In the age in which the Apocalypse was written, there was no other great city that reigned over the kings of the earth than the imperial City of Rome; and to the prophet's eye she was symbolized as a woman sitting on seven mountains; and every one knows that Rome was built on seven little hills, and is frequently called "the seven-hilled city." Dr. W. draws a parallel between the Assyrian and the mystical Babylon; and says that the name which the Jews usually gave to Rome was Babylon. "They felt that in their own history, God had identified the two. And it may be added, as remarkable, that as the Restoration of the Jews by Cyrus did not take place till Babylon was taken, and then ensued immediately; so it is, and has long been a deeply-rooted opinion and a common proverb among the Jews, that the redemption of Israel will not be accomplished before Rome is destroyed."

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The conclusion at which Dr. W. arrives, as may naturally be expected is "that the seven-hilled city, that great city, the queen of the earth, Babylon the great of the Apocalypse, is no other than the City of Rome." In the Apocalypse, he says, we behold a description traced by the Divine finger of a proud and prosperous power, claiming universal homage, and exercising mighty dominion; a power enthroned upon many waters which are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues; a power arrogating eternity by calling herself a queen for ever; a power whose prime agent, by his lamb-like aspect, bears a semblance of Christian purity, and yet from his sounding words and cruel deeds, is compared to a dragon; a power, beguiling men from the pure faith, and trafficking in human souls, tempting to commit spiritual adultery, alluring them to herself by gaudy colours and glittering jewels, and holding in her hand a golden cup of enchantments, by which she intoxicates the world and makes it reel at her feet."

The second question is, whether or not the prophecies concern Rome, not only in her temporal character as a city, but also in her spiritual character as a church; and of this, there is no room for doubt from the seventh century, when the Popes of Rome began to put forth their budding pretensions over the western church; and to compel "all nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication," which

they have since so largely done. The author then goes on to describe some of the characteristics of the Roman apostacy, and to combat the arguments to which Bossuet and other Popish authors are driven, to meet the overwhelming evidence of the Apocalypse against the Church of Rome. "If such a church," he says, 66 as we have now described has existed, and if it has continued to exist for many centuries, and does now exist in the world; if it has so existed, and does still exist, at Rome; and if, by the union of the secular power with the spiritual, the Roman church is, and has long been identified with the Roman city; and if the Apocalyptic Babylon is allowed on all hands to be the city of Rome, then we here see a proof, that the Babylon of the Apocalypse, which is confessed by Romish divines to be the Roman city, is not only the Roman city, but the Roman CHURCH.”

In no way that it can be twisted can the Apocalyptic Babylon be made to appear otherwise than as Papal Rome; for the prophecies respecting the Beast with seven heads and ten horns were not fulfilled in Pagan Rome; but many of them have been fulfilled, are in the course of fulfilment, and are nearly consummated in Papal Rome. Some of the powers of the earth under the over-ruling sway of God's retributive justice will one day arise against the woman seated on the Beast, as a queen in opposition to Christ; and they will tear her flesh and burn her with fire; and as Dr. W. says, "they will destroy Rome in a mysterious transport of indignation, and in a wild extacy of revenge."

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Much as we admire the close reasoning, the logical syllogisms and the incontrovertible conclusions at which Dr. W. arrives; yet we cannot admit the correctness of his views, respecting the seventh and eighth heads of the Beast; he says, the eighth [head] is no other than the Beast on which the woman sitteth." St. John describes two Beasts in his Revelation, the one is spiritual, which is the church of Rome; and the other is secular, which is the empire of Rome; and the eight kings belong to the secular Beast. Here, kings mean governing powers, or forms of government; of these St. John says, "And there are seven kings; five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh he must continue a short space, and that the Beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the

seven, and goeth into perdition." (Rev. xvii. 10, 11). In St. John's time, five of the kings, or heads, or forms of supreme government in Rome had fallen; but the sixth king or head was then in existence. The five that were fallen were-1. The Consulship. 2. The Dictatorship. 3. The Decemvirate. 4. The Military Tribuneship; and 5. The Triumvirate. After a long dormancy, the original kingship of Rome revived under the title of emperor, in the person of Augustus, and thus he became not the sixth, but the FIRST head, and which was in existence in St. John's days; who did not say that the sixth head was then existing but that "one is," that is the first one, or revived kingship.

The empire was divided into the East and the West; but the headship was only one; and the fall of Augustulus only restored the divided emperorship to one head, which continued at Constantinople till that city was taken by the Turks, in the year 1453. In the west, the emperorship was restored by Charlemagne, who was crowned emperor of the Romans by the Pope, in the year 800. In the year 1806, this first head also fell or became extinct, by the abdication of Francis, the then Emperor of Germany and king of the Romans. In his vision St. John saw the Beast living, then that he died by the sword of violence, and again that he revived under an eighth head, but who was still to be one of the seven. In the year 1804, Napoleon Buonaparte assumed the title of Emperor of the French, and he was already master of the City of Rome, and the person of the Pope. He substituted the "Confederation of the Rhine," for the ancient electors of the empire, whom Francis had released from their allegiance to the emperor of the Romans; and thus Bonaparte became the seventh head of the Beast.

