A third Objection to this papal interpretation, may be drawn from a Principle laid down in the entrance on this Discourse, viz. That Miracles and Prophecies are the two great Pillars of revealed Religion; but raised in succession, each in its proper time and place. From whence it may be collected, that the ACCOMPLISHMENT Of PROPHECIES belongs to the latter times, just as the WORKING OF MIRACLES does to the former: The use of Prophecies fulfilled being to strengthen the evidence of our Faith, from Miracles performed; which a long intermission of many ages may seem to have impaired. To suppose, therefore, that the accomplishment of these Prophecies happened, and is to be sought for, in the first ages of the Church, tends to cross and defeat the gracious purpose of the Founder; while it takes away Prophecy from these latter times, in

The most exalted genius, with the exactest knowledge of Antiquity, and skill in Languages, could not enable the early Fathers of the Church to form any tolerable judgment of a thing at that time almost totally hidden in futurity; especially if it were (as was the case here) in a matter of which the mind of man, for want of the knowledge or experience of any thing similar, could have no conception.

On the other hand, the profoundest ignorance, in the want of all those accomplishments, could not hinder the most stupid Monk from seeing what was before his eyes, Antichrist in Pontificals, and the Man of Sin arrived at his full stature. This extraor dinary Personage he might know, by the mere information of his sense, was the bloody tyrant foretold.

On other occasions indeed, for wise and general purposes, it pleased Divine Providence to hide the great mysteries of the Gospel from the wise and prudent, and to reveal them unto Babes. But in this, the same dispensation was necessary and unavoidable: And the FRANCISCANS, without a miracle, had the honour of starting ANTICHRIST in his form, which, without a miracle, the Origens and the Chrysostoms must hunt after in vain. But the pleasantest part of the argument is behind.-If (says the learned Critic) we believe the Franciscans when they tell us, that the Pope is the Beast and the whore of Babylon, we must of NECESSITY believe them, when they tell us, that they themselves are the only spiritual Brethren, the true Church, and that the single mark of the true Church is to live on alms, and to wear a strait and short capuchine." Commend me to a Reasoner like this; a Reasoner on necessity. What! because that which the Franciscans saw before their eyes, and we see with ours, and so agree with them, that the Prophecy of Paul and John concerning ANTICHRIST was fulfilled in the POPE, therefore we must of necessity believe these same Monks when they say they are the true Church, though no Prophecy hath given us the marks either of them or their pretended church, unless it be in the Frogs that came out of the mouth of the BEAST.-If you give a man credit for what he can prove, we are obliged, it seems, to give him credit for what he cannot.

The Commentators of the present age, as living so much later than those Franciscans, have seen more marks of the Beast, as he grew more enraged; for then, as the poet said of his fellow-beast the Tiger,

-he swell'd with angry pride,

And call'd forth all his spots on every side

and so have been able to give the most convincing proofs that he is the Inhabitant of the Seven Hills; and in this the Protestant World has generally acquiesced. But does the sober part of it believe, that therefore the warm-headed Interpreters of the Apocalypse have discovered (as they pretend) the MARTYRS, SAINTS, and WITNESSES, persecuted and despoiled by the SCARLET WHORE and her infernal Abettors, in their own Friends

and Parties in Religion? By no means. And why? These Interpreters prove, in the

most incontestible manner, that the CHURCH OF ROME IS ANTICHRIST; but we see they only fancy they have discovered the Objects of his rage, in those who do honour to their Cause.

* Qui vero Franciscanis credit, Pontificem Romanum esse belluam et meretricem Babylonicam, iisdem etiam credat NECESSE EST solos fratres spirituales esse veram ecclesiam, et unicum veræ ecclesiæ characterem esse vivere pane mendicato, et gestare arctum brevemque cucullum. P. 802.

which it is wanted, and gives it to the former, which stood in no need of it; bestowing on some Ages a wasteful abundance, and depriving others of a necessary supply.

Thus, on the confession of our Adversaries, the head-quarters of ANTICHRIST being fixed in Rome; and, on the conviction of our senses, his tyrannical and usurped Power being exercised in these latter times: We come more directly to the main question, WHeTHER ANTICHRIST BE A CIVIL POWER, OR A SPIRITUAL?

