men," in order to deceive them, and “in the sight of the beast,” in order to promote his interests, and not in the sight of God, to serve His cause, or to promote His glory. With respect to the pretended fire of heaven, it may be remarked, that solemn excommunications are called the thunders of the Church, and are denounced with the ceremony of casting down burning torches from on high, as symbols of fire from heaven. These awful denunciations also devote the disobedient victims to the vengeance of eternal fire. The lying wonders are chiefly exercised in support of purgatory, transubstantiation, masses for the dead, and the worship of saints, images, and relics, and are therefore the strongest proofs which can be adduced of the truth of Scripture in pointing out these obvious signs of a corrupt and idolatrous Church.

"And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed."

The image of the former beast which is thus constituted by the two-horned beast, is surely to be understood as the pope himself, who is the idol of the Church, and the representative of the Roman emperors. He is a private person, till his clergy elect him to this high station, and give

him life. He is then enthroned on the high altar, and the cardinals kiss his feet and adore him'. He speaks and issues his decrees, commanding the temporal power to persecute unto death as many as refuse to worship and obey him.

By these means he exercises the power of the former governors of the world; he keeps the ten kingdoms in subjection; he presides in the same city in which the ancient heathen rulers presided; usurps the same powers, assumes the same titles, and requires the same universal homage.

"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."

With respect to the mark of the beast, upon which Mede and Newton say but little, except that it was usual in ancient times for servants to bear their masters' names impressed on their foreheads or their hands; I cannot help thinking that this mark is idolatry, the characteristic brand of the followers of the beast, who having expunged the second commandment from the

'In the medals of Martin the Fifth, two (Qu.? the twohorned beast,) are represented as crowning the pope, with the inscription," Quem creant, adorant!"

Decalogue, and requiring his adherents to worship images, it may be truly said, that they who make a graven image, and they who bow down before it, exhibit the mark of idolatry in their right hands, or in their foreheads.

That no man was permitted to buy or sell who was not obedient to the Apostolic See may be proved by the language of the excommunications, and the anathemas contained in them, which forbid all traffic with those who were denominated heretics. And in this respect, as Mede observes, the false prophet spake as a dragon, for the Emperor Diocletian had issued a similar edict, that no one should sell, or administer anything to the Christians, until they had burned incense to idols. As to the name of the beast, and the number of his name, as the eighteenth verse of this chapter goes on to say,

"Here is wisdom. Let him that understandeth count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred three score and six."

Now in these words an investigation is called for into this mystery by the intelligent, and it has been satisfactorily explained. Irenæus, the disciple of Polycarp, who was himself the disciple of St. John, is the first who pointed out that the name Aarevbe contains the number 666, and after the dismemberment of the Roman empire, when

it was divided into ten kingdoms, and the authority of the Pontiff was established, the western Church was called the Latin Church, and the people Latins, and it was so called, and in the spelling Aarevoç, by the seven churches who were addressed by St. John. It is most remarkable, as Dr. Henry Moore observes, that every thing belonging to the papacy is conceived and expressed in Latin. Mass, prayers, hymns, litanies, canons, decretals, and bulls, are composed in Latin. The papal councils speak in Latin. Even women pray in Latin, nor is the Scripture read under popery in any other language. Forsaking the Hebrew and Greek originals, the Latin Vulgate is the only version used by those who absurdly call themselves Roman Catholics. This is the mark and character of the empire of

the Pope.

That the word Lateinos contains the number 666 may be seen below.

But independently of such an explanation, which might in itself be satisfactory, it is farther to be remarked, that there is still another mode of explaining the number, which has been adopted in the ingenious and elaborate treatise of Dr. Potter, on the number of the beast, and which is adverted to by Mede with the highest commendation, as convincing to his mind.

The principle of his reasoning is this, that there is an evident analogy between the company of the Lamb and that of the beast. The Lamb's number is 144, and the root of that number is twelve, the apostolic number on which the true Church is founded. He seeks therefore for the root of 666, and finds it to be twenty-five and a fraction, and it is wonderful in how many particulars this number coalesces with the characteristics of the false church. As the apostles were twelve, the cardinals were twenty-five; the parishes of new Rome are twenty-five; the gates twenty-five. The popish creed consists of twentyfive articles, as the apostles' did of twelve. The altars in St. Peter's Church are twenty-five; and the five wounds of Christ, five times engraven on them, make up twenty-five. To the objections to the fraction Dr. Potter replies, that twenty-five is the only true root of 666, and though it may be called a surd number, fluctuating between twentyfive and twenty-six, it cannot be twenty-six, for