age after age. The high Priest signifies the whole line of high Priests, each in his day going into the second sanctuary behind the veil. So the man of sin signifies the whole line of men of sin, each in his day showing himself as God in the Temple of God. It has been objected, secondly, that as the Bishop of Rome professes to do all that he does in the name of God, and honours Christ as his head, calling himself the Vicar of Christ, and Christ his Lord and Master, he cannot possibly be Antichrist, the son of perdition. We answer first, the system in question is no where said to be open, undisguised iniquity, from which all who even profess Christianity would recoil. On the contrary, it is iniquity in a mystery, under a cloak. The cloak is the profession of Christian truth, by which the unwary are deceived. The iniquity is the effectual neutralizing, nay, the utter corruption of the truth professed, by the reality of the falsehood added. None of the Scriptural descriptions of Antichrist represent him as an avowed Atheist. (Appendix C.) To answer to them he must be professedly a worshipper of God, while he claims to be as God over all men. And we answer, secondly, there is one other application in Scripture of the term the son of perdition, and by it we are guided to the true meaning. It is applied, not to an avowed enemy of Christ, but to a real enemy, wearing the appearance of friendship, using the hypocritical language of respectful deference, saying hail, Master, and kissing Jesus. It is remarkable that this expression, the son of perdition, occurs but twice; once to describe the traitor, Judas Iscariot, the covetous, lying traitor, who sat at Christ's table, eat of his bread, and lifted up his heel against him; and once to describe the Antichrist whom we have now shown to be the line of Popes, of whom in covetousness, lying, treachery, fawning hypocrisy, and real murder, Judas Iscariot was the appropriate forerunner. 4. I must now proceed to the other prophetic descriptions of Antichrist given by the Apostles. For if we be correct so far, then those descriptions also must apply to the papal system. If they do not, it will throw discredit upon our interpretation; but if they do, it will be difficult to conceive a case more comprehensively and satisfactorily made out. 5. "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth," (1 Tim. iv. 1-3.) Unanswered volumes have been written, showing the remarkable and detailed application of the several clauses of this prophecy, to the notorious features of the Papacy. I will now select one clause for a few observations.-Forbidding to marry. Marriage is largely and honourably spoken of in the word of God. "A prudent wife is from the Lord." Paul writes at large concerning the wives of ministers of the Church. Among mankind there are diversities of modes in which the marriage contract is entered into, from the high and solemn and religious agreement made by enlightened Christians, down to the mere consent of the savage tribe. In the performance of the duties inseparable from marriage also, there are and must be great diversities— from the highly privileged sympathy, which loses all sense of irksome duty in the happy willingness of spontaneous and watchful affection, down to the cold and withering selfishness which degrades the marriage bond into a burden of constraint. Fallen human nature is liable to manifold infirmities, in despite of its best resolutions: and the greater concerns of business not unfrequently render men too careless about, or at least too practically inattentive to, the smaller tendernesses of domestic attention. And yet though the support of a family is secured by the business, it may be dearly, too dearly, bought, if the temper of the family be ruffled, and the flow of affection checked by want of gentle courtesy. "Better," says the wise preacher, "is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith." And one of our own sweet singers says— "Since trifles make the sum of human things, But, whatever varieties may be found in the mode of entering into the relationship, or in the mode of discharging its duties, there is not in the whole history of mankind, any systematic, deliberate, legislative provision against it but ONE. Search the world round, and you will find it but in ONE place, and that is in the Priesthood of the Church of Rome. This Priesthood has the bad preeminence of standing alone in a deliberate, systematic opposition to God's word. It has, therefore, this second mark of the predicted apostasy engraven upon its front. This is a matter notorious. I am not advancing any libel against the Priesthood of the Church of Rome; it is known that they are not, and may not be married men. It is of an importance so great, as to be the subject of prophecy; and we should not wonder at this if we considered for a moment the consequences incurred by it. What! make thousands and thousands of men Priests, at twenty-four and twenty-five years of age, and expose them day after day, and night after night, to the secrecy and the contact of the confessional, and not suffer one of them to be married! Oh, if there be a master-piece of ingenuity stamped with the malice and cunning of the Devil himself, to take advantage of the infirmities of men, to plunge them into the depths of guilt before God, and to |