The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3

IV. Oxford Movement Adopts Futurist Antichrist

The Oxford Movement is the name applied to the early nineteenth-century Rome ward movement in the Anglican Church. It covered a period of twelve years, beginning with Keble’s noted sermon on “National Apostacy,” at Oxford in 1833, and ending with the defection of Newman to the Roman church in 1845. It is also called the Tractarian Movement, because it produced a series of ninety Tracts for the Times, issued at Oxford between 1833 and 1841. PFF3 663.2

The chief objective of these tracts was to “unprotestantize” the Church of England ³⁹ and the principal writers were New man, Pusey, Keble, Froude, and Williams. These men readily seized upon the position of the Futurist writers Maitland and Todd, whose views removed the Roman Papacy from the application of the fearful prophecies concerning Antichrist, and consequently left Protestantism open to the charge of “unjustifiable schism.” It likewise left the Papacy open to the Catholic desire of the Tractators for reunion. These tracts were scattered everywhere, as edition after edition came from the presses, to discredit the historic Protestant view of the papal Antichrist. And they succeeded to a tragic degree. By those tracts Newman and his party proceeded to demolish the doctrinal barriers that separated the Anglican Church from Rome. and so let down the bars for the re-entry of many in 1845-46. PFF3 663.3

At first the Oxford Tractarian Movement had apparently set out to stay the infidel revolutionary spirit. And at the out-set it was looked upon äs the ally of conservatism. But while professing to go back to the primitive church for its model, it actually drew its pattern from the fourth and fifth centuries, when the church was already corrupted, increasingly stressing the dogma of church sacraments äs the means of communicating divine life to man, together with a priesthood of apostolic succession, and the mediation of living priests ⁴⁰ t came to deny the sufficiency of the Scriptures, and to teach that tradition and the commandments of men are necessary. It sought to inculcate reverence for the Bishop of Rome, and deplored the schism at the Reformation, lauding the Roman ritual and missal. PFF3 664.1

1. HOLDS ANTICHRIST Is NOT YET COME

Various of these tracts stress the value and providential superintendence of the liturgies of the church ⁴¹ Others deal with Antichrist; for example, in No. 83, Advent Sermons on Antichrist, there are four sermons devoted to the times, the religion, the city, and the persecutions of Antichrist. On the “time” of Antichrist the author says: “It, then, Antichrist is to come immediately before CHRIST, and to be the sign of His coming, it is manifest that he is not come yet, but is still to be expected,” and couples with this the literal time-period feature: “Further, it appears that the time of Antichrist’s tyranny will be three years and a half, which is an additional reason for believing he is not come ⁴² PFF3 664.2

2. MAINTAINS ROMAN EMPIRE STILL EXISTS

Moreover, he accompanying “time of unexampled trouble” has not yet come, neither had the restraining of Roman power been as yet taken out of the way, “for I do not grant that the Roman Empire is gone. Far from it: the Roman empire remains even to this day ⁴³ As the horns, or kingdoms still exist, as a matter of fact, consequently we have not yet seen the end of the Roman empire ⁴⁴ PFF3 664.3

3. CONTENDS ANTICHRIST TO BE SINGLE INDIVIDUAL

The next proposition was that Antichrist is “one man, an individual, not a power or a kingdom ⁴⁵ Finally, “Antichrist will be an open blasphemer, opposing himself to every existing worship, true and false ⁴⁶ PFF3 665.1