-flaming partizans;-the accomplices, and who will believe it, even the principal actors on those horrid days; of those men, who, to gain the Curule chair, feigned for liberty an unbounded enthusiasm in the clubs, in the sections, and in the primary assemblies;-deceived the people with respect to their true interests; bore on their foreheads, love of country, written in characters of blood; and building on the continuance of massacres, the continuance of their insolence and future grandeur.*"

Thus have we brought down, in a very imperfect and concise manner, it is confessed, the very slight abstract of great events which have happened in the government of France, from the year 1760 to this year, 1798, which we take to have been prefigured by the divine apostle John, in the Apocalypse, under the character of the beast arising out of the bottomless pit, or abyss of the

sea.

Any person, who will give himself the trouble of reading any of the histories of the French republic, will be surprized to find how faint our colours are, when compared with the full representation of the transactions of this all devouring beast, in the aggregate.

He will then, more clearly, see the concentration of all the marks, or signs, designated by divine wisdom and foreknowledge. He will not be able to avoid feeling the force of the angel's declaration to Daniel, "many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand,”—that is, as Dr. Lowth paraphrases it, "the nearer the time approaches for the final accomplishment of this prophesy, the more

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light shall men have for understanding it; for the gradual completion of this and other prophecies, shall direct observant readers to form a judgment concerning those particulars, which are yet to be fulfilled."

On a review of this subject, we find this extraordinary government, answering, in all its parts, the particular predictions of sacred writ, as if related since its rise. It is a government of an unusual origin; that is, from the lowest orders of a great and mighty nation, in opposition to military strength,-power,-riches,-inclination, and the most rivetted superstitious attachments.

It is a government of a fierce countenance, and marked with every character of cruelty, desolation, and bloodshed. It has arisen when transgression, as we have herein before seen, was indeed full-when the whole body of the clergy professing obedience to the laws of Christ, was proscribed, banished or cruelly massacred. -The worship of Almighty God done away and laughed to scorn-The temples of the living God profaned, and literally cast down with the truth to the ground, by the institution of a blasphemous worship in its stead, worse than Pagan idolatry-All the sacred vessels devoted to the service of God, with the whole property of the Church, either confiscated, destroyed, or plundered. -Ordinances were passed by the convention permitting, and by their presence encouraging, the worst kind of idol worship; deifying nature, liberty, &c. and publickly denying and reprobating the God of heaven and earth, the creator of all things; thus denying the Father and the Son.-Death was declared only an eternal sleep.The most vicious and abominable characters were deified, and schools erected for instructing youth in these abominable practices. An altar was erected in one of the

Churches of Christ, and public homage thereon paid to an abandoned woman, under the character of liberty. All this was followed (as in the case of Jerusalem) by the revolt of the department of Vendee, which caused the destruction of about 30,000 of the citizens of France. But the government still prospered against the people of God, in all its schemes and practices, except in its desire of obtaining an implicit submission to its will; as much the greater part of the clergy refused obedience, and rather submitted to banishment, confiscation, and death, than acknowledge a power they considered as unlawful and abominable. Yet they succeeded and overcome all opposition, and in the most public and open manner, stood up against the Prince of the host of Heaven, the Prince of Princes, or Jesus Christ, the Saviour, whose worship they had contemned, whose being, together with that of God, the Father, they denied, and whose sanctuaries they had destroyed or defiled with every detestable practice, spreading a wing of abomination over the whole land. In one place we find them, to show the utmost contempt of the service of God, dressing up an ass in pontifical robes, with a Bible and some sacred vases put on his back, and thus, with the most diabolical joy and shoutings, burning him in a large fire.

This government has indeed exercised a mighty power, but it has been, in a great measure, by the aid of the neighbouring nations, both as to money and men-Spain, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Geneva, Genoa, Tuscany, Sardinia, Naples, Venice, and all Italy, not excepting Rome, that once mistress of nations, the beast with seven heads and ten horns, herself--It has not been

* Vid. 1st Epist. John, 2d ch. 22d v.

solely by the inherent power of this government, as has been foretold, in sacred writ, that she has accomplished these mighty things. Her understanding dark sayings, or by dark and secret measures, by means of her affiliated societies and lodges of Illuminati, who have been her pioneers in every nation and every army she has she has gone against, to debauch, divide, and suborn the subjects of her enemies, have been part of the means of her success. Thus has she literally fulfilled the sacred text, by destroying wonderfully, or beyond all fair calculation. By a late treatise, written in Italy, it is stated, on tolerable good grounds, that, from the year 1796, there have been taken from that ill fated country, 538,260,000 livres, for the benefit of the French army and government. And it otherwise appears, that at least two millions of men have been destroyed in France during the revolutionary war, among whom are reckoned 25,000 women, 23,000 children, besides those murdered in the womb, and 24,000 Christian priests.* This destruction has been manifestly prevalent among the nobility, clergy, and army, and it was expressly foretold that this government "should destroy the mighty and the holy people."

Another marked character of this government, in sacred writ, we find to be, "and through his policy, also, he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand"-but the most unequivocal and characteristical mark, peculiarly exemplified in this government; in distinction from all other governments is, "that he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many." This is an uncommon mark of character, and one, which, at the first blush, seems rather to be enigmatical, till para

* 2 Kett. Hist. on Proph. p. 251.

phased by the conduct of this government-It seems to be an indelible mark, that can scarcely be mistaken. Look back on our history and revise the proceedings of this government in Holland, Belgium, Geneva, Genoa, Venice, Switzerland, and Italy-every sentence you read, every public act, every declaration of its officers, all seem to combine to proclaim to the world, this is the government of a fierce countenance, who, by peace, hath destroyed many. Has not this government, in a remarkable manner, openly and notoriously, without cover or pretence, stood up against the prince of princesdenied his being, power, and majesty, and declared against any God, but Nature?

Thus have the Scriptures of truth been strictly verified by those very persons who moved heaven and earth, as it were, to prove them false and chimerical. The only consolation that remains is, that notwithstanding all this appearance of power and success-all this prosperity and wickedness," he shall be broken without hand.”

This is the same government who, in the 11th ch. Daniel, and 40th v. is described as "the king of the north, who shall come against the Roman government at the time of the end, like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter into the countries, and shall flow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land (Italy) and many countries, (Belgium, Holland, &c. &c.) shall be overthrown; but these shall escape out of his hands, even Edom and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon-He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt, and the Lybian and Ethiopian shall be at his steps. But tidings out of the east,