Revelation 17 commentary

Rome clearly appears to be meant in this chapter. Pagan Rome subdued and ruled with military power, not by art and flatteries. She left the nations in general to their ancient usages and worship. But it is well known that by crafty and politic management, with all kinds of deceit of unrighteousness, papal Rome has obtained and kept her rule over kings and nations. Here were allurements of worldly honour and riches, pomp and pride, suited to sensual and worldly minds. Prosperity, pomp, and splendour, feed the pride and lusts of the human heart, but are no security against the Divine vengeance. The golden cup represents the allurements, and delusions, by which this mystical Babylon has obtained and kept her influence, and seduced others to join her abominations. She is named, from her infamous practices, a mother of harlots; training them up to idolatry and all sorts of wickedness. She filled herself with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus. She intoxicated herself with it; and it was so pleasant to her, that she never was satisfied. We cannot but wonder at the oceans of Christian blood shed by men called Christians; yet when we consider these prophecies, these awful deeds testify to the truth of the gospel. And let all beware of a splendid, gainful, or fashionable religion. Let us avoid the mysteries of iniquity, and study diligently the great mystery of godliness, that we may learn humility and gratitude from the example of Christ. The more we seek to resemble him, the less we shall be liable to be deceived by antichrist.

The beast on which the woman sat was, and is not, and yet is. It was a seat of idolatry and persecution, and is not; not in the ancient form, which was pagan: yet it is; it is truly the seat of idolatry and tyranny, though of another sort and form. It would deceive into stupid and blind submission all the inhabitants of the earth within its influence, except the remnant of the elect. This beast was seven heads, seven mountains, the seven hills on which Rome stands; and seven kings, seven sorts of government. Five were gone by when this prophecy was written; one was then in being; the other was yet to come. This beast, directed by the papacy, makes an eighth governor, and sets up idolatry again. It had ten horns, which are said to be ten kings who had as yet no kingdoms; they should not rise up till the Roman empire was broken; but should for a time be very zealous in her interest. Christ must reign till all enemies be put under his feet. The reason of the victory is, that he is the King of kings, and Lord of lords. He has supreme dominion and power over all things; all the powers of earth and hell are subject to his control. His followers are called to this warfare, are fitted for it, and will be faithful in it.

God so ruled the hearts of these kings, by his power over them, and by his providence, that they did those things, without intending it, which he purposed and foretold. They shall see their folly, and how they have been bewitched and enslaved by the harlot, and be made instruments in her destruction. She was that great city which reigned over the kings of the earth, when John had this vision; and every one knows Rome to be that city. Believers will be received to the glory of the Lord, when wicked men will be destroyed in a most awful manner; their joining together in sin, will be turned to hatred and rage, and they will eagerly assist in tormenting each other. But the Lord's portion is his people; his counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure, to his glory, and the happiness of all his servants.

CHAPTER 17

Re 17:1-18. The Harlot Babylon's Gaud: The Beast on Which She Rides, Having Seven Heads and Ten Horns, Shall Be the Instrument of Judgment on Her.

As Re 16:12 stated generally the vial judgment about to be poured on the harlot, Babylon's power, as the seventeenth and eighteen chapters give the same in detail, so the nineteenth chapter gives in detail the judgment on the beast and the false prophet, summarily alluded to in Re 16:13-15, in connection with the Lord's coming.

1. unto me--A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic omit.

many--So A. But B, "the many waters" (Jr 51:13); Re 17:15, below, explains the sense. The whore is the apostate Church, just as "the woman" (Re 12:1-6) is the Church while faithful. Satan having failed by violence, tries too successfully to seduce her by the allurements of the world; unlike her Lord, she was overcome by this temptation; hence she is seen sitting on the scarlet-colored beast, no longer the wife, but the harlot; no longer Jerusalem, but spiritually Sodom (Re 11:8).

2. drunk with--Greek, "owing to." It cannot be pagan Rome, but papal Rome, if a particular seat of error be meant, but I incline to think that the judgment (Re 18:2) and the spiritual fornication (Re 18:3), though finding their culmination in Rome, are not restricted to it, but comprise the whole apostate Church, Roman, Greek, and even Protestant, so far as it has been seduced from its "first love" (Re 2:4) to Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom, and given its affections to worldly pomps and idols. The woman (Re 12:1) is the congregation of God in its purity under the Old and New Testament, and appears again as the Bride of the Lamb, the transfigured Church prepared for the marriage feast. The woman, the invisible Church, is latent in the apostate Church, and is the Church militant; the Bride is the Church triumphant.

3. the wilderness--Contrast her in Re 12:6, 14, having a place in the wilderness-world, but not a home; a sojourner here, looking for the city to come. Now, on the contrary, she is contented to have her portion in this moral wilderness.

upon a scarlet ... beast--The same as in Re 13:1, who there is described as here, "having seven heads and ten horns (therein betraying that he is representative of the dragon, Re 12:3), and upon his heads names (so the oldest manuscripts read) of blasphemy"; compare also Re 17:12-14, below, with Re 19:19, 20, and Re 17:13, 14, 16. Rome, resting on the world power and ruling it by the claim of supremacy, is the chief, though not the exclusive, representative of this symbol. As the dragon is fiery-red, so the beast is blood-red in color; implying its blood-guiltiness, and also deep-dyed sin. The scarlet is also the symbol of kingly authority.

full--all over; not merely "on his heads," as in Re 13:1, for its opposition to God is now about to develop itself in all its intensity. Under the harlot's superintendence, the world power puts forth blasphemous pretensions worse than in pagan days. So the Pope is placed by the cardinals in God's temple on the altar to sit there, and the cardinals kiss the feet of the Pope. This ceremony is called in Romish writers "the adoration." [Historie de Clerge, Amsterd., 1716; and Lettenburgh's Notitia Curiæ Romanæ, 1683, p. 125; Heidegger, Myst. Bab., 1, 511, 514, 537]; a papal coin [Numismata Pontificum, Paris, 1679, p. 5] has the blasphemous legend, "Quem creant, adorant." Kneeling and kissing are the worship meant by John's word nine times used in respect to the rival of God (Greek, "proskunein"). Abomination, too, is the scriptural term for an idol, or any creature worshipped with the homage due to the Creator. Still, there is some check on the God-opposed world power while ridden by the harlot; the consummated Antichrist will be when, having destroyed her, the beast shall be revealed as the concentration and incarnation of all the self-deifying God-opposed principles which have appeared in various forms and degrees heretofore. "The Church has gained outward recognition by leaning on the world power which in its turn uses the Church for its own objects; such is the picture here of Christendom ripe for judgment" [Auberlen]. The seven heads in the view of many are the seven successive forms of government of Rome: kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs, military tribunes, emperors, the German emperors [Wordsworth], of whom Napoleon is the successor (Re 17:11). But see the view given, see on Re 17:9, 10, which I prefer. The crowns formerly on the ten horns (Re 13:1) have now disappeared, perhaps an indication that the ten kingdoms into which the Germanic-Slavonic world [the old Roman empire, including the East as well as the West, the two legs of the image with five toes on each, that is, ten in all] is to be divided, will lose their monarchical form in the end [Auberlen]; but see Re 17:12, which seems to imply crowned kings.

4. The color scarlet, it is remarkable, is that reserved for popes and cardinals. Paul II made it penal for anyone but cardinals to wear hats of scarlet; compare Roman Ceremonial [3.5.5]. This book was compiled several centuries ago by Marcellus, a Romish archbishop, and dedicated to Leo X. In it are enumerated five different articles of dress of scarlet color. A vest is mentioned studded with pearls. The Pope's miter is of gold and precious stones. These are the very characteristics outwardly which Revelation thrice assigns to the harlot or Babylon. So Joachim an abbot from Calabria, about A.D. 1200, when asked by Richard of England, who had summoned him to Palestine, concerning Antichrist, replied that "he was born long ago at Rome, and is now exalting himself above all that is called God." Roger Hoveden [Annals, 1.2], and elsewhere, wrote, "The harlot arrayed in gold is the Church of Rome." Whenever and wherever (not in Rome alone) the Church, instead of being "clothed (as at first, Re 12:1) with the sun" of heaven, is arrayed in earthly meretricious gauds, compromising the truth of God through fear, or flattery, of the world's power, science, or wealth, she becomes the harlot seated on the beast, and doomed in righteous retribution to be judged by the beast (Re 17:16). Soon, like Rome, and like the Jews of Christ's and the apostles' time leagued with the heathen Rome, she will then become the persecutor of the saints (Re 17:6). Instead of drinking her Lord's "cup" of suffering, she has "a cup full of abominations and filthinesses." Rome, in her medals, represents herself holding a cup with the self-condemning inscription, "Sedet super universum." Meanwhile the world power gives up its hostility and accepts Christianity externally; the beast gives up its God-opposed character, the woman gives up her divine one. They meet halfway by mutual concessions; Christianity becomes worldly, the world becomes Christianized. The gainer is the world; the loser is the Church. The beast for a time receives a deadly wound (Re 13:3), but is not really transfigured; he will return worse than ever (Re 17:11-14). The Lord alone by His coming can make the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. The "purple" is the badge of empire; even as in mockery it was put on our Lord.

decked--literally, "gilded."

stones--Greek, "stone."

filthiness--A, B, and Andreas read, "the filthy (impure) things."

