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have extended also to the protestants, who have not always let slip the opportunity for retaliation: hence the necessity for that exhortation to patience and forbearance, equally applicable to both, contained in verse 10th.

This circumstance it is important to notice, not only to guard against the illiberal prejudice which leads us to consider our own church as the peculiar favourite of Heaven, and another as the exclusive object of its wrath, but it is further essential to the right understanding of the subject before us. For this single fact, this spirit of retaliation, is alone sufficient to prove, that neither party at this time possessed the genuine Christian spirit. In neither of these do we discover the male child, or true Christianity, which was caught up to heaven.

The remnant of the woman's offspring must therefore mean those who, from the fourth century, continued to profess Christianity, in name at least, but were afterwards, for the most part, seduced or overcome by the beast; while the true servants of God, who were sealed in their foreheads, cannot at this time designate any particular church, but merely those scattered individuals, through all ages and nations, who, having imbibed the true spirit of Christianity, have thereby been enabled to resist alike the contagion of example, the allurement of worldly advantages, and the dread of persecution.

THE TWO-HORNED BEAST OF THE LAND.

CHAPTER XIII.

Verse 11 And I beheld another wild beast coming up out of the land, and he had two horns as a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him; and causeth the earth, and those who dwell therein, to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed.

13 And he doeth great wonders, in order that he may make fire come down from heaven upon earth, in the sight of men.

14 And he deceiveth those who dwell on the earth, by the wonders which he doeth before the beast; saying to those who dwell on the earth, to make an image to the beast, who hath the wound of the sword and did live.

15 And it was given to him to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should even speak; and he should cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.

16 And he causeth all, both the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the freemen, and the slaves, that they should receive a mark upon their right hands, or upon their forehead.

17 And that no one might be able to buy or sell, but he who hath the mark, the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

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The Romish ecclesiastical empire; nominally Christian, really Antichristian. Supported by two orders of clergy, monks and priests.

The power of the church, and that of the empire, one in spiritual, the other in temporal concerns, mutually supporting each other, concurred in the revival of false religion and idolatry.

The church professes to call down divine vengeance on its enemies; and does so in the estimation of its followers.

The pretence to miraculous powers was used to impress this belief; and the influence thus obtained was employed to support the power of the pope; who is the idol of the church, and image of the emperor, or emperor in spiritual matters.

The voice of the pope was believed to have power either to forgive sins, or consign to eternal perdition. The anathemas of the church could once loosen the bonds of society, or dethrone princes.

Those who profess the Romish faith, are distinguished by their mode of making the sign of the cross; beginning with the right hand directed to the forehead.

Any deviation from this betrayed a heretic; and to such the privileges of traffic were denied at one time in all catholic countries.

18 Herein is the wisdom, let him that hath understanding, calculate the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

Η Λατινη Βασιλεία, The Latin Kingdom, or Romish church, answers the description, and makes the number 666.

The former beast arose out of the sea, the present rises out of the land; a distinction applied to the Jews and the Gentiles before their conversion; but how does it apply afterwards? is now the question. In the corrupt state of the church here spoken of, it is to be supposed, that each class of these nominal converts would retain their previous characteristics after professing Christianity. Now the Gentiles had been addicted to idolatry; and the Jews had rejected the promised Messiah through worldly-mindedness, and the expectation of a temporal prince; and to these propensities the distinction may still allude. Accordingly, under the First Trumpet, the hail storm, signifying the contention for worldly power and supremacy, was announced as falling on the land, as if affecting those addicted to the Jewish love of temporal power. Whereas, under the Second Trumpet, the burning mountain, denoting the controversy about the plurality of persons in the Godhead, is said to be cast into the sea; as if falling upon the Gentiles, from their proneness to polytheism.

So in the present instance, the ten-horned beast arises out of the sea, his empire extending over the Gentile nations of the West: whereas the two-horned beast arises out of the land, the papal hierarchy deriving its origin from the Jewish love of worldly pomp and supremacy.

Horns are symbols of power. The power of an empire arises out of the nations composing it. But a spiritual empire derives its power not from territory, but from opinion; and the influence of the church on public opinion is supported by its clergy. In the Romish church, the clergy is divided into two distinct branches, the regular and secular, or the monks and the priests. These are its horns, or the sources of its power.

For the mode of computing the number of the beast in the Greek language, in which the prophecy was written,

(See Note M in the Appendix.)

THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST, AND

RESTORATION OF THE GOSPEL.

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2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of loud thunder ; and the voice which I heard as of harpers playing on their harps.

3 And they sing, as it were, a new song, before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one was able to learn the song, except the hundred and forty-four thousand, the redeemed of the earth.

4 These are they who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins; these are they who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth; these were redeemed from amongst men, a first fruit unto God, and to the Lamb;

5 And in their mouth was found no guile, for they are spotless.

6 And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel, to preach good tidings to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and tribe, and language, and people.

7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come; and worship him who created the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and the springs of waters.

The true followers of Christ, by whom the beasts before named are to be overcôme, are again brought into view; being the same as they who refused to worship the dragon or receive

the mark of the beast.

The kingdom of Christ on earth, figuratively called "heaven" before the corruptions of Christianity, now re-appears, when true religion is revived. This song, afterwards called the " song of Moses and the song of the Lamb," intimates the affinity of the two churches; the Christian being the offspring of the Jewish religion.

They who have not been seduced into idolatry, but have retained the pure worship of God, and the true faith in Christ, through the whole period of general corruption and apostacy, sing this song.

They had not used the pretence to religion to answer worldly purposes.

Under the Romish church, the Gospel, misconstrued and perverted, had ceased to impart glad tidings, and was moreover withheld from the people; but was restored to them at the time of the reformation.

This defeat, the commencement of the beast's destruction, is only an anticipation of his final overthrow, which will be minutely described in the sequel.

The picture of Antichrist being given, the power by which he is to be overthrown, and the means of his subversion, come next into view. That power is the true church, and the Gospel is the means. In the picture of the true church, it is material to attend to one point which is never lost sight of, namely, the Jewish origin of Christianity; for this confirms the exposition given of the mother of the male child, as symbolizing Judaism. The 144,000 are the elect of Israel before noticed, while the multitude that followed were stated to be Gentiles; "salvation being to the Jew first, and afterwards to the Gentile also." The first who embraced Christianity were Jews. The Messiah was himself a Jew, and the Gentiles became Israelites by adoption. The song of the 144,000 is afterwards called the song of Moses and of the Lamb; in allusion to the connexion of the Christian with the Jewish dispensation. The Jews were the depositaries of the prophetic testimony which led to the expectation of the Messiah; and, before his advent, had the merit of professing a pure religion, when other nations were addicted to idolatry. Moreover, it must be esteemed a merit that they were the first to reject nominal Christianity when it became idolatrous; except indeed some, who, as Mosheim says, "entered the church from worldly motives, for the sake of its honours and emoluments;" and these, as we have seen,. retained the same characteristic after their nominal conversion. Lastly, when, by the subversion of Antichrist, Christianity shall be purified from idolatry, the Jews will again embrace it, or the mother be reunited to her child.

As withholding the Gospel was the chief means of corrupting religion, so restoring the Gospel at the reformation was the first step towards the revival of true religion.

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