of Alva in the Netherlands, the massacres in France and Ireland will probably amount to above ten times the number of all the Christians slain in all the ten persecutions of the Roman emperors put together. St. John's 'admiration' also plainly evinces, that Christian Rome was intended; for it could be no matter of surprise to him, that a Heathen city should persecute the Christians, when he himself had seen and suffered the persecutions under Nero; but that a city professedly Christian, should wanton and riot in the blood of Christians, was a subject of astonishment indeed; and well might he, as it is emphatically expressed, wonder with great wonder.' 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 perdition: 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 him are called, and chosen, and faithful. 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, ana 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. It was not thought sufficient to represent these things only in vision; and therefore the angel, like the ȧyyɛλoç, nuncius, or messenger in the ancient drama, undertakes to explain, ver. 7, the mystery,' the mystic sense or secret meaning, 'of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her :' and the angel's interpretation is indeed the best key to the Revelation, the best clue to direct and conduct us through this intricate labyrinth. The mystery of the beast' is first explained; and the beast' is considered first in general, ver. 8, under a threefold state or succession, as existing, and then ceasing to be, and then reviving again, so as to become another and the same. He was, and is not,' kaιɛ ἐστιν ' and yet is, or according to other copies και παρεσται ‘and shall come, shall ascend out of the bottomless pit.' A 'beast' in the prophetic style, as we before observed, is a tyrannical idolatrous empire; and the Roman empire was idolatrous under the Heathen emperors, and then ceased to be so for some time under the Christian emperors, and then became idolatrous again under the Roman pontiffs, and so hath continued ever since. It is the same idolatrous power revived again, but only in another form; and all the corrupt part of mankind, whose names are not enrolled as good citizens in the registers of heaven, are pleased at the revival of it: but in this last form it shall go into perdition;' it shall not, as it did before, cease for a time, and revive again, but shall be destroyed for ever. After this general account of the beast, there follows an explanation of the particular emblems, with a short preface intimating that they are deserving of the deepest attention, and are a proper exercise and trial of the understanding. Here is the mind which hath wisdom,'-ver. 9, as it was said upon a former occasion, Here is wisdom; let him that hath understanding count,' &c. -xiii. 18. The 'seven heads' have a double signification. They are primarily seven mountains on which the woman sitteth,' on which the capita. ity is seated; which all who have the least tincture of letters know Jo be the situation of Rome. Historians, geographers, and poets, all speak of the city with seven hills;' and passages might be quoted to this purpose without number and without end. It is observed too, that new Rome or Constantinople is situated on seven mountains: but these are very rarely mentioned, and mentioned only by obscure authors, in comparison of the others; and besides the seven mountains, other particulars also must coincide, which cannot be found in Constantinople. It is evident, therefore, that the city' seated on seven mountains' must be Rome; and a plainer description could not be given of it, without expressing the name, which there might be several wise reasons for concealing. As the seven heads' signify 'seven mountains,' so they also signify' seven kings,' reigning over the seven mountains: ver. 10, 11,— Kai Baoiλeç iπra slow, ' And they are seven kings,' or 'kingdoms,' or forms of government,' as the word imports, and hath been shown to import in former instances. Five are fallen,' five of these forms of government are already past; and one is,' the sixth is now subsisting. The five fallen' are 'kings,' and 'consuls' and dictators,' and 'decemvirs,' and 'military tribunes with consular authority;' as they are enumerated and distinguished by those who should best know, the two greatest Roman historians, Livy and Tacitus. The 'sixth' is the power of the Cæsars' or emperors,' which was subsisting at the time of the vision. An end was put to the imperial name in the year 476 by Odoacer king of the Heruli, who having taken Rome deposed Momyllus Augustulus, the last emperor of the west. He and his successors the Ostrogoths assumed the title of Kings of Italy: but though the name was changed, the power still continued much the same. This therefore cannot well be called a new form of government; it may rather be * Quæ ab condita urbe Roma ad captam eandem urbem Romani sub regibus primum, consulibus deinde ac dictatoribus, decemvirisque ac tribunis consularibus gessere. [The achievements of the Romans from the building of the city to the time when it was taken, first under kings, then under consuls and dictators, and decemvirs and tribunes with consular authority, &c.] Livii lib. 6, cap. 1. Urbem Romam a principio reges habuere. Libertatem et consulatum L. Brutus instituit. Dictaturæ ad tempus sume bantur: neque decemviralis potestas ultra biennium, neque tribunorum militum consulare jus diu valuit. Non Cinnæ, non Sullæ longa dominatio: et Pompeii Crassique potentia, cito in Cæsarem; Lepidi atque Antodii arma, in Augustum cessere: qui cuncta discordiis civilibus fessa, nomine Principis sub imperium accepit. [Kings were the first governors of Rome. Liberty and the consulship were instituted by L. Brutus. Dictators were occasionally created. The power of the decemvirs did not extend beyond two years, nor did the tribunes of the soldiers retain their consular authority for a longer period. The denominations of Cinna and Sylla were of short duration; and the power of Pompey and Crassus quickly devolved upon Cæsar: the arms of Lepidus and Antony yielded to Augustus, who received under the title of Prince the empire wasted by civil wars.] Tacit. Annal. lib. 1, in initio. + Sigonius de Occidentali Imperio, lib. 14, &c. Petavii