CHAPTER XIII. _The beast rising out of the sea with seven heads, ten horns,_ _and ten crowns_, 1. _His description, power, blasphemy, cruelty, c._, 2-10. _The beast coming out of the earth with two horns, deceiving the_ _world by is false miracles, and causing every one to receive_ _his mark i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:2. _AND THE BEAST WHICH I SAW WAS LIKE UNTO A LEOPARD_] This similitude of the beast to a leopard appears to be an allusion to the third beast of Daniel, which is well known to represent the empire of the Greeks. The Latin empire greatly resembled the modern empire of the Greeks... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:3. _AND I SAW ONE OF HIS HEADS AS IT WERE WOUNDED TO DEATH_] This is the second and last place where the heads of the beast are mentioned with any description; and therefore the meaning here must be _forms of government_, as these were noticed last in the angel's double explanati... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:4. _AND THEY WORSHIPPED THE DRAGON_] _Worshipping_ the dragon here evidently means the voluntary religious subjection of the members of the Latin Church to the revived western empire, because of the eminent part it has taken in the support of their faith. _AND THEY WORSHIPPED TH... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:5. _AND THERE WAS GIVEN UNTO HIM A MOUTH SPEAKING GREAT_ _THINGS_] That is, There was given to the rulers of the Latin empire, who are the _mouth_ of the beast, (and particularly the Roman emperors of Germany,) power to assume great and pompous titles, indicative of their mighty... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:6. _AND HE OPENED HIS MOUTH IN BLASPHEMY AGAINST GOD, TO_ _BLASPHEME HIS NAME_] The Latin empire is here represented as a blasphemous power in three respects. _First_, he blasphemes the _name_ of God. This has been most notoriously the case with the different popish princes, who... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:7. _AND IT WAS GIVEN UNTO HIM TO MAKE WAR WITH THE SAINTS,_ _AND TO OVERCOME THEM_] "Who can make any computation," says Bishop Newton, "or even frame any conception, of the numbers of pious Christians who have fallen a sacrifice to the bigotry and cruelty of Rome? Mede upon the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:8. _AND ALL THAT DWELL UPON THE EARTH SHALL WORSHIP HIM,_ _WHOSE NAMES ARE NOT WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE OF THE LAMB_] The _earth_ here is the _Latin world_, as has been observed before in similar cases. The meaning therefore is, that all the corrupt part of mankind who are inh... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:9. _IF ANY MAN HAVE AN EAR, LET HIM HEAR._] These words are evidently introduced to impress the reader with the awfulness of what has just been spoken-_all shall worship him whose names are_ _not written in the book of life_, as well as to fix his attention upon the following wor... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:10. _HE THAT LEADETH INTO CAPTIVITY SHALL GO INTO_ _CAPTIVITY_] The Latin empire here spoken of must _go into_ _captivity_, because it has led into captivity, by not only propagating among the various nations its abominable antichristian system, but also in compelling them to emb... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:11. _AND I BEHELD ANOTHER BEAST COMING UP OUT OF THE EARTH_] As a _beast_ has already been shown to be the symbol of a _kingdom_ or _empire_, the rising up of this second beast must consequently represent the rising up of _another empire_. This beast comes up _out_ _of the earth... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:12. _AND HE EXERCISED ALL THE POWER OF THE FIRST BEAST_ _before him_] In the preceding verse the two-horned beast was represented as rising out of the earth, that is, obtaining gradually more and more influence in the civil affairs of the Latin world. Here he it represented as h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:13. _AND HE DOETH GREAT WONDERS_] That we may have the greatest assurance possible that the two-horned beast is the spiritual Latin empire, it is called in Revelation 19:20, a passage illustrative of the one now under consideration, _the false_ _prophet_, "than which," as Bishop... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:14. _SAYING TO THEM THAT DWELL ON THE EARTH, THAT THEY_ _SHOULD MAKE AN IMAGE TO THE BEAST, WHICH HAD THE WOUND BY A SWORD,_ _AND DID LIVE._] The _image of the beast_ must designate a person who represents in himself the whole power of the Latin empire, therefore it cannot be th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:15. _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 WORSHIP THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST SHOULD BE_ _KILLED._] I would just observe that the _Brahmins_, by repeating incantations, profes... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:16. _AND HE CAUSED ALL, BOTH SMALL AND GREAT, RICH AND_ _POOR, FREE AND BOND, TO RECEIVE A MARK_] To ascertain the meaning of the _mark_ which the two-horned beast causes all orders and degrees of men in the Latin world to receive, we need only refer to Revelation 14:11, where t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:17. _AND THAT NO MAN MIGHT BUY OR SELL, SAVE HE THAT HAD_ _THE MARK_] "If any," observes Bishop Newton, "dissent from the stated and authorized forms; they are condemned and excommunicated as heretics; and in consequence of that they are no longer suffered to _buy_ or _sell_; th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 13:18. _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__._] In this verse we have the very name of the beast given under the symbol of the number 666. Before the in... [ Continue Reading ]