ceses, as if it were a Roman Province, and the names of whose greatest Cities are given away by her as if they were Italian villages, are fain to seek intercourse with her without requiring any retractation of the unrighteous oaths which she imposes on English subjects, or any revocation of the imprecatory anathemas which she has denounced on English Sovereigns; and as if it were possible for us to sever what she declares indissolubly united-her temporal and spiritual sway.

IV. Again: the Woman is described as sitting on a scarlet-coloured Beast, full of names of Blasphemy'. Has not Rome fulfilled this prophecy? The colour2 itself is one reserved to her Pontiff and Cardinals. Of this we speak not now. 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 notion is erroneous 3. Blasphemy in the New Testament specially

1 Rev. xvii. 3.

2 See Appendix H, p. 164, 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,

Ceremoniale Rom. iii. sect. 5, c. 5.

p. 391, 398.

3 Arising, like so many other errors in Apocalyptic Interpretation, from substituting the English Version in the place of the Original. See above, Lecture VI. p. 163.

denotes an assumption of what is divine. And the names which Rome claims for herself, are not they usurpations of the incommunicable Name?? "When that which is temporal claims Eternity, this," says St. Jerome," is a name of blasphemy." And when she withholds the Word of God, and bestows honour on those who revile it, calling it, "imperfect, ambiguous, a mute Judge, a leaden Rule," and by other opprobrious names, which cannot be repeated here, 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 the cup of Blessing in the Lord's Supper, which Christ has commanded to be received by all; 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?

V. Again: the Harlot in the Apocalypse exercises both temporal and spiritual sway. She is enthroned upon many waters, which are Nations and Peoples. She has kings at her feet. them drink of her cup.

She makes

She trades in

the souls of

Dicitur hic βλασφημεῖν non qui Deo

1 Grotius ad Matth. ix. 3. maledicit, sed qui quod DEI est sibi arrogat.

...

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

3 S. Jerome ad Algas. xi.

See some of them cited by Bishop Andrewes and Bellarmine, cap. xi. p. 259, 260, and Casaubon, Ann. Exerc. Baron. i. xxxiii. Letter iv. of Sequel of Letters to M. Gondon.

John vi. 53. Matth. xxvi. 26, 27. Mark xiv. 23. 6 Rev. xvii. 5.

men'. It is 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, 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 six 2.

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 I do not venture to pronounce an opinion upon it from this place.

Reserving that for another mode of communication, I proceed to observe, that these passages of

3 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 Xápaypa, the word used for mark in the Apocalypse.

Also, these two letters XP, when considered arithmetically, constitute SEVEN Hundred,-a perfect Apocalyptic number. (See above, p. 263, 4.)

But XES, the number of the Beast, equals 666, and represents an imperfect number, a triple falling away (àñoσraσía), from septenary perfection, in hundreds, tens, and units. (See above, p. 265.)

I may 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

the Apocalypse show that the Harlot combines temporal and secular sway; and that this union of civil and religious supremacy is a very striking characteristic; and it applies to Rome, and to Rome alone.

3

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 interpreted 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 1. The Roman Pontiff is twice crowned, once with the Mitre, his symbol of an universal Bishoprick, and

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.

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."

2 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.

once with the Tiara, in token of Imperial Supremacy. He wears both diadems. There is indeed a Mystery 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 2. It has changed the hill of the Vatican into a spiritual Ebal, from which it has fulmined curses according to its will.

Other very important characteristics must now be noticed.

VI. The Woman in the Apocalypse is said to be seated on a scarlet beast; to be also clad in scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls"; and her merchandise is said to be in gold, and silver,

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 Coenâ Domini."

3 Deut. xxvii. 13.

4 Onplov KókкLvov, 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.