colour itself is one reserved to her Pontiff and Cardinals. Of this we shall say more hereafter. And how does she designate herself? As Infallible, Indefectible, Eternal. Are not these names of Blasphemy? Some expositors have imagined that names of Blasphemy must indicate an infidel power. But this is an error 2. Blasphemy in the New Testament specially denotes an assumption of what is divine. And the names which Rome claims for herself, are not they usurpations of the incommunicable Name 1? claims Eternity, this," says St. Jerome 5, "is a name of blasphemy." And when the Church of Rome withholds the Word of God from the people, and does not withhold honour from those who revile it, calling it "imperfect, ambiguous, a mute Judge, a leaden

"When that which is temporal

1 See Appendix H, pp. 164, 5. Ceremoniale Rom. iii. sect. 5, c. 5. Ruber color præcipuè ad Papam pertinet. Paul II. made it penal for any one to wear hats of scarlet (bireta coccinea) but Cardinals: and he gave them scarlet trappings for their mules and horses. See Platina, p. 312. Vitringa, p. 758. Heidegger, i. p. 432. Platina in Greg. IV. Coccinatos nunc aspiceres non homines tantùm (Ecclesiastici ordinis), quod leve fortasse videretur, sed equos et jumenta. See below, pp. 341. 348.

2 Arising, like so many other errors in Apocalyptic Interpretation, from substituting the English Version in the place of the Original.

3 Grotius ad Matth. ix. 3. Dicitur hic βλασφημείν non qui Deo maledicit, sed qui quod DEI est sibi arrogat.

...

4 See on this point generally Dr. Jackson's Works, i. pp. 352-589. On "the assertions of the Romish Church whence her threefold Blasphemy springs."

5 S. Jerome ad Algas. xi.

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Rule,” and by other opprobrious names', is she not guilty of blasphemy against the Divine Author of Scripture? And when, with the cup of her own sorceries in her hand, she takes away from the laity the cup of Blessing in the Lord's Supper, which Christ has commanded to be received by all2; and when she makes men drink of the one, and will not allow them to drink of the other, is not this an act of blasphemy against the Son of God?

12. Again: the Harlot in the Apocalypse exercises both temporal and spiritual sway. Her name is MYSTERY. Now the word Mystery is used about twenty-five times in the New Testament, and is never there applied to any thing openly infidel or heathen. It refers always to something which has a religious or sacred character. The Harlot therefore cannot be Rome past and pagan, nor can she be a Rome future and infidel. She is Rome in her religious character— Rome as a Church. And the Harlot is enthroned

It is

upon many waters, which are Nations and Peoples. She has kings at her feet. She makes them drink of her cup. She trades in the souls of men 5. said of the Beast on which she sits as a queen, and of which she is, as it were, the Governing Power, that by the agency of the second Beast or False

1 Applied to Scripture by some whom Rome has delighted to honour. See Bishop Andrewes adv. Bellarmine, cap. xi. pp. 259, 260, and Casaubon, Exerc. Baron. i. xxxiii., and Letter iv. of Sequel of Letters to M. Gondon.

? John vi. 53. Matth. xxvi. 26, 27. Mark xiv. 23. 3 Rev. xvii. 7.

4 Rev. xvii. 5.

5 Rev. xviii. 13.

Prophet, he causeth all, both small and great, to receive his mark, and that no one may buy or sell, save he who has the mark, the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man, and his number is Six hundred threescore and six1.

The latter part of this remarkable description has been the subject of much earnest enquiry; it is a topic of great interest and importance, but, at the same time, one of so difficult and mysterious a character, that it is not my purpose to pronounce an opinion upon it from this place.

Reserving that for another mode of communication', I would proceed to observe, that these passages of the Apocalypse show that the Harlot combines

1 Rev. xiii. 16-18.

2 See Appendix G, p. 151. On the name and number of the Beast. In further illustration of the opinion there propounded, it may be observed that XP, the first two letters of CHRIST, which formed the imperial monogram of Christian Rome, are the first two radicals of Xápayμa, the word used for mark in the Apocalypse.

