er; and let them consider that it is raised up by the Lord to execute His vengeance upon the idolatries and profligacies of the times. It is said of the kings in communion with the church of Rome, that God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will. How is this divine will accomplished? In the most awful and affictive manner! In causing ten Latin kings to unite their dominions into one mighty empire for the defence of the Latin church. Here is a dreadful dispensation of Jehovah; but it is such as the nations have most righteously deserved, because when they had the truth, they lived not according to its most holy requisitions, but loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Therefore hath "the Lord sent them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they might all be damned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness." But this deplorable state of the world is not perpetual; it can only continue till every word of God is fulfilled upon his enemies; and when this time arrives, (which will be that of Christ's second advent,) then shall the son of God slay that wicked with the spirit of His mouth, and shall consume him with the brightness of His COMING."

Verse 18. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.It has already been shown that the woman sitting upon the seven-headed beast is a representation of the Latin church; here we have the greatest assurance that it is so, because the woman is called a city, which is a much plainer emblem of a church, as the word is used un

equivocally in this sense in so many parts of Scripture that we cannot well mistake its meaning.-See chap. iii. 12. xi. 2. xxi. 10. xxii. 19. and also Psa. xlvi. 4. lxxxvii. 3. Heb. xii. 22, &c. The woman, therefore, must be the Latin church; and as the apostle saw her sitting upon the beast, this must signify that she hath A KINGDOM over the kings of the earth, i. e. over the kings of the Latin world, for that this is the meaning of earth, has been shown before in numerous instances. That KINGDOM which the woman has over the kings of the Latin world, or secular Latin empire, or in other words, the kingdom of the Latin church, is the numbered Latin kingdom, or, Romish hierarchy.See on chap. xiii. 18. The woman is called a great city, to denote the very great extent of her jurisdiction; for she has comprehended within her walls the subjects of the mighty dominations of France, Spain, England, Scotland, The Empire, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, and Portugal. What an extensive city was this! Surely such as to justify the prophetic denomination that great city.

Having now gone through the whole of the angel's interpretation of St. John's vision of a whore sitting upon the seven-headed and ten-horned beast, it will be essentially necessary to examine a little more attentively the eighth verse of this chapter. It has already been shown that the phrases was, is not, shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and yet is, refer to the Latin kingdom which existed before the building of Rome; to the Roman empire in the time of St. John; and to the Latin empire which was in futurity in the apostolic age. N*

But as the words was, is not, &c. are spoken of the beast upon which the apostle saw the woman, or Latin church, sit; how can it be said of this beast that it had an existence before the date of the Apocalypse, when the woman, whom it carried, was not in being till long after this period? And what connexion has the Latin empire of the middle ages with that which derived its name from Latinus, king of the Aborigines, and was subjugated by the ancient Romans; or even with that which existed in the time of the apostle? The answer is as follows :— -St John saw the beast upon which the woman sat, with all his seven heads and ten horns. Consequently, as the angel expressly says, that five of these seven heads had already fallen in the time of the vision, it therefore necessarily follows, that the apostle must have seen that part of the Latin empire represented by the seven headed beast, which had already been under the emblem of five heads. Therefore, the woman sat upon the beast that WAS. But it is plain, from the angel's interpretation, that the whole of the seven heads fell, before the beast upon which the woman sat, arose; and yet, the woman is represented as sitting upon the seven-headed beast, to denote, as we have before observed, that it is the Latin kingdom in its last estate, or under one of its heads restored, which is the secular kingdom of antichrist. The beast is also said not to have any existence in the time of the vision; from which it is evident that the monarchy of the Latins, and not that of the Romans is here intended: because the latter was in the time of the vision. Again, the beast which St. John saw had not ascended out of

the bottomless pit in his time; consequently, the whole seven heads and ten horns were in futurity; for all these heads and horns rose up out of the abyss at the same time with the beast. How is this apparent contradiction reconciled? In the most plain and satisfactory manner, by means of the angel's double interpretation of the heads. For if the seven heads be taken in the sense of seven mountains, (head, in the Scripture style, being a symbol of precedency as well as supremacy,) then the beast with all his heads and horns was altogether in futurity in the apostle's time, for the seven heads are the seven electorates of the German empire, and the ten horns the ten monarchies in the interest of the Latin church. Finally, the beast is said to exist in the time of the vision; therefore, the Roman empire, which governed the world, must be here alluded to; and, consequently, the phrase and yet is, is a proof that as the beast is the Latin kingdom, and this beast is said to have an existence in the time of the apostle, that the empire of the Cæsars, though generally known by the name of the Roman, is in a very proper sense the Latin kingdom, as the Latin was the language which prevailed in it. Hence the seven-headed and tenhorned-beast is at once the representation of the ancient Latin power; of the Roman empire which succeeded it; and of the Latin empire which supports the Latin church. Here is then the connexion of the ancient Latin and Roman powers with that upon which the woman sits. She sits upon the beast that was and is not, because three of his heads represent the three forms of government which the ancient Latins had be

fore they were subjugated by the Romans, viz. The Regal Power, The Dictatorship, and the Power of the Prætors. She sits upon the beast which shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, because all his seven heads, taken in the sense of mountains, were in futurity in the apostolic age. She sits upon the beast that yet is, because four of his heads represent four forms of government of the Roman or Latin empire now in existence, viz. The Consulate, The Triumvirate, The Imperial power, and the Patriciate. It is hence evident that the beast, in the largest acceptation of this term, is a symbol of the Latin power in general from its commencement in Latinus, to the end of time; its seven heads denoting seven kings, or supreme forms of Latin government, during this period, king or kingdom, as we have already observed, being a general term in the prophetical writings for any kind of supreme governor or government, no matter by what particular name such may have been designated among men. Thus the Latin power, from the time of Latinus to the death of Numitor, was the beast under the dominion of his first head; from the death of Numitor to the destruction of Alba, it was the beast under the dominion of his secAnd head; from the destruction of Alba to the final subjugation of the Latins by the Romans, it was the beast under the dominion of his third head. And as the four Roman forms of government which were subsequent to the final conquests of the Latins, were also Latin dominations, the Latin power under these forms of government was the beast under the dominion of his fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh heads. The beast of