The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-12-12 00:00:00

THE CONSUMMATION OF ANTICHRIST.

WHILE the eyes of all Europe are rivetted upon
the events in the Crimea, an act is about to be
consummated in "the Eternal City" which, though
of small significance in the eyes of the world, is in
reality of far deeper importance than anything that
has taken place since the famous Council of Trent.
In pursuance of a design first conceived, it seems,
while he was an exile at Gaeta, Pio NoNo has sum-
moned to the capital of the Papal world the Bishops
of the Romish communion, for the purpose of de-
creeing as al new dogma of the faith the long
controverted doctrine of the Immaculate Concep-
tion of the Virgin MARY. A Pastoral address from
the Irish College at Rome to the Popish Clergy of
the Pseudo-diocese of Dublin by Dr. CULLEN, an-
nounces the fact that the definition and promul-
gation of the dogma in question was to take place
on the Bth instant. " The Church," says Dr.
CULLEN, "in every part of the world, is now deeply
occupied with the thought of promoting her honour;
the desire that animates all hearts is to place the
privileges and dignity of the most exalted of crea-
tures in a stronger light before the faithful, and to
increase their devotion towards her. It is contem-
plated to define in the most solemn manner, on her
approaching festival, the doctrine of her Immacu-
late Conception, always believed and taught by the
Church spread throughout the world, but hitherto
not defined as a dogma of faith."
Little do the Romish Bishops and Doctors who
have been gathered together upon this extraordi-
nary errand, suspect that by the act which by this
time they have consummated, they have set the seal
upon the condemnation of their church by the tes-
timony of prophecy. The opinions of Protestant
Divines have long been divided upon the question
whether or not the character of Antichrist, as
delineated in Holy Writ, be applicable to the
Papacy. Many of its features seemed clearly to
indicate its identity with the great Apostasy which
is predicted as the forerunner of the end ; but on
the other hand the continued profession of the
Catholic creeds by the Church of Rome, caused
many to hesitate as to the light in which that
Church was to be regarded. After the passing of
the decree, however, which has by this time
received the sanction of her "infallible authority,"
there cannot any longer be a doubt upon the sub-
ject. The peculiar mark of Antichrist is the

[ of the true humanity of the SAVIOUR
ship of nature with the

being the fundamental fact of

iren of ADAM

the doctrine which assigns to the SAVIOUR of man-
kind a pure and sinless motl
fellowship by investing HIM

destroys

th a human nature

already restored to purity before His incarnation.
Thus the distinctive character of Antichrist is
wilfully assumed by the Romish Church in the
form of a solemn decree, to which, it would seem,
the consent of the Bishops of the Papal communion
has beforehand been obtained. In reply to the
questions addressed to them by the POPE from
Gaeta, we are told that in almost every instance
the Bishops hastened to " assure His HOLINESS
that they themselves and their predecessors, and
their pious flocks, had always held that the Virgin
MARY had never contracted the guilt of original
sis ; and that, through a special privilege, as
MOTHER of GOD, and through the merits of her
Divine SON, she had been exempted from that
fatal stain, which, with exception of her, we all
inherit from our first parents."

" With that admiralile unanimity," continues Dr.
CULLEN, " which is to be found only in the true
Church, they petitioned the Holy Father to put
the seal of his infallible authority on their teaching,
by solemnly defining this doctrine of the Imma-
culate Conception. It is expected, therefore, that
on the Bth of December, his HOLINESS, surrounded
by the Cardinals and other dignitaries of the
Roman Church, and by Bishops from every region
of the earth, who have come hither to testify their
devotion towards her, will publish his solemn de-
cree, and thus satisfy the anxious desires of all the
faithful children of MARY." After the passing of
this decree the Roman Church will be theoretically
what she has long been practically, not a Church
of worshippers of CHRIST, but a Church of wor-
shippers of MARY, who trace not from HI3I, but
from his mother the origin of the salvation of the
human race.—John Bull.