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come the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird." For it is very evident, from the Scriptures, that the antichristian government will be the ruin of Babylon, or the Papal power. Then let all the people of God, who are wise, and have been taught, by his Spirit, to discern the signs of the times, from an unfeigned faith in what Christ and his apostles have told them, so long before they came to pass, hearken to and obey the awful injunction, "come out of her, my people, that ye be not partaker of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues, for her sins have reached unto the heavens, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Rejoice over her, thou heavens," (or the political governments she has endeavoured to destroy, intimidate, or subvert)" and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her." "A mighty angel took up a stone, like a great mill-stone, and cast it into the sea, saying, thus, with violence, shall the great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. Alas! alas! that great city Babylon! that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come." However uncertain the exact time may be, yet if there is any truth in the whole Gospel system, so surely will these important and awful events come to pass, at the time appointed; and the children of God, who live by faith in the certainty of those things promised by the great captain of their salvation, and who act their part well, in watching his providence, and waiting his good pleasure in patient resignation to his will, will be thus timely forwarned and comforted in the great day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgments of God. It will then be their duty and great privilege, "to lift up their heads

and rejoice, knowing that their redemption draweth nigh."-Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty! just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints!-who shall not fear thee, O Lord! and glorify thy name, for thou only art holy.

The subversion of the civil polity of Rome, will soon take place, then the resurrection of the witnesses, the destruction of the city by fire, prefigured in the Revelation of St. John by the harvest, will succeed the resurrection of the witnesses, the preparation of the bride, or the conversion of the Jews, or the Kings of the East, come next, before which will be added the overthrow of the Turkish and Mahometan empires, to make way for these converted Jews or Kings of the East-This, it may be, will introduce the vintage, or that cruel slaughter of the kings of Europe at the battle of Arma Geddon, or the great day of God Almighty-Thus the one causes the total destruction of western Rome, and the other that of eastern Rome. "For behold in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people, and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land."-3d Joel, 1st and 2d. "And the angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine press, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs."*-Rev. 14th ch. 19 and 20.

* 200 Italian miles; just the measurement of both Jerusalem and the Popes' dominions in Italy, called Peter's patrimony.

The Christian Fathers, and indeed the whole Christian Church of the first three centuries, contemplated these awful events, with great emotion, as the harbingers of their promised deliverance-Their faith and hope in the promises of the Gospel were strong and powerful, and they rejoiced in the firm expectation of the second coming of their Lord and master, in glory. They rushed, even to martyrdom, with joy, as they expected by suffering with their crucified Redeemer in his humiliation, they should partake with him in his glory and exaltation.

THE

PRESENT APPEARANCE OF THINGS,

BOTH CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS, IN THE ANCIENT ROMAN EMPIRE, (OR THE TEN KINGDOMS INTO WHICH IT WAS DIVIDED, AND PARTICULARLY IN THE DEKATON, OR THE TENTH PART OF IT, WHICH WAS TO FALL) COMPARED WITH THOSE FORETOLD BY THESE PROPHESIES, AS TO HAPPEN ABOUT THIS PERIOD OR TIME OF THE END.

IF we turn our attention to the present state of Rome, including Italy, to Germany, Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal, and indeed all the European part of ancient Rome with which we are best acquainted, the most careless observer must allow, that the vial appears to have been already "poured out upon the seat of the Beast, and his kingdom has become full of darkness-they have gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of Heaven."

That a government extraordinary in its commencement, unusual and sudden in its progress, and supernaturally powerful and victorious in all its struggles with its neighbours, has lately risen up, and that in a manner, I had almost said, miraculous, is what the world is now too well convinced of, to need proof.

The extravagant circumstances attending the few years of its existence, and the effects it has had on all the governments of Europe, demand the particular attention of every serious observer of the footsteps of Divine Providence, and especially our minute investigation.

Having, in the foregoing sheets, suggested some data, from which it was possible that the 1260 years, of the witnesses prophesying in sackloth, might have commenced some where about the year five hundred; and, in a doubtful manner, suggested that their period of ending might possibly fall somewhere about the year 1800; for we pretend not to precision in suggestions of this nature; till the finishing of the second wo is ascertained, we will confine ourselves to the facts that have taken place in the history of Europe, during the present century, as they may be necessary to introduce the rise and conduct of the particular government we have more especially in view, as well as the gradual destruction of the man of sin, in like manner as he arose.

*

The first remarkable fact, I would mention as worthy of observation, and which has had great effect on the governments of Europe, and particularly in her ecclesiasticle affairs, is the downfall of the Jesuits; a society of people, who, though merely of ecclesiastical institution, had by degrees so increased in learning, numbers, wealth, and power, as, in the opinion of many of the crowned * Written about the year 1797. Y y

heads of Europe, to become dangerous to the civil and religious interests of all the nations, among whom they were dispersed.

This order was instituted by the famous Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish knight, in the sixteenth century. At first the Pope and Cardinals gave great opposition to the whole scheme, till Loyola offered to the Pope that besides the three usual vows of poverty, chastity, and monastic obedience, he would add a fourth, being a vow of obedience to the Pope, binding themselves to go wheresoever he should command, for the service of religion, and without requiring any provision from the Holy See for their support. The Pope was now in too 'critical a situation to refuse such an addition to his power and influence, and accordingly confirmed the institution. In less than half a century, this society extended over the whole Roman Catholic world. They, by some means, sufficient to satisfy themselves, eluded the vow of poverty, and became the richest religious society in the world. They had the whole system of education under their patronage and guidance, and found their way into the cabinets of all the Catholic princes of of Europe, whose measures they directed without their knowing it. In Paraguay, extending across the southern continent of America, from the bottom of the tains of Potosi to the confines of the Spanish and mountains

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Portuguese settlements, on the banks of the river de la Plata, they established themselves, and became equal to any absolute despot in Europe; and, it is generally believed, they intended finally to establish an independent empire; yet, it must be acknowledged, that they did great good among the native Indians of that extensive country, amounting to many hundred thousand souls.

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