that it makes its appearance under a different aspect. It is declared in verse 8 to be the beast "that was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the BOTTOMLESS PIT, and go into perdition." And again, as "the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." It is clear from these statements, that the beast that was, is the beast from the sea of Rev. xiii., who has now passed away, but who is to reascend and come again into life and power; and it is equally clear that this reascension is to be from the bottomless pit, and not from the sea.

*

Some have thought, and with considerable probability, that Rev. xiii. 3, alludes to this fact of his death and revival-"And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." The expression of wonderment seems, indeed, decidedly to fix it to Rev. xvii. 8-"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."

The different aspect of the beast of Rev. xvii. is farther set forth by two or three other circumstances. The one is, that

* Some would make the expression bottomless pit to be the same with the sea, on the ground that the Greek word äßuroos is, by profane writers, used in the same sense with axaroa. It is contended also, that it is used in this sense by the writers of the Septuagint version; though all the instances adduced are ambiguous. But what is here contended for is, that in the Apocalypse, where the word is used as a symbol, it must necessarily be distinct from @ánaosa; for the use of symbols is precise and definite. It only occurs indeed in two other places of the New Testament besides the Apocalypse-viz. Luke viii. 31, and Rom. x. 37—and in both of these it is apparently distinct from 0áracoa. The one is where the devils entreat not to be cast out into the deep, or pit; the other is where Paul contrasts the deep with the height of heaven; which, in the Syriac version, (as I learn from Mr. Cuninghame) is rendered by the word by sheol, which signifies hades. In the Apocalypse, however, the meaning is fixed by another circumstance. In chap. ix. 1, 2, where it first occurs, (and is used as a symbol, the locusts being said to arise out of it,) to ppéap is used with it, in order more precisely to point out, that it is the pit of the deep that is meant; and having received this signification, to opéap is afterwards dropped, (see v. 11,) and äßurros is used by itself, evidently with the same signification as if it were to oрeap τns äßvoor; which is plainly the view of our Translators, who uniformly translate it afterwards "the bottomless pit." The impropriety of considering the expression the same as baracoa will be apparent from the evident absurdity which would arise were we to translate some of the places where the word äßurgos occurs by our word sea: e. g. “I saw an angel, &c. having the key of the sea, and he laid hold on the dragon and cast him into the sea, and shut him up," &c. Rev. xxi. 1—3. At the same time, if this point should be considered as still open to criticism, it would not affect the main position; which is, that the beast of Rev. xiii. has deceased, and is revived in chap. xvii., and that he reappears under circumstances which give him a different aspect.

the crowns which were on the heads of the dragon, and which were removed in the instance of the beast of chap. xiii. to the ten horns, have now altogether disappeared. Another is, that power is given to the beast of the sea to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; (v. 7.) whereas the beast of the pit makes war against the Lamb, and is overcome; because he is Lord of lords, &c., and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. V. 14. A third is, that the characteristic of blasphemy, which was witnessed upon the heads of the beast of chap. xiii., so that he "opened his mouth in blasphemy," (v. 6,) is now transferred to the whole body, which is "full of names of blasphemy." Chap. xvii. 3. Chap. xvii. 3. These are points which may be determined quite irrespective of the application of them to any particular power.

We may proceed another step with certainty; viz. to ascertain what we are to understand, in the general, by the symbol of the beast. It sets fourth the political strength and resources of some mighty empire: the proof of which is manifest. For the angel says to John, "Come hither; I will shew thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters;" (chap. xvii. 1,) which waters are explained, in verse 15, to be peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues," which are, as it were, the materiel of an empire. But when John is taken into the wilderness to see this whore, she is represented, not as sitting on many waters, but as sitting on a beast: wherefore the beast is only another symbol for the "peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues."

