cipline and of life, by which this last head of Roman government fhall be diftinguished from the imperial form, fhall all be the contrivance of Satan to feduce men from the purity and fimplicity of the gospel of Jefus. In the language of Paul to Timothy, Tim. iv. 1,-3. thefe doctrines are faid to proceed from feducing fpirits, and to be doctrines of devils. "Now the spirit speaketh ex

prefsly, that in the latter times fome shall de

part from the faith, giving head to feducing spi“rits, and doctrines of devils; fpeaking lies in hy"pocrify, having their confciences feared with an "hot iron; forbidding to marry, and command

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ing to abftain from meats, which God hath "created to be received with thanksgiving of "them who believe and know the truth."

On account of the origin of thofe erroneous doctrines, by which the bishop of Rome was prepared for becoming a temporal prince, this beaft is faid to" afcend out of the bottomlefs pit," or hell; for from thence thefe doctrines are faid to afcend, as was formerly fhewn in the commentary on the fifth trumpet, chap. ix. 1,-11. In verfes Ift, 2d, of that chapter, it is faid, "And the fifth angel founded, and I saw a ftar fall from heaven "to the earth, and to him was given the key of "the bottomlefs pit, and he opened the bottom"lefs pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit, "as the smoke of a great furnace." Verse 11th," And

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"they

"they had a king over them, which is the angel "of the bottomlefs pit, whofe name, in the He"brew tongue, is Abbaddon; but in the Greek "tongue hath his name Apollyon." And alfo on account of his 'being raised to the temporal dominion of Rome, by the arts of the devil, as predicted in chap. xii. 3,-9. and in chap. xiii. 2.

And fhail go into perdition." This feventh fhall be the laft head of Roman governments Though new heads have always rifen up in Rome, after the former ones were deftroyed, this beaft itself, which, on account of its blafphemies is faid to come from hell, fhall go unto deftruction. It is not the head only that fhall be wounded, as was the cafe with the imperial head, as mentioned in chap. xiii. 3; but it is the entire beast, the Roman government itself, that shall go into perdition, and fhall never more be ranked among the kingdoms of the world, either under the old Papál head,sor under any new head whatever.

All they that dwell upon the earth, that is, all the inhabitants of the Weftern empire, fhall greatly wonder, when Rome shall again become the feat of government under the Popes, after the total diffolution of the empire by the Goths. They fhall wonder at this as a great and wonderful event, and they fhall wonder after, by paying the most abject and flattering obedience to the Papal government. Like men thunderftruck and afto

nished,

nished, their obedience shall be the most complete, but not rational. Their intellectual powers being fufpended by their wonder and astonishment, their faith and obedience fhall therefore be implicit.

But a certain description of men, who shall be dwelling within the boundaries of the Weftern empire, fhall neither wonder at nor after the beaft. They, whofe names are written in the book of life, who are fpiritually alive in Christ Jefus; that is, áll true Chriftians; they fhall not wonder at that event, because it was foretold by thofe infpired fcriptures, which they believe and study, and therefore was not unexpected by them. They fhall not wonder after the beast: being fpiritually alive, their intellectual and religious powers are awake, they therefore will give implicit faith and obedience to none. They prove all things and hold faft that which is good. They can give a reafon of the faith and of the hope which is in them.

They follow the Lamb, whitherfoever he goeth, and therefore cannot wonder after the beaft. They truft in Christ as the Saviour of his people, and therefore keep at a diftance from the beaft, who is the Apollyon, the Destroyer.

This beast "was, and is not, and yet is." He was, before John's day, in the imperial, and other preceding heads of Roman government. He

is.

is not in John's day, in his public and vifible character, as the Papal and laft head of Roman government Yet, in another sense, he then ac tually exifted. That fpiritual pride, ambition, defire of pre-eminence, fondness for abrogated and uninstituted modes of religious worship, implicit attachment to men's perfons, and the robbing Chrift of his real glory, which are the effential qualities of the Papal conftitution, were in the world, and had difcovered many fymptoms of their existence, in the apoftolic age. Hence, in this view, John, the laft of the apoftles; could fay of the beaft, "He is." To this purpofe, John thus expreffes himself, in his firft epiftle, chap. iv. 3. "And this is that fpirit of Antichrift, whereof "you have heard that it should come, and even "now already is it in the world " By the influence of Satan, thefe effential qualities of Antichrift were nourished and gradually ftrengthened in the world, even in the apoftolic age. In a fucceeding period, they were to become more vifible; when that person, the conftitution of whofe government should be made up of them, should be raised to his throne. But before he could be raised to his throne, it must be left vacant by the demise of that king who then poffeffed it.

His throne, as fhall appear in the fequel of this chapter, is in the city of Rome: But that throne was poffeffed by the emperors in the days of John. D d

VOL. II.

The

The imperial government of Rome behoved, therefore, to be diffolved, before Antichrift, who exifted fecretly in John's day, could be raised to the Papal throne of Rome. This is the very thing, which Paul faid on this fubject, in the apoftolic age, 2 Theff. ii. 7, 8. "For the mystery of

iniquity doth already work, only he who now "letteth (i. e. hindereth) will let until he be ta"ken out of the way, and then fhall that wicked "be revealed." The reader is defired to perufe the whole paffage from verfe ift, to 12th. In these words, the apostle Paul perfectly agrees with the apoftle John in declaring, that the beaft was in the world in their day; but that he could not be manifefted publicly on his throne, until the imperial head, which then poffeffed it, should be taken out of the way. Let us, in this account of the beast," that he is not and yet is," which at first glance appears to the ignorant fo contradictory, behold and admire the precision and accuracy of the infpired writers, and their exact agreement with one another. "That he is not and yet is," is a description of this beaft, expreffive of the most accurate knowledge of his real character and fituation. By this defcription, John fo exactly agrees with Paul, and with himself in his first epiftle, that he puts it out of the power of infidels to fay, with effect, that the Pope is not the Antichrift of whom John fpeaks in his epiftle, or that

he