5. upon ... forehead ... name--as harlots usually had. What a contrast to "Holiness to the Lord," inscribed on the miter on the high priest's forehead!

mystery--implying a spiritual fact heretofore hidden, and incapable of discovery by mere reason, but now revealed. As the union of Christ and the Church is a "great mystery" (a spiritual truth of momentous interest, once hidden, now revealed, Ep 5:31, 32), so the Church conforming to the world and thereby becoming a harlot is a counter "mystery" (or spiritual truth, symbolically now revealed). As iniquity in the harlot is a leaven working in "mystery," and therefore called "the mystery of iniquity," so when she is destroyed, the iniquity heretofore working (comparatively) latently in her, shall be revealed in the man of iniquity, the open embodiment of all previous evil. Contrast the "mystery of God" and "godliness," Re 10:7; 1Ti 3:16. It was Rome that crucified Christ; that destroyed Jerusalem and scattered the Jews; that persecuted the early Christians in pagan times, and Protestant Christians in papal times; and probably shall be again restored to its pristine grandeur, such as it had under the Cæsars, just before the burning of the harlot and of itself with her. So Hippolytus [On Antichrist] (who lived in the second century), thought. Popery cannot be at one and the same time the "mystery of iniquity," and the manifested or revealed Antichrist. Probably it will compromise for political power (Re 17:3) the portion of Christianity still in its creed, and thus shall prepare the way for Antichrist's manifestation. The name Babylon, which in the image, Da 2:32, 38, is given to the head, is here given to the harlot, which marks her as being connected with the fourth kingdom, Rome, the last part of the image. Benedict XIII, in his indiction for a jubilee, A.D. 1725, called Rome "the mother of all believers, and the mistress of all churches" (harlots like herself). The correspondence of syllables and accents in Greek is striking; "He porne kai to therion; He numphe kai to arnion." "The whore and the beast; the Bride and the Lamb."

of harlots--Greek, "of the harlots and of the abominations." Not merely Rome, but Christendom as a whole, even as formerly Israel as a whole, has become a harlot. The invisible Church of true believers is hidden and dispersed in the visible Church. The boundary lines which separate harlot and woman are not denominational nor drawn externally, but can only be spiritually discerned. If Rome were the only seat of Babylon, much of the spiritual profit of Revelation would be lost to us; but the harlot "sitteth upon many waters" (Re 17:1), and "ALL nations have drunk of the wine of her fornication" (Re 17:2; Re 18:3; "the earth," Re 19:2). External extensiveness over the whole world and internal conformity to the world--worldliness in extent and contents--is symbolized by the name of the world city, "Babylon." As the sun shines on all the earth, thus the woman clothed with the sun is to let her light penetrate to the uttermost parts of the earth. But she, in externally Christianizing the world, permits herself to be seduced by the world; thus her universality or catholicity is not that of the Jerusalem which we look for ("the MOTHER of us all," Re 21:2; Is 2:2-4; Ga 4:26), but that of Babylon, the world-wide but harlot city! (As Babylon was destroyed, and the Jews restored to Jerusalem by Cyrus, so our Cyrus--a Persian name meaning the sun--the Sun of righteousness, shall bring Israel, literal and spiritual, to the holy Jerusalem at His coming. Babylon and Jerusalem are the two opposite poles of the spiritual world). Still, the Romish Church is not only accidentally and as a matter of fact, but in virtue of its very PRINCIPLE, a harlot, the metropolis of whoredom, "the mother of harlots"; whereas the evangelical Protestant Church is, according to her principle and fundamental creed, a chaste woman; the Reformation was a protest of the woman against the harlot. The spirit of the heathen world kingdom Rome had, before the Reformation, changed the Church in the West into a Church-State, Rome; and in the East, into a State-Church, fettered by the world power, having its center in Byzantium; the Roman and Greek churches have thus fallen from the invisible spiritual essence of the Gospel into the elements of the world [Auberlen]. Compare with the "woman" called "Babylon" here, the woman named "wickedness," or "lawlessness," "iniquity" (Zec 5:7, 8, 11), carried to Babylon: compare "the mystery of iniquity" and "the man of sin," "that wicked one," literally, "the lawless one" (2Th 2:7, 8; also Mt 24:12).

6. martyrs--witnesses.

I wondered with great admiration--As the Greek is the same in the verb and the noun, translate the latter "wonder." John certainly did not admire her in the modern English sense. Elsewhere (Re 17:8; 13:3), all the earthly-minded ("they that dwell on the earth") wonder in admiration of the beast. Here only is John's wonder called forth; not the beast, but the woman sunken into the harlot, the Church become a world-loving apostate, moves his sorrowful astonishment at so awful a change. That the world should be beastly is natural, but that the faithful bride should become the whore is monstrous, and excites the same amazement in him as the same awful change in Israel excited in Isaiah and Jeremiah. "Horrible thing" in them answers to "abominations" here. "Corruptio optimi pessima"; when the Church falls, she sinks lower than the godless world, in proportion as her right place is higher than the world. It is striking that in Re 17:3, "woman" has not the article, "the woman," as if she had been before mentioned: for though identical in one sense with the woman, Re 12:1-6, in another sense she is not. The elect are never perverted into apostates, and still remain as the true woman invisibly contained in the harlot; yet Christendom regarded as the woman has apostatized from its first faith.

8. beast ... was, and is not--(Compare Re 17:11). The time when the beast "is not" is the time during which it has "the deadly wound"; the time of the seventh head becoming Christian externally, when its beast-like character was put into suspension temporarily. The healing of its wound answers to its ascending out of the bottomless pit. The beast, or Antichristian world power, returns worse than ever, with satanic powers from hell (Re 11:7), not merely from the sea of convulsed nations (Re 13:1). Christian civilization gives the beast only a temporary wound, whence the deadly wound is always mentioned in connection with its being healed up the non-existence of the beast in connection with its reappearance; and Daniel does not even notice any change in the world power effected by Christianity. We are endangered on one side by the spurious Christianity of the harlot, on the other by the open Antichristianity of the beast; the third class is Christ's little flock."

go--So B, Vulgate, and Andreas read the future tense. But A and Irenæus, "goeth."

into perdition--The continuance of this revived seventh (that is, the eighth) head is short: it is therefore called "the son of perdition," who is essentially doomed to it almost immediately after his appearance.

names were--so Vulgate and Andreas. But A, B, Syriac, and Coptic read the singular, "name is."

written in--Greek, "upon."

which--rather, "when they behold the beast that it was," &c. So Vulgate.

was, and is not, and yet is--A, B, and Andreas read, "and shall come" (literally, "be present," namely, again: Greek, "kai parestai"). The Hebrew, "tetragrammaton," or sacred four letters in Jehovah, "who is, who was, and who is to come," the believer's object of worship, has its contrasted counterpart in the beast "who was, and is not, and shall be present," the object of the earth's worship [Bengel]. They exult with wonder in seeing that the beast which had seemed to have received its death blow from Christianity, is on the eve of reviving with greater power than ever on the ruins of that religion which tormented them (Re 11:10).

