applicable to the Church of Rome. With this view let us refer not to any private sources-but to the authorized "Book of Sacred Ceremonies" of the Church of Rome.

This Book, sometimes called "Ceremoniale Romanum," is written in Latin, and was compiled three hundred and thirty years ago, by Marcellus, a Roman Catholic Archbishop, and is dedicated to Pope Leo X. *

Let us turn to that portion of this Volume which describes the first public appearance of the Pope, on his election to the Pontificate.

We there read the following order of proceeding †. "The Pontiff elect is conducted to the Sacrarium, and divested of his ordinary attire, and is clad in the Papal robes." The colour of these is then minutely described. Suffice it to say, that five different articles of dress, in which he is then arrayed, are scarlet. Another vest is specified, and this is covered with pearls. His mitre is then mentioned; and this is adorned with gold and precious stones.

Such, then, is the dress in which the Pope is arrayed, as Pope; and in which he first appears, as such. Refer now to the Apocalypse. We have seen that scarlet, pearls, gold, and precious stones are thrice specified by St. John, as characterizing the mysterious power pourtrayed by himself .

* Romæ, A. D. 1516.

See the original words in Appendix H.

See above, p. 395.

D d

But we may not pause here. Turn again to the Ceremoniale Romanum.

The Pontiff elect, arrayed as has been described, is next conducted to the Cathedral of Rome, the Basilica, or CHURCH of St. Peter.

He is led to the ALTAR; he first prostrates himself before it and prays.

Thus he declares the sanctity of the Altar. He kneels at it, and prays before it, as the seat of God. What a contrast next ensues!

We now read the following:

"The Pope rises, and, wearing his mitre, is lifted up by the Cardinals, and is placed by them upon the Altar to sit there. One of the Bishops kneels, and begins the Te Deum. In the mean time the Cardinals kiss the feet and hands and face of the Pope."

Such is the first appearance of the Pope in the face of the Church and the World.

This ceremony has been observed for many centuries; and it was performed only two years ago, at the inauguration of the present Pontiff, Pius IX.

This ceremony is commonly called by Roman Writers the Adoration*. It is represented on a

For example, in Lettenburgh's Notitia Curiæ Romanæ, 1683, p. 125. "Portatur Pontifex in sede Pontificali ad S. Petrum, poniturque supra altare majus, ubi salutatur osculo pedis, manus, et oris a Cardinalibus; peracta adoratione descendit Pontifex ex altari.” “Romæ," (says Heidegger, Myst. Bab. i. 537,) “phrasis illa adorare Papam, in quotidiano usu est." Cp. Bp. Andrewes, c. Bellarmine, p. 289, where he shows the futility of the allegation, that adoratio means homage only. [Various

Pontifical coin, with the legend, "Quem creant, adorant*"

Observe the nature of this homage. It is by kneeling, and kissing, of the face, and hands, and feet.

And what is St. John's word, nine times used to describe the homage paid to the rival of God? It is πроσкνvεiv, to kneel before and to kiss.

Next, observe the place in which this adoration is paid. The Temple of God. Observe the attitude of him who receives it. He sits. Observe the place on which he sits. The Altar of God.

Such is the inauguration of the Pope. He is placed by the Cardinals on God's Altar. There he sits as on a Throne. The Altar is his footstool; and the Cardinals kneel before him, and kiss the feet which trample on the altar of the Most High.

Various books have been written by Romish Divines,—Mazaroni, Stevanus, and Diana,-" De adoratione et osculo pedum Pontificis." See Heidegger, Myst. Bab. i. 511. 514. 537. At the Coronation of Pope Innocent X., A. D. 1644, which is described with great minuteness by Banck, Roma Triumphans, Franeker. 1656, the following "formula adorationis" was addressed, in his own name and that of the Clergy of St. Peter's, by the arch-priest Cardinal Colonna, on his knees, to the Pope: "Sanctissime et Beatissime Pater, Caput Ecclesiæ, Rector Orbis, . . . cui claves regni coelorum sunt commissæ, quem Angeli in cœlis reverentur, portæ inferorum timent, totusque mundus adorat, nos Te unice veneramur, colimus et adoramus, et nos omniaque nostra paternæ et plus quàm divinæ dispositioni ac curæ submittimus." . . . (Banck, p. 384.)

* Numismata Pontificum, Paris, 1679, p. 5.

Let us turn again to St. John. The power described by Him is Mystery, and is called the mother of Abominations. And the word Abomination is identified in Scripture with idols; and, in the prophecies of Scripture, it describes a special form of idolatry. The abomination of desolation, as we have seen, prefigures the setting up an object of idolatrous adoration on the ALTAR in the TEMPLE of God.

Such was the idol set up by Antiochus, the type of Antichrist. And Our Lord's words concerning the Abomination of desolation, compared with those of the Apostle St. Paul respecting the mystery of Iniquity, or of Lawlessness, predicted the rise of a power, exalting itself above all that is called God, or is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God—or, is conveyed to the sanctuary of God, and there placed to sit―showing himself that he is God. The following questions therefore arise here :I. Has not the Church of Rome fulfilled the Apocalypse in the eyes of men? and does she not proclaim her own identity with the Woman in the Apocalypse, even by the outward garb of scarlet, gold, precious stones, and pearls, in which she invests her Pontiff at his election, and in which she then displays him to the world?

II. And has not she fulfilled the Apocalypse, and proclaimed her own identity with the Woman whose name is Mystery, the Mother of Abominations, by commencing every Pontificate with making the Pontiff her own idol, by lifting him up on the hands of

her Cardinals, and by placing him on God's Altar, and by kneeling before him, and kissing his feet? Does she not make herself the Mother of Idolatry, by paying such adoration as this in the person of her Cardinals, and by receiving it in the person of her Pope? And, by her long practice of this particular form of abomination, has she not identified herself with the Apocalyptic power, whose name is Mystery, and also with the "Mystery of Iniquity,” described by the Apostle St. Paul as enthroned with bold impiety in the Temple of God; and by placing her Pontiff to be adored, like the Most High, in God's presence on God's Altar in a Christian Church, as Antiochus Epiphanes placed an idol to be adored on God's Altar in the Temple at Jerusalem, has she not identified him with the Lucifer, the King of Babylon, whose pride and fall are pourtrayed by Isaiah *, and with the Abomination of Desolation † spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, and by our Blessed Lord Himself?

There is, I conceive, but one answer to these questions. They may be further elucidated by reference to another very striking prophecy.

Zechariah, whose spirit appears to have been imbibed, as his language is adopted, by St. John, be

* Cf. Witsii Miscell. Sacr. p. 650, lib. iii. c. 2.

The following was written in the twelfth century: “Dictum Danielis nono convenit modernis Prælatis et Ecclesiæ Rectoribus; videlicet Cum videritis desolationem." Joachim Abbas, in Jerem. c. 37.