broad street of the great city, spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. The excellent Bp. Newton, and the learned Mr. Mann of the Charter-house, whom he cites, needlessly perplex themselves with elaborately shewing, how the city of Rome may be said to be the city where our Lord was crucified. 'The great city, however, the mystic Babylon, which throughout the Apocalypse is represented in constant and direct opposition to the holy city, or the Church, is certainly not the city, but the empire of Rome*: whence a street of this great city is a kingdom or province of the empire, considered as a whole; and a tenth part of the city, as mentioned in the thirteenth verse of the present chapter, is not a tenth part of the literal city of Rome, but a tenth part of the Roman empire, and consequently is precisely equivalent to one of the ten horns or kingdoms of the beast. This being the case, there is no need to seek for a spiritual sense, in which our Lord may be said to have been crucified in the great city: he literally suffered within its precincts; for he was put to death in Palestine, at that time a province of the Roman empiret. This obvious exposition will shew

*The temporal Babylon is the temporal empire of Rome; the spiritual Babylon is the spiritual empire of the Roman pontiff. + "Urbs magna 1. Sodoma; 2. Ægyptus. Hinc discimus " urbem magnam ad totum bestiæ regnum extendi, nam Ægyptus non civitas erat, sed regnum. 3. Interfectrix Christi. Hinc

shew the great accuracy of the prophecy now under consideration. The two mystic witnesses were

not,

"constat Romam hoc loco non intelligi. Christus autem in "Romana urbe crucifixus dicitur, i. e. in ejus finibus et imperio; « in urbis platea, h. e. intra ditionem Romanam, sive in provincia "ipsius." Pol. Synop. in loc.

"Hæc urbs magna est tota illa ditio cujus est Roma metropolis: quo sensu decima pars urbis cadit, infra ver. 13. "Platea est pars aliqua Romanæ ditionis, in qua spectaculum "hoc visendum exhibetur, cujus gaudium se diffundit per totum imperium. Urbs autem ipsa magna una cum metropoli sua in reliquo versu describitur, idque duobus disertis nominibus, “et adjuncta simul insigni nota, nequis in orbe forsan erraret -Primum nomen est Sodoma-Secundum nomen.est Ægyp tus, non urbs aliqua, qualis Sodoma, sed integra regio et pro"vincia. Unde hoc nomen non est proprium ipsius metropolis, "sed totius ejus ditionis commune." Apoc. Apoc. Fol. 174.

175.

"The great city is that city which reigneth over the kings of "the earth, or Rome, the empress of the world. Streets of the great city are its public places throughout its dominion; for the great city is not considered so much in its buildings, as a "seat of empire. It is Rome and the Roman empire, says the "Bp. of Meaux; and, taking the great city for Rome and its empire, he adds, It is literally true, that Jesus Christ was

crucified there, even by the Roman power. And it is moreover "true, that the same Rome, which crucified Christ in person, "crucified him also every day in his members. The general meaning of this passage is well expressed by Mr. Daubuz: "The dead bodies of the witnesses shall lie throughout the extent, "in the most conspicuous places, or the chief and principal parts, "of the Antichristian jurisdiction (Lowman's Paraph. in loc.). Had Mr. Daubuz said singularly the conspicuous place, as the Apostle does, instead of expressing himself plurally, I should have had nothing to object.

not, at the precise time alluded to by St. John, to lie dead and unburied throughout the whole of the

great

"In the street of the great city, i. e. in Bohemia, one street "of the papal dominions, or the great city Rome, in a large "sense" (Fleming's Apoc. Key p. 41.). I do not think Bohemia to be the street intended; but Mr. Fleming's mode of interpretation is the same as my own.

"It is probable the whole Roman empire may

be here repre

sented, as one idolatrous and impure city; as elsewhere the "Church of Christ is represented by one pure holy and glorious "city" (Doddridge's-Paraph. in loc.). This argument from analogy is an excellent one.

It is a truth, which must be held as certain, being one of "the keys of the Revelation, that the city, the great city, signifies in this book, not Rome alone, but Rome in conjunction "with its empire: the name of this great city is Babylon—This "being supposed and proved, that the city is the whole Baby"Ionish and Antichristian empire, it must be remembered that "this empire of Antichrist is made up of ten kingdoms and of "ten kings, who must give their power to the beast. A tenth part of the city fell; that is, one of these ten kingdóms which make up the great city, the Babylonish empire, shall forsake "it-Now what is this tenth part of the city which shall fall? "In my opinion, we cannot doubt that it is France-The kings, "who yet remain under the empire of Rome, must break with

her, leave her solitary and desolate. But who must begin "this last revolt? It is most probable that France shall"Seeing the tenth part of the city, which must fall, is France, this gives me some hopes that the death of the two witnesses "hath a particular relation to this kingdom. It is the street or place of this city; that is, the most conspicuous and eminent "part of it" (Juricu's Accomp. of the Script. Proph. Rart II. p. 261-267.). The reader will perceive the points wherein I differ from M. Juricu: the passage is cited simply to shew what he understood by the great city.

"Civitatem

great city; but only, as he expressly informs us, in one particular street of it*, or rather in that particular street of it which was the public forum or the broad street of the allegorical city t. Now, since their persecutor upon this occasion was to be the beast under his last head, the broad street of the city, where they were to lie unburied, must evidently be that principal region of the empire, which should be subject to the immediate jurisdiction of the last head, in its special capacity of the last head. But to this description no region of the empire will answer, except Germany alone. For, when the papal empire is considered as a great city, and the different kingdoms of which it is composed as so many streets; the allegory absolutely requires us to esteem that region of the empire, which was specially subject to its acknowledged head, as the principal street or forum of the city. To this it may be added, that the great number of almost independent princes,

"Civitatem illam magnam, quæ regnum gerit in reges terræ, "non tam urbem quampiam moenibus cinctam (quanquam a tali, ceu acropoli quadam, originem ducere potest), quam multi"tudinem sociatam per caput aut capita, utentem potestate im"perandi, tanquam jure metropoleos ostendimus. Prophetæ

metaphoras et ænigmata amant. Ita civitas est quasi civitas; "forum, quasi forum. Ita Apoc. x. 8. Civitas magna, ubi "Christus crucifixus est, Romanam ditionem notat." Heidegger. Myst. Bab. Mag. Tom. i. p. 219.

In una platearum. Pol. Synop. in loc.

+ Ex Ins maleras." In the broad place." Archdeacon

Επι Γης πλατειας.

Woodhouse.

VOL. II.

who jointly constituted the Germanic body, gives a peculiar propriety to the imagery which exhibits Germany as a crowded and bustling forum. If then there be any weight in the preceding remarks, we are compelled to consider Germany as the region in which the slaughter of the witnesses was to take place; and consequently we have an additional reason for referring the prophecy to the history of the Smalcaldic confede

rates.

St. John informs us, that the dead bodies of the witnesses were to lie unburied in this broad street of the city precisely three days and a half: when they should suddenly come to life again, stand firmly upon their feet, and afterwards ascend triumphantly to heaven, in spite of the machinations of their enemies.

The witnesses, as we have seen, were slain by the beast, when they were compelled to acknowledge the Interim as their rule of faith. The cause of the Reformation appeared now to be irretrievably ruined in Germany. The mass was restored. Protestantism was in a manner suppressed. The reformed ministers were enjoined to teach nothing concerning the controverted points, that was contrary to the tenets of the Romish church; and were even prohibited to preach for the future in any province of the empire. "The people were compelled to attend "the ministration of priests, whom they regarded "with horror as idolaters; and to submit to the "jurisdiction

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