by sound argument and orthography, which are alone sufficient; for such only are consonant with "wisdom" and "understanding."

The following small Table exhibits the Number xes of St. John, and demonstrates the necessity of using the Mark above the episèmon which is

then equal to 6; but if we have the Mark below the episèmon 5 the result will be that we shall produce the far greater Number 6,000,* and thereby produce by ONE SINGLE CHARACTER, or episèmon, 5334 more than the Number 666. Ex. gr. 5334+ 666 = 6000, and by placing the Mark below the whole Number x§5, we shall have 665,334 more than the ORIGINAL NUMBEr 666.

And if we allow the episèmon in the Number xέs' to be used for the contraction of σ, or s, we shall have this additional result, that as the episèmon ' is the representative of the contraction 5, so is the contraction the representative of 7, and consequently we shall see at once the incongruity of such supposed numerical equality; because the word Axolaτns, uncontractedly, with the Mark above and below is 1 494 beyond the given Number 666, and

1 See the Table of Apostatès.

the same word, uncontractedly, with the Mark below, is 1,159,334 beyond the Number 666, and therefore the contraction in the word APOSTATES must be given up according to the established Rules of Grecian orthography as connected with the Mode of ALPHABETICAL Numeration.

CHAPTER XI.

EXAMPLES PROVING THE WANT OF IDENTITY IN THE WORD APOSTATÈS, AS APPLICABLE TO ANY ONE PARTICULAR LAPSED CHURCH OR PERSON

EXCLUSIVELY.

THE following examples may suffice to illustrate that there is no sort of Identity between the word APOSTATES and any one particular lapsed Church, or Man, but such as is likewise applicable to, or synonymous with many Apostacies, and therefore Apostatès cannot be either the Proper, or Descriptive, or Appellative Name, wherewith the Latin Roman Pontiff (with every individual in his Latin Church) is to be Marked or Named; for HE is in truth as much an ANTICHRIST as he is an Apostatès or Blasphèmos, embodying the three characteristic Titles put together, with many other scriptural attributives, such as, "The Man of Sin," "The Son of Perdition," "The Wicked One," "The Mystery of Iniquity," &c.

I. That the Jewish Church, or CHURCH OF JERUSALEM,2 was the Primitive Christian or Mother Church of all Churches in the world, in the Days of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his Apostles, is evident from the testimony of INSPIRATION; for it was in the CITY of JERUSALEM that Christ first planted his Gospel, and gave a Commandment to his Disciples that it should be from thence preached among ALL Nations,3 beginning at Jerusalem," and in unison with this Commandment we read of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas enjoining, in the strictest manner, the implicit observance of this Divine Injunction given them by their Lord and Master, as it is written," It was NECESSARY that the word of God should FIRST have been spoken to you, (i. e. the JEWS.) And it is an undoubted truth, that no Gentile was federally admitted into the Christian Church till after St. Peter was commanded in the 5 Vision of the great sheet knit at four corners to go to Cæsarea and instruct Cornelius in the gospel, as we read "They travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to NONE but unto the JEWS ONLY:" so that the Jewish Christian Church (of which the primitive Apostles were the 7 lively stones, pillars, and foundations,) was the

6

1 Acts xi. 19, 22.

2 See The Ancient Liturgy of the Church of Jerusalem, being the Liturgy of St. James, compared with the Account given of that Liturgy by St. Cyril in his fifth Mystagogical Catechism, and with. the Clementine Liturgy, &c.' London: Printed by James Bettenham. 1744.

3 Luke xxiv. 47. 4 Acts xiii. 46.

5 Acts x.

6 Acts xi. 19.

7 1 Pet. ii. 5. Gal. ii. 9. Rev. xxi. 14. Matt, xix. 27, 28. Luke xxii. 28-30.

only Church for some time, and She it was who became instrumental in the conversion of the Gentile Nations to God, and therefore was, (in priority of Time,) the Mother Church to them all; but the same Church may now (as for centuries past) be styled an Apostats from the Faith (Αποςασία τῆς Πίςεως), because the Jews have nationally rejected Christ and renounced Christianity, and, therefore, God has destroyed their magnificent city JERUSALEM, in which they gloried so much, and given them up, for an allotted period, to Judicial blindness, according to the words of St. Paul; "But seeing that ye put it from you, (the word of God,) and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the GENTILES." However this APOSTATÈS is not final, for our Lord has limited the time by saying, 2" Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the Times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." So also the Apostle Paul says, in addressing the Gentile Christians of ROME in a way of caution, that, 3" If the FALL of them be the RICHES of the World, and the DIMINISHING of Them the RICHES OF THE GENTILES; how much more THEIR FULNESS?". "If the CASTING AWAY of Them be the Reconciling of the World, what shall the RECEIVING OF THEM BE, but LIFE FROM THE DEAD? "—" They also, if they abide not in unbelief, shall be graffed in for God is able to graff them in again. Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be

1 Acts xiii. 46.

2 Luke xxi. 24.

3 Rom. xi. 12, 15, 23, 25, 26, 32.