have the mind of Christ: we contemplate matters of revelation in the light in which they are contemplated by him. Such we suppose to be the wisdom and understanding called for in the passage before us.

'Count the number of the beast.'-The number no doubt spoken of in the preceding verse, as the number of the name of the beast. We find nothing like this number of a name, or of a beast or man in any other part of the sacred writings; neither do we find any thing to contrast with it as an opposite, unless it be the number one hundred and forty-four thousand of the sealed ones; the verb ngico, rendered count, occurring only in one other passage of the New Testament, where it is applied to calculating the cost of a building, Luke xiv. 28. The verb is not met with at all in the Septuagint. Its root, ngos, is the appellation of a small stone employed in balloting, Acts xxvi. 10: "I gave my voice (xarireza whor, I brought forth a ballot) against them." It is also employed in the appellation of the white stone, upon which the new name is written, and which may afford an example of a ballot, the opposite of that mentioned by Paul; the two examples reminding us of the white and black balls in use on some occasions in balloting at the present day. The term igos is employed in the Septuagint, Eccl. vii. 25, where our common version renders it, standing in connection as it does with wisdom, by the reason of things. We find it nowhere else in the Septuagint, except Ex. iv. 25, where it is applied to a stone in the ordinary sense. Amongst the Greeks, the appellation wigos was given to a mode of divination with pebbles, properly called quaí; and the art or practice of legerdemain with pebbles was termed yngoraižia, and a practitioner in this art unponaixens, (vid. Donnegan's Lex.) The derivative poua, expresses in the Septuagint a decree of fate, the supposed result of the lot, pur, cast by Haman ;* being thus the translation of a Persian term strictly magical, ( nomen vox Persica; xλīgos, sors; xiploua, decretum, Trommii Index Heb. et Chald.) The mode of divination above alluded to, having been probably borrowed from the practices of the Eastern magi or astrologers, whence the pretended science of later times, denominated Arithmomancy or Arithmancy, a pretended method of foretelling future events by means of numbers. The ordinary Greek term for counting is qui∞, as Matt. x. 30, "The hairs of your head are all counted," or numbered, hoidμquévai ɛioí.

Taking all these peculiarities into view, we think the word count, in this passage, (yngioάro,) is designed to carry with it a mystic or cabalistic allu

*The account given of Haman in the book of Esther furnishes an example of the authority and functions of an eastern prime minister, or grand vizier; and so far affords an illustration of the office of the second beast; not a sovereign himself, but exercising all the power of his sovereign; abusing that power, and hypocritically sanctioning this abuse, by causing it to appear as a dictate of divine will

sion, something different from a mere arithmetical calculation; as if it had been said, alluding to the astrologers of the East, the soothsayers of the Greeks and Romans, or the cabalists of the Jews,* Here is real wisdom! as in contradistinction to the wisdom of these pretenders; here is a real mystery, as distinguished from their pretended mysteries; here is a number, under which there is really something of importance concealed; a number, the counting or casting of which is really worthy the attention of those who have, or profess to have, understanding in these matters. Here is a number really given, from which the purport of the divine mind, in a certain particular, may be ascertained. Let those who have the true understanding turn their attention to this number.

§ 316. For it is the number of a man, and his number (is) six hundred threescore (and) six ;"—or, it is the number of man, or of the man; or, it is a number of man, and the number of it, or of him, that is, of the beast, is six hundred and sixty-six-xs'.

We suppose the term man to be as figurative as the term beast; both of them in the Apocalypse being put for a principle, or something of that nature. The number six hundred and sixty-six is usually supposed to express the name of a person or thing; each letter of which, according to the ancient mode of representing numbers by letters of the alphabet, possesses a certain arithmetical value, the aggregate value of all of the letters of the name constituting this mystic sum. Various calculations have been made upon this hypothesis, showing the different names to which this number may be applied. Calmet enumerates fourteen of these, (art. Antichrist ;) others have been since made by more modern writers. We do not pretend to decide upon any of them; believing that the real character of the beast is to be discovered from other data, and that this number, if used in the way proposed, is to be so only in proof of the correctness of the deductions made from other particulars in the character and history of the animal.

The figures of Scriptural language appear often to be governed by the chain of thought incident to the subject under consideration. The system or mystery of the beast is represented as a kingdom under the dominion of an absolute sovereign. The mercenary and selfish character of the system is represented by the universal avocation of the subjects of this kingdom

* The cabalist Rabbins are said to have studied principally the combinations of particular words, letters, and numbers, expecting to discover by these means the sense of certain difficult passages of Scripture. The artificial Cabala is of three kinds of these the Cabala Gematry "consists in taking the letters of a Hebrew word for arithmetical numbers, and explaining every word by the arithmetical value of the letters composing it."—(See Calmet Dict. art. Cabala and Cabalists.)

the business of buying and selling. The idea of buying and selling suggests the idea of the use of coin as an instrument of traffic. The use of the metallic medium gives rise to the idea of the legalization of coin; and this we may suppose brings forward an allusion to the custom of the Romans in this particular in the time of the apostles.