9. Compare Re 13:18; Da 12:10, where similarly spiritual discernment is put forward as needed in order to understand the symbolical prophecy.

seven heads and seven mountains--The connection between mountains and kings must be deeper than the mere outward fact to which incidental allusion is made, that Rome (the then world city) is on seven hills (whence heathen Rome had a national festival called Septimontium, the feast of the seven-hilled city [Plutarch]; and on the imperial coins, just as here, she is represented as a woman seated on seven hills. Coin of Vespasian, described by Captain Smyth [Roman Coins, p. 310; Ackerman, 1, p. 87]). The seven heads can hardly be at once seven kings or kingdoms (Re 17:10), and seven geographical mountains. The true connection is, as the head is the prominent part of the body, so the mountain is prominent in the land. Like "sea" and "earth"and "waters ... peoples" (Re 17:15), so "mountains" have a symbolical meaning, namely, prominent seats of power. Especially such as are prominent hindrances to the cause of God (Psa 68:16, 17; Is 40:4; 41:15; 49:11; Eze 35:2); especially Babylon (which geographically was in a plain, but spiritually is called a destroying mountain, Jr 51:25), in majestic contrast to which stands Mount Zion, "the mountain of the Lord's house" (Is 2:2), and the heavenly mount; Re 21:10, "a great and high mountain ... and that great city, the holy Jerusalem." So in Da 2:35, the stone becomes a mountain--Messiah's universal kingdom supplanting the previous world kingdoms. As nature shadows forth the great realities of the spiritual world, so seven-hilled Rome is a representative of the seven-headed world power of which the dragon has been, and is the prince. The "seven kings" are hereby distinguished from the "ten kings" (Re 17:12): the former are what the latter are not, "mountains," great seats of the world power. The seven universal God-opposed monarchies are Egypt (the first world power which came into collision with God's people,) Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Medo-Persia, Rome, the Germanic-Slavonic empire (the clay of the fourth kingdom mixed with its iron in Nebuchadnezzar's image, a fifth material, Da 2:33, 34, 42, 43, symbolizing this last head). These seven might seem not to accord with the seven heads in Da 7:4-7, one head on the first beast (Babylon), one on the second (Medo-Persia), four on the third (Greece; namely, Egypt, Syria, Thrace with Bithynia, and Greece with Macedon): but Egypt and Greece are in both lists. Syria answers to Assyria (from which the name Syria is abbreviated), and Thrace with Bithynia answers to the Gothic-Germanic-Slavonic hordes which, pouring down on Rome from the North, founded the Germanic-Slavonic empire. The woman sitting on the seven hills implies the Old and New Testament Church conforming to, and resting on, the world power, that is, on all the seven world kingdoms. Abraham and Isaac dissembling as to their wives through fear of the kings of Egypt foreshadowed this. Compare Eze 16:1-63; 23:1-49, on Israel's whoredoms with Egypt, Assyria, Babylon; and Mt 7:24; 24:10-12, 23-26, on the characteristics of the New Testament Church's harlotry, namely, distrust, suspicion, hatred, treachery, divisions into parties, false doctrine.

10. there are--Translate, "they (the seven heads) are seven kings."

five ... one--Greek, "the five ... the one"; the first five of the seven are fallen (a word applicable not to forms of government passing away, but to the fall of once powerful empires: Egypt, Eze 29:1-30:26; Assyria and Nineveh, Na 3:1-19; Babylon, Re 18:2; Jr 50:1-51:64; Medo-Persia, Da 8:3-7, 20-22; 10:13; 11:2; Greece, Da 11:4). Rome was "the one" existing in John's days. "Kings" is the Scripture phrase for kingdoms, because these kingdoms are generally represented in character by some one prominent head, as Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, Medo-Persia by Cyrus, Greece by Alexander, &c.

the other is not yet come--not as Alford, inaccurately representing Auberlen, the Christian empire beginning with Constantine; but, the Germanic-Slavonic empire beginning and continuing in its beast-like, that is, HEATHEN Antichristian character for only "a short space." The time when it is said of it, "it is not" (Re 17:11), is the time during which it is "wounded to death," and has the "deadly wound" (Re 13:3). The external Christianization of the migrating hordes from the North which descended on Rome, is the wound to the beast answering to the earth swallowing up the flood (heathen tribes) sent by the dragon, Satan, to drown the woman, the Church. The emphasis palpably is on "a short space," which therefore comes first in the Greek, not on "he must continue," as if his continuance for some [considerable] time were implied, as Alford wrongly thinks. The time of external Christianization (while the beast's wound continues) has lasted for centuries, ever since Constantine. Rome and the Greek Church have partially healed the wound by image worship.

11. beast that ... is not--his beastly character being kept down by outward Christianization of the state until he starts up to life again as "the eighth" king, his "wound being healed" (Re 13:3), Antichrist manifested in fullest and most intense opposition to God. The "he" is emphatic in the Greek. He, peculiarly and pre-eminently: answering to "the little horn" with eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things, before whom three of the ten horns were plucked up by the roots, and to whom the whole ten "give their power and strength" (Re 17:12, 13, 17). That a personal Antichrist will stand at the head of the Antichristian kingdom, is likely from the analogy of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Old Testament Antichrist, "the little horn" in Da 8:9-12; also, "the man of sin, son of perdition" (2Th 2:3-8), answers here to "goeth into perdition," and is applied to an individual, namely, Judas, in the only other passage where the phrase occurs (Joh 17:12). He is essentially a child of destruction, and hence he has but a little time ascended out of the bottomless pit, when he "goes into perdition" (Re 17:8, 11). "While the Church passes through death of the flesh to glory of the Spirit, the beast passes through the glory of the flesh to death" [Auberlen].

is of the seven--rather "springs out of the seven." The eighth is not merely one of the seven restored, but a new power or person proceeding out of the seven, and at the same time embodying all the God-opposed features of the previous seven concentrated and consummated; for which reason there are said to be not eight, but only seven heads, for the eighth is the embodiment of all the seven. In the birth-pangs which prepare the "regeneration" there are wars, earthquakes, and disturbances [Auberlen], wherein Antichrist takes his rise ("sea," Re 13:1; Mr 13:8; Lu 21:9-11). He does not fall like the other seven (Re 17:10), but is destroyed, going to his own perdition, by the Lord in person.

12. ten kings ... received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings ... with the beast--Hence and from Re 17:14, 16, it seems that these ten kings or kingdoms, are to be contemporaries with the beast in its last or eighth form, namely, Antichrist. Compare Da 2:34, 44, "the stone smote the image upon his feet," that is, upon the ten toes, which are, in Da 2:41-44, interpreted to be "kings." The ten kingdoms are not, therefore, ten which arose in the overthrow of Rome (heathen), but are to rise out of the last state of the fourth kingdom under the eighth head. I agree with Alford that the phrase "as kings," implies that they reserve their kingly rights in their alliance with the beast, wherein "they give their power and strength unto" him (Re 17:13). They have the name of kings, but not with undivided kingly power [Wordsworth]. See Auberlen's not so probable view, see on Re 17:3.

one hour--a definite time of short duration, during which "the devil is come down to the inhabitant of the earth and of the sea, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." Probably the three and a half years (Re 11:2, 3; 13:5). Antichrist is in existence long before the fall of Babylon; but it is only at its fail he obtains the vassalage of the ten kings. He in the first instance imposes on the Jews as the Messiah, coming in his own name; then persecutes those of them who refuse his blasphemous pretensions. Not until the sixth vial, in the latter part of his reign, does he associate the ten kings with him in war with the Lamb, having gained them over by the aid of the spirits of devils working miracles. His connection with Israel appears from his sitting "in the temple of God" (2Th 2:4), and as the antitypical "abomination of desolation standing in the Holy place" (Da 9:27; 12:11; Mt 24:15), and "in the city where our Lord was crucified" (Re 11:8). It is remarkable that Irenæus [Against Heresies, 5:25] and Cyril of Jerusalem [Rufinus, Historia Monachorum, 10.37] prophesied that Antichrist would have his seat at Jerusalem and would restore the kingdom of the Jews. Julian the apostate, long after, took part with the Jews, and aided in building their temple, herein being Antichrist's forerunner.

13. one mind--one sentiment.

shall give--So Coptic. But A, B, and Syriac, "give."

strength--Greek, "authority." They become his dependent allies (Re 17:14). Thus Antichrist sets up to be King of kings, but scarcely has he put forth his claim when the true King of kings appears and dashes him down in a moment to destruction.

14. These shall ... war with the Lamb--in league with the beast. This is a summary anticipation of Re 19:19. This shall not be till after they have first executed judgment on the harlot (Re 17:15, 16).

Lord of lords, &c.--anticipating Re 19:16.

are--not in the Greek. Therefore translate, "And they that are with Him, called chosen, and faithful (shall overcome them, namely, the beast and his allied kings)." These have been with Christ in heaven unseen, but now appear with Him.

15. (Re 17:1; Is 8:7.) An impious parody of Jehovah who "sitteth upon the flood" [Alford]. Also, contrast the "many waters" Re 19:6, "Alleluia."

peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues--The "peoples," &c., here mark the universality of the spiritual fornication of the Church. The "tongues" remind us of the original Babel, the confusion of tongues, the beginning of Babylon, and the first commencement of idolatrous apostasy after the flood, as the tower was doubtless dedicated to the deified heavens. Thus, Babylon is the appropriate name of the harlot. The Pope, as the chief representative of the harlot, claims a double supremacy over all peoples, typified by the "two swords" according to the interpretation of Boniface VIII in the Bull, "Unam Sanctam," and represented by the two keys: spiritual as the universal bishop, whence he is crowned with the miter; and temporal, whence he is also crowned with the tiara in token of his imperial supremacy. Contrast with the Pope's diadems the "many diadems" of Him who alone has claim to, and shall exercise when He shall come, the twofold dominion (Re 19:12).

