That the evidence may appear in all its lustre, observe the minute circumstances on which the war depended, the fortuitous events which produced it, the casual occurrences which contributed to its extent and continuance, the rising passions at the moment which gave a turn to affairs, the objects appearing in view which suggested further plans, the purposes formed in consequence of existing circumstances, and the unpremeditated acts of obscure individuals which led to the most important consequences. To produce the final catastrophe in its full extent, these all combined, and all were necessary; and these, none but God could foresee, and none but God's servants predict.

SECTION VII.

The Prophecies concerning Antichrist.

WHAT Christianity was in its origin, by reading the New Testament, will be clearly seen. There appears a system of truth taught by unassuming men with all humility—a system of infinite simplicity as to outward forms; to be propagated without force and compulsion; and containing no other tie but that of brotherly love-a system, the ministers employed in teaching which, were to have no authority but what arose from the voluntary subjection of men to the doctrine of Christ; not what the ministers declared to be so, but what they themselves were satisfied was so, from their own examination and conviction.

The predictions concerning antichrist, delineate a state of things as widely different as night from day. They represent a system, or power arising in the Christian church in direct opposition to its genius, tendency, and spirit; the very antipode of the gospel. That Christianity would be corrupted in a course of time, was no improbable conjecture; and the mere declaration that such an event would take place, could confer no claim to the gift of prophecy. But such a chain of predictions as this concerning antichrist, surpasses all human foresight. Conjecture could not have stretched her wings so far. Besides, the numerous distinguishing characters, causes, effects, and circumstances of this strange phenomenon, are so minutely delineated, that the divine foreknowledge alone could have drawn the picture. See the description in 2 Thess. ii. 1. Tim. iv. Rev. xiii. xvii. xix. It is of a power rising up with

in the Christian church, and arrogating the name to itself; fostering ignorance, superstition, idolatry, and will-worship; displaying craft, pride, ambition, and luxury; and exercising tyranny, cruelty, and intolerance. Read the passages with care, and duly weigh them. Is this the church of Christ? Is this his religion? How astonishing the change! Instead of the simple doctrine of the gospel, a huge mass of uncouth and scholastic dogmas! Instead of its unadorned worship, all the pomp and pageantry which the spirit of the world could display! Instead of its humble ministers, men adorned with gorgeous robes of fantastic forms, and decked with gold, and silver, and precious stones! Instead of instruction by truth, the mind is famished; but the eye and the ear, the senses and the imagination, are feasted with bows and genuflections, with the melody of sounds, and pleasing spectacles, and long processions and fragrant incense! A complete worldly system is framed; and a man dwelling in the city built on seven hills, becomes the head, and holds all the reins of dominion in his hand; tight and firm he does hold them; and all move obedient to his will. Instead of honouring the apostles, whose names are ever in his mouth, he assumes an equality, or even a superiority; he calls himself INFALLIBLE. Those of his kingdom who blush to assign him that dignity, gravely assert that two or three hundred bishops, all fallible, when met in what is called a general council, become infallible in all their decisions on the doctrines and duties of Christianity. Mark, reader! Each of these men is fallible as an individual; but when two or three hundred of them are assembled in all the weakness and passions of fallible men, they become thereby infallible; and their decision in every matter is the decision of Jesus Christ himself. Nay more, the bishops who have derived their authority from this wondrous man, the head of the antichristian kingdom, by laying their hands on any person whom they approve, and uttering a certain form of words, convey to him a new and indelible character. In consequence of the authority thus received, he has power to forgive sins; and by pronouncing four words, hoc est corpus meum, he can change the substance of bread and wine into the substance of flesh and blood.

Far from listening to the voice of Christ, when he said, "Who made me a judge and divider among you? my kingdom is not of this world;" the man in the city upon seven hills, who calls himself his vicar, claimed the kingdoms of the earth as his own; and disposed of all the countries which should be

discovered to the west, to one nation, and all that should be discovered to the east, to another; asserted the territories of Europe to be at his disposal; loosed subjects from their allegiance, and kings from their oaths; laid the fairest kingdoms in Christendom under an interdict; deposed monarchs from their thrones, and gave them to others by his word; and demanded an honorary revenue from all. Not only did he assert his superiority to all the sons of men on earth, he laid heaven itself under contribution; and claiming the good works of the saints above as a fund of merit at his disposal, sold them to the highest bidder; and affixed a stipulated price for the pardon of the most odious crime which the blackest heart had planned, or the most guilty hand had perpetrated; and for indulgence, with impunity for the time to come, in any sin which human cupidity could crave.

