Of pray'rs to saints, confession in the ear,
With abstinence from meats allow'd by God,
And from the venerable nuptial bed;
Of bowing down to senseless images,
Of holy water, masses numberless,
Of giving to the Virgin Mary pray'rs,

Of calling her, in Pagau terms, Heav'n's Queen,
Of making and of eating God himself*;
With other foul abominations curst,
Idolatries, and wicked heresies,

Such as to mention would be tedious here,
Such as to think on would be painful too.

The priests of Rome (like various other priests) Were oft a subtle and tyrannic band, Ambitious, cruel, proud, giv'n to revenge Deliberate, which nothing could appease, Heav'n on their tongues, but hell within their hearts; Oft void of all those elegant desires,

Those polish'd manners, and that social ease,

Sir Richard Musgrave says, "The remission of sins became so systematic, and such a constant and regular source of revenue to the holy see, that they were reduced to a schedule, in a book of rates, with the sums corresponding, for which they were to be remitted. Every crime that human depravity can commit is inserted in this book. Of this work, entitled Taxes of the Roman Chancery, different editions were published for the use of Roman Catholic states: one at Rome, by Marcellus Silber, in 1514; one at Cologne, in 1515; three at Paris, in 1520, 1545, 1625; one at Venice, in the sixth volume of the Oceanus Juris, in 1523. The Protestant princes published one among their Reasons for rejecting the Council of Trent. See for this, Heideggeri Myster. Babylon. tom. ii. p. 350." Memoirs of the different Rebellions in Ireland, with a particular Detail of that which broke out the 23d of May, 1797. Compiled from original Affidavits, and other authentic Docu ments. By Sir Richard Musgrave, Bart. Dublin, printed 1801, 4to. pages 18 and 19.

Au important discovery has been very lately published, that there is an edition of the book entitled "Taxe Cancellariæ Apostolicæ❞ in the Cheetham library in Manchester. See that interesting work "The Protestant Advocate," for October, 1813.

Archbishop Tillotson quotes the words of an Arabian physician, who said, "I have travelled over the world, and have found divers sects; but so sottish a sect or law I never found, as is the sect of the Christians, because with their own teeth they devour the God whom they worship." Cicero, in his De Natura Deorum, supposed that such an absurdity could scarcely exist among man. kind.

T

Which woman, only lovely woman, gives;
And sometimes hence their vitiated minds,
Thy solitary wantonness allur'd,
Onan accurst, or sin more deadly still,
Which among Christians never should be nam'd,
Or, if declar'd, with horror should be told;
Estrang'd from all the relatives of life,
Which humanize the soul by tender thoughts;
With minds more sullen than their college gloom,
From which if helpless they come forth, they prove
The plagues of families, communities.

Through them, in dark and trying times, arose i
That human slaughter-house, portentous, fell,
The Inquisition, master-piece of guilt!
Where all a devil's fancy can invent,
And all a devil's malice can inflict,
To torture and insult the wretched victim,
And if 'twere possible to damn beside,
In terrible perfection is achiev'd,
Many, howe'er, Pleasure's sleek yotaries,
Batt'ning like vermin in the dung of sloth,
Think life, think reason, was bestow'd for nought,
Save but to gormandize, to swill, to doze.
But should some rare ingenuous youth effulge,
And talk of liberty, with outcry straight,
All hoot the daring rebel from their sect.
Such Luther was, whose name is poured forth
Like ointment, to Christ's church for ever dear,
Who edified the world, when them he left.
Thus when sweet Philomel at evening hour
Enters a grove, a mould'ring abbey near,
Lur'd by the melancholy green retreat,
And pleas'd, enraptur'd, tunes his lovely voice:
If from th' adjacent tow'r the screech-owls rush,
With horrid voice, and shake their heavy wings,
Vex'd at the glorious music of his throat,
Sudden the little charmer takes his flight
To happier groves, where he may chaunt at ease,
And make them all harmonious to his song.

They went in feral indignation forth
To battle with the saints, to wear them out,
And, drunken with their sacred blood, t'exult.
And this was done, O blasphemous pretence !
In our Redeemer's violated name.

Whence with a voice his tortur'd martyrs cry,
Th' immortal pillars of high heav'n that shakes,
"How long, O Lord, O holy Lord, and true,
Dost thou not judge and vindicate our blood,
Upon the stern inhabitants of earth,

M

Upon that city which doth thirst for blood!"
And in one day shall all her plagues afflict;
For God, the God of justice, is her foe,
Who his bare arın shall from his bosom pluck,
And devastation hurl upon her head.
"And who art thou, in thine apparel red,
As if thou cam'st in dread magnificence,
From Edom, Bozrah, with thy garments dy'd,
Advancing in the greatness of thy strength?"
""Tis I, the Lord, who reign in righteousness,
And potent am to save or to afflict."
"And why art thou in thine apparel red,
Like theirs that in the wine-fat tread thy vest
"Because alone the wine-press I have trod,
Because I her with indignation smote,
That whoredom city, blasphemous and proud,
So has her blood been sprinkled on my vest,
So has it all my flowing raiment stain'd *”
Her doom the monarchs of the earth shall mourn †,
With whom deliciously they long have liv'd,
Standing far off, through fear of her distress,
Saying, "Alas, alas! that city great,
Far-famous Babylon! elate with pride!

