prefs on his Forehead the Holy Name of the Lord, or the Glorious and Venerable Crofs of Chrift our Saviour. For the Deceiver knoweth, that the () Sign of the

twofold Mark of Antichrift, viz. in the Hand and the Forehead, or Military and Servile, may deferve well to be heeded. For they that receive his Mark but in the Hand only, are not thereby abfolutely out of all pof fibility of being recover'd again: But they that fhall be fo unhappy as to receive it in their Forehead alfo,will thereby be fealed to Deftruction together with him, without the leaft poffibility of an Escape remaining for them. What manner of Diabolical Mark this fall be in the Flesh of these Antichriftians, either in the Hand or in the Face, to diftinguish them from Chri ftians at the firft fight, we cannot be certain: Bu moft probable it is, that there fhall be fomewhat of Darkness and Deformity in it not to be diffembled, with fomething fuited to exprefs their highest Contempt of the Crofs of Christ, and Abjuration of his Name and Doctrine.

(1) This seems to have been a fort of Social Tffers and Characteristick among the First Chriftians, where by they could all know one another, without difcovering themselves to the Heathens, in whofe Company they might be; and could alfo undiscovered filence their Demons in their Temples, put a stop to their Sacrificial Offices, loofe fuch as were Bound by S tan, and after feveral manners deftroy and fruftrat the Works of the Devil, looking earnestly through Faith at the fame time up to JESUS, as treading upon the Serpent's Head by his Death for Man on the Craf Who, according to the African Father,

-Serpentis Spolium, devito Principe Mundi,
Affixit Ligno, refugarum immane Tropeum.

See Tertullian againft. Marcion, and his Apology; with what Justin Martyr and Minucius Felix have faid hereo

the Cross, if it be made, deftroyeth all his Power, and therefore he will fet his Mark on the (m) right Hand; for by

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that

in their Apologies for Christianity: As alfo what Origen in his Commentaries, St. Cyril in his Catechife, St. Bafil in his Treatife of the Holy Ghoft, St. Chry foftom upon St. Matthew, the Ancient Book of the Ecclefiaftical Hierarchy, under the Name of St. Dionyfius; and what the Apologifts of the Church of EngLand for the Ufe of the Crofs in Baptifm have produc'd in Honour of this Sacred Sign.

(m) The Reafon which is here twice given for the Impreffion of a Diabolical Mark upon the Right Hand deferves not to be flighted: But there is also another which is coincident with it, and may be as Old as the Days of Samuel at least, and that is, that this Hand is the Symbol of Power, and confequently of Victory alfo, whence the Sign thereof was anciently used both by Jews and Heathens for a Trophy, or for a Monument of good Succefs, as appears from the Sacred Writer of the First Book of Samuel, and from David also in fe veral of his undoubted Pfalms, with refpe&t to the former; and for the latter Lipfius may be confulted, and Stewechius upon Vegetius, with other Learned Criticks that have written De Re Militari. Particularly it is obfervable, that the Monument or Trophy which King Saul erected for his Victory over the Amalekites, was fet up upon this very Suppofition,and took thence alfo its Denomination, as you may fee in 1 Sam. xv. 12. where in our Verfion it is, He fet him up a Place, and in the Vulgar Latin, Erexiffet fibi fornicem triumphalem; but in the Original it is Tan Hand, and the LXXII have accordingly render'd the Place avisarev our Xpg: And that this alfo was no other than the Right Hand, is pretty plain, upon an Allufion thereto of David, upon his Victory over the Edomites, in -Pf. lx. 4,5,6 See likewife for this, Pf. cvi. 26 Ifa. xlix. 22. Ezek. xvi. 27. xxi. 22. and Zach. ii. 9. And compare Pf. cix. 6. with Zach, iii. 1. which bear an express Relation to this Satanical Power. The Mark

ef

that we make Impreffions on any Part of our Bodies: So alfo our Forehead bears aloft the Mark of our Bleffed Saviour, like a bright Candle fet up upon a Candlestick. In fhort, my Brethren, it will be a terrible Trial to all fincere Lovers of Chrift, to perfevere refolutely to the Hour of Death, and not ftand in Sufpence, when this Evil Serpent is fealing with his Mark, instead of the Crofs of our Saviour. For thus will he endeavour that the (2) Name of Chrift may not be fo much as named at that Time. For being weak