16. upon the beast--But A, B, Vulgate, and Syriac read, "and the beast."

shall make her desolate--having first dismounted her from her seat on the beast (Re 17:3).

naked--stripped of all her gaud (Re 17:4). As Jerusalem used the world power to crucify her Saviour, and then was destroyed by that very power, Rome; so the Church, having apostatized to the world, shall have judgment executed on her first by the world power, the beast and his allies; and these afterwards shall have judgment executed on them by Christ Himself in person. So Israel leaning on Egypt, a broken reed, is pierced by it; and then Egypt itself is punished. So Israel's whoredom with Assyria and Babylon was punished by the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. So the Church when it goes a-whoring after the word as if it were the reality, instead of witnessing against its apostasy from God, is false to its profession. Being no longer a reality itself, but a sham, the Church is rightly judged by that world which for a time had used the Church to further its own ends, while all the while "hating" Christ's unworldly religion, but which now no longer wants the Church's aid.

eat her flesh--Greek plural, "masses of flesh," that is, "carnal possessions"; implying the fulness of carnality into which the Church is sunk. The judgment on the harlot is again and again described (Re 18:1; 19:5); first by an "angel having great power" (Re 18:1), then by "another voice from heaven" (Re 18:4-20), then by "a mighty angel" (Re 18:21-24). Compare Eze 16:37-44, originally said of Israel, but further applicable to the New Testament Church when fallen into spiritual fornication. On the phrase, "eat ... flesh" for prey upon one's property, and injure the character and person, compare Psa 14:4; 27:2; Jr 10:25; Mi 3:3. The First Napoleon's Edict published at Rome in 1809, confiscating the papal dominions and joining them to France, and later the severance of large portions of the Pope's territory from his sway and the union of them to the dominions of the king of Italy, virtually through Louis Napoleon, are a first instalment of the full realization of this prophecy of the whore's destruction. "Her flesh" seems to point to her temporal dignities and resources, as distinguished from "herself" (Greek). How striking a retribution, that having obtained her first temporal dominions, the exarchate of Ravenna, the kingdom of the Lombards, and the state of Rome, by recognizing the usurper Pepin as lawful king of France, she should be stripped of her dominions by another usurper of France, the Napoleonic dynasty!

burn ... with fire--the legal punishment of an abominable fornication.

17. hath put--the prophetical past tense for the future.

fulfil--Greek, "do," or "accomplish." The Greek, "poiesai," is distinct from that which is translated, "fulfilled," Greek, "telesthesontai," below.

his will--Greek, "his mind," or purpose; while they think only of doing their own purpose.

to agree--literally, "to do" (or accomplish) one mind" or "purpose." A and Vulgate omit this clause, but B supports it.

the words of God--foretelling the rise and downfall of the beast; Greek, "hoi logoi," in A, B, and Andreas. English Version reading is Greek, "ta rhemata," which is not well supported. No mere articulate utterances, but the efficient words of Him who is the Word: Greek, "logos."

fulfilled--(Re 10:7).

18. reigneth--literally, "hath kingship over the kings." The harlot cannot be a mere city literally, but is called so in a spiritual sense (Re 11:8). Also the beast cannot represent a spiritual power, but a world power. In this verse the harlot is presented before us ripe for judgment. The eighteenth chapter details that judgment.

And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters - That idolatrous worship is frequently represented in Scripture under the character of a whore or whoredom, is evident from numerous passages which it is unnecessary to quote. See 1Chr 5:25; Ezekiel 16:1-63; 23:1-49, etc. The woman mentioned here is called a great whore, to denote her excessive depravity, and the artful nature of her idolatry. She is also represented as sitting upon many waters, to show the vast extent of her influence. See on Rev 17:13 (note).

With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication - What an awful picture this is of the state of the religion of the world in subjection to this whore! Kings have committed spiritual fornication with her, and their subjects have drunk deep, dreadfully deep, into the doctrine of her abominable errors.

So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness - This wilderness into which the apostle was carried is the desolate state of the true Church of Christ, in one of the wings of the once mighty Roman empire. It was a truly awful sight, a terrible desert, a waste howling wilderness; for when he came hither he: -

Saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns - No doubt can now be entertained that this woman is the Latin Church, for she sits upon the beast with seven heads and ten horns, which has been already proved to be the Latin empire, because this empire alone contains the number 666. See on Rev 13:18 (note). This is a representation of the Latin Church in her highest state of antichristian prosperity, for she Sits Upon the scarlet coloured beast, a striking emblem of her complete domination over the secular Latin empire. The state of the Latin Church from the commencement of the fourteenth century to the time of the Reformation may be considered that which corresponds to this prophetic description in the most literal and extensive sense of the words; for during this period she was at her highest pitch of worldly grandeur and temporal authority. The beast is full of names of blasphemy; and it is well known that the nations, in support of the Latin or Romish Church, have abounded in blasphemous appellations, and have not blushed to attribute to themselves and to their Church the most sacred titles, not only blaspheming by the improper use of sacred names, but even by applying to its bishop those names which alone belong to God; for God hath expressly declared that he will not give his glory to another, neither his praise to graven images.

And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication - This strikingly represents the most pompous and costly manner in which the Latin Church has held forth to the nations the rites and ceremonies of its idolatrous and corrupt worship.

And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and Abominations of the Earth - This inscription being written upon her forehead is intended to show that she is not ashamed of her doctrines, but publicly professes and glories in them before the nations: she has indeed a whore's forehead, she has refused to be ashamed. The inscription upon her forehead is exactly the portraiture of the Latin Church. This Church is, as Bishop Newton well expresses it, A Mystery of iniquity. This woman is also called Babylon the Great; she is the exact antitype of the ancient Babylon in her idolatry and cruelty, but the ancient city called Babylon is only a drawing of her in miniature. This is indeed Babylon The Great. "She affects the style and title of our Holy Mother, the Church; but she is, in truth, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth."

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration - How exactly the cruelties exercised by the Latin Church against all it has denominated heretics correspond with this description, the reader need not be informed.

And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel! I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carried her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns - The apostle was greatly astonished, as well he might be, at the woman's being drunk with the blood of the saints, when the beast which carried her abounded with sacred appellations, such as holy, most holy, most Christian, sacred, most sacred. The angel undertakes to explain to St. John the vision which had excited in him so great astonishment; and the explication is of such great importance, that, had it not been given, the mystery of the dragon and the beast could never have been satisfactorily explained in all its particulars. The angel begins with saying: -

The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition - The beast is the Latin kingdom; (Ἡ Λατινη βασιλεια); consequently the beast was, that is, was in existence previously to the time of St. John; (for Latinus was the first king of the Latins, and Numitor the last); is not now, because the Latin nation has ceased long ago to be an independent power, and is now under the dominion of the Romans; but shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, that is, the Latin kingdom, the antichristian power, or that which ascendeth out of the abyss or bottomless pit, is yet in futurity. But it is added: -

And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names there 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 - By the earth is here meant the Latin world; therefore the meaning is, that all who dwell in the Latin world shall adhere to the idolatrous and blasphemous religion of the Latin Church, which is supported by the Latin empire, except those who abide by the sacred Scriptures, receiving them as the only rule of faith and practice. These believe in the true Sacrifice, and keep themselves unspotted from the corruption that is in the world. But the inhabitants of the Latin world, under the dominion of the Romish religion, shall wonder when they behold the beast, or Latin empire; that is, as Lord Napier remarks, "shall have in great admiration, reverence, and estimation, this great monarchie." They shall wonder at it, by considering it the most sacred empire in the world, that in which God peculiarly delights; but those that so wonder have not their names written in the book of life, but are such as prefer councils to Divine revelation, and take their religion from missals, rituals, and legends, instead of the sacred oracles: hence they are corrupt and idolatrous, and no idolater hath inheritance in the kingdom of God. In the preceding part of the verse the beast is considered in three states, as that which was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit; here a fourth is introduced, and yet is. This is added to show that, though the Latins were subjugated by the Romans, nevertheless the Romans themselves were Latins; for Romulus the founder of their monarchy, was a Latin; consequently that denominated in St. John's days the Roman empire was, in reality, the Latin kingdom; for the very language of the empire was the Latin, and the Greek writers, who lived in the time of the Roman empire, expressly tell us that those formerly called Latins are now named Romans. The meaning of the whole verse is therefore as follows: The corrupt part of mankind shall have in great admiration the Latin empire yet in futurity, which has already been, but is now extinct, the Romans having conquered it; and yet is still in being; for, though the Latin nation has been subjugated, its conquerors are themselves Latins. But it may be objected against the interpretation here given, that these phrases are spoken of the beast upon which the apostle saw the woman, or Latin Church, sit; for the angel says, The beast that Thou Sawest was, and is not, etc.; what reference, therefore, can the Latin empire, which supports the Latin Church, have to the Latin kingdom which subsisted before St. John's time, or to the Roman empire which might properly be so denominated! This objection has very great weight at first sight, and cannot be answered satisfactorily till the angel's explanation of the heads and horns of the beast have been examined; therefore it is added: -

Here is the mind which hath wisdom - It was said before, Rev 13:18, Here is wisdom. Let him that hath A Mind, or understanding, (νουν), count the number of the beast. Wisdom, therefore, here means a correct view of what is intended by the number 666; consequently the parallel passage, Here is The Mind which hath Wisdom, is a declaration that the number of the beast must first be understood, before the angel's interpretation of the vision concerning the whore and the beast can admit of a satisfactory explanation.

