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acknowledge the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Ro"MAN Church, the MOTHER and MISTRESS of ALL "Churches: and to promise and swear true obedience "to the ROMAN BISHOP, the SUCCESSOR of St.PETER "the Prince of the Apostles, and VICAR of Jesus "Christ1." The pre-eminent authority claimed by virtue of this title, is thus asserted, still more particularly, by Pope Pius V., in the celebrated bull which he published against Queen Elizabeth, in order to excommunicate and depose her, to absolve her subjects from their allegiance, and to anathematize all such as continued in their obedience :"He who reigneth on high, to whom all power is given in heaven and in earth, hath committed "the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, our

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OF WHICH there is NO SALVATION, to one ALONE "on earth, namely, to PETER, the Prince of the Apostles, and to the successor of PETER, the Ro"MAN PONTIFF, to be governed with a plenitude of power. He hath constituted HIM ALONE the PRINCE over ALL NATIONS, and ALL KINGDOMS; to pluck up, to destroy, to consume, to plant, and to build 2."

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"Sanctam Catholicam et Apostolicam ROMANAM Ecclesiam omnium Ecclesiarum Matrem et Magistram, agnosco: Romanoque Pontifici, B. Petri Apostolorum principis successori, ac Jesu Christi Vicario, veram obedientiam spondeo ac juro." Professio Fidei Catholicæ, secundum Concilium Tridentinum, ex Bullâ Pii Papæ IV.

2 "PIUS Episcopus, Servus Servorum Dei, ad futuram rei me

moriam.

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Regnans in excelsis, cui data est omnis in Cœlo et in Terra Potestas, Unam Sanctam, Catholicam, et Apostolicam Ecclesiam,

And this, in like manner, is a spiritual power, which remains in existence to the present day.

Can it be reasonably believed, that the Holy Scriptures, which contain so many prophecies, so remarkably fulfilled, concerning Babylon, Egypt, Tyre, Moab, Edom, and other enemies of the Israel of God, in times before the coming of Christ, should be silent, with respect to such Systems of tyranny and imposture as these ; which have, for so many ages, usurped the most unhallowed control over the bodies and souls of men; and triumphed, by the degradation of Christianity?

I. So far from this being the case, can we not trace the origin, the exact lineaments, and achievements, of the MAHOMETAN Power, in "the little Horn" of the Macedonian He-goat, as described by the prophet Daniel in the following terms?—

extra quam nulla est salus, uni soli in Terris, videlicet, Apostolorum Principi Petro, Petrique Successori ROMANO Pontifici, in potestatis plenitudine tradidit gubernandam. Hunc unum super omnes Gentes, et omnia Regna, Principem constituit, qui evellat, destruat, disperdat, plantet, et ædificet." &c.

This Bull bears the date of the fifth of the calends of March, or the 25th of February, 1569.

B

and for it came up four notable ones, towards the four winds of heaven.

9. And out of one of them came forth a little horn,

which waxed exceeding great toward the South, and toward the East, and toward the pleasant land.

10. And it waxed great, even to the Host of Heaven; and it cast down some of the Host, and of the Stars, to the ground, and stamped upon them.

22. Now, that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.

23. And in the latter time of their kingdom', when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.

24. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power;

and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty, and the holy people.

25. And, through his policy, also, he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand and he shall magnify himself in his heart; and, by peace, shall destroy many:

1 That is, of the Governments, subsisting within (what had been) their respective dominions, at the time here predicted for all these kingdoms had long before been subdued by the Romans; and, for the most part, formed, at this time, provinces of the empire of the East;-an empire, which was destined itself at length to fall under the power of the Mahometans, as most of its provinces had done before. The passage "but not in his power," in the preceding verse, was evidently designed to show the relative weakness and instability of these four kingdoms.

In this most remarkable portion of Holy Writ, as far as it has yet received its accomplishment, it will be seen, how truly it has predicted :

1st. That Alexander the Great, the illustrious founder of the Grecian Empire, was to be suddenly cut off, when he had attained to the utmost permitted limit of power and greatness: v. 8. and 21, 22, here cited.

2ndly. That his dominions were to be divided, in consequence of his death, into four distinct kingdoms, whose relative situations should be "toward the four winds of heaven;"-Cassander, who had been one of his chief commanders, founding the kingdom of Macedon and Greece, toward the West; Lysimachus, another of them, founding that of Thrace, including the provinces of Asia, which lay upon the Hellespont, the Bosphorus, and the intermediate shores of the Propontis, toward the North;