Coining, amongst the Hebrews, does not seem to have been introduced till about the time of the Maccabees; and even then, it is said, the Jews were particularly careful to avoid stamping their money with the image of any earthly object. Amongst the Greeks, it was first adopted by Alexander the Great, who is said to have put the image of his horse upon some of his coins. Amongst the Romans, in the time of the republic, coining was a privilege enjoyed and availed of by the richer citizens, whose name or mark was impressed upon the pieces of money they issued, as a kind of warranty of their value, but no one was permitted to stamp such coin with his own image; Julius Cesar being the first to whom this distinction was allotted. Subsequent to his time, and of course under all the Cesars, the money receivable by government appears to have borne the impress of the reigning monarch, if not that of his predecessors; corresponding with what is said of the tribute money, Matt. xxii. 20, 21, "Whose is this image, and superscription? They say unto him, Cesar's." That the prime minister of a despotic prince should induce his master to issue an edict that no coin should pass current, or be used in traffic, but such as bore the image. and superscription or name of the monarch, is an idea which it is easy to suppose might have been familiar with persons of all classes, at the time when this Apocalypse was written. An illustration, accordingly, drawn from such a supposed enactment would be readily comprehended.*

The false prophet had caused his master to become an object of the most servile adoration; if not directly, at least indirectly, through the worship of his image. Not satisfied with this, he causes the exercise of sovereign power over the circulating medium of his country to be carried to its utmost extent; requiring every element of that medium to bear the mark or image, or number of the despot, without which it is of no avail as a representative of value. A figure the more striking, when we consider that from a very early period this exercise of sovereignty has been coveted, for the purpose of enabling despotic rulers to raise a revenue, and so to augment their power by giving a fictitious value to debased coin; arbitrarily obliging their subjects to attach more importance to the mark of the prince than to the

* One of the Roman emperors is said to have refused the tribute money of a subjugated nation, because it was not paid in his own coin. Not bearing his image and superscription, and being the coin of another, it seemed to derogate from his authority over his tributaries.-(Vid. Charlestown Ed. Calmet. Frag., No. 92.)

purity of the metal ;-governments having learned only of later years, and in the more civilized countries of Christendom, the important lesson in this particular, that for them as well as for their subjects honesty is the best policy.

The Mahometans, like the Jews, scrupulously avoid the exhibition upon their coin of any image or picture of natural objects. The coined money of the Turks to this day, instead of bearing the image of the Grand Seignor, is stamped with a fac simile of his sign manual, or with certain letters or characters equivalent to a designation of his name or title, and the date of the issue. As the coin of the Romans was legalized by the image and superscription of the ruler, that of eastern countries is so by the letters of the name or title of the sovereign. Amongst the Persians, it is said, (Chambers's Dict.,) no gold coin is stamped except in the first year of the monarch's reign; and if we were disposed to keep the idea of time in view, this number of the beast, six hundred and sixty-six, might be supposed to designate the date of the commencement of his reign; from which era the twelve hundred and sixty years might be calculated. But we think the reasons are too strong for rejecting any literal idea of time in this matter; and we are rather inclined to think, if the figure contemplated be that of coin, that the number six hundred and sixty-six on the coin is susceptible of being converted into a name of some principle which, when ascertained, will serve as a seal to a correct interpretation of the whole of this portion of revelation. We may suppose a certain prince to cause a part of his coin to bear the impress of his image, another part the impress of his name, and another part to be stamped with certain characters equal to a given number, which at the same time is equivalent to the sum of the letters of his name, or of one of his names; these letters, as amongst the Greeks and eastern nations in the time of the apostles, answering the double purpose of arithmetical and alphabetical characters. The law of the realm in the dominions of the prince supposed, in conformity with this arrangement of the mint, may thus be imagined to prohibit the use of any coin in the acquisition of riches, or even in the payment of a ransom, unless it bear one or the other of these three impressions, all or either of which may be denominated the mark of the prince.

Analogous with this, the first beast being taken for the controlling principle of a blasphemous and mercenary system, (his kingdom;) the false prophet, or second beast, for a false interpretation; and riches being a figure of the means of eternal life; we may suppose the whole of this account to represent the effect of an erroneous literal or carnal interpretation of revealed truth, tending to establish a doctrinal system, every principle of which must necessarily be impressed with the characteristic of self or selfishness,

as a sine qua non, without which it is deemed of no avail in this supposed system of salvation. In this construction the change of figure, from the subjects of the prince bearing his mark in their foreheads or in their right hands, to the circulating medium of his dominions, is no more sudden or extraordinary than the change in the case of the Euphratean angels, and in that of the war in heaven, already noticed; changes of figure so entirely wanting in premonition being consistent with the composition of a vision, and perhaps with that of a vision only.

Whether the name or number of the beast, however, be expressed on a piece of coin or otherwise, or whatever the allusion may be in this figure, the difficulty in understanding what the number (six hundred and sixty-six) imports, still remains. Here we must keep our opinions in suspense till the proper moment of development arrives. As it is said, 1 Cor. iv. 5, "Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts ;"—the moving principles of action. While we keep our judg ments in suspense, however, we are to search the Scriptures to investigate and to examine; comparing spiritual things with spiritual: remembering that the things of the Spirit of God, which are foolishness to those who understand them literally, are to be spiritually discerned; and, consequently, their proper spiritual sense is to be sought for: and as this sense is to be gathered from the literal expression or allusion, it is important for us to ascertain correctly what this literal expression or allusion is; and this, perhaps, in the case before us, is all that we can do at present.

The words rendered in our common version, "Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred and sixty-six," might equally be rendered, as already intimated, "Let him that hath understanding count, or cast, the number of the beast, for it is a number of man, and the number of him (that is, of the beast) is six hundred and sixty-six ;" the number of the beast being explained in the previous chapter as the number of the name of the beast; that is, if we get at the right meaning of the number it will give us the name of the beast; and this name will correspond with a number of man, or with the number of a name of man. The several letters of this name of man having each, according to the ancient mode of representing numbers already alluded to, a certain numerical value, the sum of the let ters will give the number, showing who or what the real beast is; thus confirming or setting aside the suppositions originating from other indications. If, for example, we should find a generic name of man, the letters of which amounted to the sum of six hundred and sixty-six, such a naine would correspond very nearly with our suggestion, that self (man's self or