the saints, and prevail against them ;) and should think to change seasons and law."

ور

The first and leading circumstance in the establishment of this little horn, is its "rooting up three of the former horns," or "subduing three kings," and accordingly, the Pope, who at first was simply Bishop of Rome, became a temporal prince, when by gradual and successive donations he acquired the whole of St. Peter's patrimony, consisting of the exarchate of Ravenna, granted him by Pepin, A. D. 756; the kingdom of the Lombards, by Charlemagne, A. D. 774; and the Dukedom of Rome, by the same, A. D. 796; three of the ten kingdoms or principalities into which the Roman empire in the west was dismembered, by the Goths, Huns, Vandals, Saxons, &c. and of which number various lists are furnish. ed by the commentators, for which see Bishop Newton, Vol. 1. p. 461, &c. in memory of this acquisition, and, as if to mark the accomplishment of prophecy, Pope Leo III unwittingly introduced the triple crown and keys into the papal insignia, A. D. 796. See a curious mosaic inscription of his recorded in Newton's observations, p. 87.

66

The next circumstance in the vision, that "this little horn had eyes like a man's eyes," seems to intimáté his Episcopal character; for the word TOOT literally signifies, a seer," or inspector;" denoting also, that foresight and policy, ever looking out for, and watching all oppor tunities of promoting its influence and authority, for which the See of Rome, has been proverbial. And his mouth speaking great things," or as afterwards explained, "speaking great words against the MOST HIGH; rather on the side of the MOST HIGH," or as rendered in the Greek version, (πpos tov v↓çov) “relating to the MOST HIGH," which was verified when the Popes assumed the arrogant and blasphemous titles, of "universal Bishop," A. D. 606, our Lord God the Pope," "" Christ's Vicar or Vicegerent upon earth, &c." which abound in their Bulls, Canons, and Decretals: and his look was more stout than his fellows." when he assumed a superiority over his fellow Bishops, and brought appeals to the court of Rome as the supreme tribunal first granted by Valentinian, A. D. 372, and excommunicated and deposed, Bishops, Kings, and Emperors, according to his will and pleasure; absolving their clergy and subjects from their allegiance: and " thought to change seasons and law;" when the Gregorian liturgy, framed by Gregory the great, who died, A. D. 604; was soon after adopted, and by a decree of Vitalian, A. D. 655, extended throughout the Latin church; appointing new feasts and fasts; worshipping guardian Angels, tutelary Saints, images and relics; imposing celibacy on the Clergy, altering established “ordinances and the law of God," by vain traditions, and the commands of the church, by impious in dulgences for crimes, and oppressive exactions of Peter's pence, &c. every where.

Of their idolatries and corruptions, the leading traits seem to be expressly noticed, in the following remarkable prediction of Daniel's last vision, xi. 36, 39.

دو

"And the king shall do according to his will, and shall exalt and magnify himself against every God; even against the GOD OF GODS shall he speak marvellous things. And he shall not regard the God of his fathers, nor shall he regard the desire of wives, nay, nor any God; for he shall magnify himself above all: and together with Gon, he shall honour protect

ors, in his seat; even together with THE GOD whom his fathers knew not, shall he honour (them) with gold, and with silver, and with precious stones, and with desirable things: and he shall provide for the fortresses (shrines) of the Protectors, together with the strange GOD, whom he shall acknowledge, and he shall increase with honour, and shall cause them to rule over many; and shall distribute the earth for gain."

Hence this blasphemous and antichristian power, is styled by St. Paul, "the man of sin," the son of perdition,' " the lawless one,' "who opposeth Christ and exalteth HIMSELF above every one that is called God, or an object of adoration; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, as a God; openly shewing himself that he is a God." 2 Thes. ii. 3. and the grand apostacy, in the latter times of the last kingdom, or Roman Empire, is thus foretold, in reference it should seem to these very prophecies of Daniel: "but THE SPIRIT expressly speaketh, that in the latter times, some shall apostatize from the FAITH, attending to erroneous spirits, and to doctrines concerning Demons, by the hypocrisy of false prophets; whose conscience is seared, who forbid to marry, and who (command) to abstain from meats which GOD made for reception with thanksgiving, by the faithful and well informed in the truth." 1 Tim. iv. 1, 3.

See Mede's curious and elaborate dissertation, p. 623, 693, on the apostacy of the latter times; in which, this text is fully explained and illustrated; and the Muhuzzim or "Protectors" of Daniel, proved to be the "Demons" of Paul, and the " Angels and Saints" of the Romish Liturgy, and Legends; whom their idolatrous superstition erected into mediators or intercessors with GOD; and also the succeeding corruptions, of the celibacy of the Clergy, abstinence from meats, &c. traced with a masterly hand.

