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    op inion of tbe best critics , sufficiently indicate what is meant by this emblematical figure . The description is universally applied to the Roman empire ; the seven

    beads alluding to the seven forms of government , which sacceded each other , previous to the dissolution of the empire ; and the ten horns , to the ten kingdoms into which it was divided at that

    period . Every thing , which is ascribed to the dragon , must therefore be understood of the power which was exerted by these governments , against the cause which is represented by the woman that fled into the wilderness .

    It cannot therefore be supposed , that the words , that old serpent called the devil and satan , " if they be genuine , are to be understood of the being usually denominated the devil . This is so evident ,

    that I cannot help considering them as the gloss or interpretation of some transcriber , too jnany of which , it is to be feared , have crept into the original text . At tbe 10 th verse , the same

    character is spoken of , as " the accuser of the brethren , '' which leads us to the meaning of the 12 th verse , where the word occurs for

    the third time : * - c Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea , for the devil , that is , the accuser , or the dragon , the persecuting power , is come down unto

    you , having great wrath , because he knoweth that he hath but a short time . " Ch . xx . describes the termination of this power , and the recurrence of thdsanie explanation of the term , in the second

    verse , strengthens the suspicion , that it is the comment of some copyist and not the language of * ta apos . tkL I must quote tUe

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    preceding verse to preserve th £ connection . cc And I saw an angel comer down from heaven , having the key of the bottom * less pit , and a great chain in his hand . And be laid hold on

    the dragon ^ that old serpent , which is the devil and satan , and bound him a thousand years /' There is only one passage more to which I shall have occasion to

    refer : it occurs ver . 10 . ** And the devil that deceived them , was cast into the lake of fire and brim ^ stone , where the beast and the false prophet are , and shall be tormented day and night for ever

    and ever . " It is evident that the term " deviF * describes an emblematical character , as well as the terms , the beast" and " the false prophet . ** Being cast into the lake of iire and brimstone must

    signify , the judgment that will be brought upon those powers or governments which supported them , and the terms iC Jor ever and ever" must be limited by the existence of those powers to which they refer .

    Thus 1 have examined all those passages in which the word A / # - / 3 aAojT ~ occurs in the N . T . I shall now arrange them under three heads , that we may form our conclusions with greater precision and

    accuracy . The first shall include those which merely allude to tht ? existence of such a being as the devil : the second , those which imply , that he hath access to the human mind , and some ascendan

    cy over it ; and under the last , I shall arrange those passages , in which the word is used in its original sense , without any reference to such a being . I shall adopt the translation of Mr . Wakefield , with wliich that of the Improved

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    On the Existence of the DeviL 435

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1809, page 435, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1739/page/21/