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Yet, in the midst of undisguised atheism, contradictory as it might appear before this prophecy had received its accomplishment, the king was not to be without a god of his own. He was to worship, as soon as he was firmly established, a certain god at the head of a host of Mahuzzim or tutelary gods; a god, whom Daniel styles a strange or foreign god: a god, whom his fathers, suhiperstitious as they had been, never knew. Hence it appears, that the adoration of this deity and his kindred Mahuzzim was not to be an invention of the king himself, but that it should be borrowed by him from the theological code of some other country. The god was to be a foreign god, whom his immediate predecessors of the Apostacy, notwithstanding their idolatrous veneration of saints and angels, had never worshipped.

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The Romans were, I believe, the only nation that ever expressly deified Liberty, till the worship of it was borrowed from them by the atheists of France.† A spurious Freedom, utterly incompatible either with genuine religion or with the real rights of man, was the very soul of the revolution which has since shaken Europe to its centre. Liberty and Equality were the watchwords of the infidel conspirators and their boast was, that slavery and superstition should soon be made

tichristum fore atheum, eumque, cum pleno potietur imperio, non tantum Christum et idola, sed et Dei veri nomen et cultum ablaturum." (Comment. in loc.)

Such was the language of anticipatory exposition previous to the French Rovolution ; let us now attend to the remarkably similar language of applicatory exposition after the commencement of that awful politico-theological convulsion. "I fear, I too clearly see the rise, instead of the fall, of the Antichrist of the West,-who shall be neither a Protestant nor a Papist ; neither Christian, Jew, nor Heathen who shall worship neither God, angel, nor saint-who will neither supplicate the invisible. majesty of heaven, nor fall down before an idol.” Bp. Horsley's Letter on Isaiah viii. p. 105, 106.

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* It is not unworthy of notice, that "the Fathers constantly thought, that under these Mabuzzim was some idol meant which Antichrist should worship." (Apost. of the latter times, Part i. C. 16.) The event has shewn, that they were right in their judgment. Jerome observes, that the Jews likewise conceived the character of this king to relate to Antichrist. Bp. Newton's Dissert. XVII.

The Greeks had a festival in honour of Jupiter Eleutherius, but I am not aware that they ever deified Liberty itself. If I am mistaken however in this point, it will not in the slightest degree affect the circumstance of Liberty being a foreign god considered in relation to France. The boasted Liberty of the Romans was not unlike that of their modern apes: as far as I am able to comprehend its nature, it was a liberty to quarrel with each other, and to tyrannize over their weaker neighbours.

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to vanish from off the face of the earth. Liberty in short, according to their definition of the word, that is to say, a freedom from all restraint both civil and religious, formed undoubtedly the most prominent feature in all their harangues, and in all their projects. Not satisfied however with merely applauding and imitating the principles and practice of the ancient Roman republicans, they determined likewise to adopt the literal worship of Liberty. Accordingly, after abjuring the religion of Christ, and declaring him to be an impostor, the Convention, with tumultuous applause, decreed the adoration of Liberty and Equality; and, in express imitation of the idolatrous Romans, appointed festivals exactly similar to those of paganism, in honour of Reason, the Country, the Constitution, the Virtues, and various other allegorical deities.* Liberty then I conceive to be the foreign god so peculiarly venerated by the infidel king, and which he placed with such distinguished honour at the head of his inferior Mahuzzim. Nor were these allegorical deities his only Mahuzzim. One of the tenets of modern philosophy is, "that tutelary gods, even dead men, may be canonized, consecrated, and worshipped." In perfect harmony with this doctrine, the anti-social republic formally enrolled in the list of its Mahuzzim Voltaire, Rousseau, Mirabeau, Marat, and even the vile assassin Ankerstrom. The church of St. Genevieve "was changed by the national assembly into a repository for the remains of their great men, or rather into a pagan temple; and, as such, was aptly distinguished by the name of the Pantheon, with the inscription, Aux grands hommes la Patrie reconnoissante, on the front." To this Pantheon, this avowed copy of the ancient Roman Pantheon, this polluted den of foreign idolatry, the remains of Voltaire and Rousseau were conveyed in a magnificent procession: and, as if to insult the Almighty to his face, the bones of Voltaire were placed upon the high altar, and incense was offered to them, the infatuated

*The late venerable Mr. Jones remarked some years ago the gradual approxima tion of the present age to paganism. He afterwards lived to see the worship of strange gods openly established in France. See his Reflections on the growth of Heathenism among modern Christians: Works, Vol. iii. p. 423.

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multitude meanwhile bowing down in silent adoraat 15 tion before the relics of this arch enemy of Christ.* Such have been the tutelary gods of the infidel king. Disregarding the god of his fathers and the Desire of women, he has revived the adoration of the Mahuzzim of Paganism; and, although a professed atheist, has prostrated himself before a foregin god whom his fathers never knew.†

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It is now therefore that we behold the rise of Antichrist for in no particular does the Papacy answer to his character, as drawn by the inspired pen of St. John. Plunged as are the adherents of the Roman see in the grossest superstitions, they have never denied either the Father or the Son and consequently we are not warranted in stigmatizing their Church, however corrupt and apostatical it may be, with the appellation of Antichrist. The pretended universal Bishop, that man of sin who sits in the temple of God shewing himself that he is God, has indeed been the precursor of Antichrist, as Gregory justly remarked; but he is not Antichrist himself.

