What, then, could that be? We know it cannot be, for the reasons already given, something physical or something that could be reproduced. It must be something different.
The Antichrist, as we know, will be one actual man, though there are many antichrists, as the Scriptures say. He will be the epitome of all these. But we know also that it is specifically a (singular) spirit that drives this effort. The Scriptures tell us that plainly. Obviously that singular spirit is and must be the devil who, as an angel, is himself a spirit. What, then, can we conclude about Antichrist? He will be a demoniac, just as Judas was. As Judas was possessed by the devil to such an extent that the Scriptures plainly say that the devil actually entered him, so we can be certain that likewise Antichrist will be absolutely possessed by the devil. This of course suffices to explain his peculiar powers and awesome influence that will single him out from among the rest of mankind. He will enjoy the devils intelligence (i.e. his cleverness and craftiness), which as we know is significant: “knowledge puffeth up, but charity buildeth up”. Combine an awesome intellect with a man who has seemingly superhuman powers and we can only imagine what he could do; after all, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Caesar Augustus and Alexander the Great never worked anything like miracles (except in the loosest sense of the word, e.g. a miraculous military victory), but they nearly conquered and ruled the whole (known) world, whether directly or indirectly. Add to that apparently superhuman powers, and we can only imagine what a man could effectively do, even without need of an actual army. For example, he could propagate a new religion and by clever speech draw in an enormous mass of mankind to the practice of it, with Antichrist of course being the head of that religion, and likely even himself being worshipped as if he were God.
But what are the merchants weeping? Well, what does any merchant, whether his goods be physical (or of a spiritual kind, even) prey upon? Greed, which is to say idolatry. If the greed that is so fundamental for driving any sort of merchant or market is lost, then consequently there will be no demand for the merchant who makes his living trying to satiate that greed or desire. Candle merchants must have weeped bitterly at the advent of the light bulb. Horse breeders and trainers at the advent of the automobile. These needs being lost, satisfied or replaced, the market for their wears consequently disappear and, with time, almost completely. Now the question arises, if the Roman Catholic Church and religion were completely and utterly destroyed, and even every single Catholic along with it, why would that end all idolatry or greed? Those who make the Church buildings, altars, etc., could go on to make other things.
Even if we assume, for the sake of argument, that Roman Catholicism is, as the Fundamentalists would have it, the worst sort of epitome of idolatry, what is to stop it from reemerging in another form? Nothing, of course. Men would still be susceptible to idolatry and greed and, therefore, the merchant has a potential market. Clearly, then, with the fall of Mystery Babylon mentioned in the Apocalypse, the whole world order that is built upon idolatry and greed collapses and disappears along with it. Now this surely would be an awesome miracle, and the destruction of the city of Rome or even the whole Church could not in any way whatsoever effect anything even close to this. No, it would in fact require the destruction of this present world, at least as we know it, to accomplish this. For this to happen completely, men would need to cease to have needs entirely. We would cease to be cold, hungry, sick, et cetera. All of this would and must disappear, such that anyone who makes his living satisying these needs is now without a market. Further, those previously mentioned needs (for clothing, housing, medicine, et al.) generate activities and industries that are completely legitimate: being a doctor, carpenter or whatever is not inherently sinful, so why God would want these people to weep, wail and lament the loss of their industry, as if to be punished for providing those goods?
What we are probably seeing in the Apocalypse, then, is the loss of that market that those wolves in sheep’s clothing prey upon, which is to say ignorance, loneliness, confusion, despair and so on; not to mention the very heart of idolatry and greed, whether of self, wealth and power or the world or all of the above. Now this industry, as we know, God detests: He detests those who lead others into sin, error or idolatry or who strive by sophistry and fair-seeming words to lure men into error and even an evil life (“Woe to those by whom scandal comes…”). Therefore, it is safe to say that whatever city has “fallen” in the Apocalypse has so utterly fallen forever that men will no longer be able to “traffic” in each other’s souls, i.e. to beguile one another even to their souls’ everlasting ruin.
What these men are therefore weeping over is what Saint Augustine might call “the city of man” or “the city of men” (as opposed to the city of God, the Church). They are weeping over the loss of this world upon the advent of a completely new one. Now surely that is despicable and diabolical, to weep over the end of tears, suffering, sickness, cruelty, crime, murder, vanity, death itself and all manner of sin. Clearly that kind of lamenting is worth singling out as wicked, pathetic, vain and completely evil. Clearly, then, the Apocalypse is talking about exactly what everybody already knows is the subject of the Apocalypse, i.e. the end of the world.
