rather to the prediction of Christ : "There shall arise false Christs," &c. (Matt. xxiv. 11, 23, 24; Mark xiii. 21, 22.) We have not the name "Antichrist' "but only in John: indeed, we have o avτixsiμsvos, ["the opposer,"] (2 Thess. ii. 4,) a word equivalent. John speaks of an Antichrist who was then in the world, and one prophesied of by Christ to come speedily into the world. But Paul writes of one who was wholly to come into the world, and for whose coming there were great obstacles to be removed first. The Antichrist's coming in John is immediately upon a time which is called εσχατη ώρα "And we know that," since he is come, "it is the last hour," or "last time." (1 John ii. 18.) This cannot refer to the last time, which respecteth the coming of Christ to judge the world: this "last hour" doth refer to the Jewish state, of which the last glass or hour was now running, and their final desolation was at hand. Then there were several who did pretend to be Christ, and to come in his name. There was Simon Magus and Carpocrates, and the Gnostics, of whom they were the heads, who did pretend to miracles and enthusiasms, and did seduce many. These, then, be the Antichrists [whom] John speaks of in his Epistles, who were to appear at the coming of the Lord to judgment: I do not mean, his last coming, to the judgment of the world; but at his coming to the final destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish polity and nation by Vespasian: of which coming Paul speaks in Heb. x. 25; that was "the day approaching" in which Christ came to destroy that people. It is mentioned by James, (James v. 7, 8,) [as "the coming of the Lord"] which did "draw nigh;" for then the Lord Jesus was coming against Jerusalem. From the misunderstanding of these places, and misapplying them to wrong purposes, have arisen the misapprehensions of the pope's being Antichrist; for though several things in those places in John's Epistles do agree to the Papacy, yet the proper description of Antichrist is to be looked after in Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians, &c., and in the Revelation, and in Daniel.

INFERENCE II. If the pope be the Antichrist set forth by those bloody characters; (as hath been seen ;) if this body politic, head and members, be the Antichristian state, and this state is the Papacy; then it cannot be the true church.—It is true, [that] Antichrist, head and members, are the counterfeit of the true church, and of Christ, the Head; and therefore they cannot be the true church. The scripture still sets out the Antichristian state in a flat opposition to the true; yet still under a pretence and colour of faith in, and love to, Christ: for Antichristianism is mystica impietas, pietatis nomine palliata; "a mystical impiety, under the cloak of piety : so the Gloss.

The false church, whereof the pope is the head, is set forth by a double beast; (Rev. xiii. 1, 2, 11, 12;) both which together make up one Catholic Roman Papal church; the number of whose name is six hundred and sixty-six. (Verse 18.) And the true church, whereof Christ is the Head, is set forth by one hundred and forty-four thousand; (Rev. xiv. 1;) the square-root being twelve, built on twelve apostles. But twenty-five is the square-root of six hundred and sixty-six; and there is a fraction in the root, and one more, too, there in the squareroot to let us know, that though the Antichristian church may seem as air to such as look on it with human eyes, and six hundred and sixty

six runs as handsomely as one hundred and forty-four; yet the former is "the number of a man," the whole church and her religion being made up of additions and inventions of men.* The number six hundred and sixty-six denotes the apostasy of the church from the standard of truth, the square-root of the apostolic church being twelve: and so the apostasy lies generally in additions to the root and foundation of the Christian religion; they do not rest satisfied in fundamentals of the Christian religion delivered by the twelve apostles.

The false church is set forth by the whore; who pretends to be the spouse of Christ, but is opposite to the virgin-company that follow the Lamb. (Rev. xiv. 4.)

The ecclesiastical state of Rome, or hierarchy, is set forth by the false prophet, (Rev. xvi. 13, &c.; xix. 20; xx. 10,) in a flat opposition to the "two prophets;" (Rev. xi. 10;) who are the same with "two witnesses," and "two olive-trees," and "two candlesticks." (Verses 3, 4.) These represent the true ministry of Christ; who did prophesy till they "finished their testimony." (Verses 6, 7.) Now whereas it is said that they are a true church veritate entitatis, but not moris; † they yield the cause: because the question is not whether they be true and real men and women who are members of the church of Rome; but whether they be members rightly qualified as to their moral and supernatural principles, which makes them a true church.

How can that be a true church whose head is the Man of Sin, who hath all those black and hellish characters belonging to him? Such a church cannot be founded on the twelve apostles. Therefore that cannot be a true church which hath the Abaddon and Apollyon for the heads. How can that be a true church which is so opposite to the true church, both head and members?

INFERENCE III. If the Papal Antichristian state be such a body, head and members, as hath been showed; then we may hence learn, 1. Our danger, 2. Our duty.

