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into what is now called popery; and our brother has described in a just and excellent manner, the nature, the growth, and the danger of that detestable spirit. I think, while I hear a servant of Christ introducing such a subject, I see him leading into an assembly a kind of Nebuchadnezzar, proclaiming, "I am king of kings, and whosoever "doth not fall down and worship the image that "I shall set up shall be cast out into the fiery "furnace; for I have power to kill and power "to save alive." I cannot but think that every good christian must inquire, --Lord what is to be the end of all this? On supposition that some of you make this inquiry, I am happy to open the oracles of God and tell you.

2 THES. ii. 8.

Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.

The Lord Jesus Christ's second coming was a favourite topic with the apostles; but the primitive christians were at times like us; their zeal outran their knowledge, and the good people at Thessalonica were of this sort. Fired with the doctrine of Christ's second coming, they thought it must be near, because they wished it to be so; and it seems with this persuasion they grew cold to the common duties of life, and acted on supposition that the period of our Lord's appearance as Judge of the world was at hand. When Paul heard of this he writes to these people and says, -We beseech you brethren, that ye be not soon

shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. As if he had said, we so preached as to make you see it would be so, and we see him coming; but we do not mean any more than to impress the doctrine upon your mind ; we do not mean that the day of the Lord is come, or will speedily arrive.-Let no man deceive you, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first; unless there be such a general growth of the antichristian religion, as to produce a falling away from the religion of Christ, and that man of sin be revealed; the son of perdition, who exalteth himself above. all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. You must remember that when I told you of these things I was yet with you; and now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time; for the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way. This was the Roman emperor: the priest would have been prince, but the reigning prince would not let him. I told you that he who is now letting or hindering will let till he be taken away. Ah, what do you mean to kill the emperor? This was a prophecy that it was dangerous to reveal, therefore the great apostle speaks of it only in general terms. Had they revealed the whole truth on this subject, the apostles would have been cast into prison, tortured and burned. Blessed God, thy church of

fers thee this day a tribute of praise: what a mercy that we little worms of the earth are permitted to stand as it were on an eminence, and behold distant periods, and console ourselves that though popery may reign to day, yet that the Lord shall destroy it in his own time and way! The plain meaning of my text is this:-THE DE

STRUCTION OF POPERY WILL BE EFFECTED BY THE WORD AND SPIRIT OF GOD. That is the doctrine. To him therefore on that account the song will be raised, which is in the New Testament called the Song of Moses and the Lamb; for as the glory of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt was ascribed to Moses, so the deliverance out of spiritual Egypt, antichristianism shall be ascribed to the Lamb: Our design then is to shew, that the scriptures are, by the word, and spirit, calculated for the destruction of antichristianism. And further, to shew you what glorious weapons the great God has put into our hands, We request your attention to the holy scriptures. Where the light of revelation shines it is impossible popery can reign.

First. God appoints the word and spirit for the destruction of antichrist in PROPHECY. And here I will give you an instance or two.

1. In the old testament prophecy, you know when Moses came into the world and delivered a religion and finished it, and gave it to the Israelites in a book, he says,—A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things, what

soever he shall say unto you: and it shall come to pass, that whosoever among you shall not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Do not imagine, he says, the religion I am going to establish is to continue for ever; it is only for a time; and whenever there comes a prophet from God, like unto me, who shall resemble me in the principal characters of my life and conduct, do not pretend any longer to perpetuate my religion, but give up to him; and to the end of the world his commandments shall stand fast. After such a prophecy, when any one comes and says,-This religion that I am going to teach comes from a council, a succession of fathers, a succession of cardinals, a succession of popes; we say what care we for all these; for we have a promise from God that a prophet should be raised up like unto Moses: now that prophet is come, and there has been no succession to him commanded by God; consequently all new laws, all new doctrines, all new penalties stand for nothing; Christ has taken the throne, and he has left no successor; therefore here is one prophecy out of many, that makes it impossible for antichrist to reign; for it would be strange indeed if God should introduce popery into the world, such an important change, and not inform his people of it, by his prophets, as he had of other things.

That God who points out great events by his prophets, warns us of the enemies of Christ. It is remarkable that among the books that make up

the scriptures of the New Testament, there is one called the Revelations, a prophecy of the principal events which would take place in the world from Christ's ascension to his second coming. We are there told that the true church should be persecuted, and a false church should rise; and it is well said by a commentator on this book,"Had the pope sat for his picture he could not "have been drawn a more striking likeness." REV. xvii. describes this community which we call the catholic church, and which they call the holy Roman catholic church, under the similitude of a woman. You know that upon some of our coin we have upon one side of it a woman, Britannia, which used to describe the country it belonged to, Britain. Now in the prophecy of St. John, the Roman catholic church is represented as a woman sitting upon seven hills; and is further represented as an empress reigning over the kings of the earth. Observe verse 9. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. It is a city that is built on seven mountains the city of Rome is exactly so. Further,The woman is that great city that reigneth over the kings of the earth. Now where was a city that ever reigned over the earth except this? Without making further quotations, we have here an exact picture of the church of Rome. I should blush to go through the chapter as she is there represented :-A prostitute drunken with the wine of her fornications &c. The apostle John stood in the primitive church as your ministers stand

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