Revelation 13:1-2

In the thirteenth chapter, there again appears. monster with seven heads and ten horns, which it will now be our purpose to show to be. symbol of

THE TEMPORAL POWER.

The fourth beast of Daniel's vision (Dan. 7) is. ten-horned monster. The dragon who assails the woman in Rev. 12, has seven heads and ten horns. Here again, in chapter XIII. appears. beast with the same characteristics. In Rev. 17, there is recorded. vision of. harlot who sat upon. scarlet beast of seven heads and ten horns.. believe that all the best commentators, Catholic as well as Protestant, are agreed in the opinion that these various monsters are all symbols of the same mighty power, and all, with one consent, admit that power to be ROME. Here, however, there is. divergence. Romanists contend that the reference is to Pagan Rome alone, and that Papal Rome is not signified. This involves them in. labyrinth of difficulties, from which there is no deliverance unless we throw aside religious prejudice, let the Word as illustrated by history interpret itself, and accept the evident meaning. The reader will see that these monsters, all represent Rome, the enemy of the saints, the persecutor of the true faith, under the different phases of her existence. As Pagan Rome she is. persecutor; as. temporal power professing to be Christian but apostate, she is still. persecutor; as. spiritual power, true to her character for 1800 years, she still makes war upon the saints. Let us now turn to

THE SEA MONSTER.

"And. stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw. 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. And the beast which. saw was like unto. leopard, and his feet were as the feet of bear, and his mouth as the mouth of. lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority."--13:1, 2.

As John stood upon the sands of the sea he saw. wild beast ascending out of the sea.. ask first, what is the significance of this fact? It might refer to the geographical seat of the Roman dominion. As John stood upon Patmos, if he were to turn his eyes towards Rome he would look over. wide waste of waters. Rome, seated on. peninsula, stretching from Europe nearly to Africa, and dividing the sea into two parts, was situated in the very midst of the Mediterranean. But. suppose that the term is used rather in its symbolical meaning.

The ever restless, constantly changing, billowy, stormy sea, is used as. symbol of commotion. Out of. period of commotion, disturbance, change, spiritual Rome will establish her temporal dominion. Every student of history knows that never was. prediction more signally fulfilled.. have already described the sweep of the northern barbarians from their homes in the dark forests of Germany, the snows of Scandinavia, and the wilds of the East, upon the fair provinces of the Roman empire.. have alluded to the utter overthrow of Rome and Roman civilization, and to the establishment throughout the West of new nations with new modes of life.. have not spoken, however, of the fierce contests over the spoils of conquest that sprung up among the victors; how Frank and Saxon dyed the soil of France and Germany with blood; how Celt and Saxon strove for 150 years for the dominion of England; how Greek strove with barbarian for the mastery of Italy; how, at last, the Lombard went down before the iron legions of Pepin and Charlemagne; how the Pope, who during all these commotions had industriously strengthened his hands, was recognized by Charlemagne as the rightful ruler of the earth; how the great conqueror was honored by the "vicegerent of God," and crowned by the Pope as "Emperor of the Romans;" or how, in addition to his recognition as the disposer of crowns and kingdoms, he was endowed by Pepin and Charlemagne with the fairest Italian provinces they had wrested from the Lombards. It was in the mighty period of commotion that overthrew the old civilization, ended ancient history, produced the Middle Ages and the chaos from whence there gradually arose modern nations and civilization, that the Popes, little by little, almost imperceptibly created their wonderful dominion.

THE SEVEN HEADS.

I will defer. particular examination of the ten horns until we consider the scarlet beast upon which the woman sat, described in chapter XVII. and will now pass that feature with the statement that the horn is an emblem of power which here represents ten European kingdoms by which the Papacy exercised dominion over men.. ask the reader to now direct his attention to the seven heads of the monster. Let John himself explain what this symbol means. Turn to chapter XVII. " The seven heads are seven mountains upon which the woman sitteth. " The woman is the scarlet lady, the harlot, the Apostate Church. She sits on seven hills or mountains. Rome has passed into history as the "seven-hilled city," from the seven mountains or hills upon which she stood. No feature of Rome has been made more familiar by her poets and historians than her seven hills, usually called by them, mountains. These were Mt. Aventine, Mt. Capitaline, Mt. Palatine, Mt. Esquiline, the Cæian mount, the Quirinal and Viminal. We might quote from Horace, Ovid and Livy, as well as the Church Fathers, Tertullian and Jerome, all of whom speak of the seven-hilled city. The last-named writer who was born A. D. 342, in an epistle to. Christian lady,. resident of Rome, urges her to "Read what is written in the Apocalypse of the seven hills.

