been the expreffion) must, in all reason, be interpreted of the Chriftian church, and! could not, in the prophetic language,, be interpreted otherwise. When, therefore, Antichrift is faid to fit in the temple of God,: it is the fame thing as if it had been faid of him, That be fitteth, or ruleth, in the church of Chrift. Now, fubftitute thefe wordsthe church of Chrift-in the room of those: other words the temple of God; and fee, if St. Paul, fuppofing his purpose had been to express a spiritual-power in oppofition to a civil; fee, I fay, if St. Paul could have conveyed that purpose more plainly. Still, we have another, and, if poffible, a more decifive teftimony in the Revelations.: For, among the different views, which St.. John gives us of Antichrift, in fo many distinct visions, one is fet before us in the following manner-And I bebeld another: beast coming up out of the earth, and be bads 44 illa; fed oportet effe rem fpiritualem, in quâ attributa, antiquæ Hierofolyma myfticè demonftrentur. VITRINGA, Apocalypf. Exp. & Illuftr. p. 762. twe two borns like a lamb, and he spake as a Dragon [s]. Now, if we had known nothing more of these fymbols, than what the obvious qualities of the animals themselves suggested to us, we could only have inferred, that this ruling power (for that is the idea conveyed by the term, Beaft) would put on the appearance of a gentle and pacific administration: I fay, the appearance; for what its real character was to be, is clearly enough expreffed in what follows, that this lamb-like beast spake as a Dragon. But, when we further reflect, that borns, in the prophetic style, are the emblems of power, and that a Lamb is the peculiar, the appropriated fymbol of Christ, the lamb of God, which taketh away the fin of the world [t], and is constantly so employed throughout this whole prophecy of the Revelations, we must, of neceffity, conclude that a beaft with the horns of a lamb can only be a ftate, or perfon, pretending to fuch powers, as Chrift exercised, and [s] Rev. xiii, 11. [r] John i. 29. his Religion authorifeth; that is, powers, not of this world, but purely fpiritual. The other symbol of a Dragon, confirms this conclufion. For a Dragon, in the prophecies, 'is the known fymbol of the old Roman Government, in its pagan, perfecuting state. When, therefore, it is faid that the beaft spake as a Dragon, the meaning is, That Antichrift should affume the highest tone of civil authority in promoting his tyrannous purposes, though he cloked his fierce pretenfions under the meek femblance of a fpiritual character. Taken together, these two fymbols fpeak as plain-ly, as fymbolic terms can fpeak, That Antichrift was to be a religious perfon, acting in the fpirit of a fecular tyrant. So exactly is he characterised by the poet Mantuan, addreffing himfelf to one of the Popes Enfe potens gemino, cujus veftigia adorant On the whole, I leave it to be confidered, whether, when the prophecies pro VOL. II. nounce of Antichrift, that he should be, a power diverfe from all others that he fhould fit in the temple of God—and that he should have the horns of a lamb-I leave it, I fay, to your confideration, whether it be not plain that this extraordinary power, a Roman power, and refiding at Rome, was to be a Chriftian and Ecclefiaftical, and not a Pagan and Civil power. IV. Another obvious character of Antichrift, or rather, complication of characters, is that triple brand, impressed upon him, of a tyrannical, intolerant, and idolatrous, power. The prophets hold him up to us, as reigning, or exercifing an oppreffive and fupereminent dominion, ever the kings of the earth, that is, of the western empire [u]; as making war with the lamb, and the faints who receive not his mark in their forebeads [w], that is, perfecuting good and confcientious Chriftians, who refufe to [x] Dan. vii. 8. 20. Rev. xvii. 1. 16, 17. wear wear the badge of Antichrift, and to serve under him; and, as another Babylon, the mother of barlots and abominations of the earth [x], that is, as polluted himself with the groffeft idolatry, and as corrupting the nations with the fame prophane worship. But these marks, it will be faid, have been found upon so many powers, which have appeared in the world, that they cannot be given as the diftinctive marks of one, that is, of the Papal Power: Nay, the Bishop of Meaux goes further, and attempts to fhew, by a very refined argument, that the very terms of whoredom and fornication, in which the last of these marks, I mean, ADOLATRY, is set forth by the prophet in the book of Revelations, make it impoffible for us to apply that mark to Rome Christian. Let us fee, then, firft, what force there is in the criticism of this learned Prelate. That whoredom, or fornication, in the language of fcripture, means idolatry, is agreed on all hands, and cannot be dif [*] Rev. xvii. 5. |