lot. "It is known," says a writer of the 17th century, quoted by Macgavin, "that the pope authorizes and protects public stews, in order to draw a considerable revenue from them; but it is not universally known, that to advance the reputation of that crime, which, indeed, is not accounted any by the Court of Rome, the popes will not suffer any women to prostitute themselves, unless they be Christians; and, therefore, by order of his holiness, Jewish, Pagan, and Mahometan women, who have a mind to set up that trade at Rome, must first be baptised."* How truly has the Spirit of God characterized the apostate church as "Babylon the great, the Mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth!"

Such is the wickedness naturally flowing from the popish doctrine of sacramental efficacy; but the way in which that sacramental efficacy is communicated to the elements, shows still more the daring impiety of the system. It has been already stated, that these have a power

* Protestant, vol. I. p. 45.

in themselves to confer grace, if duly celebrated. Now, the due celebration of the sacraments depends essentially on "the intention" of the priest. "Without intention in the priest, there is no real sacrament. If the priest intend to bless, the people are blessed! If the priest intend not to bless, they are not blessed!"* Such is the doctrine of Rome, first formally established in the Council of Florence, and confirmed by those which have succeeded. The object of it is plainly to vest all spiritual power in the hands of the priests, to make the people crouch at their feet, and to seek by all means to propitiate their favour. Thus the clergy are every thing; and God's Holy Spirit, whose prerogative it is alone to bless the ordinances of God, is contemned and degraded,

Now, when we see that the pope thus directly and systematically sets himself in opposition. to the word of God, the grace of Christ, and the work of the Holy Ghost, is it possible any longer to doubt that he is indeed the Man of Sin, the adversary of God and godliness..

Rogers' Antipopery, sec. xvii. p. 237.

CHAPTER III.

The Rival Christ.

2 THESSALONIANS ii. 4.

"And exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he, AS GOD, sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he IS GOD."

We have seen the irreligion, the unholiness of that system of superstition of which the Pope is the head, and its utter contrariety to the doctrine of Christ. We come now more particularly to consider the arrogant assumptions and blasphemous pretensions of the Papacy, so clearly depicted in the sure word of prophecy, so many hundred years before it was possible that they could be actually realized. It is here predicted, that the Man of sin would "exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped."

H

The expression is remarkable. It not obscurely indicates, that in the apostate church there would be other objects of worship besides the true God; and we have seen that in the apos

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tate Church of Rome there are gods many, and lords many," that receive the adorations of their blinded devotees. It implies, moreover, that above both the true God, and all these false objects of worship, the Man of sin would exalt himself. And this is literally the case with the Pope. 1. He exalts himself above the true God. He substitutes his own will and traditions for the word and will of God, and requires all to obey them on pain of damnation. Thus is the authority of a mortal man raised above the authority of the Most High God. Nor does he do this only in an indirect way, by claiming for himself the sole and supreme power to declare the will of God. We shall see by and by that he sets himself above the Highest, by asserting the right to dispense with the acknowledged law of God, to abrogate and annul it.* 2. He ex* See Chapter V. The Lawless One.

alts himself above all that is called God. Whenever creatures are joined as objects of worship with the Creator, the latter is invariably found to occupy an inferior place in the esteem of the worshippers, to the former. We have seen, for instance, that the Virgin Mary ranks much higher in the Church of Rome than God himself. Yet above both the Virgin and all other objects of idolatry the Pope is exalted. A Papist is encouraged to "appeal from the court of God's justice, to the court of his Mother's mercy;" but no appeal is permitted from the judgment of the Pope. His sentence is supreme, his award is final, and cannot be reversed. And accordingly Stephen, Archbishop of Patraca, declared, with the approbation of the fifth Lateran Council, that the Pope possessed "power above all powers, both in heaven and in earth."*

Now, when such are the pretensions of the Papacy, it need be no matter of surprise that it should be predicted of the Man of sin, that he,

as God, should sit in the temple of God, shew

* Labb. Concil., tom. xiv. p. 269. Lutet. 1672.