nations, the Goths, Alans, Sueves, and Vandals, to invade the Roman empire, hoping by their means to raise his son Eucherius to the throne, who from a boy was an enemy to the Christians, and threatened to signalize the beginning of his reign with the restoration of the Pagan, and abolition of the Christian religion.* Nothing indeed was more likely to produce the ruin and utter subversion of the Christian church, than the irruptions of so many barbarous Heathen nations into the Roman empire. But the event proved contrary to human appearance and expectation: the earth swallowed up the flood,'-ver. 16; the Barbarians were rather swallowed up by the Romans, than the Romans by the Barbarians; the Heathen conquerors, instead of imposing their own, submitted to the religion of the conquered Christians; and they not only embraced the religion, but affected even the laws, the manners, the customs, the language, and the very name of Romans, so that the victors were in a manner absorbed and lost among the vanquished. This course not succeeding according to probable expectation, the dragon did not therefore desist from his purpose; ver. 17, but only took another method of persecuting the true sons of the church, as we shall see in the next chapter. It is said that he went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus;' which implies that at this time there was only a 'remnant,' that corruptions were greatly increased, and the faithful were minished from among the children of men.'

CHAP XIII

1. AND I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a 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.

Interea comes Stilicho, Vandalorum imbellis, avaræ, perfidæ et dolosæ gentis genere editus, parvipendens quod sub imperatore imperabat, Euchcrium filium suum, sicut a plerisque traditur, jam inde Christianorum persecutionem a puero privatoque meditantem, in imperium quoquo modo sustinere nitebatur. Quamobrem Alaricum, cunctamque Gothorum gentem, &c.—Eucherius, qui ad conciliandum sibi favorcm Paganorum, restitutione templorum et eversione ecclesiarum imbuturum se regni primor dia micabatur, &c. [In the mean time Count Stilicho, descended from the Vandals, an unwarlike, avariious, perfidious, and crafty race, despising a command under an emperor, endeavoured by every means in his power to raise his son Eucherius to the throne, who from his childhood, and while in a private station (as is reported by many) was meditating the persecution of the Christians. To effect this Stilicho invited Alaric and the Goths, &c.—Eucherius theatened, &c. as in the text.] Orosii Hist lib. 7, cap. 38, p 571, edit. Havercamp. Vide etiam Jornandem de Rebus Greticis et de Regn. Succes. et Paulum Diaconum, lib. 13

2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

3. 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.

4. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

5. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

6. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven

7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

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8. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.

9. If any man have an ear let him hear

10. He that leadeth into captivity, shall go into captivity; He that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

Here the beast' is described at large, who was only mentioned before xi. 7, and a 'beast' in the prophetic style is a tyrannical idolatrous empire. The kingdom of God and of Christ is never represented under the image of a beast.' As Daniel, vii. 2, 3, beheld 'four great beasts,' representing the four great empires, come up from' a stormy 'sea,' that is, from the commotions of the world; so St. John, ver. 1, saw this beast' in like manner rise up out of the sea.' He was said before, xi. 7, to ascend K Tηs àßvσos, 'out, of the abyss' or 'bottomless pit,' and it is said afterwards, xvii. 8, that he shall ascend K Tηç áẞvσos'ont of the abyss' or 'bottomless pit;' and here he is said to ascend ik rns Paλaoons, out of the sea;' so that the sea' and 'abyss' or bottomless pit' are in these passages the same. No doubt is to be made, that this beast was designed to represent the Roman empire; for thus far both ancients and modern, papists and protestants are agreed; the only doubt

and controversy is, whether it was Rome Pagan or Christian, imperial or papal, which may perhaps be fully and clearly determined in the sequel