How truly, the consciences of such hypocritical deceivers, may be represented as seared" or cauterized, Mede has fully shewn; and in addition to the astonishing instances adduced by him, we may notice a few; 1st. that impious saying of Pope Leo X. on the immense revenue, which he raised by the scandalous sale of indulgences: “Quantum nobis lucri attulit hæc de CHRISTI fabula!" 2d. A French gentleman, when rebuked for horridly cursing and blaspheming, by a friend, replied"there's no fear man; cannot I purchase my pardon from the Augustine friars? yes, I should be forgiven, for an ounce of gold, though I had ravished the mother of God, and cut off both her breasts!"-And 3d. that arrogant saying of the confessor of Louis XIV. (P. Lechaise, if I recollect rightly,) "How dare you oppose me, who every day have your God in my hands, and your king at my feet!"

The rise and progress of Daniel's little horn of the fourth wild beast; or of Paul's antichristian and idolatrous power of the latter times, is still more minutely unfolded by John in the Apocalypse.

After his description of the first beast, which rose out of the sea, (or the west) with seven heads and ten horns, &c. Rev. xiii. 1, 2. already explain, ed, he thus proceeds:

"And I saw one of his heads, a it were wounded to death; but his deadly wound was healed; and the whole earth wondered after the wild beast; and they worshipped the Dragon, who gave authority to the wild beast, and they worshipped the wild beast, saying, who is like the wild beast, who can make war with him?”

"The

"The seven heads" denote "seven hills," and also "seven kings," or successive forms of government, Rev. xvii. 9, 10. as remarked before; and both are peculiarly characteristic of Rome, that "strong city" (as the name in Greek implies,) Rev. xviii. 10. which was built upon seven hills; and experienced seven changes of government, from its first or regal form, to the last or Papal. 1 Kings, 2 Consuls, 3 Dictators, 4 Decemvirs, 5 Consular Tribunes, 6 Emperors, (or Kings again,) 7 Dukes, 8 Popes; as the six first are enumerated and distinguished by those who should best know, the two greatest Roman historians, Livy, 6, 1; and Tacitus, annal. 1, 1.

"The head wounded to death," consequently, was the sixth or the Imperial; when Rome was taken by the Goths, A. D. 476, and the western Empire extinguished. It was afterwards retaken A. D. 568, and attached to the Eastern Empire, governed by a Duke, in subordination to the Exarch or Emperor's Lieutenant, residing at Ravenna, the seat of government; and Rome continued in this degraded state, until it became part of St. Peter's patrimony, or the temporal dominions of the Pope, consisting of the exarchate of Ravenna, the kingdom of the Lombards, and the duchy of Rome; successively granted by the kings of the Franks, Pepin and Charlemagne, in the short space of forty years, from A. D. 756, to A. D. 796, as before observed.

And this may help to explain the riddle of the wild beast, "which was and is not, although it is; and is to ascend out of the abyss, and to go away into perdition,"-of which " five heads are fallen, and one is, and another is not yet come, and when it cometh, must remain but a little while: and the wild beast, which was and is not, is itself the eighth, although one of the seven, and is to go away into perdition." Rev. xvii. 8, 11.

The wild beast, which was and is not, although it is, appears to denote Imperial Rome, which " was alive and is dead," and yet is risen from the dead in the papacy. Its five first heads, or forms of government "had fallen," and "the sixth," or the Imperial, was still subsisting in John's days, under Domitian; "the seventh or ducal, had not yet come, and when it should come, A. D. 568, was to remain but a little while, until it should be succeeded by the papal; which was itself the eighth in succession, although one of the seven in power, or temporal dominion, namely the sixth or the Imperial, now restored to life in the papacy.

Whiston, in his essay on the Revelation, p. 116, attributes to Doctor Gessener, as its first author, "that noble hint, that this eighth king, who was also one of the seven, must therefore be one of the seven kings or forms of government, which had been in power before, and was returned into power again."But the best explanation of the seventh, as denoting the ducal, is due to Sir Isaac Newton, on Dan. chap. vii.

to

This wild beast which is to ascend out of the abyss," seems to denote the persecuting power of papal Rome, which in aftertimes, was -make war with the two faithful witnesses" (of the Law and of the Gospel, Rev. xv. 3.) or ministers of "the holy Catholic Church militant (or suf "fering) here upon earth, and to overcome them and kill them, &c. Rev. xi. 7. exemplified in the papal crusades against the Albigenses and Waldenses; the Hussites of Bohemia; the protestants in the Netherlands, the Hugonots of France; recently in the French Revolution, &c. &c. A woful

period,

period, which will not expire until the witnesses shall have finished their testimony.

The duration and commencement of this woful period of concluding persecution, I shall next proceed to discuss, and endeavour to ascertain, (GOD willing) in the next communication.