Rat. Temp. Hartis 1, lib. 6, cap. 18. considered as a continuation of the imperial power, or as a renovation of the kingly authority. Consuls' are reckoned but one form of government, though their office was frequently suspended, and after a time restored again: and in the same manner 'kings' may be counted but one form of government, though the name was resumed after an interval of so many years. A new form of government was not erected, till Rome fell under the obedience of the eastern emperor, and the emperor's lieutenant, the exarch of Ravenna, dissolved all the former magistracies, and constituted a Duke of Rome, to govern the people, and to pay tribute to the exarchate of Ravenna. Rome had never experienced this form of government before: and this I conceive to be the other,' which in the apostle's days' was not yet come, and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.' For Rome was reduced to a dukedom tributary to the exarch of Ravenna by Longinus, who was sent exarch in the year 566 according to some accounts, or in the year 568 according to others;* and the city revolted from the eastern emperor to the pope in the year 727 :† which is a short space' in comparison of the imperial power, which preceded, and lasted above 500 years; and in comparison of the papal power, which followed, and hath now continued about a thousand years. But still possibly you may hesitate whether this is properly a new form of government, Rome being still subject to the imperial power, by being subject to the Greek emperor's deputy, the exarch of Ravenna: and according as you determine this point, the beast that was and is not, 'was' while idolatrous, and was not' while not idolatrous, will appear to be the seventh' or 'eighth.' If you reckon this a new form of government, the beast that now is, is the eighth; * Sigonius de Regno Ital, lib. 1. Petav. Rat. Temp. par. 1, lib. 7, cap. 10. + Sigon. ibid. lib. 3. if you Mr. Mann explains the 'seventh' and 'eighth' otherwise. Quis igitur rex septimus erit? Nimirum ipse papa. Nam ex quo A. D. 534, eum ecclesiarum omnium caput declaravit Justinianus, alii omnium judicem, ipsum a nullo judicandum, tanta reverentia et obsequio ab Impp. ipsis cultus est, tanta authoritate ipsos subinde reprehendit, interdum e am anathemate perculit, ut non minus dicendus sit regnasse in spiritualibus, quamvis se subditum semper servumque servorum diceret, quam in temporalibus imperatores. Tunc igitur papa e septem illis, id est ex genere atque ordine illorum principum qui præce serant, esse dicendus crat, donec A. D. 727 Leonis imp. jugum, quem anno superiore excommunicarat, prorsus excussit Gregorius II. Romamque et regioncs vicinas sibi subjecit. Ex illo enim tempore papa rex octavus merito haberi potest, cum gladio spirituali temporalem quoque dehinc adeptus. Scio esse, qui pulso Leone imp, negent Romam papæ subjectam fuisse, sed a Pipino A. D. 752, Exarchatum Ravennæ, &c. papæ datum tantum cum aliis urbibus, non ipsam Romam; sed mihi videntur non do re, sed u bra tantum certare. [Who then will be the seventh king? Surely the pope Jimself. For from the year 534, when Justinian declared him the head of all the do not reckon this a new form of goverment, the beast is of the seven; but whether he be the seventh' or 'eighth,' he is the last form of government, and goeth into perdition.' It appears evidently, that the sixth form of government, which was subsisting in St. John's time, is the imperial; and what form of government hattı succeeded to that in Rome, and hath continued for a long space' of time, but the papal? The beast therefore, upon which the woman rideth, is the Roman government in its last form and this, all must acknowledge, is the papal, and not the imperial. : Having explained the mystery of the seven heads,' the angel proceeds to the explanation of the ten horns,' ver, 12, 13, 14, 'the ten horns are ten kings, who have received no kingdom as yet :' and consequently they were not in being at the time of the vision; and indeed the Roman empire was not divided into ten kingdoms, till some time after it was become Christian. But they receive power as kings one hour' av pav, at the same time, or for the same length of time,* with the beast.' It is true in both senses, they rise and fall together with the beast and consequently they are not to be reckoned before the rise and establishment of the beast; and accordingly when a catalogue was produced of these ten kings or kingdoms in a dissertation upon Daniel, they were exhibited as they stood in the eighth century, which is the time of the rise and establishment of the beast. Kingdoms they might be before, but they were not before kingdoms or horns' of the beast, till they embraced his religion, and submitted to his authority; and the beast strengthened them, as they again strengthened the beast. churches; others, the judge of all, and amenable to no human jurisdiction, he was worshipped by the emperors themselves with very great reverence and submission; thereupon he reproved them with such authority (and sometimes even anathematized them), that he may be said no less to have reigned in spiritual affairs (although he styled himself the vicegerent and servant of servants) than the emperors in temporal. The pope at that time, therefore, might be said to be one of those seven, i. e. of the kind and order of those princes who had preceded him, until, in the year 727, Gregory I1. completely shook off the yoke of the emperor Leo, whom he had excommunicated in the year before, and subjected to himself Rome and the neighbouring states. From this time the pope may deservedly be esteemed the eighth king, having obtained the temporal as well as the spiritual sword. I know that there are some who deny that Rome, upon the banishment of the emperor Leo, was subjected to the pope, but that in the year 752 the exarchate of Ravenna, &c. with many other cities, but not Rome itself, was given to the Pope by Pepin; these however appear to me to be contending for the shadow only, not the substance.] M. S. Uno eodemque tempore. [At one and the same time.] Vitring. Malim, a unum idemque tempus, ut cum identitate temporis durationem complectatur. [I wou prefer at one and the same time, that with the identity of time may also be com nended the duration.] Mr. Mann's M.S. |