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their hypocrisy, commonly sided with them. They besides kept a watchful eye over the behaviour of bishops, and constantly informed the generals of their respective orders, who resided at Rome, thereof; so that before any scheme to throw off his authority could be brought to maturity the pope had time to take his measures.” * That we may have the greatest assurance possible that the two-horned Beast is the spiritual Latin empire, it is called in Rev. xix. 20. "the false-prophet," +"than which," as Bishop Newton justly observes, "there cannot be a stronger or plainer argument to prove, that false-doctors or teachers were particularly designed;" for prophet, in the Scripture-style, is not unfrequently used for a preacher or expounder of God's word, as in Exod. vii. 1. "And the Lord said unto Moses, See I have made thee a god unto Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet." In 1 Cor. xiv. this is unequivocally its meaning, where the apostle says, "He that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church." It hence follows that the two-horned Beast, which rose up out of the earth or Latin world, is an empire of false-doctors or teachers; and, consequently, it can be no other than the spiritual Latin empire, or the Romish hie

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+ Compare Rev. xix. 20. with Rev. xiii. 12—17.

rarchy. The second Beast is said to have "two horns like a lamb." As lamb, in every other part of the Apocalypse, evidently means Christ, who is "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world," it must have a similar import in this passage; therefore the meaning here is evidently that the two horns of the Beast, or the regular and secular clergy, profess to be the ministers of Christ; to be like him in meekness and humility; and to teach nothing that is contrary to godliness. The two-horned Beast, or spiritual Latin empire, has in reality the name, and, in the eyes of the Latin world, the appearance, of a Christian power. But he is only so in appearance, and that alone among his deluded votaries; for when he spake, "he spake as a dragon." The doctrines of the false-prophet are very similar to those contained in the old Heathen worship; for he has introduced " a new species of idolatry nominally different, but essentially the same, the worship of angels and saints instead of the gods and demigods of antiquity."

*That the false-prophet spake like a Dragon is evident from his adoration of multitudes of fabulous saints and angels, as will fully appear from the following account given by Dr. Mosheim of the state of the Latin church in the ninth century: "The ignorance and corruption that dishonoured the Christian church, in this century, were great beyond measure; and were there no other examples of their enormity upon record, than the single instance of that stupid veneration that was paid to the bones and carcases of departed saints; this would be sufficient to convince us of the deplorable progress of

"And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him; and causeth the earth, and them

superstition. This idolatrous devotion was now considered as the most sacred and momentous branch of religion; nor did any dare to entertain the smallest hopes of finding the Deity propitious, before they had assured themselves of the protection and intercession of some one or other of the saintly order. Hence it was, that every church, and indeed every private Christian, had their particular patron among the saints, from an apprehension that their spiritual interests would be but indifferently managed by those, who were already employed about the souls of others. The priests and monks set their invention at work, and peopled, at discretion, the invisible world with imaginary protectors. They dispelled the thick darkness which covered the pretended spiritual exploits of many holy men; and they invented both names and histories of saints that never existed, that they might not be at a loss to furnish the credulous and wretched multitude with objects proper to perpetuate their superstition and to nourish their confidence.-The ecclesiastical councils found it necessary, at length, to set limits to the licentious superstition of these ignorant wretches, who, with a view to have still more friends at court, for such were their gross notions of things, were daily adding new saints to the list of their celestial mediators. They accordingly declared, by a solemn decree, that no departed Christian should be considered as a member of the saintly order, before the bishop in a provincial council, and in presence of the people, had pronounced him worthy of that distinguished honour. This remedy, feeble and illusory as it was, contributed in some measure, to restrain the fanatical temerity of the saint-makers; but, in its consequences, it was the occasion of a new accession of power to the Roman pontiff. Even so early as this century, many were of opinion, that it was proper and expedient, though not absolutely necessary, that the decisions of bishops and councils should he confirmed by the consent and authority of the Roman pontiff, whom they consi

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which dwell therein, to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed." In the preced

dered as the supreme and universal bishop; and this will not appear surprising to any who reflect upon the enormous strides which the bishops of Rome made towards unbounded ambition in this barbarous and superstitious age, whose corruption and darkness were peculiarly favourable to their ambiticus pretensions. It is true, we have no example of any person solemuly sainted by the bishop of Rome alone, before the tenth century, when Udalric, bishop of Augsburg, received this dignity in a for mal manner from John XV. It is, however, certain that before that time the Roman pontiffs were consulted in matters of that nature, and their judgment respected in the choice of those that were to be honoured with saintship; and it was by such steps as these, that the church of Rome engrossed to itself the creation of these tutelary divinities, which, at length, was distinguished by the title of Canonization. This preposterous multiplication of saints was a new source of abuses and frauds. It was thought necessary to write the lives of these celestial patrons, in order to procure for them the veneration and confidence of a deluded multitude; and here lying wonders were invented, and all the resources of forgery and fable exhausted, to celebrate exploits which had never been performed, and to perpetuate the memory of holy persons who had never existed. We have yet extant a prodigious quantity of these trifling legends, the greatest part of which were, undoubtedly, forged after the time of Charlemagne by the monastic writers. The same impostors, who peopled the celestial regions with fictitious saints, employed also their fruitful inventions in embellishing with false miracles, and various other impertinent forgeries, the history of those who had been really martyrs or confessors in the cause of Christ.-It was not enough to reverence departed saints, and to confide in their intercession and succours; it was not enough to clothe them with an imaginary power of healing diseases, working miracles, and delivering from all sorts of calamities and dangers; their bones,

ing verse the two-horned beast was represented as rising out of the earth, that is, obtaining gradually

their clothes, the apparel and furniture they had possessed dur ing their lives, the very ground which they had touched, or in which their putrefied carcases were laid, were treated with a stupid veneration, and supposed to retain the marvellous virtue of healing all disorders, both of body and mind, and of defending such as possessed them against all the assaults and devices of Satan. The consequence of this wretched notion was, that every one was eager to provide himself with these salutary remedies, for which purpose great numbers undertook fatiguing and perilous voyages, and subjected themselves to all sorts of hardships; while others made use of this delusion to accumulate their riches, and to impose upon the miserable multitude by the most impious and shocking inventions. As the demand for relics was prodigious and universal, the clergy employed all their dexterity to satisfy these demands, and were far from being nice in the methods they used for that end. The bodies of the saints were sought by fasting and prayer instituted by the priest in order to obtain a Divine answer, and an infallible direction; and this pretended direction never failed to accomplish their desires; the holy carcase was always found, and that always in consequence, as they impiously gave out, of the suggestion and inspiration of God himself. Each discovery of this kind was attended with excessive demonstrations of joy, and animated the zeal of these devout seekers to enrich the church still more and more with this new kind of treasure. Many travelled with this view into the eastern provinces, and frequented the places which Christ and his disciples had honoured with their presence, that, with the bones and other sacred remains of the first heralds of the Gospel, they might comfort dejected minds, calm trembling cousciences, save sinking states, and defend their inhabitants from all sorts of calamities. Nor did these pious travellers return home empty; the craft, dexterity, and knavery, of the Greeks found a rich prey in the stupid credulity of the Latin relic-hunt

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