both of them with so little congruence to, and illustration of, this prophecy, that little or no notice has been taken of them by more recent commentators. By these it is generally and justly supposed, that we are to look to those times when the two wild beasts began to act in concert together, and after the deadly wound of the first had been healed," (this date. is given, and twice repeated, ch. xiii. 3, 12, 14.); which is confessedly subsequent to the period of the persecuting emperors.

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1

The holy men, who, feelingly aware of the debasement of Christianity by its rulers and false teachers, continued to profess and practise the pure doctrines and simple rites of the primitive Church, were the first to discover, as they were the first to feel and experience, the fulfilment of this prophecy in the corrupt hierarchy of the then Christian Church. For some centuries, such persons had suffered from this source many forms of "persecution for righteousness' sake:" but the period at length arrived, when they were denounced by the Roman pontiff, as obstinate heretics and outcasts from the Church, and armies of crusaders were levied for their utter destruction. In such a situation, they could not fail to perceive, in their pious attention to the prophecies, comparing them with the "evident signs of the times," that the two wild beasts, the supreme powers civil and eccle

1 Some writers of the Roman Catholic church have endeavoured to show, that the prophecies of antichrist and the false prophet have had their fulfilment in Luther and the Protestants: and the attempt has been repeated of late by one of their bishops, under the title of a "History of the Church," with the fictitious name of "Pastorini." But the more prudent and discreet writers of this communion tell us, that antichrist is not yet come, nor to be expected till toward the end of the world. The Protestants affirm that he is come, and is now in continued operation; and the proofs of this have been long before the public, and, we may say, in force irresistible.

siastical, were united to destroy them, and that the mystical whore of Babylon, (ch. xvii.) was about to be "drunken with their blood." This they saw, and felt, and loudly proclaimed throughout the western world.1 And the truth of this application they proved in their own personal perseverance and sufferings; thousands of pious martyrs submitting to the swords and fires of their combined persecutors. "The beast overcame them," as it was foretold; and not submitting to lose their spiritual life, they sacrificed their temporal existence, and " were slain." (Ver. 15.)

The elevation of the papal power to its supreme height, grandeur, and iniquity, was the work of time, indeed, of many centuries. What has been said above, is to be referred to the thirteenth century, and to those times immediately preceding and following it, when this usurping hierarchy is generally supposed to have nearly reached the zenith of its strength; when a crusading army, levied originally against the Mahometan infidels, was, by the influence of Pope Innocent III. and under the direction of inquisitors by him appointed, employed against the Albigenses, Waldenses, and other Christians professing and practising their holy religion in

In Bishop Newton's Dissertation on the eleventh chapter, containing the prophecy of the witnesses, the learned prelate has exhibited an useful view of the attempt of the pure primitive Church to preserve its faith, doctrine, and worship through the centuries preceding their almost entire destruction and extirpation, by the conjoined powers civil and ecclesiastical, in the 13th century; and he has supported his statement by numerous appeals to the historians and other writers in those times. The interest which the public have lately taken in the history of the Valdenses or Vaudois, has been the means of producing much additional evidence; and the reader may see it to advantage in the "Compendium of the History of the Vaudois," lately published by H. D. Acland, Esq. as an introduction to his narration of " the glorious Recovery by the Vaudois of their Valleys."

its purer forms, throughout the southern parts of France.

The horrors of this bloody persecution-in which a million of Christians are said to have been massacred in the most barbarous manner; their surviving brethren, who escaped the fire and the sword, dispersed miserable beggars through the nations; those who could not flee, forced to bend under the idolatrous yoke, or to be deprived of all the comforts, and even necessaries of life, under the privilege of buying and selling;-all these are amply recorded in history, and so recorded, verify most accurately the prophecy contained in verses 15-18 in this chapter.1

This is only a small portion of the resemblance exhibited in history between the papal power and the second wild-beast: but it is a prominent portion. The fulfilment may be seen in the history of the thirteenth century, as detailed by Mosheim, and confirmed by the authorities which he has collected. And if the reader should require more information, respecting this and other parts of the prophecy, it may be seen profusely in the works of the most esteemed commentators, in Vitringa, Bengelius, in Mede, Durham, Sir Isaac and Bishop Newton, Daubuz, Lowman, Fraser,, and many more modern writers on this subject. With the general result of their labours, the present exposition accords; for I am firmly convinced, that the papal power is a distinguished object of this prophecy. Yet there are some important points of difference between us, declared in my former work, which, on a mature reconsideration, I find no reason to retract.

