suffice to evince the nearness of the close of the 1260 years of Babylon ecclesiastical, and of the Gentile dispensation, with the judgments accompanying the end.

After these scenes, the deposition of Popery and corrupt religion, the establishment of the reign of Infidelity is then to be expected; and this forms the last subject of our investigation. The Reign of Babylon Infidel.

The period of the existence of Babylon in its infidel state cannot be long. It seems to be confined to the duration of the eighth head of the beast (Rev. xvii. 11), which is usually considered to be the life of an individual, or rather his active career, a space, at the most, not above twenty or thirty years.

We have considered the fall of Babylon to begin with the spoiling of the harlot by the ten horns (Rev. xvii. 16), the effectuation of which takes its date after the expiration of the seventh head of the beast (Rev. xvii. 10), and occupies the interval between that expiration and the appearance of the eighth head, whose manifestation will be a cause of wonder (Rev. xvii. 8) to those on the earth whose names are not written in the book of life. The rise of Rome Infidel, out of Rome Papal, after the harlot is unseated and extinct, is particularly described in the xviith chapter of the Apocalypse. This infidel beast is shewn to the Apostle as "scarlet coloured, full of names of blasphemy." He is told (verse 8), that it "was," namely, as in chap. xiii. in the Papal state, but "is not;" that is, the seventh head having expired, an interval occurs: Rome for the while seems to be extinct, as having an imperial head; all things proceed unperceived, working for the accomplishment, the bursting forth of the eighth imperial head, by the assiduous labours of fleshly instruction, the vauntings of reason, the march of intellect, mankind seeking to govern itself. At length, they that dwell on the earth wonder to behold the beast that was, once more re-appear.

The harlot sitting on the beast having ceased, the beast will be free to act from his wilful and blasphemous disposition; and the degree of restraint of Popery will be removed, for she has a controul, though carnal and impure. The ten kings, in casting off and destroying this influence (Rev. xvii. 16), do not lay waste, but appropriate, and leave not themselves without craftsmen, millstones, music, and alliance (Rev. xviii. 22, 23); for these are reserved until the literal destruction upon Babylon (Rev. xix. 20), and in the interval the eighth head goes through his reign of infidel power.

The God-denying character of this last power is to be collected from the beast representing it being described, Rev. xvii. 3,. "Full of names of blasphemy." And in Daniel xi. 36, it is stated, that he "shall do according to his will; and he shall

exalt himself, and magnify himself above every God, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper, till the indignation be accomplished. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the Desire of women" (the Saviour of mankind), "nor regard any God; for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he honour the god of forces." And in Isaiah xxxvi. 18, the language of Rabshakeh shews the spirit of the Assyrian, crying to the Jews to beware of saying "The Lord will deliver us: Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who are they among all the gods of these lands that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?" And Isai. x. 11, "Shall I not," says the Assyrian, "as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?" And ver. 13, "He saith, By the strength of my hand have I done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent; and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man." And in Isai. xiv. 12 it is exclaimed, in a triumphal song over the fall of Babylon, another type of the last infidel power, "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cast down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." Further, the prevalent hostility to Christ and Christians in the last days is expressly stated Rev. xvii. 14, where, the ten horns having given their power and strength to the beast, it is added, "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb. shall overcome them.' And the diversity and extent of the hostility is shewn in Rev. xvi. 13, under the symbol of the three spirits of devils issuing from the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, gathering the kings of the whole world to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. Finally, 2 Pet. iii. 3, “There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?"

The three unclean spirits (Rev. xvi. 13), which are the spirits of devils, will be in full vigour of exertion during the infidel reign. The spirit out of the mouth of the false prophet has been usually considered to mean the Papacy. That out of the mouth of the beast has been understood to be the Imperial authority of the Roman empire, which existed in its civil capacity during the 1260 years of Papacy, and which is still tenacious of

its pre-eminence. The most important is the unclean spirit out of the mouth of the dragon, Satan, which is to break through all opposition, and to rule triumphant for its permitted time. The whole tendency of the actings of the three unclean spirits is towards the final display of hostility to God. This would imply, not hostility one to the other, but a concurrence towards that end. All three work miracles, to withdraw from the true God (Deut. xiii. 2), and to deceive believers (Mark xiii. 22). These signs may be, the speciousness of freedom, or liberalism, insinuated by Satan; the order, professed by tyranny; the legality, avowed by Popery; but all terminating in anarchy, oppression, and corruption, uniting only in general antichristian hostility. And no doubt it will be found more, that "they are the spirits of devils" literally "working miracles" (Rev. xvi. 14); that is, counterfeiting the manifested power of the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. iii. 8; Exod. vii. 11, 22, viii. 7; Matt. xxiv. 24; 2 Thess. ii. 9).

The three spirits go forth to the kings of the whole world (oшkovμevns); which word not only implies the territory of the ten horns, but beyond; being in Luke ii. 1 the Roman dominions in the days of Augustus; and Luke iv. 5, the whole of the habitable globe: and (Matthew xxiv. 14) the Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world-every where-and every where the evil spirits extend. Thus, now the agitation of these spirits is seen in the extremities of Europe, as in Russia and Poland; as well as in the centre, in France, in Italy, in England; also in the Brazils, and other parts of America. Where the three spirits go, the Gospel would seem to go; where the influence of the one is permitted, the light of the latter is offered. But other Scriptures would imply a certain limitation to the word: a part of the globe may yet be removed from these workings, and reserved for other the inscrutable dealings of Providence. These may be the centre and extremity of Asia, Tartary, China, &c.; the interior of Africa, where the influence of the beast and false prophet, at least, may not reach; dark regions, where the Gospel has not extended, and to which the guilt of its rejection does not apply; and these may be the heathen for whom will remain a subsequent conversion through the sure missionary efforts of the Jews.