1. Our danger, if we continue in that church.-It must needs be a very dangerous thing for any to continue a member of that church, or to have communion with her. Such are under the energetical influence and seduction of Satan, and the judicial tradition of God; [in] that, since they reject the truth in the love of it, they are given up to believe a lie, that they may be damned. They are under the most dreadful commination: (Rev. xiv. 9-11 :) they are a people marked out for utter destruction, as being rejected by him. (Rev. xiii. 8; xvii. 8.)

2. We may learn our duty to make haste out of that church.-All such as keep up communion with Rome, let them hearken to that call: "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Rev. xviii. 4.) The argument is taken from the danger. This separation is no schism, it being a separation from that church which is apostatized from the faith and truth of Christ. As soon as ever the people of God came to be awakened, and that the light of the gospel began to spring forth, they presently saw • MR. POTTER in his "Interpretation of the Number 666." existence, but not by rectitude of morals."-EDIT.

"By reality of

their danger if they continued in that church, and immediately performed their duty, and departed from her.

INFERENCE IV. If the Papal Antichristian state be such a body as hath been showed, then it should be seriously considered how any, living and dying in the faith and religion of that church, can be saved."Every living soul died in that sea " of ordinances (as some take it) of that church, which is "as the blood of a dead man : (Rev. xvi. 3 :) as it was when the rivers were turned into blood; all the fish died. (Exod. vii. 17, 18.) The whole religion of the Antichristian church is made up of false doctrines, idolatrous worship, superstitious ceremonies, traditions, and inventions of men; by which they make void the law of God, (Matt. xv. 6,) and subvert the truth of the gospel. How any, holding their religion as it is so formed by the Man of Sin, can be saved in it, I cannot see. In all the description of the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition, there is nothing that hath any tendency to salvation. Look on the church of Rome and her hierarchy as she is set forth by the Spirit of God, and it is still set forth in the most black and odious colours of a beast with seven heads and ten horns; and by a beast with two horns like a lamb, but [that] speaks like a dragon; (Rev. xiii. 1, 2, 11, 12, &c. ;) and by the great whore that rideth the beast. (Rev. xvii. 1, 2, 5, 6.) Here is nothing but mischief and ruin to souls from this church, as set out by those types; as also under the notion of a false prophet, and seducer of the souls of people to their perdition. Some of the church of Rome have much doubted whether the pope and cardinals, who are the head and pillars of their church, shall any of them be saved. Boccatius brings-in a monk saying thus: Papas et cardinales et episcopos non pervenire ad salutem per doctrinam istam, quam palàm videmus eos servare; sed aliam habere penès se, quam clanculùm observant, nec aliis facilè communicant: quid potuit veriùs dici, eos per istam, quæ illis est in usu, non posse servari. Boccatius himself looks on the pope and cardinals and bishops, according to the doctrine [which] they held forth to the world, as persons who shall never be saved; unless, as the monk saith, they have some other doctrine which they keep to themselves, in which they look for salvation." He looks on all their religion to be a mere show and pageantry and refined Paganism. I will propound but an argument or two, to confirm this inference.

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1. They who lay the main stress of their religion on the rotten foundation of the universal headship of the pope, and do believe it as an article of their faith,-they cannot build their eternal salvation upon such a weak foundation; there being "no other foundation than that which is laid, Christ Jesus: (1 Cor. iii. 11, 12:) But so do they of the church of Rome; they build their religion on this foundation of the headship of the pope, to whom they give what peculiarly belongs to Christ, with supremacy, sovereignty, universality, and infallibility. They who rob Christ of his crown and jewels, and put them on the pope's triple crown for him to wear, and lay the greatest weight on this business, they cannot be saved while they rest there: But so do the Papists: Therefore, &c. The pope "sits in the temple of God, as God; 99 (2 Thess. ii. 4;) and he is believed to have those excellences

which belong to Christ. Bellarmine saith, "The pope is the universal spouse of the church." And Augustinus Berous saith, "He is the foundation of faith, the cause of causes, and lord of lords." And Baldus saith, "He is the living fountain of all righteousness," &c.

2. They who believe, as an article of their religion, that the church, or the head of it, is above the scripture, (as hath been shown before, and by my brethren in their discourses,)—they cannot be saved in that way because no man can know certainly where his salvation is to be had; since it is, by their tenets, in the power of the pope to alter or add, as he shall think fit. The pope, set out by the two-horned beast that speaks like a dragon, (Rev. xiii. 11,) and [who] is the same with the false prophet,—he takes to him the authority of Christ, and more than Christ doth exercise; to make new articles of faith, to set up a new worship in the church, and to impose it upon all, upon pain of death, banishment, excommunication. (Rev. xiii. 11-17.) This beast, which represents the hierarchy of Rome, "exerciseth all the power of the first beast," (verse 12,) which was given him by the dragon: (verse 4) so that he is Satan's lieutenant and vicar-general, especially in taking such a power and authority above the scripture; and this must be believed as an article of their faith. Let such consider how they can be saved in that religion.