him

of which Power receiv'd in the Right Hand is pro bably to be a Bloody Mark, being no other than a Diabolical Confecration, and therefore not without fprink ling of Blood, I think, if no more. Confider Exod xxix. 1o. Lev. viii. 23, 24. and xiv. 14, 17. Perhaps alfo it may be on the Thumb of that Hand for the fame Reafon; as likewife for that other which is here given. Moreover, it is an Obfervation of Servius, that the Right Hand was of Old confecrated to the Goddess Fides, as all the Members of the Human Body were appropriated to fome particular Deity or other, Ad Lib. 3. Æneid. And this is taken notice of by the late Baron Spanheim in his IId Differta tion, De Praft. & Ufu Numifm. and may afford not a Jittle Light to this Antichriftian Sacrament, if well weigh'd.

(n) The Ground of this Prohibition is to be found in Mar. xvi. 17. and Phil. ii. 9, 10. For there is in the very Name of Chrift when uttered, as well as in the Sign of Chrift when made by Faith, a certain irresiftible Force too ftrong for the Gates of Hell to oppofe. Wherefore the Sealing of Antichrift with his Mark, is on purpofe to prevent, if poffible, what is fear'd by him from this Holy Name and Sign,

himself, he does this out of Fear and Dread of the Holy Power of our Saviour. If a Man receive not his Mark, he is free from his Power: Such a one the Lord will not forfake, but enlighten him, and draw him to himself. My Brethren, we must carefully obferve, that the Operations of this Enemy are cruel and unmerciful; whereas the Spirit of God comes to us in a (0) calm and gentle Manner, to oppofe thro us, the Artifices of the Serpent. If we preferve an unfhaken Faith in the Lord Jefus, we fhall deftroy the Power of the Enemy, we fhall preferve a ftedfast Refolution and Conftancy, and he fhall grow weak, and depart from us, not being able to hurt us. I, who am the meanest of you all, befeech you, Brethren and Lovers of Chrift, that ye be not faint-hearted, but be more and more ftrengthned in the

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(0) There cannot be a truer and jufter Obfervation than this, that whereas the Evil Spirit did fall upon the Perfon poffeffed generally in a fierce and violent manner, and often did exprefs fomething that was very Savage and Unmerciful, as well as Extravagant and Prepofterous, both in the Manner of the Delivery, and in the Oracle it felf; it was quite otherwife with the good Spirit, whofe Inspirations are calm and gentle, as the Dove. Maimonides in his More Nevochim, and Cardinal Bona in his Book De Difcretione Spirituum,have very useful Remarks upon this Subject See The Hiftory of Montanifm, Art. II. Sect. 4. and Art. IV. and VII.

the Power of the Crofs. Unavoidable Affliction is at the Door, Let us all take the Shield of Faith. Be ye all ready as faithful Members of Chrift's Family, that ye may receive no other Mafter. For feeing this Thief, the Accurfed One, this Tyrant will come before the Appearance of the Bleffed Jefus in Glory, intending to plunder, to kill, and to deftroy the chofen Flock of the true Shepherd Chrift Jefus; Let us be inftructed, my Friends, in what Manner this fhameless Serpent fhall appear amongst us. For as our Bleffed Saviour defigning to fave Mankind, was born of a Virgin, and in our Human Nature beat down our Enemy by the Holy Power of his Divinity: So the Enemy has contrived to affume his Manner of Appearance, and deceive us. Our Lord fhall defcend in bright Clouds, like a terrible Flash of Lightning, upon the Earth But the Deceiver after an other Fashion. For he is an Apoftate. The Organical Body in which he fhall act, fhall be exquifitely formed out of the Womb of fome (p) accurfed young Har

lot.

(p) As Chrift was conceiv'd in the Womb of pure immaculate Virgin, and was born a True Man of the. Seed of the Woman; fo the Father thinks that Antichrift fhall be conceiv'd in the Womb of a moft impuré and abominable Strumpet, or of fome accur

fed