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that his shadowy, vain, mortal life is united, and that by an eternal counsel of God with the true life of his eternal Son, even as an apostle has said, Our life is hid with Christ in God," so that, in beholding our first father Adam, and ourselves in him, we may confidently look back to Adam's Maker, the Son of God,) and discern ourselves in him, “preserved in Jesus Christ," (Jude i.) secure amidst all the varying scenes of human weakness, amidst all the vanity to which the human creature is by its very nature liable, and to which God, for wise reasons, has allowed it to be subjected for a time. Rom. viii. 20, 21. From the first Adam then we look off to the second Adam; from the fleeting glory, the shadowy likeness of God given us in our first earthly father, which glory we also lost in him, we turn to the unchanging glory of the only-begotten of the Father, which glory he imparts to his people; (John i. 14—16; x. 10; xvii. 5, 22. 2 Cor. iii. 18. 1 Peter iv. 14.) and then we find that "if that which was done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious;" that if by one man's offence death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." Rom. v. 17.

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APOSTOLICAL DESCENT.

DEAR MADAM,

AT a time when so much stress is laid upon the necessity of apostolical descent, and of the mysterious power which is conferred by the laying on of hands duly authorized, it becomes a duty to point out such evidence as the word of God contains, bearing upon the matter under discussion. Upon this subject the scriptures are not wholly silent, and the utility of such lineal descent, or its utter worthlessness, may be ascertained by studying the history of the Christian church as given by St. John in the book of Revelations.

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In the xiith Chapter, the apostle describes a vision, which he saw, relating to the church of Christ during its conflict with paganism. Under the emblem of a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars," the true church is signified. The stars are described in the 1st Chapter, as the "angels" or ministers over the churches. Therefore, we may conclude that when applied to Christianity, or the universal church of Christ-the twelve stars are the twelve apostles of the Lamb. This church, clothed with the true light of the "Sun of Righteousness," the Gospel of Christ, standing upon the moon, the types and shadows of the Jewish dispensation, and having on her head as a crown, the twelve apostles

of the Lamb, is represented as overcoming the imperial dragon-the high priest or representative of Satan, "by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." Persecution purified the early church, but now we have to notice it under another aspect. Satan being cast down by the overthrow of paganism, endeavours if possible to destroy both nominal and vital Christianity, and to sweep it from off the whole earth. In order to accomplish this design; he stirred up the multitudes dwelling in the northern parts of Asia, and from the confines of China to the shores of the Atlantic he poured in the pagan hordes as a flood upon the Western Roman Empire. As soon, however, as these barbarians settled, they assumed Christianity, and Satan was frustrated. The whole is thus described by the apostle, "and when the dragon saw that he was cast upon the earth, he persecuted the woman," "and the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood, after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood, and the earth," (the Roman Empire) "helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth, and the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. xii. 13, 15, 17. In the 17th Chapter it is explained that "the waters are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues." Satan having failed in his design of destroying the Christian name, the church is elevated from its lowly state, and by the decrees of the Western and Eastern Emperors finally

ascends the imperial seat and becomes the ally instead of the antagonist of Satan, who, finding her a convenient instrument, ceases any longer to afflict her, whilst he persecutes, "the remnant of HER SEED

WHO KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, AND HAVE

THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST." This part is thus described, "and to the woman (the Christian church) were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly INTO THE WILDERNESS into her place, where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time from the face of the serpent." The Pope appears to have been placed in his seat about 533 by the edict of Justinian, and till the expiration of the 1260 years, or time, times, and half a time: Satan left her in quiet enjoyment of her apostacy. In 1793, the infidels of France, the agents of Satan were again let loose upon her, and she still feebly holds the sceptre which she had 'previously wielded with almost unlimited power.

The prophet has distinguished the woman from the remnant of her righteous seed, and we have now to contemplate her as she is represented sitting in that wilderness where no spiritual fruit can grow to perfection; elevated above the reach of persecution by the powers of the Eastern and Western Empires, the two wings of the great Roman Eagle. "And there came one of the seven angels," says St. John, 'having the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the Spirit INTO THE

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WILDERNESS: AND I SAW A WOMAN sit upon a scarletcoloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple”—the clothing of the Pope; “and scarlet color," the clothing of the cardinals, "and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls," ornaments common to both, “having a cup in her hands full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication," the idolatrous rites of the Romish church. "AND UPON HER FOREHEAD was a name writtenMYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." "And the woman which thou sawest," says the angel, is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Rev. xvii.

In the 12th chap. we have a description of the woman with her crown of twelve stars upon her head. In the 17th chap. we have the same woman, represented as sitting in the wilderness-seated on the throne of Empire, clad in imperial purple, drunken with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus, her own righteous offspring, the "remnant of her seed, who kept the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." And on her head, in the place of her once glorious crown: "she has on her forehead a name written-Mystery, Babylon the Greatthe Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." Ye who are "straying towards Rome," look upon this picture, and then upon that! Ye who sigh after something "deep and MYSTERIOUS," which "ROME" only has. Look at the brand of her Apostacy, her name of "Mystery," which a Newman can read upon her forehead, and sigh to place it on his own.

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