The Pope And Freemasonry.

so as to save the Papacy harmless m either case . It reminds me of the learned Dr . Prideaux ' s remarks to the first divine of our Glmreh who , in the degenerate days of Charles II ., denied ai Oxford the Pope to be the Antichrist ; ' Quid , mi

fili , negas Papam esse Antichristum ? " ( What , my son , do you deny the Pope to be the Antichrist ?) To which Dr . Sheldon replied , Etiam necjo' ( yes , truly . ) Dr . Prideaux's reply was—¦ Profecto multum tibi debet Pontifex Romanus ;

wullus dubeto quin piilico Oa / rdinalitis te donabit ' ( the Roman Pontiff ought to-be greatly obliged to you ; I doubt not he will reward you with a Cardinal ' s hat ) . " The folloAving is Bro . Milner ' s answer to the above : —

I am sorry to find that I have given offence to two clergymen by speaking of the " prophetic nonsence" of Dr . Gumming and others Avho adopt the same system of interpretation of the Apocalypse . I really cannot help it . AYhen I read

of "tails of scorpions" converted into horse-tail standards of Turkish Pashas , and fire out of horses' mouths metamorphosed into cannon battering down the walls of Constantinople—of the dragon , Avhom St . John defines as " that old

serpent called the devil and Satan , " transmuted into heathen Rome , and of his casting out of his mouth an eruption of Visigoths , Vandals , and Huns into Italy , all of whom are . Arians ! " when I am told that the earth opening- her mouth aud

swallowing up the flood emitted by the Dragon , prefigured the swallowing up of these heterodox Arians into the orthodox Primitarian population of Italy ? Avhen I see the mighty angel transformed by a magic touch of a wizard ' s wand into Our

Lord Jesus Christ , and then with another touch the Saviour transformed into Pope Leo X ., roaring against Luther ; and the seven thunders into the thunders of the Vatican ! when I find the

image of the beast twisted into signifying general councils ; and the poiver to give life to the imao-e of the beast prefiguring the right of the clergy to vote at those counsels ! Avhen I further read that a certain hail storm which injured parts of France

on Sunday , July 13 th , 1788 , Avas foretold in the Apocalypse , ancl that a little frog , called the Tractarian heresy , had been heard by St . John to croak all the ivay from the Church of St . Barnabas , London , to Patmos , at a distance of nearly 2 , 000 years ! I cannot refrain from protesting against such profane nonsense , which I have no

hesitation in denouncing as a disgrace to the literature of the nineteenth century . What is likely to be the effect produced on an ingenious mind by such reckless dealing with Scripture ? The controversial use made of the Book of Revelation by the Aveak defenders of the Reformed Church has done

more to produce an increase of Romanism within the British dominions than all other causes put together . "Assail Rome if you will ( says a modern writer ) , but assail her Avith fair Aveapons —Aveapons drawn from the armour of God , and

not fabricated in the smithy of our own clouded and sulphureous thoughts . Burn great Babylon , if yon like , but let the sparks of truth kindle her funeral pyre ; do not substitute barren invective for argument , and do not strike her with

untempered steel . Every such feeble assault is a victory for the assailed , and removes us still further from the accomplishment of the great cause we ought to cherish above all others—truth against the world . " And again , another Avriter in the Journal of

Ifiterature ( April , 1855 ) , says , " There is reason to fear ( speaking of Dr . Oumming ' s writings ) that thousands of persons are deluded into the idea that they are being edified and advanced in their Christian career , who are listening to mere fables ;

and those Avhom the certainty of death and judgment cannot arouse to religious zeal are quickened into artificial life ( like a corpse subjected to voltaic

action ) by such expositions of the Apocalypse . Nonsense is an uncommonly mild term to apialy to the lucubrations of such divines (!) as the learned (?) doctor , Avhose judgment I ventured to call in question .

" Presbyter" informs me that I am mistaken in supposing that these commentators consider the seventh government as that of the Pope . I quoted from memory , and I am bound to admit that I haA r e misunderstood them . ' Here I may

honestly say , " peccant . " But my argument is not in the least degree affected by so simple a mistake . Whether Ave interpret kings to mean rulers , or emperors" as I did—or governments as " Presbyter" prefers , it will be quite as difficult

for my opponents as for myself to explain Rev . xvii ., 2 , and the beast that was , and is not , even he is the eighth , and is of the seven , ancl goeth into perdition . I object strongly to the application of such language as that to the Church of

Rome , deeming it extremely uncharitable even to hint that all its adherents must necessarily go into perdition , if that interpretation be true . The