earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. 24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. : 26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. 27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. 28 Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart. Combine with these the extracts that follow :- CHAPTER XIII. 1 A beast riseth out of the sea with seven heads and ten horns, to whom the dragon giveth his power. 11 Another beast cometh up out of the earth: 14 causeth an image to be made of the former beast, 15 and that men should worship it, 16 and receive his mark. 1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death: and his deadly CHAPTER XVII. 3,4 A woman arrayed in purple and scar- 1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9 If any man have an ear, let him hear. 10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. 11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell in the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not a woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdi. tion: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. 12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. 14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with worship the image of the beast should him are called, and chosen, and faithbe killed. 16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. 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 threescore and six. ful. 15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. The common view of these passages is, that the beast from the sea, the beast from the bottomless pit, and Daniel's fourth beast, and the little horn of chapter vii., all represent the Roman Empire in different stages of its existence, the beast from the bottomless pit succeeding that from the sea, and representing the Roman rule in its last and changed condition, and synchronising, therefore, with the little horn; and that the absence of crowns upon its horns shews that the ten kings who are referred to in chapter xiii. have been succeeded by infidel red republics. Yet we are expressly told that these horns are ten kings, who have received no kingdom as yet, but are to reign one hour, and one hour only, with the beast. Yet in chap. xi., the beast from the bottomless pit, which I believe to represent the Papacy, wars down God's witnesses before the rise of the beast from the sea; and whilst the apostle views the rise of that beast from the sea as a thing yet future (v. 1), he is told that the beast from the bottomless pit was, and is not, and yet is (v. 8); in other words, that it then existed-that the Chaldæan apostasy, successful under Julius, but suppressed by Tiberius, would yet reappear, and gain the ascendant; and he is also shewn that the city supported by this beast was that city of Rome, which then, whilst the apostle yet lived, reigned over the kings of the earth. Hence this beast from the sea is clearly later in date in its rise than that from the bottomless pit, although both may coexist after the appearance of the second. Do all these various and discordant symbols apply exclusively to Rome? Such, indeed, must be the case, if Scripture reveals no other Antichrist than the Pope. But what if our third question be answered in the affirmative, and there are four different enemies to Christ existing at the same time? And what if each of these predictions relate to separate persons and separate events? Let us first discuss the chapters we have already perused, and then compare them with the predictions of the wilful king, and the king of dark countenance, and the kings of the north and south, who will yet have to be accounted for. The beast described by St John, in chapter xiii., and usually, but erroneously, called the first beast (for that from the bottomless pit is already mentioned, as warring with God's witnesses, in chapter xi.), is represented as like a leopard, and his feet as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; now these are the emblems of Daniel's first three monarchies. Neither the Roman Empire nor the Roman Popedom has ever exercised influence either in Babylon or Persia, or passed the Euphrates, without meeting great discouragement and a heavy blow. Neither can it be said that the Greek empire was ever Latinised, or that the Popedom has ever wielded direct influence in Greece or Asia. We cannot admit that the Roman Church includes a people, in whose entire territory there are not twenty Romanists. To the present writer, the beast from the sea of St John seems to indicate some mighty leader who shall arise and combine all the first three monarchies of the earth in opposition to Christ. The power is given him to continue forty and two months, and no more. Whether these months be literal months or years, we say not. He is evidently not merely a concealed, but an avowed worshipper of the Dragon, as were the Templars and the Chaldees, and the fully initiated Jesuits of the left-hand mysteries. He rules not only the Latin-speaking people, and the CeltoRoman races, but all kindreds, and tongues, and nations; whilst the Pope rules only such as worship in Latin. We ask, in the first place, if the prophecy of the beast of the sea stood alone, whether any one would identify it with the Popedom, and whether our attempt to apply this prophecy do not result from our presuming that the two beasts are identical, because our theories require us to make them so. Does the Popedom rule the whole earth? Has it the slightest power over any race not Romanised by conquest, under the empire, before Damasus, and then converted to virgin worship? What hold has it within the dominions of the Macedonian kings? What power beyond the Euphrates, or through those vast territories that Cyrus ruled? And what, again, in those northern realms from which the legions retired, baffled by the spear of Arminius! Is, or is not, Romanism a strictly local apostasy, as much limited to certain countries and districts, as the worship of Isis formerly, or the Greek or the Moslem now? Were Russia to occupy Turkey and Persia, as she doubtless one day will, would she not have far more right to consider herself as ruling the whole Scriptural earth? whilst the Pope is ruling only over territories of which the inspired Church did not even know the existence in the days of Daniel. But, it will be said, the Roman Empire has conquered the whole earth, and that the Popedom is a continuation of the Pontificate, and, consequently, of the Empire. To the first point we give an unqualified denial. The Popedom retains its power in every part that was ever Romanised, and for long exercised influence over a far larger extent of country than the Emperors ever ruled; yet no Roman army ever enforced its laws beyond the Tigris, which, by the Sibylline books, it was forbidden to pass; and even Greece and Asia were a mere military occupation, not an incorporated part of the Empire. The Popedom has lost England and Africa. It has gained, through colonisation of Romanised tribes, in Germany, Bohemia, and Poland, territories far more extensive, and a population more numerous. So far from the Roman army breaking the whole earth in pieces, it was itself broken to pieces again and again both by Parthians and Goths, and even by the small tribe of the Silures, whom it was unable to subdue. If the prediction promise universal sway to Rome, that sway must be yet future, and under the last Antichrist; and that last Antichrist cannot yet have come, nor can the Pope, therefore, be the last Antichrist. Does All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, not “Her,” be it observed, but Him-the beast-not the woman riding upon the beast. These words were uttered at Patmos. Patmos form no part of the earth? Yet do any of the dwellers in Patmos, or any of the inhabitants of the seven churches— we will not say worship-but admit even the superiority of the Pope? Were he to land in that neighbourhood, could he escape being stoned by the mob? Again, the beast from the sea is to continue forty and two months, and no more. Hence it cannot be the Roman Empire, which is commonly supposed the fourth beast of Daniel, for that has lasted nineteen hundred years already. The beast from the bottomless pit, on the other hand, continues for an unlimited duration, till near the time of the coming of our Lord, and may well represent the Roman apostasy from its rise under Scipio till now. |