Also, those two letters XP, the symbol of Christ, when considered arithmetically, according to Greek numeration, constitute SEVEN Hundred, a perfect Apocalyptic number. (See above, p. 197.)

But XES, the number of the Beast, equals 666, and represents an imperfect number, a triple falling away (àñoσтaσía), from septenary perfection, in hundreds, tens, and units.

Let me add that the Monogram represented in the APPENDIX, p. 160, is not the badge of any one individual Pope, but of the Papal See; it is the official stamp, used "quoties nova cuditur moneta" (see p. 161). And we have our Lord's authority for regarding Coinage as an image of power. Matth. xxii. 20.

temporal with spiritual sway; and that this union of civil and religious supremacy is a very striking characteristic. And it applies to the Church of Rome, and to that Church alone.

The Church of Rome sits as a Queen upon many waters, which are peoples, and nations, and multitudes, and tongues'. She claims two swords. Lord, behold! here are two swords 2; one of her Pontiffs has in

3

terpreted these words of St. Peter as authorizing her double sway. She holds in her hands the two keys -the emblems, as she asserts, of universal power*. The Roman Pontiff is twice crowned, once with the Mitre his symbol of an universal Bishoprick, and once with the Tiara in token of Imperial Supremacy. He wears two diadems. There is indeed a Mys

1 Rev. xvii. 15.-The present Pontiff, in an address to the People of Rome, thus speaks : "C'est un grand don du Ciel, parmi tous les dons qu'il a prodigués à l'Italie, que nos trois millions de sujets aient deux cents millions de frères de toute langue et de toute nation. C'est là ce qui dans d'autres temps, et au milieu de la confusion de tout le monde romain, a fait le salut de Rome.

"Bénissez donc l'Italie, ô grand Dieu! Bénissez-la de la bénédiction que vous demandent pour elle les saints à qui elle a donné le jour, la Reine des saints qui la protége, les apôtres dont elle garde les glorieuses reliques, et votre Fils, fait homme, qui a voulu que cette Rome fût la résidence de son représentant sur la terre.

"Donné à Rome, près Sainte-Marie-Majeure, le 10 février 1848. "PIUS PP. IX."

? Luke xxii. 38.

3 Boniface VIII. in Unam Sanctam. Extrav. Com. Lib. i. Tit. viii. Jus Canon. tom. ii. p. 1159, ed. 1839.

4 See Boniface VIII. ibid. Ore divino Petro data suisque successoribus in ipso, Quem confessus fuit, petra firmata, dicente Domino ipsi Petro, Quodcunque ligaveris. Matth. xvi. 18, 19.

TERY on the forehead of the Church of Rome, in the union of these two Supremacies; and it has often proved a Mystery of Iniquity. It has made the holiest Mysteries subservient to the worst Passions. It has excited Rebellion on the plea of Religion. It has interdicted the last spiritual consolations to the dying, and Christian interment to the dead, for the sake of revenge, or from the lust of power. It has forbidden to marry-and yet licensed the unholiest Marriages'. It has invoked blessings on Regicides and Usurpers. It has transformed the anniversary of the Institution of the Lord's Supper into a season of malediction. It has changed the hill of the Vatican into a spiritual Ebal3, from which it has fulmined curses according to its will.

Other very important characteristics must now be noticed.

13. The Woman in the Apocalypse is said to be seated on a scarlet beast; and to be herself also clad in scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls; and her merchandise is said to be in gold, and silver, and precious stones, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet'; and

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1 Heidegger, i. p. 497. See Sandys, Europæ Speculum, p. 37, and p. 49. "On Princes' Marriages," and " On Adulterous and Incestuous Marriages."

2 In the Bulla " In Caná Domini."

3 Deut. xxvii. 13.

4 Onpiov Kókкivov, Rev. xvii. 3.-Coccineus color est ruber acutus, (says Pliny, N. H. xxi. c. 8) qualis rubedo micat in rosis. Victorin. ad Apoc. xii. 3. coloris rubei, id est coccinei.

5 Rev. xvii. 4.

6 σηρικόν.

7 Rev. xviii. 12.