Sidebilder
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

That the Pope of Rome is the Enemy, proved from the Character of the Woman who fat on the feven-headed Beaft, Rev. xvii. 4, 5.

T

[ocr errors]

THAT the church of Rome is the enemy, or Antichrift, appears, as from the beast on which the woman rode, fo from the defeription of the woman herself; which runs in the following manner, Rev. xvii. 4, 5. And the woman was ar rayed in purple, and fearlet colour, and decked with gold, and precious stone and pearls, having a golden cup in her band, full of abominations and filthinefs of ber fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT MOTHER OF HARLOTS, AND ABOMINATION' EARTH. A woman this, vaftly different quite oppofite to, that woman menti xii. 1. as clothed with the fun, having t her feet, and on her head a crown of That woman was of heaven; and is all celeftial: this is of the eart was the chafte fpoufe; this the that, the Zion of God; this, Ba But to be more particular, fcribed by three things, the cup the held in her hand, an on her forehead. She is gaudy drefs, fuiting her How expreffive her attir worldly grandeur of th

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

to the year 760. And, what took place about that time? Something very remarkable indeed. For, in the year 755, or, according to some 756, the Papacy received the temporal power, and became the beaft, or was conftituted the last government of Rome. For, at that time Pepin, king of France, recovered Ravenna from the Lombards; which, with the territory about it, he conferred on the Pope, who thereby became a temporal prince. This territory was granted to the church, as St. Peter's patrimony. And the Popes, being now temporal princes, did no longer date their epiftles and bulls by the years of the Emperor's reign, but by the years of their own Pontificate, or advancement to the Papal chair. In the year 606, Boniface III. got himself declared universal bishop and head of the church, and affumed the title of Pope. But ftill he and his fucceffors, were without any temporal dominion; their fupremacy was fomehow limited by the civil powers. But now in the year 756, the Pope having obtained the Exarchate of Ravenna, and being feated as a temporal prince at Rome, independent on any civil power, project of fpiritual monarchy was perfected and confirmed. Now the beaft rofe out of the earth: now Rome came under a new form of government. -Thus from the number of the beaft, it appears, that the Pope of Rome is that beaft; and confequently the Antichrift, the enemy of Chrift and his people *.

the

* Lowman's preface to his paraphrafe on the Revelation, P. 33, 34. Mofheim's hiftory, Vol. I. p. 353, 354.

I am the more confirmed, that the number of the beast points

[blocks in formation]

That the Pope of Rome is the Enemy, proved from the Scarlet-coloured Beaft, having feven heads and ten horns, Rev. xvii. 2, 3.

TH

HAT the church of Rome is the enemy, or the Antichrift, appears from Rev. xvii. 3, 4. 3.4. There John fees a woman fitting upon a fcarlet-coloured beaft, having feven heads and ten horns. These the angel interprets, ver. 9,-14. The feven heads, fays he, are feven mountains on which the woman fitteth and the woman is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth, ver. 18. Here the angel directs our attention to a city built on feven

out both who he should be, and when he should most openly appear, when I reflect on a passage relating to the same subject, Rev. xvii. 9, 10, II. There the seven heads denote not only feven-hilled Rome, where was to be the feat of the woman; but also seven different forms of civil government, after which she should appear in all her pomp, riding the fcarlet-coloured beaft. The feven heads, fays the angel, are feven mountains: and there are seven kings; or, as Dr. Newton reads it, And they are feven kings. On proph. Vol. III. p. 301.

Why may not the number 666, the number of the beast, have a reference to these two, as well as the feven heads? Had we not an angel for an interpreter, we would have been ready to think, that the feven heads referred only to place, not to time. But he informs John, that they point at both. It deferves our attention, that almost the fame words ftand as a preface to the number of the beaft, and to the explication of the feven heads. In the one it runs, Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding, count the number of the beaft, Rev. xiii. 18. In the other, Here is the mind which hath wisdom, Rev. xvii. 9.

[ocr errors]

mountains.

And can any be in the dark as to what city is meant? Is not Rome as famous for her feven hills, as the Nile for her seven streams? Is not the one known among Pagan writers, by the name of seven-hilled Rome, as well as the other by the feven-ftreamed river? This is fo evident, that Papifts themselves cannot deny that Rome is meant by the city on the feven mountains; only, fay they, it is Rome Pagan, not Rome Papal. The falfity of which we fhall foon fee. It was the city which in John's time reigned over the kings of the earth, that was the woman.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

་་

But it was not that city under the fixth king, or the fixth form of government, viz. heathen emperors; but under the eighth, as undeniably appears from verfe 11. The then prefent form of government was to pafs away, another was to fucceed it, and continue a little space; and then the eighth form of government was to take place, at which time the woman was to appear in state. The beaft on which fhe was to ride, was not the fixth form of government, or imperial Rome, but the eighth, as the 11th verfe evinces. And the beaft, he is the eighth. This points out Papal Rome fo clearly, that he who runs may read. For, obferve, that the feven heads of the beast on which the rode, fignified not only seven mountains, but also feven kings, or seven different forms of government, which were to take place before the harlot was to mount the beaft. There are feven kings, fays the angel; five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh he must inue a foort Space, ver. 10.

[ocr errors]

t

L

t

G

ir

th

br

gr

th

na

по

th

tin

bar

par

Per

Ital

the

« ForrigeFortsett »