That it was a SPIRITUAL, we shall now evince, by the following

reasons:

1. In these latter times, there hath been no Civil power in ROME, separate from an Ecclesiastical; but an Ecclesiastical only, which hath drawn after it, a Civil. So that if ROME were the seat of ANTICHRIST, and these latter times gave rise to his Usurpation; and that, in these latter times, there was no such civil power in ROME, but this of Antichrist; the consequence will be, that ANTICHRIST as such is a SPIRITUAL or Ecclesiastical, and not a CIVIL power.

The thing which hath kept this controversy on a creditable footing, is the Two POWERS' changing hands as it were, and invading one another's provinces.

So that when we urge the Papists with Antichrist's having the marks of a spiritual power, and therefore, not the Imperial; they reply, these marks may well be seen in a Power confessedly Civil, since the Emperor, like the Pope, was always Pontifex Maximus here; and very often, a God, or a Saint at least, hereafter.

When, on the other hand, they urge us with those marks of Antichrist which bespeak him a civil power; we reply, that though the Pope's essential power be indeed of the spiritual kind, yet he rightly wears these marks of a secular; since such a power he had annexed to his spiritual, (just as the Emperor annexed a spiritual power to the civil) by his investing himself with a civil Dominion, called St. Peter's Patrimony.

2. So far in confutation of the System framed by Grotius, to facilitate the project of a visionary Comprehension; a system of real service to nothing but the Papal Tyranny. It is true, that the evidence here employed is only negative; yet it comes with a force, which no positive evidence can exceed. But to leave no subterfuge for doubt, I shall close all with the other species, the proof positive, taken from the Apocalyptic Character of this famous Personage.

3. POWER is male or female indifferently. Hence, the Power in question is sometimes said to be the attribute of the MAN OF SIN; sometimes, of the SCARLET WHore. A corrupt Church may be found either under a popular or monarchic government. Under a popular,

One name and one personage would serve in enigmatic Prophecy, both for the Governor and the Governed; because they are all reciprocally one and the other: and such a Church might be commodiously represented by one single Personage. But, under a monarchic or despotic Government, the Acts and Monuments of such a Church cannot be well represented but under Two; the Tyrannic Head and miserable Members, sometimes suffering under, and sometimes, again, sharing in, the Tyranny.

On this account, there was a propriety and elegance in the occasional change of the Sex, by the sacred Penmen. The POPE, as Usurper and Tyrant in Christ's Kingdom, is represented under the male image of ANTICHRIST or the MAN OF SIN; and the CHURCH OF ROME, whose cup of abominations had debauched and intoxicated the world, under the female image of the SCARlet Whore.

And as this affords us the clearest proof, that the Antichristian Power in question is of the SPIRITUAL and not of the civil kind, I shall pursue the Vision in those famous Prophecies which presents the Christian Church under a female form; first, in its celestial, native, purity; and then, in its degenerate and apostate state. For, of all the emblematic Pictures in the Apocalyptic Visions, those two are the least ambiguous.

In the xiith Chapter, a WOMAN comes from Heaven, “clothed with the Sun, and the Moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered-And behold a great RED DRAGON, having seven heads and ten horns, and SEVEN CROWNS upon his heads.-And the Dragon stood before the Woman, which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of Iron; and the Child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the Woman fled into the WILDERNESS, where she had a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there.".

In the xviiith Chapter, an Angel says to John, "Come hither, I will shew unto thee the judgment of the GREAT WHORE, that sitteth upon many Waters: with whom the Kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the Inhabiters of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the WILDERNESS: and I saw a WOMAN sit upon a SCARLET-COLOURED BEAST full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the WoMAN was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of fornication. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and abominations of the

earth. And I saw the WOMAN drunken with the blood of the Saints, and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the Angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the Mystery of the WOMAN, and of the Beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.—And here is the mind which hath Wisdom, the seven heads are seven mountains on which the WOMAN sitteth.These shall make war with the Lamb; and the Lamb shall overcome them."