Here also I would observe, that the remarkable expression used in describing this beast,-viz. "that was, and is not, and yet is," and "which shall ascend,"-seems to imply, that at the time of the judgment described in chap. xvii. the beast had existed in that form of principles and of political circumstances, in regard to which he is said to arise out of the sea; that then an interval comes in which, as an organized power or empire, he may be said not to exist; whilst yet the political elements, though scattered, are actually existing at the time when this vision commences, and are only awaiting some crisis to be reorganized; and this reorganization will proceed from principles or circumstances which have their origin from the bottomless pit-whatsoever may be intended by that symbol.*

It is very important to observe the time of the re-appearance of the beast. The text of Rev. xvii. 8. says, "The beast that thou sawest was, and is not, and shall ascend, &c.”—μinnu ávaßzívav is about to ascend. If the period by which the time is to be adjusted be that of the Apostle's seeing the vision, (as some commentators argue in regard to verse 10,) then we not only must conclude that in the days of St. John five kings were fallen, but that the beast of the sea likewise had already appeared and ceased to exist. This is manifestly not true. The only other period from which the time can be dated is that of the judgment, which is the subject of the vision. So that when the judgment com

(2.) We must now notice the power in combination or alliance with the beast. This is described in chapter xvii. as a harlot sitting upon the beast.

It is remarkable, that though John is specially invited to see the judgment of "the great whore,"-apparently as being some character who has been previously exhibited under that title, yet this, the time of her judgment, is the first mention. made of her under that name; and we must therefore seek for the power here designated under some other name or description. A comparison of Rev. xiv. 8 and 19, in which "Great Babylon" is mentioned, will immediately evince, that the Great City and the Great Whore are one and identical. Indeed, verse 18 especially declares-"And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth." This two-fold symbol is intended to set forth an ecclesiastical power. The apostate church, or great city, Babylon, is contrasted in the Apocalypse with "the holy city, New Jerusalem;" and the harlot is contrasted with "the bride, the Lamb's wife." Moreover, a whore and an adultress are familiar images in the prophets to signify apostate Israel and Judah; and fornication and adultery are expressions frequently used to signify apostacy and idolatry.

But there is likewise reason to conclude that the whore and the false prophet are intimately related. For not only is the mention of the false prophet dropped, when that of the whore is brought before us; but they answer exactly in certain characteristics. One of them is remarkable. The woman is seated on the beast, which is emblematical of her being upheld by the power and wielding the resources of that beast, so that his heads and horns are either vassal or tributary states, or powers which are in some way or other made subservient to her. This is evident from its being declared, chap. xviii. 7, that she sits as a queen; and in chap. xvii. 18, that she reigneth over the kings of the earth. Allowing, therefore, that the woman or city represents a church, it is a church in close alliance with the state; yea, which hath altogether usurped and engrossed the powers of the state. But the two-horned beast of chap. xiii. likewise "exercises all the power of the first beast

mences, and not till then, may it be said, "The beast was, and is not, and is about to ascend out of the bottomless pit."

Some modern Expositors have argued that the Roman empire cannot be that which is intended by the fourth beast of Daniel, because it ceased to exist during the wars which arose out of the French Revolution, the Emperor of Germany having indeed formally renounced the title. This, however, instead of being a circumstance adverse to such an interpretation, materially strengthens it, since there was to be an interval, during which it might be said of the fourth empire-"it was, and is not."

before him," (v. 12); and it is difficult to conceive how two different powers can exercise all the power of a certain empire, and not be one and the same.* Moreover, they are both persecutors; for the one causes all that will not worship the image of the beast to be killed, (chap. xiii. 15); and the other is drunk with the blood of the saints, &c. (chap. xvii. 6.)

I must here add what I conceive to be very important to a right understanding of the vision of chap. xvii. or "the judgment of the great whore." I consider the woman to be represented at the opening of the vision as seated on the beast, only to shew the position in which she is left at the termination of the reign of the first beast; not as shewing that she continues to exercise the same influence during the career of the second beast. It is exhibited for the purpose of identification, that we may know that she who is here judged is the same that has previously reigned.