But the seven heads are also seven kings. (Revelation 17:10.) They not only symbolize the seven hills of Rome, but also seven kings, or kingdoms, or governments, for the original term may signify either of the three. It evidently means the last. These were not contemporaneous, but follow each other. "Five are fallen, and one is (in existence at the time John wrote), and the other is not yet come, and when he cometh he must continue. short space" (v. 10). Five of these kings, or forms of government, had passed away in the year 96, one was in existence at that time, one was yet to come and should continue for. short time. They therefore follow each other and evidently refer to the governments, or rather to the forms of government that ruled, at the various stages of its history, the Roman dominion. Let us see whether the facts correspond with the hypothesis. The first form of the Roman government was kingly. The first king was Romulus; the last was Tarquin the Proud. There were seven kings in all. This is form of government No. 1. The kingly power was overthrown by the elder Brutus and, instead of kings, two consuls, elected annually, were made the chief magistrates of Rome. The second form was therefore consular, or Republican, with two chief magistrates, the usual form of government to the time of Julius Cæsar.

In the course of Roman history the State was subjected to great disasters, and crises came when it seemed that its last hour was at hand. The limitations of the consular government did not meet the demands of the hour; all laws were suspended, and one man was invested with dictatorial powers. The third form is the Dictatorial. At. later period the down-trodden common people of Rome who had long been struggling for liberty, at last succeeded in humbling the proud patrician, or aristocratic party, and putting the government into the hands of their own order. Under this arrangement the chief magistrates were the Tribunes of the people, invested with the same powers as the ancient consuls. The fourth form is that of consular Tribunes. Amid the commotions through which Rome passed for. period, the powers of senate, consuls, and tribunes, were suspended, and the absolute government was invested in ten men, superior to all laws. The fifth form is the government of Decemvirs.

These had all passed before John wrote, "Five are fallen and one is." What form of government existed in A. D. 96?

The mighty convulsions that had begun in the time of Julius Cæsar, had finally ended in the establishment of an empire under Augustus Cæsar, who reigned when Christ was born. From thence there followed. long line of emperors, or Cæsars. It was the Emperor Domitian who sent John to Patmos. The sixth head was therefore the imperial. We have, then, (1) kings, (2) consuls, (3) dictators, (4) tribunes, (5) decemvirs, (6) "One that now is," or existed when John was writing on Patmos, viz., emperors. It has been found that the sixth did actually exist in John's time. It is declared in Revelation 17:10 " that one is not yet come. " Another still was in the future at the time John wrote. After the fall of the empire there was revived. government of Rome and the contiguous territories. The rulers received the titles of Dukes of Rome and Exarchs of Ravenna. Their dominion began A. D. 566. Gibbon, speaking of this form of government, which was yet in the future when John was living, says:

"Eighteen exarchs were invested with the full remains of civil, military, and even of ecclesiastical power. Their immediate jurisdiction, which was afterwards consecrated its the patrimony of St. Peter (States of the Church), extended over the modern Romagna. The Duchy of Rome appears to have included the Tuscan, Latin, and Sabine conquests of the first four hundred years of the city."-- Gibbon, Vol. 3, p. 202.

It has been needful for us to consider this passage in connection with Rev. 17. In order to complete, the subject of the heads,. will here discuss an eighth head, which is described as follows: " And the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth to perdition. "--17:11. There is then an eighth head yet to appear after the seventh; another form of government that is to combine the features of the seven. There can be no mistake in declaring that the eighth, the beast, is the Papal government, which, like ancient Rome, arising from. small dominion, at last grasped the government of the nations, and in addition claimed, in the right of the Pope as. temporal prince, the absolute rule of all Central Italy, extending from sea to sea, under the designation of the "States of the Church."

I think that all unprejudiced readers will now be prepared to admit that the seven-headed monster certainly symbolizes Rome, but this will appear yet more clearly, when. closer examination has been made of the ten horns, which will be deferred until chap. XVII. is reached.

Let us proceed to examine the other features of the beast. It is truly. monster, uniting the features of the pitiless, blood-thirsty leopard, the mighty feet and claws of the bear, and the rapacious and deadly mouth of the lion. To this monster,. composite creature, combining many attributes, the dragon gives his power. The dragon, "that old serpent called the devil and Satan," had first appeared as the deadly, organized enemy of the Church, under the form of the persecuting power of Pagan Rome, as we found in our examination of the twelfth chapter. The power of the dragon of Pagan Rome is now yielded to the sea monster. He also yielded his seat and great authority. He gave up the seven-hilled city itself, his former throne, to the now power, which should henceforth rule from Rome as the capital of its dominion. It is also. fact of history that "the great authority," grasped by the Papacy, could never have been gained had it not occupied the seven-hilled city, the "seat" of the dragon, and succeeded to its dominion over the nations.