The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth - This verse has been almost universally considered to allude to the seven hills upon which Rome originally stood. But it has been objected that modern Rome is not thus situated, and that, consequently, pagan Rome is intended in the prophecy. This is certainly a very formidable objection against the generally received opinion among Protestants, that papal Rome is the city meant by the woman sitting upon seven mountains. It has been already shown that the woman here mentioned is an emblem of the Latin Church in her highest state of antichristian prosperity; and therefore the city of Rome, seated upon seven mountains, is not at all designed in the prophecy. In order to understand this scripture aright, the word mountains must be taken in a figurative and not a literal sense, as in Rev 6:14; Rev 16:20. See also Isa 2:2, Isa 2:14; Jer 51:25; Dan 2:35, etc.; in which it is unequivocally the emblem of great and mighty power. The mountains upon which the woman sitteth must be, therefore, seven great powers; and as the mountains are heads of the beast, they must be the seven Greatest eminences of the Latin world. As no other power was acknowledged at the head of the Latin empire but that of Germany, how can it be said that the beast has seven heads? This question can only be solved by the feudal constitution of the late Germanic league, the history of which is briefly as follows: At first kings alone granted fiefs. They granted them to laymen only, and to such only who were free; and the vassal had no power to alienate them. Every freeman, and particularly the feudal tenants, were subject to the obligation of military duty, and appointed to guard their sovereign's life, member, mind, and right honor. Soon after, or perhaps a little before, the extinction of the Carlovingian dynasty in France, by the accession of the Capetian line, and in Germany by the accession of the house of Saxony, fiefs, which had been entirely at the disposal of the sovereign, became hereditary. Even the offices of duke, count, margrave, etc., were transmitted in the course of hereditary descent; and not long after, the right of primogeniture was universally established. The crown vassals usurped the sovereign property of the land, with civil and military authority over the inhabitants. The possession thus usurped they granted out to their immediate tenants; and these granted them over to others in like manner. Thus the principal vassals gradually obtained every royal prerogative; they promulgated laws, exercised the power of life and death, coined money, fixed the standard of weights and measures, granted safeguards, entertained a military force, and imposed taxes, with every right supposed to be annexed to royalty. In their titles they styled themselves dukes, etc., Dei gratis, by the grace of God; a prerogative avowedly confined to sovereign power. It was even admitted that, if the king refused to do the lord justice, the lord might make war upon him. The tenants, in their turn, made themselves independent of their vassal lords, by which was introduced an ulterior state of vassalage. The king was called the sovereign lord, his immediate vassal was called the suzereign, and the tenants holding of him were called the arrere vassals. See Butler's Revolutions of the Germanic Empire, pp. 54-66. Thus the power of the emperors of Germany, which was so very considerable in the ninth century, was gradually diminished by the means of the feudal system; and during the anarchy of the long interregnum, occasioned by the interference of the popes in the election of the emperors, (from 1256 to 1273), the imperial power was reduced almost to nothing. Rudolph of Hapsburg, the founder of the house of Austria, was at length elected emperor, because his territories and influence were so inconsiderable as to excite no jealously in the German princes, who were willing to preserve the forms of constitution, the power and vigor of which they had destroyed. See Robertson's Introduction to his History of Charles V. Before the dissolution of the empire in 1806, Germany "presented a complex association of principalities more or less powerful, and more or less connected with a nominal sovereignty in the emperor, as its supreme feudal chief." "There were about three hundred princes of the empire, each sovereign in his own country, who might enter into alliances, and pursue by all political measures his own private interest, as other sovereigns do; for if even an imperial war were declared he might remain neuter, if the safety of the empire were not at stake. Here then was an empire of a construction, without exception, the most singular and intricate that ever appeared in the world; for the emperor was only the chief of the Germanic confederation." Germany was, therefore, speaking in the figurative language of Scripture, a country abounding in hills, or containing an immense number of distinct principalities. But the different German states (as has been before observed) did not each possess an equal share of power and influence; some were more eminent than others. Among them were also a few which might, with the greatest propriety, be denominated mountains, or states possessing a very high degree of political importance. But the seven mountains on which the woman sits must have their elevations above all the other eminences in the whole Latin world; consequently, they can be no other than the Seven Electorates of the German empire. These were, indeed, mountains of vast eminence; for in their sovereigns was vested the sole poorer of electing the head of the empire. But this was not all; for besides the power of electing an emperor, the electors had a right to capitulate with the new head of the empire, to dictate the conditions on which he was to reign, and to depose him if he broke those conditions. They actually deposed Adolphus of Nassau in 1298, and Wenceslaus in 1400. They were sovereign and independent princes in their respective dominions, had the privilegium de non appellando illimitatum, that of making war, coining, and exercising every act of sovereignty; they formed a separate college in the diet of the empire, and had among themselves a particular covenant or league called Kur verein; they had precedence of all the other princes of the empire, and even ranked with kings. The heads of the beast understood in this way, is one of the finest emblems of the German constitution which can possibly be conceived; for as the Roman empire of Germany had the precedence of all the other monarchies of which the Latin empire was composed, the seven mountains very fitly denote the seven Principal powers of what has been named the holy Roman empire. And also, as each electorate, by virtue of its union with the Germanic body, was more powerful than any other Roman Catholic state of Europe not so united; so was each electorate, in the most proper sense of the word, one of the highest elevations in the Latin world. The time when the seven electorates of the empire were first instituted is very uncertain. The most probable opinion appears to be that which places their origin some time in the thirteenth century. The uncertainty, however, in this respect, does not in the least weaken the evidence of the mountains being the seven electorates, but rather confirms it; for, as we have already observed, the representation of the woman sitting upon the beast is a figure of the Latin Church in the period of her greatest authority, spiritual and temporal; this we know did not take place before the commencement of the fourteenth century, a period subsequent to the institution of the seven electorates. Therefore the woman sits upon the seven mountains, or the German empire in its elective aristocratical state; she is said to sit upon them, to denote that she has the whole German empire under her direction and authority, and also that it is her chief support and strength. Supported by Germany, she is under no apprehension of being successfully opposed by any other power: she sits upon the seven mountains, therefore she is higher than the seven highest eminences of the Latin world; she must therefore have the secular Latin empire under her complete subjection. But this state of eminence did not continue above two or three centuries; the visible declension of the papal power in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, occasioned partly by the removal of the papal see from Rome to Avignon, and more particularly by the great schism from 1377 to 1417, though considered one of the remote causes of the Reformation, was at first the means of merely transferring the supreme power from the pope to a general council, while the dominion of the Latin Church remained much the same. At the council of Constance, March 30, 1415, it was decreed "that the synod being lawfully assembled in the name of the Holy Ghost, which constituted the general council, and represented the whole Catholic Church militant, had its power immediately from Jesus Christ; and that every person, of whatsoever state or dignity, Even the Pope Himself is obliged to obey it in what concerns the faith, the extirpation of schism, and the general reformation of the Church in its head and members." The council of Basil of 1432 decreed "that every one of whatever dignity or condition, Not Excepting the Pope Himself, who shall refuse to obey the ordinances and decrees of this general council, or any other, shall be put under penance, and punished. It is also declared that the pope has no power to dissolve the general council without the consent and decree of the assembly." See the third tome of Du Pin's Ecclesiastical History. But what gave the death blow to the temporal sovereignty of the Latin Church was the light of the glorious reformation which first broke out in Germany in 1517, and in a very few years gained its way, not only over several of the great principalities in Germany, but was also made the established religion of other popish countries. Consequently, in the sixteenth century, the woman no longer sat upon the seven mountains, the electorates not only having refused to be ruled by her, but some of them having also despised and abandoned her doctrines. The changes, therefore, which were made in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, in the number of the electorates, will not affect in the least the interpretation of the seven mountains already given. The seven electors were the archbishops of Mentz, Cologne, and Triers, the count palatine of the Rhine, the duke of Saxony, the marquis of Brandenburgh, and the king of Bohemia. But the heads of the beast have a double signification; for the angel says: -