The predicted characteristics of the seventh head, were shortness of continuance, and slaughter by the sword; accordingly, in the year 1815, the seventh head was politically slain at the battle of Waterloo, when the Beast ceased to exist as a living empire; because it was now without a head, which it never had been before since the days of Romulus, the first king of Rome. From that time, therefore, the wild Beast WAS NOT; all his seven heads were non-existent; but an eighth head was to arise, who is only as it were a continuation of the seventh. Accordingly, the nephew of the

late emperor of the French, and the seventh head, was elected as his lineal and hereditary successor, which caused him to be the seventh and eighth, or 66 one of the seven." He is also in military possession of the City of Rome, and of the person of the Pope. Louis Napoleon has so far fulfilled the prophecy. The concluding portion of it remains to be seen; but it is not very difficult to imagine the result, from the report which seems to be confidently circulated, that the present Pope contemplates the removal of his head-quarters from Rome to Jerusalem; under the walls of which the final battle that is to emancipate the world is to be fought.

We regret that we cannot proceed further with this interesting little work at present; but we shall resume the subject on a future occasion, and give a synopsis of the last and most important chapter; only adding one short quotation, wherein Dr. W. says:- "Again, the woman is described as sitting on a scarlet-coloured beast full of names of blasphemy."

"Has not Rome fulfilled this prophecy? The colour itself is one reserved by her to her Pontiffs and Cardinals. And how does she designate herself? As Infallible, Indefectible, Eternal. And are not these names of blasphemy? Some persons appear to imagine that 'names of blasphemy' must indicate an infidel power. But this notion is erroneous. 'Blasphemy' in the New Testament, denotes an assumption of what is divine. And the names which Rome claims for herself, are usurpations of the incommunicable Name. "When that which is temporal claims eternity, 'this,' says St. Jerome, is a name of blasphemy.' And when she withholds the HOLY SCRIPTURES from her people, and she has never printed at Rome a single copy of either Testament in its original language! and when she bestows honour on those who revile Scripture, calling it 'imperfect, ambiguous, a mute judge, a leaden rule,' and by other opprobrious names, is she not guilty of blasphemy against the Divine Author of the Scriptures? And when with the cup of sorceries in her hand, she takes away the cup of blessing in the Lord's Supper, which Christ has commanded to be received by all; and when she makes men drink of the one, and will not allow them to drink of the other, is not this an act of blasphemy against the Son of God?"

W. C. P.

THE SCOTTISH COMMUNION OFFICE.* DURING the last twenty years, there have been several pamphlets and letters written, both in explanation and in defence of the Scottish Communion Office; some of them with much ability, and all of them of very considerable importance. To these we have now to add a letter to the Primus, from the pen of the Rev. John Alexander, of St. Columba's, Edinburgh, which, if possible, exceeds in interest, all that has gone before it; whilst the learning and ability with which the treatise is written, the earnest and Catholic spirit which pervades it, and the clearness and decision with which its statements are enunciated, stamp it with a value which, under existing circumstances, it would be difficult to over estimate.

The great object Mr. Alexander has in view, is to prove that the Scottish office, as compiled on purely primitive principles, is peculiarly to be prized as our safeguard against the corrupt doctrines which Romanists and Romanisers on the one hand, and Lutherans and Ultra-Protestants on the other, are so zealously inculcating with respect to the great mystery in the Eucharist. Hence, he impresses on the Scottish churchmen, the stringent obligation upon them, as they value the preservation of saving truth, and the character and stability of their church; to uphold, at all hazards, their Authorized Liturgy :—

"In an age of religious excitement like the present, when the minds of so many have become unhinged by the introduction of all sorts of unauthorized speculations, it will be well for the church as a body, to take her stand more firmly than ever on her own authoritative formularies, as those formularies have been interpreted in by-gone times by her wisest and most prudent divines: for here, and here alone is she sure to find rest and safety amidst the troubled waters. And so far as the whole doctrine of the Holy Eucharist is

*Letter to the Right Reverend William Skinner, D.D., Bishop of Aberdeen, and Primus of the Church in Scotland: on the Eucharistie Doctrine exhibited in the Scottish Communion Office, as it stands affected to the School of Archdeacon Wilberforce, and the teaching of the great Anglican Divines. By the Rev. John Alexander. London: J. H. and J. Parker. pp. 80.