with a wall."* But it has been objected, that modern Rome is not situated upon the seven hills, but is in the Campus Martius, † and that, consequently, Pagan Rome is the city intended in the prophecy. ‡ This is certainly a very formidable objection; and the more especially as it has been already proved that the Woman is the Latin church. And it is also a fact that so far from the present city being seated on seven hills, the hills themselves are but little inhabited, the ruins of old structures rendering the air so unwholesome as to be only fit for gardens or vineyards. § Another formidable objection which might be made is, that the seven hills are not a distinguishing characteristic of Rome; for even Constantinople, formerly the capital of the Greek empire, is also seated upon seven hills; and therefore the seven-hilled city is not sufficient of itself to distinguish between the Greek and Latin churches. Another objection to the common interpretation of the seven mountains being the seven hills of Rome is, that the Greeks did not call

* Ο δὲ Τύλλιος—τοὺς ἑπτὰ λόφος ἑνὶ τείχει περιέλαβεν. Antiq. Rom. p. 219.

+ See Poli Synopsis Criticorum, in loc. The names of the seven hills of Rome are, The Capitoline, The Palatine, The Aventine, The Celan, The Esquiline, The Viminal, and the Quirinal.

See the Douay Testament, Calmet's commentary, &c. § See the History of Italy, translated by Edmund Warcupp, p. 150, Edit. Lond. 1660.

See Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman empire.

the Roman eminences g, mountains, as those which the Woman is represented as sitting upon are called; but only aóp, hills; this is evident from the passage in Dionysius already quoted; and is still further confirmed by the epithet ἑπτάλοφος, seven-hilled, which was given to the city. * It is true that the Romans named them Montes, mountains; but unless it could be proved that they were also so named by the Greeks, this argument could have but little weight. Another objection is, that the mountains are here understood literally; whereas in other parts of the Revelation where the word is used, it would be absurd to understand it so; as for instance in Rev. vi. 14. where it is said, "every mountain and island were moved out of their places ;" and in Rev. xvi. 20. where we are told, 66 every island fled away, and the mountains were not found." From all these objections it is evident that the seven hills of Rome are not intended; and we must look elsewhere for the interpretation. In order to understand this scripture aright we must ascertain the meaning of the figurative expression mountain. In this we shall be greatly assisted by a reference to those texts of scripture where the word is used; in several of which we shall find it is unequivocally the emblem of great and mighty power. In Isaiah ii. 2. this is evidently its meaning; for it is prophesied that "it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's

* See the different Greek lexicons.

house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it." In the 14th verse of the same chapter it is said, that "the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up." These words, it is evident, can be taken only in a figurative sense; and must mean that the Lord's anger will be levelled against every proud government, whether they be mountains, or extensive dominations; or only hills, or inferior powers. The kingdom of Chaldea is called, in Jer. li. 25. " a destroying mountain, that destroyeth the earth," and in Daniel ii. 35. the kingdom of God, represented by a stone, becomes a great mountain, and fills the whole earth, by which is meant, as the angel informs us, that the kingdom of God shall consume all the kingdoms mentioned in that chapter, and shall itself stand for ever. The mountains upon which the Woman sitteth must be, therefore, seven great powers; and as the mountains are heads of the Beast, they must be the seven GREATEST eminences of the Latin world. In order therefore to find out which are the mountains, it must be first premised that the Latin empire is composed of several monarchies, a circumstance well known to every one acquainted with its history; the head of the Latin empire must, consequently, be the principal power composing it, or the German empire, But the Beast is said to have seven heads, that is to say, the Latin empire has seven heads or principal

powers; and these heads or principal powers are explained by the angel to be the seven mountains on which the Woman, or Latin church, sits. As no other power was acknowledged at the head of the Latin empire but that of Germany; how can it be said that the Beast has seven heads? This question can only be solved by the singular constitution of the Germanic league, The history of it is briefly as follows: "Monarchy was first established in Germany by Clovis. After him Charlemagne extended his power and his dominions; and so great had the empire become, that, during his reign and that of his son, government was administered in the provinces by persons vested with power for that purpose, under the title of dukes. In each district of these provinces justice was distributed by a comes or count, in German called Graf. But from their courts lay an appeal to that of the emperor, before a president, styled Comes Palatinus, that is, count Palatine, or of the palace, in German denominated Psalzgraf. The frontiers or marches were governed by a marquis, styled by the Germans Markgraf, similar to our lord warden. The centre of the empire was generally ruled by an officer who possessed a similar power, but a greater extent of dominion, than the graf under the title of Landgrave, Towns and castles, which were occasionally honoured with the residence of the emperor, were governed by a burggraff. But the signification of these titles, and the extent of power which accompanied them, differed at different pe

riods, according to the gradual developement of the German constitution. By family broils and civil wars the dignity of the sovereign was depressed, and a new form in the government raised up. The dukes exalted their power above that of the emperor; while the sovereign, to strengthen the bond of personal attachment, ratified to others and their descendants that sway which had been formerly delegated and dependent on his will. Hence arose the modern constitution of distinct principalities, acknowledging one head in the person of an emperor." * Before the dissolution of the Germanic league, there were about 300 princes of the empire, each sovereign in his own country, and might enter into alliances, and pursue by all political measures his own private interest, as other sovereigns do; for if even an imperial war were declared he might remain neuter, if the safety of the empire were not at stake. Here then is an empire of a construction without exception the most singular and intricate that ever appeared in the world; for the " emperor," as Gibbon observes when speaking of Charles IV. " was no more than the elective and impotent magistrate of an aristocracy of princes." Germany was, therefore, speaking in the figurative language of Scripture, a country abounding in hills, or containing an immense number of distinct principalities. But the different,

* See the Encyclopædia Perthensis, in loc.

+ See his Decline and Fall, chap. 49, prope finem.