And there are seven kings - Και βασιλεις ἑπτα εισιν· They are also seven kings. Before, it was said, they are seven mountains; here, they are also seven kings, which is a demonstration that kingdoms are not here meant by mountains: and this is a farther argument that the seven electorates are represented by seven mountains, for though the sovereigns of these states ranked with kings, they were not kings: that is to say, they were not absolute and sole lords of the territories they possessed, independently of the emperor, for their states formed a part of the Germanic body. But the seven heads of the beast are also seven kings, that is to say, the Latin empire has had seven supreme forms of government; for king is used in the prophetical writings for any supreme governor of a state or people, as is evident from Deu 33:5, where Moses is called a king. Of these seven kings, or supreme forms of Latin government, the angel informs St. John: -

Five are fallen, and one is - It is well known that the first form of Latin government was that of kings, which continued after the death of Latinus 428 years, till the building of Rome, b.c. 753. After Numitor's decease the Albans or Latins instituted the form of a republic, and were governed by dictators. We have only the names of two, viz., Cluilius and Metius Fufetius or Suffetius; but as the dictatorship continued at least eighty-eight years, there might have been others, though their names and actions are unknown. In the year before Christ 665 Alba, the metropolis of the Latin nation, was destroyed by Tullus Hostilius, the third king of the Romans, and the inhabitants carried to Rome. This put an end to the monarchical republic of the Latins; and the Latins elected two annual magistrates, whom Licinius calls dictators, but who are called praetors by other writers. This form of government continued till the time of P. Decius Mus, the Roman consul; for Festus, in his fourteenth book, informs us "that the Albans enjoyed prosperity till the time of King Tullus; but that, Alba being then destroyed, the consuls, till the time of P. Decius Mus, held a consultation with the Latins at the head of Ferentina, and the empire was governed by the council of both nations." The Latin nation was entirely subjugated by the Romans b.c. 336, which put an end to the government by praetors, after it had continued upwards of three hundred years. The Latins from this time ceased to be a nation, as it respects the name; therefore the three forms of government already mentioned were those which the Latins had during that period which the angel speaks of, when he says, The beast which thou sawest Was. But as five heads, or forms of government, had fallen before St. John's time, it is evident that the two other forms of government which had fallen must be among those of the Romans; first, because though the Latin nation so called, was deprived of all authority by the Romans, yet the Latin power continued to exist, for the very conquerors of the Latin nation were Latins; and, consequently the Latins, though a conquered people, continued to have a Latin government. Secondly, the angel expressly says, when speaking to St. John, that one is, that is, the sixth head, or Latin form of government, was then in existence; which could be no other than the imperial power, this being the only independent form of Latin government in the apostolic age. It therefore necessarily follows, that the Roman forms of government by which Latium was ruled must be the remaining heads of the beast. Before the subjugation of the Latins by the Romans four of the Roman or draconic forms of government had fallen, the regal power, the dictatorship, the decemvirate, and the consular power of the military tribunes, the last of which was abolished about 366 years before the commencement of the Christian era; none of these, therefore, ruled over the Whole Latin nation. But as the Latins were finally subdued about 336 b.c., the consular government of the Romans, which was then the supreme power in the state, must be the fourth head of the beast. This form of government continued, with very little interruption, till the rising up of the triumvirate, the fifth head of the beast, b.c. 43. The dictatorship of Sylla and Julius Caesar could not be considered a new head of the beast, as the Latins had already been ruled by it in the persons of Cluilius and Fufetius. The sixth head of the beast, or that which existed in the time of St. John, was consequently, as we have already proved, the imperial power of the heathen Caesars, or the seventh draconic form of government.

And the other is not yet come - Bishop Newton considers the Roman dutchy, under the eastern emperor's lieutenant, the exarch of Ravenna, the seventh head of the beast. But this cannot be the form of government signified by the seventh head, for a head of the beast as we have already shown, is a supreme, independent form of Latin government; consequently the Roman dutchy cannot be the seventh head, as it was dependent upon the exarchate of Ravenna; and the exarchate cannot be the head, as it was itself in subjection to the Greek empire. The Rev. G. Faber has ascertained the truth exactly in denominating the Carlovingian patriciate the seventh head of the beast. That this was a supreme, independent form of government, is evident from history. Gibbon, in speaking of the patriciate, observes that "the decrees of the senate and people successively invested Charles Martel and his posterity with the honors of patrician of Rome. The leaders of a powerful nation would have disdained a servile title and subordinate office; but the reign of the Greek emperors was suspended, and in the vacancy of the empire they derived a more glorious commission from the pope and the republic. The Roman ambassadors presented these patricians with the keys of the shrine of St. Peter as a pledge and symbol of sovereignty, and with a holy banner, which it was their right and duty to unfurl in defense of the Church and city. In the time of Charles Martel and of Pepin, the interposition of the Lombard kingdom covered the freedom, while it threatened the safety of Rome; and the patriciate represented only the title, the service, the alliance, of these distant protectors. The power and policy of Charlemagne annihilated an enemy, and imposed a master. In his first visit to the capital he was received with all the honors which had formerly been paid to the exarch, the representative of the emperor; and these honors obtained some new decorations from the joy and gratitude of Pope Adrian I. In the portico Adrian expected him at the head of his clergy; they embraced as friends and equals; but in their march to the altar, the king, or patrician, assumed the right hand of the pope. Nor was the Frank content with these vain and empty demonstrations of respect. In the twenty-six years that elapsed between the conquest of Lombardy and his imperial coronation, Rome, which had been delivered by the sword, was subject, as his own, to the scepter of Charlemagne. The people swore allegiance to his person and family, in his name money was coined and justice was administered, and the election of the popes was examined and confirmed by his authority. Except an original and self-inherent claim of sovereignty, there was not any prerogative remaining which the title of emperor could add to the patrician of Rome." The seven heads of the beast are therefore the following: The regal power, the dictatorship, the power of the praetors, the consulate, the triumvirate, the imperial power, and the patriciate.

And when he cometh, he must continue a short space - The seventh form of government was only to remain a short time, which was actually the case; for from its first rise to independent power to its utter extinction, there passed only about forty-five years, a short time in comparison to the duration of several of the preceding forms of government; for the primitive regal government continued at least four hundred and twenty-eight years, the dictatorship was in power about eighty-eight years, the power of the praetors was in being for upwards of three hundred years, the consulate lasted about two hundred and eighty years, and the imperial power continued upwards of five hundred years.

And the beast, that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition - That is to say, the Latin kingdom that has already been, but is now no longer nominally in existence, shall immediately follow the dissolution of the seventh form of Latin government; and this dominion is called ογδοος, an eighth, because it succeeds to the seventh. Yet it is not an eighth head of the beast, because the beast has only seven heads; for to constitute a new head of the beast the form of government must not only differ in nature, but also in name. This head of the beast is, therefore, εκ των ἑπτα, One of the seven. Consequently the form of government represented by this head is the restoration of one of the preceding seven. The restored head can be therefore no other than the regal state of the Latins, or in other words the Latin kingdom, (Ἡ Λατινη βασιλεια), which followed the patriciate or seventh head of Latin government. But the beast in his eighth state, or under his first head restored, goeth into perdition. No other form of Latin government shall succeed; but the beast in his last or antichristian condition shall be taken together with the false prophet that wrought miracles in his sight, "and cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."

It is observable that the eighth Latin power is called by the angel the beast, and also one of his heads. This apparent discordance arises from the double signification of the heads, for if we take the beast upon which the woman sits to be merely a representation of that secular power which supports the Latin Church, then the seven heads will represent the seven electorates of the Germanic empire; but if by the beast we understand the general Latin empire from first to last, then what is, according to the angel's first interpretation of the heads, called the beast, is in this case only one of his heads. See on Rev 17:18 (note).

