which is right. "The Lord reigneth, let the "earth rejoice, let the multitude of the ifles be

glad thereof; clouds and darkness are round a"bout him, righteousness and judgement are the "habitation of his throne."

Verse 18th. And the woman which thou fawest, is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

This verse finishes the key or explication which the angel gave to John. And indeed this is one fo fingular and ftriking, that he who will not be convinced by it that the woman is the city of Rome under the Papal government, it is probable will not be convinced by any other evidence. The woman fignifies not a great city in general, but in particular that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. There is one city, and only one in the whole world, and for a determinate period of her hiftory, to whom this description exactly agrees.

Rome is a great city, and, in point of dominion, the greatest city that ever was in the world: but as there are other great cities in the world, the appellation, a great city, would not have authorised us to fix upon Rome. But this great city reigneth over the kings of the earth; that is, thofe kings

or

or kingdoms which rose up in the western Roman empire. When John wrote this verfe, there was not a city in the whole world that reigned over. independent kingdoms, nor fince his day hath any city appeared which correfponds to this defcription, except the city of Rome. The jurifdiction of all the governments in the world is confined within their own kingdom, excepting that of Papal Rome. It is fo inconfiftent with the nature of civil government, that the jurifdiction of one kingdom fhould extend over another independent kingdom, that no fuch thing was ever known in the world in fact till about 600 years after John wrote this verfe; and I am perfuaded the idea, fo unlike every thing which men had feen or heard, could not have entered into the mind of any man, but by divine infpiration. A city to reign with abfolute fway over many independent kingdoms, and they still to continue independent kingdoms, is an idea which in the days of John could have been derived only from infpiration; an idea' which hath fince that time been verified only in the hiftory of Papal Rome. After the diffolution of the Weftern empire by the northern nations, and a fhort time. before the Papal government was erected in Rome, the Western empire was parcelled out into many diftin&t kingdoms, governed by laws and conftitutions of their own, quite independent of one another, and of any foreign power. The num

`ber,

ber, extent, fituation, and even conftitutions of these kingdoms changed; but ftill many diftinct and independent kingdoms continued within the limits of the antient Western empire. But, it is univerfally known that, till the Reformation in the 16th century, Papal Rome reigned over all these kingdoms with an abfolute fway, both in civil and religious affairs. There was nothing in the conftitution or laws of thofe kingdoms which destroyed or limited their independence, or which vested Rome with a fupremacy over them., Papal Rome affumed the felf-created power, and wreathed the chains of flavery, forged by the hands of fuperfti

Y

tion in the dark ages, about the necks of independent kingdoms; and there never was another city or kingdom which reigned over independent kingdoms; Rome, therefore, muft be that great city reprefented by the woman in the vifion. But this description agrees to Rome only in one particular period of her hiftory. She could reign over the kings of the earth only when the empire was parcelled out among independent kings, but this was only during the time of Papal Rome, as all history declares, Heathen Rome, indeed, conquered many countries and reigned over them, but she did not reign over any of them as an independent kingdom. She reduced them to the state of conquered provinces, depofed their own kings, and fent them laws and governors of

her

her own. She reigned over many conquered provinces; but it could not be faid of her that fhe reigned over the kings of the earth.

The whole ftrain of this book fixes the period of the reign of Rome over the kings of the earth to the time of Papal Rome. Papal Rome. In this chapter, verse 3d, the scene of this vifion in which the woman and the beaft appear, is the wilderness state of the church: but the wilderness ftate of the church, as was formerly fhewn, is cotemporary and commenfurate with that of Papal Rome. In faid vifion, the woman rides upon the beaft; but, as was formerly fhewn, the beaft is the Papal hierarchy, and arofe at the time of the ten kings, in the year 756. The woman therefore, muft be Papal Rome, because the beaft could not carry her before it had existence. In chap. xiii. 1. this beast is faid to have ten crowns upon his ten horns, and no crowns upon his heads, but upon them the names of blafphemy. But, in chap. xii. 13. the dragon is faid to have seven heads with crowns upon them; and ten horns, but not a word about crowns upon them. The latter of these beafts, as was formerly fhewn, fignifies Heathen Rome when Rome itself wore the crown, but none of the horns were crowned heads; and the former fignifies Papal Rome when all the ten horns were crowned heads, and Rome itself had no crown, but, in place of it the blafphemous titles of His Holiness, and The Vicar of Christ.

Let

Let us here pause a little, and review the many important and ftriking events which are predicted in the last ten verfes of this chapter, and the wonderful manner in which they have all in fact happened and confpired to afford the most incontestable evidence, that the beafl with the feven heads and ten horns, and the names of blafphemies upon his heads, is the Papal hierarchy; and that the woman who fits on that beaft, is the city of Rome during its Papal state.

ift, There hath been feven diftinct forms of civil government in Rome; and the city of Rome hath been the feat of every one of them.

2d, The Papal is the seventh of these forms.

3d, Between the imperial and Papal forms of government, Rome was ruled by the Exarch of Ravenna for near 200 years, who had his feat of government in Ravenna, and not in the city of Rome.

4th, A very fhort time before the rife of the Papal government, ten independent kingdoms sprang up in the Western empire.

5th, However much thefe kingdoms differed among themselves in other things, they all united in fupporting the Papal power.

6th, These kingdoms long perfecuted, but could not destroy the true church of Chrift; and many of them have fince embraced and fupported that religion which they had long perfecuted.