It is the place here to observe, that, in interpreting the false prophet to be the Papacy, as is usual, a difficulty occurs, to account for her surviving, after being, as we are told Rev. xvii. 16, burnt with fire, to re-appear afterwards, to be an active ally (Rev. xix. 20) of the beast at the battle of Armageddon. But if the false prophet be understood to represent Mohammedanism-and then necessarily, from the terms of Rev. xix. 20, the beast with ten horns (Rev. xiii. 11) must mean the samethe other parts of the Apocalypse which apply to the Papacy

VOL. V.NO. I.

K

are freed from difficulty. Then, after the extinction of the Papacy (Rev. xvii. 16) by Infidelity, which is essentially the disavowal of Christ, she is no more heard of. And, in corroboration of this application to Mohammed, the beast out of the earth (Rev. xiii. 11) has no time of duration assigned; as had the beast out of the sea, representing the Roman empire under the Papacy (Rev. xiii. 5), of forty-two months: consequently, the beast with two horns may be understood as outliving the papal form of the Roman beast; and, accordingly, the attributes of that beast (Rev. xiii. 14) are continued at the subsequent period, in the latest moment of the infidel form of the Roman beast, as (Rev. xix. 20) working "miracles before him, deceiving them that received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image." The history of Mohammedanism is thus traced, from Rev. xiii. 11, under the symbol of a beast rising out of the earth; to the next appearance as a false prophet, out of whose mouth (Rev. xvi. 13) goes forth an unclean spirit to gather the kings of the earth to Armageddon; till there he is cast (Rev. xix. 20) into the lake of fire, with the beast, whose contemporary and ally he had stedfastly been, with the same worldly spirit, and under the same influence of Satan.

After the mention (Rev. xvi. 13) of the going forth of the unclean spirit from the false prophet, the history proceeds with the matters concerning solely the ten horned beast, the Roman empire, through chapters xvii. and xviii., and the false prophet is not again named till the announcement of his catastrophe (Rev. xix. 20); but the workings upon him during this space must be similar to those upon the Roman beast-—that is, an incessant action for the purpose of supplanting an impure faith by infidelity. And now are to be seen in Egypt and Turkey the converse of the scenes in Christendom, the governors there undermining the religious prejudices of the people; the revolution beginning from the rulers, while in the West from the multitude. The false prophet is probably, as heretofore (Rev. xiii. 14), diligently treading in the steps and following the example of the beast, making an image to the beast; and this we see in the East. When the beast is destroying the harlot, the apostate Christian church, we find the false prophet destroying his own corrupt faith; both actors ending in infidelity or irreligion. It is a suicidal act of the false prophet to his faith; so is the devouring of the harlot a suicidal act of the ten horns to their faith. always made an image to the beast: when the beast, the Roman empire, worshipped his corrupt church (Rev. xiii. 4), so did the false prophet, Mohammedanism, his corrupt faith; when the beast makes war with the Lamb, the false prophet does the same. The term, the "image of the beast" which is worshipped, is his worldly policy, as the image of Christ is the contrary.

He

In Egypt, the protection to life and property has been equally to the Jew as to the Christian: perhaps it may be a similar liberalism, a spirit out of the mouth of the false prophet, which does not now exist in Palestine, but, extending to that quarter, may allow of the resort and settlement of the Jews as cultivators in that their ancient land; a freedom and protection in the government removing every impediment to them, when "the people shall be willing in the day of thy power" (Psal. cx. 3). They shall return one by one (Isai. xxvii. 12). They may be received willingly, as of old time by Pharoah in Egypt, till, becoming sufficiently strong in numbers, by immigration, not increase of ages, it shall awake the jealousy and fears of the usurpers of the land; who, in their weakened state, the Euphrates dried up (Rev. xvi. 12), will call in the aid of the Western congenial infidel king. The conflict at Armageddon springs out of hostility to the Jews and Jerusalem (Zech. xiv. 4); therefore they must previously become established there.

In Dan. viii. 25, the king of fierce countenance, Mohammedanism, is said to be destroyed without hand; and such is the end of the false prophet, being cast alive (Rev. xix. 20) into the lake of fire. Daniel, in chap. xi., shewing the things noted in the Scripture of truth, begins with an account, clear as history, of the Macedonian empire; but in the middle he enters into details, the application of which is more obscure; yet he terminates, evidently, with the battle of Armageddon. From the beginning and the close, obviously relating to events in the East, it may be concluded that the rest of this history belongs to the East, and then to Mohammedanism necessarily; the two horned beast identified with the false prophet, and both perishing together at the same time. A very short while, by developing the part which Mohammedanism may have to act, will clear up these points. In the mean time, assuming that Mohammedanism is meant by the false prophet, we present the scheme which will be found in Table I. at the close of this section (p. 72), in order to give a connected view of events foretold in Scripture to befal the true church, the Papacy, the secular Roman power, and the Jews, in the papal and infidel periods of prophetical chronology. The heathen who are to be converted by the Jews eventually, are not included in this view, as they remain in utter darkness during this period.

The beast being the emblem of the Roman empire, the unclean spirit out of his mouth (Rev. xvi. 13) has been considered to be the tyranny of the kings, as manifested in later years, in opposition to the people, the great subjects of the unclean spirit out of the dragon, and who are now struggling for power. But, as the horns are named (Rev. xvii. 3) without crowns, and as the spoiling of the ecclesiastical power will probably be accompanied