Isaiah, lxiii. This passage in Isaiah seems to refer to "the days of vengeance," (Luke, xxi. 22,) to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus; but may be somewhat applicable to other calamities.

↑ Mantuan formerly said of the pope,

Ense potens gemino, cujus vestigia adorant,
Casar, et aurato vestiti murice reges.
R

For in one hour is thy destruction come!”
But at her fall exultingly rejoice,

Angels, apostles, prophets, martyrs, saints,
And all ye sinless host of sacred heav'n;
For God arous'd his children bath aveng'd.
Thus shalt thou fall, detested Babylon *,
And shalt be found no more upon the earth:

It is generally allowed by Protestant commentators, that the years of Papal usurpation are 1260 prophetical years; but they differ about the time when these years commence. At the expiration of these years they think Rome (which St. John appears to mean by Ba. bylon, as he calls Babylon the Great City, seated upon seven moun. tains, which in his time reigned over the kings of the earth) will be destroyed; but they differ in opinion about the manner of its destruction. The celebrated Joseph Mede, who spent twenty years in the study of the sacred prophecies, supposes that Rome will be "sacked and burnt." Mr. Zouch, a man of deep learning and inquiry, supposes it will be destroyed by the immediate hand of Heaven. Other commentators suppose that St. John only means the abolition of the power of the popedom. The event will manifest who formed the truest conjectures.

Sir Isaac Newton supposes that the 1260 years of Papal usurpation commence from the year 755, when Pipin of France made a grant of the temporal dominion of Rome, upon the destruction of the exar chate of Ravennah. The celebrated Dr. Samuel Clarke and Mr. Moses Lowman are also of this opinion. Mr. Joseph Mede, a man of a penetrating genius and of profound erudition, was inclined to think that the 1260 years of Papal usurpation commence "hundreds of years before the times of Pipin and Charlemagne." It might not be injudicious, perhaps, to strike a line between Mr. Mede and his illustrious opponents, and to suppose the æra of the commencement of Papal usurpation was at the beginning of the seventh century, when the Emperor Phocas made certain concessions to the popes. If 606 be the year for the commencement of the Papal power, its downfal will be in the year 1866, or 1848.

There is a very strong argument, as I conceive, to show that Sir Isaac Newton may have been mistaken in fixing this æra so late as the year 755, from its making the downfal of the Papal power subsequent to the downfal of the Mahometan. I think the Mahometans were appointed to be the scourges of Popery, and that the Mahometau was to continue the same period of time as the Papal power, though it commenced after the Papal.

If we fix the æra of the commencement of the Mahometan power at the time of Mahomet's flight, at the Hegira, in the year 622, or at the taking of Jerusalem by the Saracens, in 637 (and I do not see how we can fix it later), the downfal of the Mahometan power will be about the year 1864, or about the year 1879; or about the year 1882, or 1897, if these are like our common years (which is sup. posed by Sir Isaac Newton) and not strictly prophetical years of 360 days each.

The piper's, harper's, and musician's voice,
Enchanting, shall in thee be heard no more;
Nor active craftsman shall in thee be found;
No more the bride's and bridegroom's voice be heard
In thee, whose sorceries deceiv'd mankind,
And who didst foully riot in the blood

Of many a martyr'd and a meek-soul'd saint.
When they consider how the earth is fill'd
With superstition and with cruelty,

How should the advocates for Christ awake,
And with a firm enlighten'd zeal diffuse
Humanity and knowledge through the world!
In India, where the Brahmin fools mankind,
And where the Gospel has no mercy taught,
The great rich man in dazzling pomp array'd,
Proceeds, when famine thins the unhappy land,
In proud indifference unmov'd and cold;
Nor will he give a mite of all his wealth,
Nor yield a grain of all his bulky stores,
To wretches perishing on either side,
And making difficult his crowded way.
There Superstition loads the fun'ral pile
Of the dead husband, with the living wife,
And with loud shouts together both are burnt.
But see, where Juggernaut triumphant comes,
The idol of a mad and vicious crowd!

Thick as the sands upon the sea-beat shore,
Unnumber'd thousands at his dire approach
Send forth a shout, as if that shout would tear
Heav'n's concave, and convulse the settled earth.
Obscenity, and blasphemy, and blood,
Mark his pernicious steps, offending earth,
And giving insult to the God of Heav'n.
Yet Reason's gentle and persuasive voice,
His images and temples shall annul.

But in the islands of the Indian Sea,
Bears Superstition a more hideous form
(In some unnatural unblest respects)
Than in the fam'd peninsula itself,