be appealed to. But in the Journal of Corfu, it has been stated, (as quoted by the Courier, 10th June 1831) that, in a single battle, near Perlipe, the Visier defeated the Pasha of Scutari, with the loss of 5000 men. The Turkish empire is a scene of revolt, and of mutual slaughter. Bagdad has lately been taken by storm, by the sultan's troops. They kill one another.

The face of the second living creature, who, on the opening of the second seal, said unto John, come and see, was like the face of a he-calf, or bull. As characteristic of the Mahometan faith, sensuality, in contrast to purity, may seem to be implied. The mind of Mahomet was so gross, that he measured the power and dignity of angels by their bulk. In his own conduct he was so debased, that he needed a revelation, from such a heaven as he fancied, to sanction his impurities; there are boastings concerning him, of which delicacy forbids the mention, but which best mark the brute: and his religion is of so sensual a character, that even his paradise is but a pasture for beasts. How corrupt, alas ! is the heart of man, when an imposture so monstrous, degrading, and bestial, has prospered and prevailed so widely and so long against the truth as it is in Jesus, holy, harmless, and undefiled, who laid down his life for the sins of men.

But the evil propensity of pleasure in unrighteousness was yet to be manifested in another form. And the world has scarcely suffered more from the vain belief of a lie than from the wicked perversion of the truth, even till its nature was transformed from white into black.

CHAPTER XI.

THIRD SEAL.

AND when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, come and see. And I beheld, and lo, a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances (a yoke) in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures say, a measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.-Ver. 5, 6.

The repetition of the same symbol manifestly quires a corresponding similarity in the nature of the object represented. From any incongruity or discordance in this respect, whatever might be the interpretation, conviction of its truth would cease to be reasonable. If the first symbol, that of the white horse, denotes the Christian religion, of which Christ is the head, and if the second, which was red, denoted, as expressed, another religion, or the Mahometan, it follows, as a necessary consequence, that the third, or the black horse, must also, and as expressively, denote some form of religion, or have a direct reference to the prevalence of some system of faith, or of religious opinions. With this indisputable similarity, there is, in other respects than in the colour it assumes, a marked difference between the second and third symbolical representations. The latter is not, as the former is, said to be another. Nor is the third seen to come into the field of view, subsequently to the second, in the same manner, as the second appears after the first, as arising without any antecedent existence.

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Of the second it is said,—and there went out ANOTHER horse that was red. But of the third it is stated, in manifest variance from the former, (but in the same words as of the first) I BEHELD, AND Lo, a black horse. It is not said to be another; and it peared immediately on the scene without the marked sequence which distinguished the succession of the second to the first. These peculiarities have specially to be regarded: for they show a marked and manifest difference, or a positive contradistinction in the manner in which the second and third seals are introduced, as seen and characterised in the prophecy.

The want of light is darkness; the reverse of white is black. The word of God giveth light; where it shineth there is no darkness; where it is followed all is pure and white. They that follow Jesus do not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. It is through the word which he hath spoken that believers are clean. It is in the blood of the Lamb that they are made white, and of him that men are invited to buy white raiment that they may be clothed.

The light of the body is the eye, said the Son of God; if, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. Contrasted thus with the purity of the gospel, the light of his word, and the consequent whiteness characteristic of the people over whom Jesus reigned by his word and Spirit, where, in past history, occupying a place in equal prominency with Mahometanism, and giving a character to an era and the name of dark to ages, is that form of religion to be found, which, after the faith of Mahomet was propagated in the world, appeared under its appropriate designation black, and was then also farther characterised by the yoke which it imposed upon the world.

The papacy has here its first place in the book of the Revelation of the things that were to be. It was a system of spiritual blackness and bondage. The mystery of iniquity began to work even in the days of the apostles. But though idolatry and wickedness greatly prevailed, and transgressions had come to the full at that time, it was after the origin of Mahometanism that the corruption of Christian doctrines, the exclusion of the Scriptures from the people, systematic image-worship, trust in others than the one only Mediator, and the exaltation of the papacy to rule over the abject mind till the light that was in it was darkness, that the Roman catholic faith put on its gross darkness, and appeared as only black. Neither is the Roman catholic faith like the Mahometan, professedly another than the Christian; nor did it go forth for the first time after the prevalence of Islamism; but the black horse, like the white in the days of the apostle, was seen immediately on the field of view, when Mahometanism had just been described. The ten kingdoms may have previously been given into the hands of the pope, but the doctrine of the church was not so corrupted then, nor was that heavy yoke to be seen which it afterwards imposed. After the authority of the pope was established, confirmed, and generally exercised, the church over which he ruled became black indeed. As a form of faith it became darker and darker, throughout the long period of the "dark ages," while it reigned triumphant, till the tenth century, which Roman catholic writers themselves characterise as "the age of darkness and ignorance. Blackness is its fitting symbol, and marks its character as a religion. The Bible was long unknown in the vulgar tongue, and the word of God was only to be believed in, as interpreted by a

Du Pin's Ecclesiastical Hist. vol. viii. p. 66.

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succession of mortals, whose changeable decisions were marked with all the weakness and blindness of humanity. The light of the gospel was hid, and dark superstition took its place. The mind was muffled, like the face of a nun. The commandments of men, or as avowed" the commandments of the church," were held of as high authority as the word of God. Its brightness was obscured; its whiteness was tarnished; the word that could have made men clean, was kept from them; and, when it was hid by human art from the eyes of men, and when at the same time the exercise of private judgment was taken away, the mind was necessarily turned into blackness; and when popery reigned triumphant, an ignorance even of the first principles of natural religion, came over the minds of men, such as paganism itself could not have deepened. How, in this respect, do the writings of heathens put to shame many a popish legend. What one word but black, could designate the church, when documents were attested by a mark, because my lord the archbishop could not write, and when a bishop reading the Bible could say that he knew nothing of the book but that it was written against them; or, to adopt a more general illustration, when saints were invoked as intercessors, when penances were done for crimes, when indulgences were granted for money, and, as the cause of all, when the Bible was a sealed book.

The religion of Mahomet took peace from the earth; but popery for a long period extinguished the light of the Gospel, and imposed a yoke upon the world. According to its prevalence darkness reigned, and the soul was enslaved. All right of appealing to Scripture was withheld from the laity; and it formed the least part of the studies of the clergy. The opinion of the church, instead of the Scriptures of truth, became the rule of faith; and the least variation in doctrine from its standard for the time, was