September 8, 1803.

INSPECTOR.

CHARACTER OF HOWELL's LETTERS.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE.

GENTLEMEN,

[OWELL's familiar letters have lately fallen into my hands. They were recommended to me, chiefly for the numerous and valuable anecdotes which they contain. But these are not the only, nor in my judgment the first excellences of the book. It introduces us to the knowledge of many curious facts, and striking incidents, which took place in the reigns of James, and the unfortunate Charles. Howell himself was a cavalier, and a staunch Churchman, and was confined in the Fleet a considerable time by the adverse party. He appears to have been a man possessed of extraordinary talents, a general knowledge of letters, and of mankind. He travelled much, formed numerous and most respectable connections, and stored his mind with a fund of observation. His letters discover a vigour of understanding, a rich imagination, a ready wit, retentive memory, polished manners, convivial temper, but above all unshaken integrity, loyalty to his king, attachment to a monarchical constitution, unfeigned piety, and the most profound veneration for the church of England, in opposition to the puritans of his day.

In short I deem his letters on all accounts, making some allowance for the time in which he wrote them, the very best in the English language. I have been both entertained and instructed in a high degree by them; and had my Lord Chesterfield, referred his son to Howell's letters, instead of writing his own, neither religion, virtue, learning, wit, nor good manners would have reason to complain. I should be happy to be informed whether there be any accounts now extant of this extraordinary man, and where they are to be found. I have thought it not improper, to say thus much to prepare you, or at least those of your readers, who have not met with him, for the extracts which, if you approve, I propose to send you; such however, as are perfectly consistent with the plan of your excellent miscellany; I say excellent, for I view it with great pleasure, acquiring a place amongst the very first periodical publications. I promise, however, my communications shall be short; and here I beg leave to suggest, that much as I value the papers of your correspondents, yet when they are extended to a considerable length, they deprive your miscellany of that character which should never be lost sight of, I mean variety.

October 7, 1803

T.

TO

SIR,

TO PHILIP WARWICK, Esq.

The earth doth not always produce roses and lilies, but she brings forth also nettles and thistles; so the world affords us not always con tentment and pleasure, but sometimes affliction and trouble: ut illa tribulos, sis isti tribulationes producit. The sea is not more subject to contrary blasts, nor the surges thereof to tossings and tumblings, than the actions of men are to incumbrances and crosses; the air is not fuller of meteors, than man's life is full of miseries: but as we find that it is not a clear sky, but the clouds, that drop fatness, as the holy text tells us, so adversity is more fertile than prosperity, it useth to water and mollify the heart, which is the centre of all our affections; and make it produce excellent fruit, whereas the glaring sunshine of a continual prosperity would enharden and dry it up, and so make it barren.

There is not a greater evidence of God's care and love to his creatures than affliction; for a French author doth illustrate it by a familiar example, if two boys should be seen to fight in the streets, and a ring of peo ple about them, one of the standers by parting them, lets the one go un touched, and corrects the other, whereby the beholders will infer, that he is his child, or at least one whom he wisheth well to; so the strokes of adversity which fall upon us from heaven, shew that God is our fa ther as well as our creator. This makes this bitter cup of affliction be come nectar, and the bread of carefulness I now eat to be true ambrosia This makes me esteem these walls, wherein I have been immured these thirty months, to be no other than a college of instruction to me; and whereas Varro said, that the great world was but a house of a little man, I hold a Flect to be one of the best lodgings in that house.

to me.

There is a people in Spain called Los Patuecos, who some threescore and odd years since, were discovered by the flight of a hawk of the old Duke of Alva's; this people then all savage (though they dwelt in the centre of Spain, not far from Toledo, and are yet held to be a part of those Aborigines that Tubal Cain brought in) being hemmed in, and imprisoned as it were by a multitude of huge craggy mountains, thought that behind those mountains there was no more earth. I have been so habituated to this prison, and accustomed to the walls thereof, so long, that I might well be brought to think, that there is no other world behind them, And in my extravagant imaginations I often compare this Fleet to Noah's Ark, surrounded with a vast sea and huge deluge of calamities, which have overwhelmed this poor island. Nor, although I have been so long aboard here, was I yet under hatches; for I have a cabin upon the upper deck, whence I breathe the best air the place affords; add hereunto, that the society of Master Hopkins is an advantage to me, who is one of the knowingest and most civil gentlemen that I have conversed withal. Moreover, there are here some choice gentlemen, who are my co-martyrs; for a prisoner and a martyr are the same thing, save that the one is buried before his death, the other after.

God Almighty amend these times, that make imprisonment to be preferred before liberty it being more safe and desirable by some, though not by your affectionate servitor.

Fleet, November 3, 1645

J. H.

ON