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Clarus first carried his head to a fountain, where he washed it; he then carried it a great while longer; after which he went straight to heaven! St. Decumanus united his head to his body without the help of his hands, and then walked to a clear fountain where he used his hands to wash it quite clean! (Popery in Alliance with Heathenism, pp. 52, 53.) In 1817, all Rome crowded to the capitol to see an image of the Virgin open her eyes! And, to come nearer to our own times, in the church of Notre Dame at Brussels is an image of the Virgin which is said to have performed many miracles, in consequence of which a jubilee was commanded to be kept by Pope Gregory XVI., the present Pope, in 1833, at which 30,000 persons attended! (Speech of the Rev. R. Shank. Record, May 26, 1836.)

Romanists may therefore boast, as they please, of the above miracles, and innumerable others, which they say have been performed by their church. We will take all their miracles, every miracle of every saint in every legend of every century and what is the inference to be drawn? Is it that their church is the true church, and that out of it there is no salvation ? Alas! it is just the contrary. These very miracles prove that the Pope is the MAN OF SIN. For St. Paul, writing on the MAN OF SIN, declares that "his coming" should be " after the working of SATAN, (literally, after the energy of SATAN) with ALL

POWER AND SIGNS AND LYING WONDERS, AND WITH ALL DECEIVEABLENESS OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS in them that perish," (2 Thess. ii. 8-10.) They prove also

that the Papacy is THE BEAST. For St. John, writing on the BEAST, declares that " the Dragon gave him his power." And we should be in an especial manner on our guard against "the signs and lying wonders" of the Romish church at the present moment. It is generally agreed by commentators that we are living under the vial of the sixth angel; for "the water of the great river Euphrates is drying up before our eyes: that is, the Mahomedan power is gradually wasting away, (Rev. xvi. 12.) During the pouring out of the sixth vial the Apostle beheld "three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the False Prophet." And it is to be particularly observed that "these are the spirits of devils WORKING MIRACLES, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty," (chap. xvi. 13, 14.)

The Beast is the Papacy. The False Prophet is the Second Beast, which we believe to be the Society of Jesuits. The Dragon is THE DEVIL. And these three conspire together to palm their "miracles and signs and lying wonders" on the Christian world.

Lastly, the devil can quote scripture to his purpose: and this power has been given to the Pope. How deplorably have those words " This is my body," been perverted to the support of idolatry! How has that text, "I say unto thee, thou art Peter: and upon this rock I will build my church" been abused; as if Peter were the rock on which Christ would build

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his church! St. Peter himself tells us, in his first epistle, that Christ is the " chief corner-stone laid in Zion, elect, precious:" that he is "a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious;" and that Christians, "coming to" this living stone, as living stones" themselves," are built up a spiritual house." How has that passage in Jeremiah been perverted by the bishops of Rome," I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant." These words apply to Jeremiah in his prophetical character. He is said to do that, which God commissions him to declare should be done. This was a favourite text of Boniface VIII. who applied it to himself. Our king Henry VIII. was reminded that the Pope was God's vicar upon earth, and according to Jeremiah's prophecy, was set over nations and kingdoms, to root out and destroy, and had supreme power over all the kings of the whole world.' Pius V. began his bull against our queen Elizabeth thus: He that reigneth on high, to whom is given all power in heaven and earth, hath committed the one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, out of which there is no salvation, to one alone on earth, namely, to Peter, prince of the Apostles, and to the Roman pontiff, successor of Peter, to be governed with a plenitude of power: this one he hath constituted prince over all nations and over all kingdoms, that he might pluck up and pull down,' &c

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How dreadfully was the second Psalm perverted by

Boniface VIII. when in the year 1303 he composed a bull, in which he maintained,' that, as vicar of Jesus Christ, he had the power to govern kings with a rod of iron, and to dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.' How dreadfully was the ninety-first Psalm perverted by Alexander III. when he trod the emperor Frederic under his feet, repeating, at the same time, that beautiful promise," Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon thou shalt trample under thy feet." Little did Alexander think, whilst he called the emperor, "a lion and adder, a young lion and a dragon," that he was himself the Beast in the Revelation! The Pope, and not the Emperor, was a lion; for he had "the mouth of a lion." The Pope, and not the Emperor, was an adder; for the Pope sat in the Dragon's seat, even in the seat of "the great Dragon, that old Serpent, the Devil and Satan." But we need not wonder that the Pope should so miserably pervert this Psalm, since "the Dragon," whose vicar he was, had perverted it before him. If the Pope perverted the thirteenth verse, "the Dragon" had perverted the eleventh and twelfth verses, when he quoted them to our Saviour in the wilderness: "He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone."

CHAPTER X.

THE POPE SITS IN THE DRAGON'S SEAT.

" AND THE DRAGON GAVE HIM HIS POWER AND HIS SEAT."-Verse 2.

ONE grand cause of the " great authority," of which the bishops of Rome were possessed, consisted in their being seated in ROME, the metropolis of the world. If the Dragon had not given the Pope "his seat," he could not have given him such " great authority." This is particularly noticed by Dr. Barrow in his Treatise on the Pope's supremacy.

The Roman bishop, he observes, "was seated in the imperial city, the place of general resort: thence obvious to all eyes, and his name sounding in all mouths. He had a most numerous, opulent, and splendid flock and clergy. He had the greatest income (from liberal oblations) to dispose of. He lived in greatest state and lustre. No wonder then that after some time the Pope did arrive to some pitch of authority over poor Christians, especially those who lay nearest to him; improving his eminence into

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