Though the two prophetic Visions, I have here transcribed, be full of evidence concerning the fortunes of ANTICHRIST, and the fate of the SCARLET WHORE; and that the POPE and See of ROME are no other than the alias names of the Criminal; yet our point being only to shew, that the ANTICHRISTIAN POWER in question is a SPIRITUAL and not a civil Power, I have at present nothing to do with its various ABOMINATIONS, here sketched out, further than as some circumstances, concerning these abominations, speak more fully to the general truth we are upon.

The SAME WOMAN, who represents the Christian Religion, we see appear in both the Prophetic Visions;-pure and immaculate when first let down from Heaven; but defiled and contaminated by a long commerce in the Wilderness of this world.

In her Virgin-state we see her armed in the celestial panoply of FAITH and KNOWLEDGE; and, (while in this state) like her almighty Father, without variableness, or shadow of changing: expressed by her being cloathed with the sun, crowned with twelve stars, and the moon under her feet. She is in labour with her first-born, and pained to be delivered; by which is admirably held out, the dangers and difficulties our holy Religion struggled with, in giving birth to the infant Church, whom the Powers of this world stood ready to devour : strongly expressed by the great red dragon who stood before the woman ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. Whose purpose was defeated by the extraordinary Providence of Heaven, wakeful for its preservation: and her child, whose future fortune, we are told, was to rule all nations (when he had degenerated into a Tyrant) with a rod of iron, as soon as brought forth, was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

The WOMAN fled into the WILDERNESS, and was in safety there. I know no better reason for our being informed of this circumstance, than that, when the fortunes of the Church are resumed, as they are in the xviith Chapter, we might know where to find her; and, as she was so totally changed, to know her likewise when we had found her. In this Chapter, therefore, the Prophet is led into the WILDERNESS, and introduced to her presence, sitting upon a scarlet-coloured Beast,

under the title of the GREAT WHORE, and branded in the forehead, as was the wont, in stigmatizing common Prostitutes. Indeed her meretricious dress and equipage sufficiently shew how much she was fallen from her first love. She is stript of all the ornaments which she brought down with her from Heaven; and instead of being clothed, as at first she was, with the sun, and crowned with twelve stars, she is now arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls: that is, Religion had now exchanged those divine gifts and graces, with which she was first adorned by the Holy Spirit, for worldly wealth and grandeur, to which she was arrived, by coming to a good understanding with her old enemy the Red Dragon, or CIVIL POWER: Of whom having received the trappings of Sovereignty, she soon after tore from him the Sovereignty itself. A revolution in her fortunes well expressed by her MOUNTING and RIDING the SCARLET-COLOURED BEAST, the same with the RED DRAGON; as appears from the like number of heads and horns bestowed upon the Monster under each denomination. Nay, to mark this identity the stronger, the CROWNS which were on the seven heads of the red Dragon, while he was Sovereign, and a Persecutor of the Virgin, are no longer found on the seven heads of the scarlet-coloured Beast, now deprived of Sovereignty, and become subject to the Scarlet Whore: Who having got the Beast, or degenerated Ciril Power, at this advantage, rides him at her pleasure; and, like another Circe, gives him of her Golden Cup, full of the Wine of her abominations, and filthiness of FORNICATION, while she herself drinks the BLOOD of the Saints.-The Kings of the earth (says the Prophet) commit fornication with the Whore: i. e. in this impure mixture of the two Powers, civil and spiritual, both become polluted ; the Civil uses Religion for an engine of State, to support TYRANNY ; and the Spiritual gets invested with the rights of the Magistrate, to enable her to PERSECUTE.

But if we attend to the Prophetic Language of St. John, we shall see more clearly the beauty of this representation. His language abounds in a mixed phraseology, formed on the different natures of the two Dispensations: And expressive of ideas belonging, sometimes to the one, sometimes to the other system. Each of these sorts the Prophet employs occasionally, as each best contributes to the force and elegance of his discourse. So here, the Cup of fornication alludes to the degeneracy of the Jewish; in which, the figurative name, for IDOLATRY, was Fornication and Adultery.-The blood of the Saints alludes to the distressed condition of the Christian; and more plainly signifies PERSECUTION for Opinion. These are the two great Reproaches of all Religion, natural and revealed: and each was the peculiar Pest, the one of Judaism, the other of Christianity. For