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thority within the territories of the Western Empire. Now, as the Papacy is the only power to which this character is attributable, it follows that St. John's second Beast represents the Papacy, and is the same as the Little Horn of Daniel's fourth Beast, which symbol is wanting in the first Beast of the Apocalypse. In confirmation of this conclusion, it is observable that the second Beast is said to work miracles like the Man of Sin of St. Paul, and he is in other passages of the Revelation denominated the False Prophet, and thus his ecclesiastical character is determined beyond the possibility of doubt.

It is further manifest, that the Harlot Babylon the Great, which was exhibited to the eyes of the Apostle John in the 17th chapter of the Revelation, is a symbol of Papal Rome-but for complete satisfaction on this point, I must refer the reader to the works of Bishop Newton, and other commentators; as my limits will not permit me to enter upon the illustration of it. I shall, however, remark, that it is admitted by Bossuet, and other Popish writers, that under the symbol of this Harlot, the city of Rome was pointed out; and they endeavour to evade the argument of Protestants from this passage by

contending that it was Heathen, and not Christian Rome. But it may be asked, where was the mystery of Heathen Rome being drunken with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus, and why should the Apostle "wonder with great admiration, (Rev. xvii. 6.) at this circumstance, if Rome Heathen had been intended?-But that Rome, calling herself Christian, and professing to be the Spouse of Christ, should be intoxicated with the blood of his servants, this indeed was a mystery which might well excite the admiration of the Apostle John!-Now, it may be asked, has not Papal Rome drunk even to intoxication of the blood of the servants of God? Does not the blood of the Albigenses and Waldenses, who were exterminated by fire and sword at the instigation of the Popes, cry out for vengeance against her? Does not the blood of thousands and ten thousands slain in different parts of Europe at the era of the Reformation bear testimony against this Apostate Church ?* Does not the

*The Providence of God has so ordered it, that many of the most shocking enormities of the Romish Church have been recorded by Historians who lived and died in communion with her. Thus, Fra Paolo Sarpi relates the fact, that in the Low Countries the number of those who were hanged, beheaded, burnt, and buried alive, for here

atrocious guilt of all the butcheries and all the burnings of the infernal Inquisition lie at her door? There is another reason which

*

sy, from the first Edict of Charles V. to the peace of Chateau Cambresis," (that is a period of thirty-eight years,) "amounted to fifty thousand." See his Histoire du Con cile de Trente, Tome II. p. 52.-L'Abbé Condillac states, that the number of Protestants who perished in France in the massacre of St. Bartholomew, were reckoned at seventy thousand in the Memoirs of Sully, and by another author they were computed at one hundred thousand. See Cours D'Etude pour l'Instruction du Prince de Parme, Tome X. p. 149.—As L'Abbé de Condillac was a Catholic, and has not controverted the accuracy of Sully, we may consider his silence as conclusive in favour of that statement.

*It is well known, than an execution of the Inquisition was called by the name of Auto da fe, or Act of faith. The following is a description of some of the circumstances which attended these dreadful exhibitions:-"When the culprit, after undergoing the torture and a long imprisonment, was at last handed over to the secular power, as impenitent, contumacious, or relapsed, the spectacle exhibited to the people was still more cruel and terrible than that which the holy fathers enjoyed in their pitiless dungeons." "Notice was given at the Churches that on a particular day, (generally a festival or Sunday) an act of faith (which originally meant a sermon concerning the faith preached on such occasions) would be given at such a particular place, and an indulgence of forty days offered to all who should go to witness the transactions there to be performed, the torments and punishment of heretics.-Great crowds of the faithful attended-the monasteries sent forth their tribes-the clergy from a considerable distance, poured towards the execution-the civil authorities of all classes were on duty-the greatest preparations were made -the bell of the cathedral tolled-the standard of the Inquisition was unfurled, and the train of heretics dressed in sackcloth painted with flames, devils, and monsters, and walking bare-foot, accompanied with cannibals, which we have neither space nor desire to describe, proceeded, first, in procession from the prison to the holy office to hear a

is quite decisive in showing that Rome Christian is intended by the Harlot. That her de

sermon, and then to the place of execution. The prisoners were frequently reserved till there was a sufficient accumulation of them for one grand tragedy. To this enter. tainment, kings, princes, grandees, and courtiers were invited, as to a magnificent bull fight, a splendid display of fire-works, or a gorgeous theatrical exhibition. The effect of the pageant was not to be weakened by the emotions of pity.-Philip II. enjoyed the sight with a countenance and a heart unmoved. Charles II. had the most pompous one that ever was displayed prescribed to him as a medicine. It will be seen in accounts of these spectacles, with what unmoistened eyes and unruffled features even the ladies at the court beheld the writhings and convulsions of those suffering wretches, heard their horrible cries, and resisted their moving appeals. To have shed tears would have been a crime. They would as soon have wept over Satan in the burning lake. Philip III. is said to have expiated some natural tears shed on this occasion with his blood; that is, with a drop of his blood drawn by the inquisitor-general, and burnt by the hands of the common executioner, as an emblem of the punishment such heretical sympathy deserved. The preacher who delivered the sermon of the faith at the Great Auto before Charles II. in 1680, where 120 prisoners were present, nineteen of whom were in an hour to be cast into the flames, in the plenitude of his joy burst into an appropriation of the words of the CanticlesOh! thou tribunal,' said he, for boundless ages mayest thou keep us firm in the faith, and promote the punishment of the enemies of God. Of thee I may say what the Holy Spirit said of the church, Thou art fair, my love, thou art fair as the tents of Kedar, as the sightly curtains of Solo

mon.

In the first six months after the establishment of the Inquisition at Seville, in Spain, 300 persons accused of Judaizing after conversion were burnt. In the space of about forty years, there had been burnt in the diocese of Seville, more than 4000 individuals; 5000 houses remained shut as after a pestilence, and consequently so many families had been exterminated. "I do not wish," says the Chaplain of the Inquisitor General at that time, "to write any

struction immediately precedes the second advent of Christ, is manifest from Rev. xvi. 14, 15, compared with the following chapters, and therefore Rome, in her nominally Christian, and not her Pagan character, is certainly the subject of this vision.

I have thus endeavoured to show, that the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast, in the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Second Beast of the Apocalypse, were equally the represen

more concerning the mischiefs of this heretical pravity; suffice it to say, that since the fire is kindled, it shall burn till no more wood can be found, and that it will be necessary for it to blaze, till those who have Judaized, be spent and dead, and not one remain."

Dr. Wilcox, afterwards Bishop of Gloucester, in a letter to Dr. Burnet, speaking of an act of faith, (or execution by the Inquisition) celebrated at Lisbon, on the 10th December, 1705, says, "Of the five persons condemned there were four burnt. Two were first strangled, and two, a man and a woman, were burnt alive. The execution was very cruel; the woman was alive in the flames half an hour, and the man above an hour. The present king and his brother were seated in a window so near, as to be addressed in very moving terms by the man, while he was burning. The favour he asked, was only a few more faggots, yet he was unable to obtain it. Those who are burned here, are seated on a bench twelve feet high, fastened to a pole, and above six feet higher than the faggots. The wind being a little fresh, the man's hinder parts were perfectly wasted, and as he turned himself his ribs opened before he left speaking; the fire being recruited as it wasted, to keep it just to the same degree of heat. All his entreaties could not procure him a larger allowance of wood to shorten his misery." The above information is extracted from the Review of Puigblanch's Inquisition Unmasked, in the British Review for 1817.

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