Page images
PDF
EPUB

borate performance of an anonymous writer, whom he stiles most learned. This mode of calculating the number of the Beast occurs also in Wolfius, in his Cura Philologica et Critica, printed in 1741; and in the Gnomon Novi Testamenti of Bengelius, which was published in the succeeding year. On this point Wolfius refers the reader to Kleschius, who has probably treated fully upon it, and whose sentiments I apprehend to have been published in 1705. Kleschius, in corroboration of what he advanced, had also pointed out another striking coincidence. Three Lilies are the established symbol of the French monarch; and D, which in Hebrew signifies Lilies, does amount, with perfect exactness, to the number 6666.

But notwithstanding that this method of explaining the number of the Beast was noticed so long ago by KLESCHIUS and WOLFIUS, by BENGELIUS and VITRINGA; and notwithstanding that recent events, and particularly the execution of the late king, have stamped upon the interpretation an additional degree of credibility; yet, I confess, neither this, nor any other mode of calculating this number, which I have seen, carries conviction to my mind.

Those, however, who conclude Ludovicus to be intended, will, I apprehend, take the strongest ground, if they argue thus. By embracing this opinion, we do not contend, that the Beast is exclusively to be understood of the French Kings. In the general description of the ten-horned Beast, . the conduct of the other horns is doubtless alluded to. But as the witnesses against antichristian abuses, who have appeared from time to time in France, are particulary distinguished for their numbers, their perseverance, and the

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

From the computation Mem final is excluded, being no numeral.

great evils they have suffered; and are deservedly selected in the xith chapter to be as it were specimens of other witnesses, who have been scattered in other countries, more sparingly, and at longer intervals of time: so in like manner, the Ludovici, who have persecuted them, are more remarkable than any other Horn of the European Beast for their power, their cruelty, and their number; and therefore they are, with propriety, chosen as apt representatives of the whole tribe of antichristian monarchs who are established in Europe. If Antiochus in Daniel, as the protestant commentators unite to maintain, be typical of the Roman pontiffs in general; may not the succession of the Ludovici be alluded to with a degree of appositeness not inferior, as affording a genuine sample of the ordinary conduct, observed by the sceptered tyrants of modern Europe? We are expressly told, that it is the number of a man. Now in what territory of the European world, it may be asked, or in what period of modern history, for in these respects our inquiry is limited, shall we find any man, who has exercised tyranny, in a more pernicious and execrable manner, than Louis XI. and Louis XIV.68? But the name of the Beast be conceived to refer not so much to any one or two men in particular, as to the French monarchs in gene

may

67 'There is no royal family in Europe which has shed, in the support of popery, half the blood which the Capets have.' Signs of the Times, by Mr. Bicheno, p. 28. 'Who,' says he (p. 11), have been such enemies to the truth of God and the happiness of mankind? Their tyranny has been the scourge of France, of Europe, and the world.'

68 France he impoverished by profusion; Europe he embroiled in perpetual war. This, an evil dreadful at all times, was by him conducted with unaccustomed barbarity. Twice did he cause the Palatinate to be laid waste with fire and sword. From the battlements of his castle at Manheim, as Voltaire informs us, the elector Palatine could behold two cities and twenty-five villages in flames. Multitudes of either sex and of every age fled with precipitancy, amid the severity of winter, either wandering about in the fields destitute of food, or taking shelter in the neighboring countries. He it was who caused the most exquisite tortures to be inflicted on many of the protestants; and, by the revocation of the edict of Nantes, drove 800,000 of them out of France. But to recount the enor mities of Louis XIV. would require a volume of the amplest size.

ral; and it may be remarked, that the founder of the French monarchy and its attendant hierarchy was called Clovis,

69 It perhaps is not generally known, that, in the reign of Clotaire, son of Clovis, the territories of the French monarchy were far more extensive than those of modern France. See the Dissertation of M. de Foncemagne, in the Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. VIII. p. 506— 528. About the year 532, this monarchy was established in its greatest extent, and so as to bid defiance to hostile attack; for, in this year, the extensive dominions of the rival kingdom of the Burgundians were annexed by conquest to those of the Franks, and four years afterwards the independence and legal authority of the monarchy they had erected were acknowleged by Justinian, and a friendly treaty was concluded between that powerful emperor and the victorious sons of Clovis. See Gibbon's Decl. and Fall of the R. E. vol. VI. p. 324, 339. Possibly it may be thought remarkable by some, that exactly 1260 years intervene between the year 532, the era of the aggrandisement and firm establishment of the French monarchy, and the year 1792, the æra of its complete, and, as many are inclined to believe, final, subversion. And some perhaps will be disposed to add, that this monarchy was as much distinguished by the rapidity of its rise, as it has been remarkable for the suddenness of its fall. The narrow limits of the kingdom of Clovis, when he ascended the throne of his father, were, says Mr. Gibbon, confined to the island of the Batavians, with the ancient dioceses of Tournay and Arras; and at the baptism of Clovis, the number of his warriors could not exceed five thousand. -When he first took the field, he had neither gold nor silver in his coffers, nor wine and corn in his magazines,' vol. VI. p. 310. Yet this prince, at the time of his death, and he died at the age of 45, reigned over territories of vast extent, and was the conqueror of the Goths, the Alemanni, and the Burgundians.

