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But it is not the new western empire only which is worshipped, the whole Latin empire is à partaker in the adoration. The manner in which it is worshipped consists in the subjects of it saying, "Who is like unto the beast?" Is it not the only holy power in the universe? Is it possible for any person not a subject of it to be saved? "Who is able to make war with him?" Can any nation successfully fight with it? Is not the Roman empire which is at the head of it, invictissimum, (most invincible?)*

"And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months;" that is, there was given power to the emperor, (who may be considered the mouth of the Beast, as he represented in his person the head-power of the Latin empire,) to assume, with a considerable shew of propriety, the greatest and most lofty titles; such as Romanorum Imperator, semper Augustus; (Emperor of the Romans, always august.) The instruments of Charlemagne generally began as follows: "In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritûs Sancti, Carolus serenissimus Augustus, à Deo coronatus, magnus et pacificus Imperator, Romanorum

*The subscription of Otho III. emperor of Germany, was "Signum D. Othonis, Cæsaris invictissimi," The seal of Lord Otho, the most invincible Cæsar. See Dumont's Corps Diplomatique, Tom. I. p. 41. His successors also subscribed themselves in this manner. See Rerum Germanicarum Scriptores Germanicos, ab Henrico Meibomio, Juniore, Tom. II. frequenter.

gubernans imperium, qui et per misericordiam Dei Rex Francorum et Langobardorum." In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Charles, the most serene Augustus, crowned by God, the great and pacific emperor, governing the empire of the Romans, who by the mercy of God is also king of the Franks and Longobards. When Charlemagne was made emperor the words of the proclamation were the following: "Karolo Augusto à Deo coronato, magno et pacifico Imperatori Romanorum vita et victoria;" + Life and victory to Charles Augustus, crowned by God, the great and pacific emperor of the Romans. A very frequent subscription of the emperors is instanced in the following one of Charles, the grandson of Charlemagne: "Signum Caroli gloriosissimi Augusti," The seal of Charles the most glorious Augustus. But blasphemies are also uttered by this mouth, to shew that the system of worship which he supports is a system of blasphemy, as there will be occasion presently to observe. The Beast is to continue forty-two months. As these forty-two months are prophetic, they must mean so many years as there are days contained in them, that is to say, 1260 years, each month containing 30 days. § The

* See Mabillon De Re Diplomaticâ, Lib. ii. c. 3, § 8.

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§ That days, in the language of prophecy, mean years has already been shewn when speaking of the Woman's flight into the wilderness for 1260 days; and it is further confirmed by the seventy weeks of Daniel, which all allow to represent 490 years.

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Beast, therefore, will continue to prevail more or less throughout this whole space; but when its termination will take place is rather difficult to say, as the beginning cannot at present be indubitably ascertained. That the 1260 years commenced before the coronation of Charlemagne as emperor of Germany in 800 would appear from the circumstance of the Dragon giving his power to the Beast, which supposes that the Beast was, previous to the conversion of the Western Empire to the Catholic faith. The majority of commentators think that the year 606 was the first of the 1260 years, because at this time the Greek emperor Phocas declared the Pope infallible. Bishop Newton supposes the year 727 as probable as any for the commencement; as it was then that the city of Rome revolted from the Greek emperor and the exarch of Ravenna. Some have thought that the beginning was not till 755, when Pepin, king of France, bestowed the exarchate of Ravenna upon the Pope, and thereby made him a temporal prince...

"And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven." As the heads of the Beast have been understood in two senses, so must the mouth. If the German empire be considered the head of the Beast, then the mouth will signify the emperor; as has been already shewn. But if we understand the regal state of the Latins, to be the head (" for the beast is an eighth, and one

of the seven,") then all the Roman Catholic kings united together in one purpose, will be the mouth. That this last is the meaning in this place is evident, not only from the circumstance that it is in unison with the order of the angel's explication, but also from the objects against which the blasphemy is directed, as will be fully shewn in the sequel. The Latin empire is here represented as a blasphemous power in three respects: first, he blasphemes the name of God. This has been most notoriously the case with the different Popish princes, who continually blaspheme the sacred names of God by using them in their idolatrous worship. They have blasphemed the name of God in instituting a religious order called The Society of Jesus, the members of which, usually known by the name of Jesuits, have done all in their power to gain converts to their abominable doctrines. The French monarch, Henry III. has blasphemed the name of God by instituting, (horrid to relate,) knights of the order of the Holy Ghost!* The Beast also blasphemes the tabernacle of God. This passage cannot properly be understood till the meaning of the word tabernacle be ascertained. Tabernacle any kind of dwelling-place; and, in an eminent sense, among the Jews, was a kind of tent to take

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* This order was instituted, with great pomp, on the 2d of January, in the year of Our Lord, 1579, in the church of the Great Augustines, at Paris.

up and down as occasion required, which was, as it were, the palace of the Most High, the dwelling of the God of Israel. It was divided into two partitions, one called The Holy Place, and the other The Most Holy Place; in the latter of which, before the building of the temple, the ark of the covenant was kept, which was a symbol of God's gracious presence with the Jewish church. All this the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in the eighth and ninth chapters, explains to prefigure the body of Christ, as is evident in the following words: "But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." The tabernacle of God, is, therefore, as Dr. Henry More well observes, the body of Christ, and differs from the temple mentioned in Rev. xi. 2. which represents the church of Christ. From the foregoing observation respecting the meaning of tabernacle, I perfectly, agree with Dr. Henry More and the Rev. E. W. Whitaker, who understand the blasphemy of the tabernacle of God by the Beast, of his impious doctrine of transubstantiation, in which it is most blasphemously asserted that the substance of the bread and wine in the sacrament, is literally converted by the consecration of the priest, into the very body

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