(3.) The object I have had in view, in leading the reader to the preceding consideration of these chapters of the Apocalypse, is to enable him clearly to discern, that supposing popery, as the generality of commentators have concluded, is in its combined political and ecclesiastical characters represented by the beast from the sea and the beast from the earth of chap. xiii., and by the harlot of chap. xvii., yet that there is another antichristian power in existence, whose career is subsequent to the reign of the harlot; and the first of whose acts, like a true wild beast, is to turn and rend her, with whom he has been, under a former aspect, in alliance.-I mean the beast from the bottomless pit. This power may be popery become infidel, and thus, as it were, arise out of it; but it has nevertheless its own peculiar aspect or form.

Nothing is more remarkable, in the history of prophetical interpretation, than the manner in which most commentators

* As my object is principally to give information, I ought not to pass over a view which is taken by some, who conceive that the designation in chap. xiii. 14-"the beast which had a wound by the sword and did live"-shews that the second beast arises during the time of the beast from the bottomless pit, and not during the time of the beast from the sea; and if so, that the period in which the false prophet obtains all the power of the first beast is subsequent to the destruction of the harlot. And this is strengthened by the fact, that the false prophet is apparently surviving at the battle of Armageddon, and is taken captive with the beast, and cast into the lake of fire. Chap. xix. 20. At the same time, this latter fact is reconcileable according to the former view. For though I take the false prophet and harlot to be one, I nevertheless consider, because different symbols are used, that different circumstances of the same subject are designated. Suppose (for example and by way of argument only) that the harlot represents the Romish church as regards her temporalities and political power, and the false prophet symbolizes the ministers and members of that church: she may be completely stripped of her temporalities, and overthrown as an ecclesiastical establishment, whilst yet a bigotted popery may continue to exist, as we know is the case in Ireland and in France.

who applied the Antichrist to the papacy, have perverted and misapplied the mention of the ten horns of the beast, or ten kings, mentioned in chapter xvii. The general interpretation is, that they agree and give their power to the beast for the purpose of maintaining the supremacy and dominion of the harlot, and that they are the kings who commit fornication with her. But the contrary is most plainly and explicitly declared. They receive powers as kings only for "one hour" with the beast (which is apparently the short space during which the judgment of the whore takes place,*) for the express purpose of consuming her; for they are said to hate the whore, and to make her desolate and naked, and to eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. And those kings who have committed fornication with her, instead of being the same as those who now judge her, are described "as bewailing her and lamenting for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment," (ch. xviii. 9, 10.) and are evidently afraid of being themselves involved in her judgment.

It is not therefore of consequence to my argument that the reader should agree with me respecting the identity of the harlot with the two-horned beast, and some other minor particulars. The great point for consideration, and in regard to which both sides have apparently erred, is, that some of those (for it is not all) who apply the beast of Rev. xiii. to the papacy, have lost sight of the fact, that, however this may be correct, a strong antichristian power arises up, toward the end, who is made the instrument of judgment on the harlot, and who makes war against THE LAMB, but is triumphantly overthrown; (see chap. xvii. 14. and xix. 11—21.) And that some again have, on the other hand, looking only at this last confederacy, endeavoured to bend to it and concentrate in it all that is antichristian; overlooking the important fact, that its first actings are directed against some previously existing anti

See the expression one hour, in verses 10, 17, and 19, of chapter xix. + Mr. Faber is guilty of garbling the text in this matter, in a most extraordinary way. In order to make out that they support the papacy, he quotes it thus "The ten horns which thou sawest are the ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but in one hour receive power conjunctively with the wild beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the wild beast. These shall make war with the Lamb. For God hath put into their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree and to give their kingdom unto the wild beast, until the word of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman whom thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. Rev. xvii." The 14th, 15th, and 16th verses, in which it is said, that the ten horns shall hate the whore, and burn her, are omitted; and the words "the" and "conjunctively” are inserted, though not in the text, for the purpose of bearing out the assertion that these kings are the same as those mentioned in Daniel, and that they all conjunctively “concurred in acknowledging the spiritual supremacy of the Latin Patriarch." Vol. i. p. 148.