St. John saw this beast rising' out of the sea, but the Roman empire was risen and established long before St. John's time; and therefore this must be the Roman empire, not in its then present, but in some future shape and form; and it arose in another shape and form, after it was broken to pieces by the incursions of the northern nations. The beast hath seven heads and ten horns,' which are the well known marks and signals of the Roman empire, the seven heads' alluding to the seven mountains whereon Rome was situated, and to the seven forms of government which successively prevailed there, and the 'ten horns' signifying the ten kingdoms into which the Roman empire was divided. It is remarkable that the dragon had seven crowns upon his heads,' but the beast hath upon his horns ten crowns' so that there had been in the mean while a revolution of power from the heads' of the dragon to the horns' of the beast, and the sovereignty, which before was exercised by Rome alone, was now transferred and divided among ten kingdoms; but the Roman empire was not divided into ten kingdoms, till after it was become Christian. Although the heads had lost their crowns, yet they still retained the name of blasphemy.' In all its heads, in all its forms of government, Rome was still guilty of idolatry and blasphemy. Imperial Rome was called, and delighted to be called, the eternal city, the heavenly city, the goddess of the earth, the goddess ;* and had her temples and altars with

* Urbem æternam [the eternal city.] Ammian. Marcell. lib. 14, cap. 6, p. 19, edit. Valesii. Paris. 1681. Urbis ab æternæ, &c. [of the eternal city.] Ausonii Epigram. 3 de Fastis, pavoroλes Pwn [Rome the heavenly city.] Athenæi, lib. 1, p. 20, edit. Casaubon. Terrarum dea gentiumque Roma. Cui par est nihil, et nihil secundum [Rome, the goddess of the earth, and of all nations, which has no equal, no rival.] Martial lib. 12, epigram 8. Ita Romam, orbis caput, tanquam cæleste aliquod numen, seu terrarum deam gentiumque a Bilbilitano vate dictam, divinis honoribus, templis sacerdotibus ædituis, ipsa EAX POMн appellatione, quod plures Græcarum illarum civitatum nummi ostendunt, sibi condecorandam existimarunt. Quo autem referendum mihi videtur illud nomen blagphemiæ, quod septem capitibus inscriptum gestasse legitur bestia in sacro Revelationum libro, et quod Hieronymus ac Prosper ad urbis æternæ appellationem retulerunt, Romæ cum alibi, tum in nummis ejus itidem familiarem. [The coins of many of those Greek cities shew that they considered Rome the capital of the world, as some celestial deity, or the goddess of the earth and all nations, as she is described by the poet Martial, and that she was to be distinguished by divine honours, by temples, priests, and servants, and even by the title of the goddess of Rome (a Paun) To this it appears

to me should be referred that ' name of blasphemy' which the beast in the Revelation is said to have had inscribed on his seven heads, and which Jerome and Prosper have re

Incense and sacrifices offered up to her and how papal Rome likewise hath arrogated to herself divine titles and honors, there will be a fitter occasion of showing in the following part of this description.

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As Daniel's fourth beast, viì. 7, was without a name, and 'devoured and brake in pieces' the three former: so this beast, ver. 2, is also without a name, and partakes of the nature and qualities of the three former, having the body of a leopard,' which was the third beast or Grecian empire, and the feet of a bear,' which was the second beast or Persian empire, and the mouth of a lion,' which was the first beast or Babylonian empire: and consequently this must be the same as Daniel's fourth beast, or the Roman empire. But still it is not the same beast, the same entirely, but with some variation; and the dragon gave him his power' dvvauv or his armies, and his seat' Opovov or his imperial throne, and great authority' or jurisdiction over all the parts of his empire. The heast' therefore is the successor and substitute of the dragon' or of the idolatrous heathen Roman empire: and what other idolatrous

ferred to the title of eternal city, which was the common appellation of Rome as well elsewhere as on her coins.] Spanhemii Dissert. tertia de Præstant, et Usu Numm. Ant. sect. 3, p. 133, vol. 1.