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 - The meaning of horns has already been defined when speaking of those of the dragon. The meaning is therefore as follows: Though the Latin empire be now in existence, the ten horns refer to ten Latin kingdoms yet in futurity, and consequently they have received no dominion As Yet; for that part of the Latin domination now in power is the sixth head, or imperial government of the heathen Caesars. But the ten states of the Latins receive dominion as monarchies μιαν ὡραν, one time, (as it may be properly translated), i.e., at the same time with the beast, or that which ascendeth out of the bottomless pit; consequently, the Latin empire here intended is the one which was in futurity in the apostolic age.

These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast - Therefore the ten horns must constitute the principal strength of the Latin empire; that is to say, this empire is to be composed of the dominions of ten monarchs independent of each other in every other sense except in their implicit obedience to the Latin Church. The beast in this and the preceding verse is distinguished from its horns, as the Whole Latin empire is distinguished in history from its constituent powers. See on Rev 17:16 (note).

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 - The ten powers of the beast must compose the secular kingdom of antichrist, for they make war with the Lamb, who is Christ Jesus. This is perfectly true of all popish states, for they have constantly opposed, as long as they have had any secular power, the progress of pure Christianity. They make war with the Lamb by persecuting his followers; but the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is the Lord of lords, and King of kings - all lords have their authority from him, and no king can reign without him; therefore the ten Latin kings are God's ministers to execute his vengeance upon the idolatrous nations. But when these antichristian monarchies have executed the Divine purpose, those that are with the Lamb - the called, the chosen, and the faithful, those who have kept The Truth in the love of it, shall prevail against all their adversaries, because their battles are fought by the Lamb, who is their God and Deliverer. See Rev 19:19, Rev 19:20.

And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues - "So many words," Bishop Newton observes, "in the plural number, fitly denote the great extensiveness of her power and jurisdiction. She herself glories in the title of the Catholic Church, and exults in the number of her votaries as a certain proof of the true religion. Cardinal Bellarmin's first note of the true Church is, the very name of the Catholic Church; and his fourth note is, amplitude, or multitude, and variety of believers; for the truly Catholic Church, says he, ought not only to comprehend all ages, but likewise all places, all nations, all kinds of men."

And the ten horns which thou sowest 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 - Here is a clue to lead us to the right interpretation of the horns of the beast. It is said the Ten horns shall hate the whore; by which is evidently meant, when connected with what follows, that the whole of the ten kingdoms in the interest of the Latin Church shall finally despise her doctrines, be reformed from popery, assist in depriving her of all influence and in exposing her follies, and in the end consign her to utter destruction. From this it follows that no Roman Catholic power which did not exist so late as the Reformation can be numbered among the horns of the beast; the horns must, therefore, be found among the great states of Europe at the commencement of the Reformation. These were exactly ten, viz., France, Spain, England, Scotland, The Empire, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, and Portugal. In these were comprehended most of the minor states not styled monarchies, and which, from their first rise to the period of the Reformation, had been subdued by one or more of the ten grand Roman Catholic powers already named. Consequently, these ten constituted the power and strength of the beast; and each minor state is considered a part of that monarchy under the authority of which it was finally reduced previously to the Reformation.

But it may be asked, How could the empire, which was the revived head of the beast, have been at the same time one of its horns? The answer is as follows: Horns of an animal, in the language of prophecy, represent the powers of which that empire or kingdom symbolized by the animal is composed. Thus the angel, in his interpretation of Daniel's vision of the ram and he-goat expressly informs us that "the ram with two horns are the kings of Media and Persia." One of the horns of the ram, therefore, represented the kingdom of Media, and the other the kingdom of Persia; and their union in one animal denoted the united kingdom of Media and Persia, viz., the Medo-Persian empire. In like manner the beast with ten horns denotes that the empire represented by the beast is composed of ten distinct powers, and the ten horns being united in one beast very appropriately show that the monarchies symbolized by these horns are united together to form one empire; for we have already shown, in the notes on Rev 13:1, that a beast is the symbol of an empire. Therefore, as the horns of an animal, agreeably to the angel's explanation, (and we can have no higher authority), represent all the powers of which that domination symbolized by the animal is composed, the Roman empire of Germany, as one of those monarchies which gave their power and strength to the Latin empire, must consequently have been A Horn of the beast. But the Germanic empire was not only a Latin power, but at the same time was acknowledged by all Europe to have precedency of all the others. Therefore, as it is not possible to express these two circumstances by one symbol, it necessarily follows, from the nature of symbolical language, that what has been named the holy Roman empire must have a double representation. Hence the empire, as one of the powers of the Latin monarchy, was a horn of the beast, and in having precedency of all the others was its revived head. See a similar explanation of the tail of the dragon in the notes on Rev 12:4.

For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled - Let no one imagine that these ten Latin kingdoms, because they support an idolatrous worship, have been raised up merely by the power of man or the chances of war. No kingdom or state can exist without the will of God; therefore let the inhabitants of the world tremble when they see a wicked monarchy rise to power, and let them consider that it is raised up by the Lord to execute his vengeance upon the idolatries and profligacies of the times. It is said of the kings in communion with the Church of Rome, that God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will. How is this Divine will accomplished? In the most awful and afflictive manner! In causing ten Latin kings to unite their dominions into one mighty empire for the defense of the Latin Church. Here is a dreadful dispensation of Jehovah; but it is such as the nations have most righteously deserved, because when they had the truth they lived not according to its most holy requisitions, but loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Therefore hath "the Lord sent them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they might all be damned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness." But this deplorable state of the world is not perpetual, it can only continue till every word of God is fulfilled upon his enemies; and when this time arrives, (which will be that of Christ's second advent), then shall the Son of God slay that wicked "with the spirit of his mouth, and shall consume him with the brightness of His Coming."

And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth - It has already been shown that the woman sitting upon the seven-headed beast is a representation of the Latin Church; here we have the greatest assurance that it is so, because the woman is called a city, which is a much plainer emblem of a Church, as the word is used unequivocally in this sense in so many parts of Scripture that we cannot well mistake its meaning. See Rev 3:12; Rev 11:2; Rev 21:10; Rev 22:19; and also Psa 46:4; Psa 87:3; Heb 12:22, etc. The woman therefore must be the Latin Church; and as the apostle saw her sitting upon the beast, this must signify that ἡ εχουσα βασιλειαν, she hath A Kingdom over the kings of the earth, i.e., over the kings of the Latin world, for that this is the meaning of earth has been shown before in numerous instances. That Kingdom which the woman has over the kings of the Latin world, or secular Latin empire, or in other words The Kingdom of the Latin Church, is the numbered Latin kingdom or Romish hierarchy. See on Rev 13:18 (note). The woman is also called a Great city, to denote the very great extent of her jurisdiction; for she has comprehended within her walls the subjects of the mighty dominations of France, Spain, England, Scotland, The Empire, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, and Portugal. What an extensive city was this! Surely such as to justify the prophetic denomination, that Great city.

