inconsistent with, the monastic character and profession. We must not, however, imagine that all the Mendicant Friars attained to the same degree of reputation and authority; for the power of the Dominicans and Franciscans surpassed greatly that of the two other orders, and rendered them singularly conspicuous in the eyes of the world. During three centuries these two fraternities governed, with an almost universal and absolute sway, both state and church; filled the most eminent posts, ecclesiastical and civil; taught in the universities and churches with an authority before which all opposition was silent; and maintained the pretended majesty and prerogatives of the Roman pontiffs against kings, princes, bishops and heretics, with incredible ardour and equal success. The Dominicans and Franciscans were, before the Reformation, what the Jesuits have been since that happy and glorious period, the very soul of the hierarchy, the engines of state, the secret springs of all the motions of the one and the other, and the authors and directors of every great and important event in the religious and political world." Thus the Romish hierarchy has exercised all the power of the first beast in his sight, both temporal and spiritual; and, therefore, with such astonishing influence as this over secular princes, it was no difficult matter for him to cause

The earth, and them that dwell therein, to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.-That is, he causes the whole Latin world to submit to the authority of the Latin empire, with the revived western empire at its head; persuading them that such submis.

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sion is beneficial to their spiritual interests, and absolutely necessary for their salvation. Here it is observable that both beasts have dominion over the same earth; for it is expressly said, that the second beast causeth the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast: therefore it is, as Bishop Newton and others have observed, imperium in imperio, "an empire within an empire." We have, consequently, the fullest evidence that the two beasts consist in the division of the great Latin empire, by the usurpation of the Latin clergy, into two distinct empires, the one secular, the other spiritual; and both united in one antichristian design, viz. to diffuse their most abominable system of idolatry, over the whole earth, and to extend the sphere of their domination. Here we have also an illustration of that remarkable passage in chap. xvi. 10. the kingdom of the beast, i. e. the kingdom of the Latin kingdom; which is apparently a solecism, but in reality expressed with wonderful precision. The fifth vial is poured out upon the throne of the beast, and HIS KINGDOM is darkened, i. e. the Latin kingdom, in subjection to the Latin kingdom, or the secular Latin empire.

Verse 13. And he doeth great wonders-That we may have the greatest assurance possible that the twohorned beast is the Latin empire, it is called, in chap. xix. 20. a passage illustrative of the one now under consideration, the false prophet, "than which," as Bishop Newton observes, "there cannot be a stronger or plainer argument to prove that false doctors or teachers were particularly designed;" for prophet, in the Scripture style, is not unfrequently used for a preacher

or expounder of God's word. See 1. Cor. xiv. It hence follows that the two-horned beast is an empire of false doctors or teachers.

In order to establish the Latin church upon a foundation that can never fail, the false prophet doeth great wonders; he attempts the most wonderful and prodigious exploits, and is crowned with incredible success. He has the art to persuade his followers that the clergy of the church of Rome are the only true ministers of Christ; that they have such great influence in the court of heaven as to be able not only to forgive sins, but also to grant indulgences in sin, by paying certain stipulated sums. He persuades them too that they can do works of supererogation. He pretends that an incredible number of miracles have been wrought, and are still working, by the Almighty, as so many evidences of the great sanctity of the Latin church; and the false prophet has such an astonishing influence over his flock, as to cause them to believe all his fabulous legends and lying wonders. He pretends also (and is believed!) that his power is not confined to this world; that he is able by his prayers to deliver the souls of the deceased from what he calls purgatory, a place which he has fabled to exist for the purification of sinful souls after their departure from this world. His wonderful exploits in being able to induce men, possessed of reasonable faculties, to believe his monstrous absurdities, do not end here; he even

Maketh fire come down from heaven-in the sight of men-Fire, in Scripture, when it signifies wrath, represents that species of indignation which is attended

with the destruction of whatever is the cause of it. Thus the wrath of God is likened to fire, Psa. xviii. 7, 8. Jer. iv. 4.-Therefore the fire which the false prophet bringeth down from heaven upon the earth, is the fiery indignation which he causes to come down from the heaven or throne of the Latin empire upon all those of the earth or Latin world who rebel against his authority. All this has been fulfilled in the Romish hierarchy the Latin clergy have denominated all those that oppose their authority, heretics; they have instituted tribunals to try the cause of heresy; and all those that would not submit to their idolatry, they have condemned to various kinds of tortures and deaths. It is said of the false prophet that he bringeth fire from heaven upon the earth; that is to say, he will only try the cause of heresy, and pass the sentence of condemnation; he will not suffer an ecclesiastic to execute the sentence of the court; the destroying fire he causeth to come down from the heaven or throne of the Latin enpire; secular princes and magistrates must execute the sentence of death upon all that are capitally condemned by the spiritual power. He maketh fire come down from heaven; he compels secular princes to assist him against heretics; and if any rebel against his authority, he immediately puts them under the bond of the anathema, so that they are deprived of their offices, and exposed to the insults and persecution of their brethren. Thus the false prophet deceives the Latin world by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast. Under the appearance of great sanctity, he persuades men to believe all

his lying doctrines; and enforces his canons and decretals with the sword of the civil magistrate.

Verse 14. Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast which had a wound by the sword and did live.-The image of the beast must designate a person who represents in himself the whole power of the Latin empire: therefore it cannot be the emperor; for though he was, according to his own account, supremum caput Christianitatis, the supreme head of Christendom, yet he was only the chief of the Germanic confederation; and, consequently, was only sovereign of the principal power of the Latin empire. The image of the beast must be the supreme ruler of the Latin empire; and as it is through the influence of the false prophet that this image is made for the first beast, this great chief must he an ecclesiastic. Who this is has been ably shown hy Bishop Newton, in his comment on the following

verse:

Verse 15. 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 influence of the two-horned beast, or corrupted clergy, is further seen in persuading and inducing mankind to make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live. This image and representative of the beast, is the pope. He is properly the idol of the church. He represents in himself the whole power of the beast, and is the head of all authority, temporal as well as spiritual. He is nothing more than a private person,