Imperium Romano-Papale tunc natum videtur, quam papam omnium ecclesiarum caput esse dixit Justinianus. V. Cod. L. 1. T. 1. A. D. 533 et 534. idque non verbo tantum significavit sed missis ad eum episcopis, quasi legatis. Id Gregorius I. in fine seculi sexti in episcopos Hispaniæ, Galliæ, &c. satis superbe exercuit; successores seculi septimi multo etiam magis. In utroque seculo faventibus papis invaluere imaginum cultus, et sanctorum invocatio: nam hic ipse Gregorius litaniis inseruit nomen beatæ virginis Mariæ. En igitur blasphemias. Seculo octavo, A. D. 727, inperium civile Romæ, et ducatùs Romani, excommunicato pulsoque imperatore Græco, arripuit papa (teste Anastasio et Sigonio de Regno Italiæ L. 3.) Gregorius 11. Interea non orthodoxi, i. e. a papis dissentientes, infames, extorres, inte stabiles impp. legibus facti sunt. V. Grd. in quo canones æquantur legibus, &c. Nonne hæc omnia satis clare præstant magnam illam bestiæ jam ortæ potestatem a dracone traditam, &c. [The Roman papal empire appears to have originated when Justinian declared that the Pope was head of the churches, and which he confirmed by sending bishops to him in the character of ambassadors. Gregory I, at the end of the sixth century, exercised this concession with great insolence towards the bishop of Spain, &c. and his successors in the seventh century still more so. During both periods the worship of images and the invocation of saints prevailed under the protection of the popes, for this very Gregory inserted the name of the blessed virgin in the litanies. Hence the blasphemies. In the eighth century, A. D. 727, Gregory II. seized upon the civil government of Rome and of the duchy also, having excommunicated and expelled the Greek emperor. In the mean time all who were not orthodox, that is, who differed from the popes, were declared by Jaw, infamous outlaws, and incapable of performing civil rights. Se the Codex, in which the canons are made equal to the laws, &c. Do not these things shew with sufficient clearness that great power given by the dragon to the beast now risen] Mr Mann's MS.

power hath succeeded to the heathen emperors in Rome, all the world is a judge and a witness. The dragon' having failed in his purpose of restoring the old heathen idolatry, delegates his power to the beast,' and thereby introduces a new species of idolatry, nominally different, but essentially the same, the worship of angels and saints instead of the gods and demigods of antiquity.

Another mark, whereby the beast was particularly distinguished, was one of his heads as it were wounded to death,'-ver. 3. It will appear hereafter, that this head was the sixth head, for five were fallen,'-xvii. 10, before St. John's time: and the sixth head was that of the Cæsars or emperors, there having been before kings, and consuls, and dictators, and decemvirs, and military tribunes with consular authority. The sixth head was 'as it were wounded to death,' when the Roman empire was overturned by the northern nations, and an end was put to the very name of emperor in Momyllus Augustulus or rather, as the government of the Gothic kings was much the same as that of the emperors with only a change of the name,* this head was more effectually wounded to death,' when Rome was reduced to a poor dukedom, and made tributary to the exarchate of Ravenna: and Sigonius, who hath written the best of these times and of these affairs, includes the history of the Gothic kings in his history of the western empire. But not only one of his heads was as it were wounded to death, but his deadly wound was healed.' If it was the sixth head which was wounded, that wound could not be healed by the rising of the seventh head, as interpreters commonly conceive; the same head, which was wounded, must be healed; and this was effected by the pope and people of Rome revolting from the exarch of Ravenna, and proclaiming Charles the Great, Augustus and emperor of the Romans. Here the wounded imperial head was 'healed again, and hath subsisted ever since. At this time, partly through the pope, and partly through the emperor, supporting and strengthening each other, the Roman name again became formidable and all the world wondered after the beast, and they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying: Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?'-ver. 4. No kingdom or empire was 'like' that of the beast, it had not a parallel upon earth, and it was in vain for any to resist or oppose it, it prevailed and triumphed over all; and all the world' in submitting

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* Regnum veteris imperii ex on ni parte similimum. [The government was in every respect very similar to the old.] Sigonius de Occidentali imperio, iib. 16

aun. 494.