While aided by his numerous hosts, who fattened on the spoils of his conquest, he was ever watchfully attending to his own interests, and eagerly improving every circumstance which occurred to advance them, and extend his influence; he with eagle's eyes pierced into every obscure recess, where men called heretics were supposed to dwell; and the softest whispers of the discontented entered into his ears. To question his authority, to suggest a doubt whether Christ sanctioned his claims, and to dare to deny their validity, was certain death. Unarmed himself, he commanded the rulers of the nations to execute his decrees; and whether the unhappy persons were many or few, of high or low degree, submission or death was the only alternative. The single heretic met his fate by the magistrate's fire or sword; the heretical tribe or province, by the sanguinary hands of the crusading host breathing out blood and slaughter. Nor did he cease to have recourse to such inhuman measures, till the light of knowledge produced a refusal to obey his bloody mandates.

Have I been feigning an imaginary, or have I been delineating a real, character? To the history of Europe I appeal for the truth of what I assert. For nearly the whole of what I have said, I appeal, O men of France, to you, whose country has been stained with the blood of hundreds of thousands, merely "because they would not worship the beast and his image; nor receive his mark on their foreheads, and on their hands." Peruse the annals of your nation, and you will find that the picture I have attempted to draw, is not an overcharged caricature, but a faint outline. Was it possible to conceive, that from the bosom of the Christian church, such an

odious monster would arise; and could human foresight have possibly conjectured that after a lapse of centuries, as it grew to maturity, all the features would gradually acquire the perfect likeness of the hideous original which prophecy had described? How improbable was it at the time of the writing of the New Testament, when a pagan emperor swayed the sceptre, that in a course of years there should succeed a strange kind of government, whose head would be a man calling himself a Christian priest, and the vicegerent of Christ on earth? This God alone could foresee; and God alone could enable the apostles to predict. It is minutely predicted; and the rise, the vast dominion, the decline, and the utter destruction, are delineated. The two first, history records; the third we have partly heard of and partly seen; may the fourth and last speedily arrive! You have thought the hideous reign of antichrist, and his craft and cruelty, a sufficient reason for renouncing Christianity; but you mistake. They furnish a just cause for rejecting so absurd a system as you formerly professed; but they present you with a striking evidence of the truth and divinity of the New Testament, in which these abuses were all described; and they should influence you to receive the gospel in its purity. Thus will the dreadful abuse of Christianity, which has been adduced as an objection to its truth, be found to furnish an unanswerable argument in its favour.

SECTION VIII.

The Existence and State of the Jews as a separate People.

WHEN I look around me in the world, I observe people different from all others, in looks, in manners, and in religion. I inquire into their origin, and I find they have been a separate people near four thousand years. During almost half that time they lived in a country by themselves. But for more than seventeen hundred years, they have been scattered abroad over the face of the earth, sojourning as strangers under the dominion of others. Kind treatment, and a high national character, may influence men to distinguish themselves from the rest of the world. But the Jews, on the contrary, have been every where a hissing and a reproach; their very name has carried with it contempt and ignominy. They have been treated worse than dogs, because they were Jews; and their religion has exposed them to the most sanguinary cruelties. The

brutal, nay diabolical, behaviour of their enemies has not been the ebullition of the moment; it has continued through many revolving ages. It has not been confined to one place; it has extended to almost every country. They have been hissed at and insulted; this was their every day's usage. They have been robbed, and plundered, and banished, and killed, all the day long. In what country of Europe have not these scenes been acted? Had they concealed their origin, had they changed their religion, had they intermarried with the natives of the land where they lived, they would have escaped these evils; and their posterity would have been entirely exempted from reproach. This they well knew; but they still held fast the name, the manners, the religion of Jews; and they intermarried only among themselves. Is there another instance of this in the world? where shall it be found? There is none upon the face of the earth. Take the matter in all its circumstances, and it is unique in the government of God, and in the history of man.

While I am meditating on the wonderful phenomenon, I recollect that it was foretold by Jesus Christ, Luke xxi. 24; by his apostle Paul, Rom. xi. 25; and still more particularly by Moses, a servant of God, who lived near fifteen hundred years before the coming of the Messiah, Lev. xxvi., Deut. xxviii. Not only the mere event, but the particular circumstances, their captivity, their dispersion, the contempt and hatred of the world, the miseries accompanying their name, and the cause of these, their rejection of the Messiah by unbelief, all were foretold. Predictions how unlikely! Observation and experience gave no countenance to such things. Who can distinguish the Britons, the Romans, the Saxons, or the Normans, in England? or the Gauls, the Romans, and the Franks, in France? Time and intermarriages have formed of them one people. Much more might it have been expected that the sufferings of the Jews, like fire, would have melted them down into the common mass of human nature, with the different nations among which they dwelt. But the prediction, unlikely as it was, has come to pass in all its parts; and whoever sees the face of a Jew, sees a living argument for the truth and divine authority of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is likewise worthy of remark, that in their dispersion they carry with them the books of Moses and the prophets, which, while they testify of Christ as the Messiah, contain predictions of their afflicted state, as a separate people, for rejecting him. His most inveterate enemies become the heralds of his glory. The plans

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