May it please God so to guide and govern the hearts of all who bear rule among us, that they may promote true Religion and Virtue, and be blessed for evermore. Grant us ever, O Lord, Princes to reign in Righteousness, and Pastors after Thine own heart!

LECTURE XI.

REV. xvii. 9. 18. 5.

Here is the mind which hath wisdom: The seven heads are SEVEN MOUNTAINS, on which the woman sitteth. And the woman which thou sawest is that GREAT CITY, which REIGNETH over the kings of the earth. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, BABYLON THE GREAT.

PROCEEDING With our Expository Comment on the Apocalypse of St. John, we were led in the last Discourse to contemplate the Prophecies contained in Six Chapters-the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenthof that Book; and it was then affirmed that these Prophecies have been partly fulfilled, and are in course of complete fulfilment, in the Church of Rome.

It was also observed, that if this point is established, we have here a confirmation of the divine authority of the Apocalypse; for God alone can foretell the future; and that the fulfilment of these predictions ought to remind us, that the other clear and awful Prophecies of the Apocalypse, concerning Judgment, Heaven, Hell, and Eternity, will be fulfilled likewise.

You were also desired to remark, that, if these particular Prophecies do indeed concern the Church of Rome, then, in them, we have guidance, instruction, and warning, from Almighty God Himself, concerning those important questions, civil and religious, relating to the Church of Rome, which are, and have long been, subjects of discussion among us; and which, accordingly as they may be decided, will affect the happiness of thousands, and the stability of the Empire itself.

The language of the Apocalypse, commending the words of this Prophecy to our serious meditation, and promising a blessing to all who hear and keep it *, and denouncing a fearful curse on all who take from itt, shows that these prophecies, which form a large portion of that divine Book, were specially dictated by the Holy Spirit for such uses as these; and that we shall forfeit God's benediction, and incur His indignation, if we neglect to employ it for our own instruction and guidance in these questions.

Let HIM, therefore, be thanked for the gift of the Apocalypse, which affords us an inspired solution of civil and religious difficulties, which might otherwise have perplexed us.

The Church of Rome, my brethren, dates from Apostolic times. She has been adorned by many names renowned for sanctity and learning. She proclaims herself infallible and indefectible. She

* Rev. i. 3. xxii. 7.

Rev. xxii. 19.

charms the sense by alluring fascinations, and dazzles it by brilliant splendour. She warms the heart by professions of Unity, and fires the Imagination by claims of Universality. She arrogates Empire over this world and the next. Resist her sway, and she says you cannot be saved; obey her implicitly, and you cannot be lost. She affirms that she holds in her hands the keys of hell and the grave, and can unlock the doors of Purgatory, and admit the trembling soul to the bliss of heaven.

Such are her claims.

And with such pretensions as these, she might well be expected to exercise a powerful sway. However great and grievous the corruptions with which she has adulterated the Truth, yet, retaining as she does certain main articles of the Christian Faith, she might hope to enchain Nations. And so, the pure light of the Gospel, as preached by Christ and His Apostles, would be in peril of being lost.

But here the Spirit of God has deigned to interfere, to rescue the Word, and to guide the Church, of God.

He dictated the Apocalypse to St. John, the last surviving Apostle, the beloved Disciple of the Incarnate Word, the blessed witness of the Written Word, the Malachi of the New Testament, the Apostolic Canonizer of the Bible. He warned the World by him; by him He reveals the Woman enthroned on many waters, which are peoples, and

multitudes, and nations, and tongues *. By him He displays her as she is. She vaunts Unity and Universality; but she is not therefore true. She boasts of Sanctity; but she is not pure. She attracts the eye with her splendour; but she is not therefore chaste. She glorifies herself, and lives deliciously †. She says in her heart, that she sits a Queen for ever ; and is no widow, and will see no sorrow: but she will be burnt with fire. She holds in her hand a golden cup, full of enchantments, with which she bewitches the world ; but God shall give her the cup of His wrath §. She seeks for proselytes, as if she were Sion; but she makes them captives, and is Babylon.

And, as was the desolation of Babylon, so shall her end be.

It was affirmed in our last Discourse that it is no impulse of private conceit, or resentful passion, or fantastic imagination, but the just verdict of a sound judgment, guided by Reason, sanctioned by Antiquity, and dictated by God Himself, which affirms that, in these Apocalyptic predictions, the Holy Spirit has pourtrayed the Church of Rome.

It was added, that He has given us this warning from heaven in order that we should not be deluded by her pretensions, nor be daunted by her anathemas, nor partake of her sins, lest we receive also of her plagues.

*Rev. xvii. 15.

+ Rev. xvii. 4.

Rev. xviii. 7. 9.

§ Rev. xvi. 19.