his kingdom and his glory; I mean, the thief on the cross, Luke xxiii. 41, 42.: But when the hour and the power of Popish darkness comes, one furviving witness there fhall not be, Rey. xi. 7,-10. The boast, however, of bloody Babel, though loud, fhall not be long. Down fhall her trophies inftantaneously tumble. Her deftruction is determined by a decree, more irreversible than the laws of the Medes and Perfians. That decree is gone forth; it is written before Him who is of one mind; and, in his wonder-working providence, fhall one day be put in execution. The man of fin fhall come to his end, and none shall help him. Rome, rejoicing over the buried truth, and the butchered witneffes; hugging herself with the thought that she fhall be no more tormented with their Teftimony; lo! her fun fhall go down at noon. Seated high in the temple, drunken with the blood of the faints, caroufing over her idolatrous cups, and dreaming of nothing but uncontrouled power, and uninterrupted profperity, in that very hour, the fearful hand-writing fhall appear, as on the oppofite wall, God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it, Dan. v. 25. It shall not be sooner faid than done. Her kingdom fhall be divided: the kingdom and dominion under the whole heaven fhall be given to the people of the faints of the Moft High, and with Christ shall they live and reign for many generations, Dan. vii. 27. Rev. xx. 4. B In defcribing the number of the beaft, 666, from the words LATEINOS and ROMIITH, I am afraid I will not be understood by the unlearned Reader, in fuch a manner, as I could wish. The truth is, the Letters in thefe two words being all numeral, as every letter among the Greeks and the Hebrews is, the number in either word amounts precifely to 666. fo the name DAVID, according to the In the whole of the work, fuch as it is, I have used great plainnefs of fpeech. I have not intentionally wrefted fcripture to fupport any hypothefis of mine. If, in any inftances, it appear that it has been misapplied, I hope the candid Reader will attribute the mistake, not to wickedness, but to weakness. I have not the vanity to think but I may be mistaken in my views respecting fome things: humanum est errare. I do not confider my fentiments as a teft of orthodoxy, or as a term of Christian communion. This, however, I can honeftly fay, that not one fentiment was intended to impofe on the weak or the unwary. I have no party-interest to serve: The cause of truth neither needs, nor can be fupported by falfehood. Truth, truth is the pearl of which we fhould ever be in queft; and though found as on a dunghil, it should be more precious to us than the golden wedge of Ophir. The great queftion fhould be, not what fays this man, or that man; this party, or that party; But, What is truth? It is recorded to Levi's immortal honour, that he acknowledged not his brethren, Deut. xxxiii. 9. The truth and the peace we are to feek; the latter as founded on the former: the one, the folid, bafis the other, the beautiful fuperftructure. ; In publishing what I take for truth, it has been my care not to irritate the paffions of men, to their own and the truth's prejudice. The archangel, when contending with the devil, durft not bring against him a railing accufation, Jude verse 9.; and much less fhould men or minifters, when contending with one another. The wrath of man never did, never can, work the righteousness of God. Our ftrange fire may devour ourselves; but one unhallowed fpark of it, God will not fuffer to come nigh To bite and to devour one another, Gal. v. 15. indicates much of the canine, but nothing of the Chriftian, temper. It is like lions, wolves, and dogs, not like brethren. What Chrift faid to his fervants in the days of his flesh, is too too applicable to us ftill: Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of, Luke ix. 55. his altar. Generally we no fooner enter the field of controverfy, than we dip our pen in gall; and the contest which began concerning truth, foon degenerates into a war for victory: Having begun in the Spirit, we end in the flesh. And often, it is apparent, that we are more eager to blacken one another, than to illuftrate the truth, and make her triumph. In what inftances, or to what degree, I have deviated from the truth, and the temper, of the meek and lowly Jefus, the public will determine.-Mean while, I am not conscious of having caft fire inte the fanctuary, Pfal. lxxiv. 7. The Lord himself arife and cleanse it. May he fit as a refiner, and purify the fons of Levi, that they may offer unto him an offering in righteousness, Mal. iii. 3. May Zion's watchmen fee eye to eye, and be no more as Babel-builders, Ifa. lii. 8. May the people be of a pure language, that they may all call on the name of the Lord, to ferve him with one confent, Zeph. iii. 9. May he in mercy accept of this mite, devoted to his fervice; render it fubfervient to the intereft of true religion, ftrengthening to many, and occafion of ftumbling to none. With these views, I would now humbly lay it at his feet; conscious that I am not worthy to be called by, much lefs to minifter in, his name, as being less than the leaft of all faints. THOMAS BEL L. THE SECT. II. From Paul's prophecy, 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2, 3. SECT. III. From the number of the Beast, Rev. xiii. 18. SECT. IV. From the scarlet-coloured Beast, having seven heads SECT. V. From the character of the woman who fat on the feven-headed Beast, Rev. xvii. 4, 5. SECT. I. He comes in like a flood, in respect of avowed infi- |