2

I. In verse 1, εK Tйs yns may be translated either out of the earth, or out of the land. I have preferred

1 Sismundi's History of the Crusades against the Albigenses, &c. 2 See page 349, &c. of that publication.

sea. 1

the latter, as opposed to the sea; whereas the earth in these prophecies is commonly opposed to the heaven. In a former passage, I have defended this application of the terms by reference to scripture, and have shown that 'H Tn, thus opposed to the sea, frequently signifies the holy land, the people of God, while the Gentiles are spoken of under the term Thus this second beast appears to arise from: among the professed Christians, who, after the divine rejection of the Jews, have been adopted into their place, and obtained their privileges, (Rom. xi. 18, 19.) and, during the twelve hundred and sixty years, they tread the courts of the Lord's temple, (Gal. iv. 25, 26; and see the note, xi. 1, 2.) This accords with what St. John had before predicted in his epistles, where he describes the growth of antichrist out of the Christians so named, & ñμwv ežndθον αλλ, ουκ ησαν εξ ἡμῶν. He is a Christian in name, not in verity, and he goes out from among the faithful, and joins the warfare of the persecuting beast against them, and by force or seduction, causes many to apostatise from the pure faith. Thus the spirit of antichrist had appeared in its infantine form even in St. John's days, but in a later period was to be manifested in full growth, as is plainly testified in these apocalyptic prophecies, and amply confirmed by historical events. But the difference is not very great between this exposition, confining the rise of antichrist to the land of the Christians, or the more general one, which extends it to the whole earth, as opposed to the heaven, and adopted by Mede, Vitringa, Bishop Newton, and others. The next article of dissent is of greater importance. II. The two horns of the second wild beast, or false prophet.

1 See the notes, ch. viii. v. 7.

* 1 John ii. 18, 19, 24-26; iv. 2, 3; 2 John 6, 7.

In the interpretation of the symbol of the two horns, or rather of one of them, I have ventured to differ very materially from the opinions commonly received; and I do so on the following grounds.

A horn in Scripture, even in plain diction, signifies strength or power, (see notes, ch. v. 6; and xvii. 12;) and in its prophetical language, supreme or kingly power, (ch. vii. 28, and ch. viii. throughout.) And as the two horns of the ram, in the prophecy of Daniel (ch. viii. 20,) are divinely expounded to prefigure two kings, wielding the power of two nations, in an union springing from the same causes, and directed to the same object, so the two horns of the lamb-like beast will probably be found to be two powers, derived from the same origin, resembling each other in character, and directing their efforts in persecuting the saints, and attempting to eradicate the pure religion of Christ.

The Protestant commentators are generally agreed in supposing, that the prophetical description of the second wild beast is to be seen clearly, and exclusively, in the Roman hierarchy. But to complete this exposition, it has become necessary for them to show, that the two distinct horns of supreme power are perfectly fulfilled in the papal domination, and thus to satisfy the prophecy so decidedly, as to render further inquiry and illustration unnecessary. In attempting this, their ablest interpreters have been greatly divided, and have thus shown the difficulty of accomplishing their common object. Mede supposes the two horns to be exemplified in the power of binding and loosing, so extravagantly and unscripturally assumed by the Pope and his clergy. Vitringa prefers the power given to the two orders of Franciscans and Dominicans in the appointment of the Inquisition. Bishop Newton and others think it more apparently verified in the two bodies of the