman clothed with the sun and crowned with stars as the Christian church, and the dragon ready to devour her progeny. He continues:”PFF3 247.2

This dragon is afterward called the serpent, the devil and satan, who, by the agency of the pagan Roman empire, carried on a violent persecution against the church. Hence the dragon is said to have ‘seven heads and seven crowns,’ in allusion to the seven hills on which Rome was built, and to the seven forms of government, which successively took place in the empire:-and he is said to have ‘ten horns,’ typifying the ten kingdoms into which the empire was afterward divided. Thus the scenery is explained to John by an angel.” ^{105Ibid., p. 9.}PFF3 247.3

11. PAGAN ROME SUCCEEDED BY PAGANIZED CHRISTIANITY

With his power still further curtailed by the Christianization of the Roman Emperor Constantine, Satan’s “mortification and disappointment” led him to inject heresy, party strife, and ecclesiastical ambition, and to bring in the floods of northern barbarians. But these victorious pagans embraced the Christian faith. ^{106Ibid., pp. 10, 11.} Then Satan introduced popery.PFF3 247.4

“When idolatry was abolished by the powers of government, the devil introduced, under the mask of Christianity, a new and refined species of idolatry, which has continued for more than a thousand years. As light has been increasing, the papal idolatry has declined.” ^{107Ibid., p. 18}PFF3 248.1

12. FRANCE PREDICTED AGENT OF OVERTHROW

But the papal power was not to continue on indefinitely, as God had put metes and bounds to it. So Dwight observes:”PFF3 248.2

And at this period, when popery seemed near its exit, the devil has adopted, in its stead, this new artifice to undermine the credit, and defeat the influence of the gospel. The same light which has chafed away the clouds of papal superstition, he is perverting into the means of spreading infidelity under the specious names of liberty, reason, and philosophy.” ^108Ibid.PFF3 248.3

The scripture has foretold this very circumstance, as what will ac company the great events of the present period.”PFF3 248.4

It announces the downfall of the papal power; and this, if not fully accomplished, is probably near its accomplishment.”PFF3 248.5

It has predicted, that the destruction of this power will be effected by some of those very kingdoms, which were once its principal supporters. France has been one of its chief defenders; and France is now the great agent in its overthrow.” ^109Ibid.PFF3 248.6

13. FIFTH VIAL INVOLVED IN FRENCH REVOLUTION

Dwight then turns to the fifth vial, poured out on the throne of the Beast, and the resultant blasphemy of men. These, he felt, implied licentious morals and atheistical principles, pre-eminently characteristic of the French Revolution. That the devil’s time is short “the word of prophecy imports.” The Revolution had produced great horrors on the continent of Europe, wasting immense treasure and taking millions of lives. “It has over turned states, and changed times and seasons.” ^{110Ibid., p. 19.}PFF3 248.7

14. IF NOT ALREADY ACTIVE, SIXTH VIAL DUE

Dwight’s final point concerns the sixth vial and the dragon-the “infernal combination” of the unclean spirits of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. ^{111Ibid., pp. 19, 20.} Of the final fulfillment he says:”PFF3 248.8

Whether we are now under this particular vial, I pretend not to determine. Be this as it may; there are multitudes of this noxious breed of frogs, (more pestiferous than those which plagued old Egypt) now scattered over the earth, croaking and spawning in every lake and ten, vexing the air with their noise, and poisoning the waters with their slime. These spirits of devils are gone into all the world, corrupting the religious principles, and breaking the political peace of the nations, and directly instigating or indirectly constraining the kings and powers of the earth to gather themselves to the battle.” ^{112Ibid., p. 20.}PFF3 248.9

“If this is not the time intended in the prophecy, there is reason to fear, a time is coming, when the prophetic description will be more fully realized.” ^113Ibid.PFF3 249.1