and " understanding" of which St. JOHN speaks in reference to "the NAME of the Beast," which "is the Number of a MAN."

III. I shall then show that the theory of Professor Lee of Cambridge, who doubts the correctness of the Number xs', or 666; because In the times of IRENEUS ANOTHER Number was found-616, or xis'' is not supported by earlier or better authority than that of ARCHBISHOP LAUD, and the 2' Codices' of PETAVIUS.'

It may be necessary to offer something in this place, by way of apology for troubling the Public with the revival of an old, and, what may appear to many, a worn out subject. But, as the three preceding Authors, some of the most recent writers of note in the present age, who have ventured to differ from IRENEUS, in reference to the orthography of the NAME Aareivos, as well as the Number itself, all of them differ in their opinions from each other, so they cannot ALL be correct, however learned and ingenious their separate systems may be. Consequently, until

some ONE leading Name of a MAN be found, which can bid defiance to alteration, both in point of orthography, number, and identity, the true solution of the enigmatical Number and Name of the Beast, must remain doubtful, and liable, in some way or other, to objection, alteration, and fresh speculations. To establish a specific Name of a MAN, upon the

1 Lee's Dissertations on Prophecy, Diss. II. Sec. iii. Chap. xiii. Page 329. 2 See Wetstein Notæ Criticæ, Canon xxiii. P. 36 and 37, appended to Greek Testament, Amsterdam, 1711.

surest and most conclusive Premises, is therefore my OBJECT and anxious desire in this little work; which object, I most firmly believe, I have ultimately attained, through much patient investigation of the subject, and the help of many classical and ancient Authorities, fairly admissible and conclusive on this point, as will appear in the sequel of this Treatise.

I must here be allowed to remark, that, with all due respect for Mr. Faber, I cannot comprehend how Homogeneity,' The System of Counter Elements,' The Doctrine of Chances,' the arbitrary substitution of certain words for others of opposite meanings, the reciprocal use of a Greek inμ, or cypher, for a Greek stenographical contraction, or Ligature of two distinct Letters; assertions without proof, unfair quotations, and the parallelisms of texts, which, by comparison, are obviously different in their significations are allowable or necessary, in the elucidation of the Names and Numbers exhibited in the Prophecies of the Holy Scriptures. Yet such is the ingenious, or rather ambiguous and complex style which Mr. Faber has adopted in his endeavour to establish his favourite word APOSTATÈS, to the rejection of the ancient and generally approved NAME AaTêivos, [LATEINOS] as used by Irenæus in the second century, which Name, when written in Greek Letters, is, I firmly believe, the ONLY proper Name of a MAN, that will (when used as an Appellative) satisfactorily exhibit the Mark, Name, and Number of the Beast. It not only identifies the descriptive character of the MAN,' whose Number is 666, but

every individual Member of the LATIN Papal kingdom, each of whom may very properly be styled a Latin, inasmuch as every Papist is bound, in his allegiance to the Pope, to acknowledge the Divine and Canonical uses of the LATIN Language in the public service of the Roman Church; notwithstanding its being a Dead, and (according to the words of St. Paul) "an Unknown Tongue," to the common people, and therefore antichristian, and to be denounced as an Antiapostolical and Heretical practice.

CHAPTER II.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON MR. FABER'S HYPOTHESIS OF APOSTATÈS, WITH OBJECTIONS.

I SHALL NOW commence with the word Atosaτns, (APOSTATES,) or the hypothesis of the Rev. George Stanley Faber concerning the Number xs', or 666; to which end I shall proceed to consider the Four distinct Articles, under which' (Mr. Faber informs us) 'the terms descriptive of the sacred enigma are set forth' they are as follow

The NAME of the Beast is a certain Mark, or Stigma or Character: which is figuratively said to be impressed upon him, which exhibits the component Letters of his Name, and by which he is emphatically distinguished.'

The NAME of the Beast is the NAME of BLASPHEMY.'

'The NAME of the Beast COMPREHENDS the NUMBER of the Beast: and that NUMBER is declared to be 666.'

1 Faber's Sacred Calendar of Prophecy, Vol. iii. Book V. Ch. iv. P. 227.

The NUMBER of the Beast, or the NUMBER 666 produced by the LETTERS of his NAME, is the NUMBER of a MAN.'

,

To the first and third of the foregoing' Articles' I am not unwilling to give my assent; but the Second Article affirms that the NAME of the Beast is the NAME of BLASPHEMY;' and we are further instructed by Mr. Faber, that, BLASPHEMY denotes Apostacy,' But even in the ordinary language of the Gospels,' says he, no less than in the Prophetic language of the Apocalypse, BLASPHEMY denotes APOSTACY. The NAME, therefore, of Blasphemy is the NAME of APOSTACY: Accordingly, Apostacy is the appellation prophetically bestowed upon it by ST. PAUL.' The Name, then, of the Beast, being the Name of Blasphemy or Apostacy, must be a Name descriptive of the Apostatic worship foretold by St. Paul.' 2 Hence we may conclude, that the Name of the Beast, or the Name expressive of Blasphemy, must be some such Greek word as is equivalent in English to THE BLASPHEMER or THE APOSTATE.' 3 Now there are two Greek words, which bear the requisite signification, BLASPHEMUS and APOSTATÈS. [βλασφημος and Αποςατης.] But merely to bear the requisite signification is not alone sufficient. Το determine the point, whether either of these two words be the intended Blasphemous Name of the Beast, we must resort to what the Prophet remarkably

1 Faber's Sacred Calendar of Prophecy, Vol. iii. Book V. ch. iv. p. 231, 233, 234, 239, 240. 3 Ibid 234.

2 Ibid 233.