7For
the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
There is a power of some sort holding back
the mystery of iniquity.
The Mystery of Iniquity says St. Paul «works until now» (2 Thess 2:7), and he hints rather obscurely about something that holds it back until it be taken out of the way and the «man of sin» be revealed.
And
the mystery of iniquity in the Church is that such things have happened.
The Mystery of Iniquity dates from the time of the New Learning and climaxes in and through the rise of Protestantism and the great division of Western Christendom.
For five hundred years we have lived, through all the cultural triumphs and glories of mankind, in an age of the increasing evolution of
the Mystery of Iniquity - the military rebellion, so to speak, against the Lordship of Christ.
This is
the Mystery of Iniquity, which at the end of time will greatly abound, and of its very nature call forth the Second Coming of Christ (Dan 7, 26; Rev 20,7 - 9).
That attempt failed, but it showed that
the Mystery of Iniquity was already at work, and a second such attempt would precipitate the final crisis.
Nevertheless,»
the Mystery of Iniquity» is already at work.
Then, it will be the completion of
the mystery of iniquity.