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mon people, amongst whom they were in great " veneration through their outward appearance "of holiness; and from thence it came to pass, "that the bishops, who opposed the Pope's autho

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rity, never could make a great party among "the common people. Besides this, the friars

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always kept a watchful eye over the actions of "the bishops, giving continual advices concern"ing them to their generals residing at Rome, whereby the Popes were enabled to oppose timely any design intended against their authority. And these friars proved the main "obstacle, why the bishops could not so effectu

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ally oppose the Pope's authority which he "assumed over them; so that, being destitute "of means to help themselves, they were forced "to follow the current*."

The regular and secular clergy then, under their respective generals and bishops, are the two horns or ecclesiastical kingdoms of the papal catholic empire. These horns appeared to the prophet to be of a different form from those of the first or temporal beast: they resembled the horns of a lamb. Now, when we recollect that the second beast is styled a false prophet, we can scarcely doubt but that the symbol was so constructed in allusion to his spiritual character. Accordingly, the two ecclesiastical horns claimed to be the only servants of the lamb of God, and affected to be like him in

Hist. of Henry II. cited by Whitaker, p. 416.

meekness

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meekness and humility.. Solemnly devoting themselves to a life of celibacy, and ever engaged in a round of religious ceremonics, they appeared to the deluded populace to be saints indeed, far removed from all the cares and vanities of this transitory world. And, in order that this impression might not be too soon worn off, new saints were at seasonable intervals added to the calendar; and their names enrolled along with those of the real servants of the Lamb, the holy Apostles of the primitive Church. Even the sovereign pontiff himself, who had a look more stout than his fellows, delighted nevertheless to style himself, with sanctified hypocrisy, the servant of the servants of God*

3. But, notwithstanding his lamb-like appearnace, the beast spake as a dragon-The church of Rome, like a true child of that old serpent the devil, forcibly established and supported idolatry;

*We may, if we please, suppose the cardinals to constitute the body of the second beast; and we shall then have the whole Romish Hierarchy completely portrayed." Prælati Roma(c nenses in Universitate Pragensi congregati, contra Johannem Hussum et alios affirmant (in quarto suo decreto seu articulo), quod collegium cardinalium Romæ sunt corpus "Ecclesiæ. Cui respondet Johannes Hussus, Christum esse

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caput Ecclesiæ, omnesque fideles Christianos corpus esse Ec"clesiæ Christi. Cui replicant Prælati processu longo et "tœdii pleno, ostendentes, quomodo Papa sit caput, et quo" modo cardinalium collegium solum, et non alli Christiani, "sint corpus Ecclesia." Act. et Monument. A. D. 1414. p. 589, 590, 591. cited by Potter, Interp. num. 666. Cap. xix. p. 121.

claimed

claimed a proud superiority over all temporal dominion; advanced her interests with all the wily cunning of the serpent; anathematized and persecuted to death the faithful servants of Christ; and esteemed every lie and every imposture, which advanced her authority, a laudable and even pious fraud. That no faith is to be kept with heretics, is a well known maxim of this genuine offspring of the father of lies: that kings excommunicated by the Pope, may be deposed and murdered by their subjects, is another of her maxims: and that the end sanctifies the means, that it is lawful to do evil that good may come, has been the avowed principle of the Jesuits*. Her dracontine cruelty and ferocity need no proofs. Where pagan Rome hath slain her thousands, papal Rome hath slain her ten thousands."The fourth council of Lateran," says Bp. Burnet, "decreed, that all hereticks should be de- . "livered to the secular power to be extirpated-If "a man had but spoken a light word against any "of the constitutions of the church, he was seized "on by the bishop's officers: and, if any taught "their children the Lord's prayer, the ten com

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*The maxims of the Jesuits are these, "That actions intrinsically evil, and directly contrary to the divine laws, "may be innocently performed by those who have so much power over their own minds, as to join, even ideally, a good end to this wicked action, or (to speak in the style of the Jesuits) who are capable of directing their intention aright" (Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. Cent. 17. Sect. 2, p. 1. cited by Whitaker.). Thus it appears, that the Jesuits were the prototypes of Weishaupt's diabolical sect of Illuminati..

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"mandments,

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"mandments, and the Apostles' creed, in the vulgar " tongue*, that was criminal enough to bring them "to the stake, as it did six men and a woman at Coventry in the Passion week 1519†." Here it be observed, that, while the first or secular beast is represented as making war with the saints and overcoming them, it is no where said that the second or ecclesiastical beast should do more than cause them to be killed. The above-cited decree of the council of Lateran shews how exact the prophecy has been in this particular. The little horn hath always worn out the saints by causing them to be killed, or by delivering them over to the secular arm, not by literally slaying them itself. "Who can make any computation, or even "frame any conception, of the numbers of pious Christians, who have fallen a sacrifice to the

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bigotry and cruelty of Rome? Mede hath ob"served from good authorities, that in the war "with the Waldenses and Albigenses there perished

In direct opposition to this abominable system of keeping the people in profound ignorance, the church of England specially charges all sponsors to provide, that the child, for whom they have been sureties, " may learn the Creed, the Lord's

Prayer, and the ten Commandments, in the vulgar tongue, "and all other things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul's health." Office of Baptism.

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+ Hist. of Reformation cited by Whitaker, p. 419.

On this occasion, the Inquisitors, with a disgusting affectation of lamb-like meekness, are wont to beseech the civil magistrates to shew mercy to those unfortunate victims whom they themselves have given up to be consigned to the flames.

of these poor creatures in France alone a million. "From the first institution of the Jesuits to the

year 1480, that is in little more than thirty ંદ years, 900,000 orthodox Christians were slain. "In the Netherlands alone, the Duke of Alva "boasted, that within a few years he had dis

patched to the amount of 36,000 souls, and "those all by the hand of the common executioner. In the space of scarce thirty years, the Inqui"sition destroyed, by various kinds of tortures, 150,000 Christians. Sanders himself confesses, "that an innumerable multitude of Lollards and "Sacramentarians were burnt throughout all Europe; who yet, he says, were not put to death by the Pope and Bishops, but by the civil magis"trates which perfectly agrees with this prophecy; for of the secular beast* it is said, that "he should make war with the saints and over"come them."

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4. He exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him-Cardinals, Prelates, and Monks, were long the prime ministers of the European sovereigns: and the names of Wolsey, Ximenes, Richlieu, and Mazarine, are handed down to posterity as the most intriguing and ambitious of statesmen. The second beast indeed is properly "an ecclesias

• It is not unworthy of notice, that Bp. Newton here speaks of the first beast as being, what he really is, the secular Roman empire, as contradistinguished from the second beast or the Roman church.

+ Bp. Newton's Dissert. on Rev.xiii.

VOL. II.

X

* tical

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