To complete the character of the infidel king. Daniel adds three other particulars, all of which correspond with the conduct of atheistical France, no less than the bolder outlines of his picture.

1. The king was to cause the upholders or champions of his tutelary deities, together with the strange god whom he acknowledged, to rule over many-Since the

* It was in this same Pantheon that a prostitute personated Human Reason, and in that capacity received the worship both of the Convention and of the people. (See Hist. the Interp. Vol. ii. p. 233.) It is not unworthy of notice, that the adoration of Ceres has been revived even by name; a statue having been erected to her, and a festival appointed in honour of her. Ibid. p. 242.

↑ It has often been observed, that prophecy is designedly obscure till it receives its accomplishment. This is remarkably the case with the present prediction. It appears perfectly contradictory, that a power, which magnified itself above every god, true as well as false, should nevertheless venerate a strange god and tutelary deities : yet such has been precisely the conduct of France. Had the people of that nation adored their foreign gods, really believing them to be gods, they would not have fulfilled the prophecy; because it declares, that the king should not regard any god: yet, if they had not honoured foreign gods in some manner, they would equally have failed in accomplishing the prophecy, because it declares that they should honour them. What then has been the conduct of France? With professions of atheism in her mouth, she has adored certain deities, whom she nevertheless disbelieves to be deities; and has thus worshipped foreign gods without regarding any god,

strange god is Liberty, and since the other tutelary gods are the various allegorical deities of the infidel republic, their champions must undoubtedly mean the propagators and supporters of those principles upon which the French revolution was founded. These supporters then, together with his favourite idol, Liberty, the king was to cause to rule over many. It seems almost superfluous to point out the accuracy with which this part of the prophecy has received its accomplishment. The avowed principle of France has been at once to extend the empire of her turbulent children, those indefatigable champions of her Mahuzzim; and to cause the whole world to bow down before the shrine of that imaginary deity, which they misname Liberty. "The citizen and the legislator ought to acknowledge no other worship than that of Liberty, no other altars than those of their country, no other priests than the magistrates." For the purpose of more widely diffusing this system, a decree of fraternity to all rebels against their lawful sovereigns was formally passed by the national convention :* and it was determined that the system itself should be extended to all countries occupied by their armies.† Wherever the infidel tyrant has prevailed, he has caused his strange god, and the upholders of his Mahuzzim, to rule over many; and, in every region, where he has been victorious, he has uniformly planted the tree of his idol Liberty. In short, it was by a war of extermination to the enemies of his plans, that he meant univer

* In the sitting of the Jacobins, Aug. 27, 1792, Manuel caused an oath to be taken, that every exertion should be used to purge the earth of the pest of royalty.

+"You talked of nothing but liberty, but every one of your actions strove to enslave us. Can you deny it? All your words were orders; all your counsels were the mandates of a despot. We were promised, at least verbally, by the agents of the great nation, that no French troops should enter our canton; that not a sous should be demanded of us: yet the very reverse happened. They had the impudence to exact from us three millions of livres; they had the cruelty to march troops into our canton, without the least previous application, to exhaust our poor innocent country. In other words, they forced upon us the liberty of suffering ourselves to be stripped of all ra tional freedom. Open thine eyes, great nation, and deliver us from this liberty of bell." (Lavater's letter to the Executive directory of the French Republic, dated the first year of Helvetic slavery.) Similar to this was the conduct of France in every country where her arms prevailed. "A la place du supplice, Madame Roland s'inclina devant la statue de la Libertè, et prononça ces paroles memorables: O Libertè ! que de crimes on commet en ton nom!" Appel à l'impartiale posteritè, cited by Kett

sally to establish the power of the advocates for democracy and atheism.

The pernicious philosophy, upon which the revolution was founded, affords the only satisfactory key to the ac tions which it has produced. One of the hidden maxims of that philosophy is, first to gain a firm footing by fraud, and afterwards to propagate itself by brutal force; adopting the words reason, toleration, and humanity, only as a signal and call to arms. Such accordingly are the instructions given to the initiated by the hierophant of the Illuminati. "Serve, assist, and mutually support, each other; augment our numbers; render yourselves at least independent, and leave to time and posterity the care of doing the rest. When your numbers shall be augmented to a certain degree, when you shall have acquired strength by your union, hesitate no longer, but begin to render yourself powerful and formidable to the wicked.* The very circumstance of your being sufficiently numerous to talk of force, and that you really do talk of it, that circumstance alone makes the profane and wicked tremble. That they may not be overpowered by numbers, many will become good of themselves, and will join your party. You will soon acquire sufficient force to bind the hands of your opponents, to subjugate them, and stifle wickedness in embryo. Extend and multiply the children of light, until force and numbers shall throw power into our hands." So again: "Nations must be brought back to the nomade state, by whatever means are conducible: peaceably, if it can be done; but if not, then by force, for all subordination must be made to vanish from the earth."S

These doctrines were faithfully acted up to by the French demagogues, when they had taken the reins of government into their own hands. Such, as refused to subscribe to their diabolical creed, and to worship their Mahuzzim, were inhumanly persecuted as fanatics by these philanthropic lovers of toleration; and were adjudged to be worthy of death, because they were suspected

* That is, in plain English, all who are unwilling to swallow their blasphemous absurdities. † Anglice, atheists. Barruel's Mem, of Jacobin. $ Ibid.