the bottomless pit which followed the fall of all the heads of the sea-beast, or general Latin empire, is, according to the angel's interpretation, an eighth king, i. e. an eighth species of Latin power, or, in other words, a supreme form of Latin government essentially differing from all the foregoing: yet as it is nominally the same with one of the preceding seven, it is not accounted an eighth head of the beast. The first beast of chap. xiii. is a description of the eighth or last condition of the general Latin empire, and is said to arise out of the sea, because the heads are there taken in a double sense, sea being a general term to express the origin of every great empire which is raised up by the sword; but when (as in verse 11.) one of the heads of the sea-beast (viz. that secular power which is still in being, and has supported the Latin church for more than a thousand years) is peculiarly styled the beast, the Holy Ghost, speaking of this secular Latin empire, exclusively declares it to be FROM the bottomless pit.

But when the light of the great Reformation had began to shine, and, in the progress of ages, to detect the errors and expose the labarynths and ramifications of the above described Pagan and Papal powers, it would seem the arch seducer had in reserve another expedient of opposition to the Gospel. For when, in the process of a few centuries after the aggrandizement of the Roman Church, after it had thrown its spells of darkness and clouds of superstition over many countries, their arose from their midst and out of their own filth, a monster, the direct effect of their own errors, and which fell upon their own mother like

Milton's hell-hounds, and destroyed her for the time being in that place. This was done when the Atheists destroyed all the clergy of France in the time of their revolution. Here again is evident the depths of satan, in the upraising of this infidel beast, who, notwithstanding it hated the whore the Roman church; it laid a foundation for heresy, which may exist when its own parent has lost her power among the nations; which probably will not be till after Italy is destroyed by fire. This heresy is atheism, and has been, and will be propagated in four different ways, or rather by the means of four certain sects, which I forbear to name. These sentiments in their effects respecting the true character of Christ, have been, and will continue to be, in their teachings, the same that Mahomet taught of Him, namely, that he was only a finite being. But undoubtedly it is all one with satan whether the great red dragon, the ancient heathen Roman power, or the scarlet coloured beast of Papal Rome, or the atheistical beast of France, or the scintillations of that last meteor of hell rule among the nations; any thing with satan is equal; if the direct effect of the true faith be prevented. These errors which I call the scintillations of that last meteor of hell, are they which are now spreading to an alarming extent, in a very secret way, and will probably be the last distinguishing marks of the wicked before the second Advent of Christ.

Atheists deny the being of a God, Deists deny the Son of God, and some there are who deny the Divinity of the Son of God; and others, who, while they allow Him to be Divine, deny his equality with the God

Head; others again lower the standard of penal law against sin, and say, the good and the bad shall all finally be happy in heaven together. Atheists have a thought very similar to this; they say there is no real difference between good and bad actions, but are only relatively so. From which it appears to me that there is but little difference, whether a man denies the being of God, or denies the Son of God, or denies the true character of the Son of God, or denies the penal laws of God, or denies their being any real difference between what is called good or bad actions; for all these streams flow finally into that dead sea of error, some how or at some period (so pertended) get rid of the eternal punishment threatened against finally impenitent sinners, in the Scriptures.

At the head of all infidelity stands the horrible Voltaire, who is justly considered the, great chief of all false theology; and on the account of his unparallelled industry and struggles to destroy Christianity, should be considered as the head, under satan, of all infidels, of every shade whether before his time or since; and till time shall end. He was always urging his adherents to strike, and to strike deep, but conceal the hand; i. e. in their writings and labours to stab the cause of the Son of God; but keep themselves hid from the public, lest their books should be undervalued, and their invectives lose their force.

In the time of the French revolution in 1790, it is probable that this sect of infidels arrived to their zenith, at which time they usurped the reins of government, and abolished all religion that had any relation

to a Supreme Being, and murdered by tens of thousands its adherents, and abolished the Sabbath, created a new week consisting of ten days, and thus endeavoured to change the times which was established from the beginning.

This body of self-styled philosophers, in common council decreed that there is no God, and that death is an eternal sleep, and endeavoured to revive the Pagan worship, by actually dressing in a fantastical manner, an infamous woman kept by Herbert the Atheist, by the name of Mormoro, whom they inaugurated the Goddess of Reason, and was led at the head of a grand procession to the church of Notredame, the Cathedral of Paris, where she was solemnly placed on a throne of turf and flowers, to whom the atheist multitude burnt incense on an altar before her.

Voltaire, towards the end of his time, made in writing to a friend of his the following remark: "You bury your talents; you only contemn whilst you should abhor and destroy the monster;" meaning Christ, and then calls upon him to comfort him in his old age by so doing. Notwithstanding Voltaire so violently opposed the Christian religion, he was a great friend to the Socinian church as well as all the French infidels, for in their war against Christianity, they "considered the Socinians their worthy allies:" they knew the sentiment would lead directly to deism; hence Voltaire expressed himself to the king of Prussia, persuading him to patronise that church; which leads me to suspect that he belonged to that communion. Under such a cloak, as being most congenial-he might shoot out his envenomed shafts of infidelity, which continue to cor◄

rupt to the present day; for it is a fact, however incredible it may appear, that now there are many Atheists who are as sanguine as any other grade of infidels are of their opinions.

This same spirit of infidelity, such as was propagated by Voltaire and his coadjutors before that tremendous explosion, the French revolution, from bad to worse, has continued to foment and insinuate itself into the hearts of many countries; and will finally, some time in the next century, become the direct cause of wars and persecutions the most horrible against Christianity. This power will probably act in unison with the great Roman monster, (as once Pilate and Herod became friends to kill Christ) who about that time will be occupied in its last struggle for power, when Italy shall be sunk into the depths beneath and "utterly burned with fire.”

If in the times of Voltaire, Atheism taught that there is no moral difference between the actions of men, it teaches the same now: this I have learned from personal debates with Atheists to be the fact. As they taught then, that God is nothing, that government is a curse, and authority is a usurpation, that civil society is the only apostacy of man, that the possession of property is robbery, that chastity and natural affection are mere prejudices; and that adultery, assassination, poisoning, and other crimes of a similar nature, are lawful, and even virtuous: abstractly considered from all relation to political society; so they teach now. This doctrine has been propagated under the auspices of a cér tain society, styled the Illumiati, which originated in

* Witness the present publication of Voltaire's atheistical pamphlets at New York.