Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,
From all of the above considerations, this writer refuses to be ashamed of the historical interpretation of Paul's "man of sin" as a warning against the papacy and the errors that may yet be unfolded from it.  This opinion is certainly not in keeping with the liberal spirit of the current age, during which it has become popular to denounce interpretations advocated by the wisest minds of a thousand years; but when we reflect upon the abominable persecutions of the Inquisition and remember that the principal architect of that diabolical apparatus is still revered as a saint in the Roman church, and when the monstrous wickedness of the popes and priests prior to the Reformation is considered; and when are recalled the atrocities committed in the name of religion, the general corruption of the whole system; and when it is taken into account that only the restraining influences of Protestantism prevent a repetition of such things, we may suddenly see that there is every reason to suspect that the ancient interpretations were founded upon the truth and are therefore neither unjust nor uncharitable.