There is nothing in the character and conduct of the first of the Ludovici, who in several respects resembles the emperor Constantine, which can exempt him from the ignominy of being placed at the head of a long line of antichristian princes, the abettors of civil and ecclesiastical tyranny. • His ambitious reign,' says the author of the history of the Decline and Fall of the Roman empire, was a perpetual violation of moral and Christian duties; his hands were stained with blood, in peace as well as inwar; and, as soon as Clovis had dismissed a synod of the Gallican church, he calmly assassinated all the princes of the Merovingian race,' vol. VI. p. 320. But he was a champion of orthodoxy and a liberal benefactor of the clergy; and these traits of character, in the opinion of some bigots, are capable of washing away every sin. Clovis, says Baronius, was rex gloriosa memoria and religiosissimus princeps; aud the cardinal declares, that he defeated the Alemanni by the assistance of Christ, and that the

Louis, or Ludovicus, and that these words, differently as they sound, are only variations of the same name.

Of what is ascribed in ch. xiii. to the Ten Horns in general, may not much be applied, with the utmost exactness, to the Gallic horn in particular? Have not his subjects, in a peculiar manner, worshipped"1 this most distinguished of the Ten Horns, by bending to him with the most servile homage? Have they not exclaimed as with one voice, and particularly the panegyrists of Louis XIV. who is like unto him, who is able to make war with him? Did he not assume a loftier tone than ordinary, and open his mouth in blasphemy against God? Was not power given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them? And does not the fate of the last prince", who bore this name, correspond with the memorable words of the prophet? Was he not led into captivity, and afterwards killed with the sword?

vial of oil, with which he was anointed at the epoch of his baptism and in the cathedral of Rheims, was brought from heaven in the mouth of a dove.

70 This is proved in the Memoirs de l'Academie des Inscriptions (tom. XX. p. 68). Accordingly Mezeray thus commences his historic account of the founder of the French monarchy, Clovis ou Louis, car c'est le mesme nom, &c.

71 See ch. xiii. v. 4-10.

72 There seems,' says an explainer of the Apocalypse, to be a par ticular denunciation against the family of Bourbon in the second Command, where God threatens to punish idolaters even to the Third and Fourth generation. This was at first threatened against apostate Israelites, who had the advantage of being instructed in the true religion. And if we shall read the history of the idolatrous kings of Israel and Judah, we shall find this threatening never failed to be executed.-Now it is very observable, that the present king of France is the third from Henry the 4th, who was a protestant, and changed his religion, for no other reason, but that thereby he might establish himself and his posterity upon the throne of France.' Taylor's Ess. on Some Important Parts of the Rev. 1770, p. 144.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

HAVING remarked on several parts of the xith chapter, I shall briefly notice its conclusion: having hitherto confined the attention of the reader principally to France, I shall lead him to take a view of the general tenor of the events, which are likely to happen in some surrounding countries, or throughout the whole of Europe: having expatiated on a prediction, which is regarded as applicable to the French revolution, I shall touch on some collateral topics; and, through much of the remainder of the work, shall consider some both of the more near and more distant consequences, which may probably result from that revolution, or be promoted by it.

The close of the xith chapter contains a brief account of the seventh trumpet. With respect to the seven trumpets in general, it is observed by Mede and Vitringa, that they denounce that succession of judgments by which the Ro man Empire was to be destroyed'. Now the reader is to remember what has already been remarked, that the Roman empire, in the view of prophecy, for the convenience of the prophetic calculations, is considered as subsisting, though in a new form, under the Ten Kings, among whom it was to be divided"." Thus the four first trumpets were fulfilled in the time of the Roman emperors; whilst the three last, which are likewise called woes, belong to that empire, in its present form, as parcelled out into a number of separate and independent states.

On the two first woes a few extracts shall be given. As the prophetic description of them run to a considerable

1 See Vitringa, p. 236.

2 Hurd, vol. II. p. 191.

« PreviousContinue »