3. That church which is cast off of God, and must not be measured, as refusing to come under the rule of the word, is such which none can be saved in: But such is the church of Rome. (Rev. xi. 2, 3.) There is that church-that is, head and members, and all the officers, and ordinances, institutions, doctrine, worship, and government, are all-cast out, as false, as having no authority or the stamp of Christ upon them. Though they will plead an interest in Christ, (as Matt. vii. 22,) yet Christ will utterly disown them: though they will cry, "The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these," (Jer. vii. 4,) yet they are cast out, and given to the Gentiles, to be trodden under foot by the Gentiles; in regard that Rome, having apostatized from the religion and pure worship of Christ, hath brought into the church and public worship thereof Pagan idolatry under new names, of worshipping of angels and saints, or demons. (1 Tim. iv. 1—3.) That church which is thus cast off of God, and his pure worship is cast off by them, as being like the Man of Sin, or being the Man of Sin, head and members; I do not see how salvation is to be had in that church as such, thus disallowed by God, as you have heard. Therefore it is that the churches of Christ have cast her off; and as bishop White, in his "Answer" to the Jesuit, saith, "We have cast off the pope and his teaching, for no other cause but that we are assured he is Antichrist, and his faith is heresy." If their whole church and worship be cast out by God, as being under no scripture-rule; then the true religion, true faith, true worship, are not to be looked for in them, and, by consequence, the salvation of souls is not to be expected from them.

INFERENCE V. If the pope or the ecclesiastical hierarchy of Rome be that Antichristian state which you have heard set forth, and there is a mystery of iniquity in their religion and worship, and they are under such black marks of reprobation that do join with them in communion ;

then it is fit that all Christians should be acquainted with the mystery of iniquity in some measure, and should study, as the grounds of the true Christian religion, so the seeming pretences and false principles and abominable practices of the Antichristian religion.

1. We should be acquainted with them, lest we be deceived through ignorance, and overtaken with the devices of Satan, which Paul mentioneth in 2 Cor. ii. 11; and that we may be delivered from being plunged in the deeps of Satan, spoken of in Rev. ii. 24.-Are not the nations deceived by them? (Rev. xx. 3.) Doth not the world worship the dragon, and bow to the image of the beast, or receive his mark, or have the name of the beast or the number of his name? (Rev. xiii. 3, 4, 15-17.) Do not the kings of the earth commit fornication with the whore? and are not the inhabiters of the earth drunk with the wine of her fornication? (Rev. xvii. 2.) And all this, because they do not know the impostures of that church in their religion. Surely the Spirit of God would not have set out this church under the notion of the Man of Sin, and those several beasts in the Revelation and elsewhere, but that it was intended we should know them to avoid them. How express and punctual is Paul, in setting forth the apostasy of the latter times! (1 Tim. iv. 1—3.) He sets out both the way of their deceits, and the instruments. (1.) He tells us of "seducing spirits;" (2.) The "doctrines of devils." (3.) They "speak lies in hypocrisy." (4.) They are under a "seared conscience; " and care not what they say or do, to promote the holy Catholic church of Rome, as they call her.

2. We should study their mysteries; else if we should be called to suffer, we shall not be able to suffer on a clear and comfortable account, as they in Rev. x. 7; xiii. 7.—They suffered because they would not comply with the Man of Sin in his religion and worship, nor conform to them, nor have communion with them; as they did [who are mentioned in] Rev. xiii. 3, 4, 14, 15. Those in verse 7 suffered on that account.

3. We must know those things; else we shall not be able to join in the triumphant song of Moses and the Lamb upon the pouring forth [of] the vials on this Antichristian state.-They only "stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God, and sing the song of Moses," who have "gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name." (Rev. xv. 2, 3.) They are persons well seen in the deceits and impostures of that church.

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4. The saints and martyrs could not have borne so noble a testimony against the Man of Sin, in following the Lamb wherever he went; (Rev. xiv. 3, 4;) and were and are at open defiance against them, declaring their detestation of their religion and worship; (verses 8—10;) unless they did well know what they did.-Indeed the Papists tell us, we need not search into those things. The Rhemists in their "Annotations Acts i. 7 say, "It is not needful to search into the times of Antichrist," &c. But Dr. Fulke answereth them, that it is necessary for us to know the coming of Antichrist, as God hath revealed him. But the ministers of Antichrist would have no inquiry made of him, lest there should be found in the see of Rome the western Babylon: they would have us be ignorant of this point, and keep us in the dark, lest we should see their frauds. Bellarmine (De Pontif. Rom., in præfat.) calls that point of the