Having now gone through the whole of the angel's interpretation of St. John's vision of a whore sitting upon the seven-headed and ten-horned beast, it will be essentially necessary to examine a little more attentively the eighth verse of this chapter. It has already been shown that the phrases, was, is not, shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and yet is, refer to the Latin kingdom which existed before the building of Rome, to the Roman empire in the time of St. John, and to the Latin empire which was in futurity in the apostolic age. But as the words was, is not, etc., are spoken of the beast upon which the apostle saw the woman, or Latin Church, sit; how can it be said of this beast that it had an existence before the date of the Apocalypse, when the woman whom it carried was not in being till long after this period? And what connection has the Latin empire of the middle ages with that which derived its name from Latinus, king of the Aborigines, and was subjugated by the ancient Romans; or even with that which existed in the time of the apostle? The answer is as follows: St. John saw the beast upon which the woman sat with all his seven heads and ten horns. Consequently, as the angel expressly says that five of these seven heads had already fallen in the time of the vision, it therefore necessarily follows that the apostle must have seen that part of the Latin empire represented by the seven-headed beast which had already been under the emblem of five heads. Therefore the woman sat upon the beast that Was. But it is plain from the angel's interpretation that the whole of the seven heads fell, before the beast upon which the woman sat arose; and yet the woman is represented as sitting upon the seven-headed beast to denote, as we have before observed, that it is the Latin kingdom in its last estate, or under one of its heads restored, which is the secular kingdom of antichrist. The beast is also said not to have any existence in the time of the vision; from which it is evident that the monarchy of the Latins, and not that of the Romans, is here intended; because the latter was in the time of the vision. Again, the beast which St. John saw had not ascended out of the bottomless pit in his time; consequently the whole seven heads and ten horns were in futurity, for all these heads and horns rose up out of the abyss at the same time with the beast. How is this apparent contradiction reconciled? In the most plain and satisfactory manner, by means of the angel's double interpretation of the heads; for if the seven heads be taken in the sense of seven mountains, (head in the Scripture style being a symbol of precedency as well as supremacy), then the beast with all its heads and horns was altogether in futurity in the apostle's time, for the seven heads are the seven electorates of the German empire, and the ten horns the ten monarchies in the interest of the Latin Church. Finally, the beast is said to exist in the time of the vision; therefore the Roman empire, which governed the world, must be here alluded to; and consequently the phrase and yet is is a proof that, as the beast is the Latin kingdom, and this beast is said to have an existence in the time of the apostle, the empire of the Caesars, though generally known by the name of the Roman, is in a very proper sense the Latin kingdom, as the Latin was the language which prevailed in it. Hence the seven-headed and ten-horned beast is at once the representation of the ancient Latin power, of the Roman empire which succeeded it, and of the Latin empire which supports the Latin Church. Here is then the connection of the ancient Latin and Roman powers with that upon which the woman sits. She sits upon the beast that was and is not, because three of his heads represent the three forms of government which the ancient Latins had before they were subjugated by the Romans, viz., the regal power, the dictatorship, and the power of the praetors. She sits upon the beast which Shall Ascend out of the bottomless pit, because all his seven heads, taken in the sense of mountains were in futurity in the apostolic age. She sits upon the beast that yet is, because four of his heads represent four forms of government of the Roman or Latin empire now in existence, viz., the consulate, the triumvirate, the imperial power, and the patriciate. It is hence evident that the beast, in the largest acceptation of this term, is a symbol of the Latin power in general, from its commencement in Latinus to the end of time; his seven heads denoting seven kings or supreme forms of Latin government, during this period, king or kingdom, as we have already observed, being a general term in the prophetical writings for any kind of supreme governor or government, no matter by what particular name such may have been designated among men. Thus the Latin power from the time of Latinus to the death of Numitor was the beast under the dominion of his first head; from the death of Numitor to the destruction of Alba it was the beast under the dominion of his second head; from the destruction of Alba to the final subjugation of the Latins by the Romans the beast under the dominion of his third head. And as the four Roman forms of government which were subsequent to the final conquest of the Latins, were also Latin dominations, the Latin power under these forms of government was the beast under the dominion of his fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh heads. The beast of the bottomless pit, which followed the fall of all the heads of the sea beast or general Latin empire, is, according to the angel's interpretation, ογδοος, (βασιλευς), an Eighth king, i.e., an eighth species of Latin power, or, in other words, a supreme form of Latin government essentially differing from all the foregoing; yet, as it is nominally the same with one of the preceding seven, it is not accounted an eighth head of the beast. The first beast of Rev 13:1 is a description of the eighth or last condition of the General Latin empire, and is said to arise εκ της θαλασσης, out of the sea, because the heads are there taken in a double sense, sea being a general term to express the origin of every great empire which is raised up by the sword; but when (as in Rev 17:11) one of the heads of the sea beast (viz., that secular power which is still in being, and has supported the Latin Church for more than a thousand years) is peculiarly styled The Beast, the Holy Ghost, speaking of this secular Latin empire exclusively, declares it to be εκ της αβυσσου, From the bottomless pit.

John Edward Clarke.

And there came one of the seven angels, saying, Come hither - This relation concerning the great whore, and that concerning the wife of the Lamb, Rev 21:9,10, have the same introduction, in token of the exact opposition between them. I will show thee the judgment of the great whore - Which is now circumstantially described. That sitteth as a queen - In pomp, power, ease, and luxury. Upon many waters - Many people and nations, verse 15. Rev 17:15

With whom the kings of the earth - Both ancient and modern, for many ages. Have committed fornication - By partaking of her idolatry and various wickedness. And the inhabitants of the earth - The common people. Have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication - No wine can more thoroughly intoxicate those who drink it, than false zeal does the followers of the great whore.

And he carried me away - In the vision. Into a wilderness - The campagna di Roma, the country round about Rome, is now a wilderness, compared to what it was once. And I saw a woman - Both the scripture and other writers frequently represent a city under this emblem. Sitting upon a scarlet wild beast - The same which is described in the thirteenth chapter. Rev 13:1 - 18 But he was there described as he carried on his own designs only: here, as he is connected with the whore. There is, indeed, a very close connexion between them; the seven heads of the beast being "seven hills on which the woman sitteth." And yet there is a very remarkable difference between them, - between the papal power and the city of Rome. This woman is the city of Rome, with its buildings and inhabitants; especially the nobles. The beast, which is now scarlet - coloured, (bearing the bloody livery, as well as the person, of the woman,) appears very different from before. Therefore St. John says at first sight, I saw a beast, not the beast, full of names of blasphemy - He had' before "a name of blasphemy upon his head," Rev 13:1: now he has many. From the time of Hildebrand, the blasphemous titles of the Pope have been abundantly multiplied. Having seven heads - Which reach in a succession from his ascent out of the sea to his being cast into the lake of fire. And ten horns - Which are contemporary with each other, and belong to his last period.

And the woman was arrayed - With the utmost pomp and magnificence. In purple and scarlet - These were the colours of the imperial habit: the purple, in times of peace; and the scarlet, in times of war. Having in her hand a golden cup - Like the ancient Babylon, Jer 51:7. Full of abominations - The most abominable doctrines as well as practices.

And on her forehead a name written - Whereas the saints have the name of God and the Lamb on their foreheads. Mystery - This very word was inscribed on the front of the Pope's mitre, till some of the Reformers took public notice of it. Babylon the great - Benedict XIII., in his proclamation of the jubilee, A.D. 1725, explains this sufficiently. His words are, "To this holy city, famous for the memory of so many holy martyrs, run with religious alacrity. Hasten to the place which the Lord hath chose. Ascend to this new Jerusalem, whence the law of the Lord and the light of evangelical truth hath flowed forth into all nations, from the very first beginning of the church: the city most rightfully called 'The Palace,' placed for the pride of all ages, the city of the Lord, the Sion of the Holy One of Israel. This catholic and apostolical Roman church is the head of the world, the mother of all believers, the faithful interpreter of God and mistress of all churches." But God somewhat varies the style. The mother of harlots - The parent, ringleader, patroness, and nourisher of many daughters, that losely copy after her. And abominations - Of every kind, spiritual and fleshly. Of the earth - In all lands. In this respect she is indeed catholic or universal.

And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints - So that Rome may well be called, "The slaughter - house of the martyrs." She hath shed much Christian blood in every age; but at length she is even drunk with it, at the time to which this vision refers. The witnesses of Jesus - The preachers of his word. And I wondered exceedingly - At her cruelty and the patience of God.

I will tell thee the mystery - The hidden meaning of this.

The beast which thou sawest (namely, verse 3) Rev 17:3 was, &c. - This is a very observable and punctual description of the beast, verses 8, 10, 11. Rev 17:8,10,11 His whole duration is here divided into three periods, which are expressed in a fourfold manner. He, 1. Was; 2 And is not; 3. And will ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition. He, 1. Was; 2. And is not; 3. And will be again. The seven heads are seven hills and seven kings: 1. Five are fallen; 2. One is; 3. The other is not come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. He, 1. Was; 2. And is not; 3 Even he is the eighth, and is one of the seven, and goeth into perdition. The first of these three is described in the thirteenth chapter. Rev 13:1 - 18 This was past when the angel spoke to St. John. The second was then in its course; the third woe to come. And is not - The fifth phial brought darkness upon his kingdom: the woman took this advantage to seat herself upon him. Then it might be said, He is not. Yet shall he afterwards ascend out of the bottomless pit - Arise again with diabolical strength and fury. But he will not reign long: soon after his ascent he goeth into perdition for ever.

Here is the mind that hath wisdom - Only those who are wise will understand this. The seven heads are seven hills.

And they are seven kings - Anciently there were royal palaces on all the seven Roman bills. These were the Palatine, Capitoline, Coelian, Exquiline, Viminal, Quirinal, Aventine hills. But the prophecy respects the seven hills at the time of the beast, when the Palatine was deserted and the Vatican in use. Not that the seven heads mean hills distinct from kings; but they have a compound meaning, implying both together. Perhaps the first head of the beast is the Coelian hill, and on it the Lateran, with Gregory VII. and his successors; the second, the Vatican with the church of St. Peter, chosen by Boniface VIII. the third, the Quirinal, with the church of St. Mark, and the Quirinal palace built by Paul II. and the fourth, the Exquiline hill, with the temple of St. Maria Maggiore, where Paul V. reigned. The fifth will be added hereafter. Accordingly, in the papal register, four periods are observable since Gregory VII. In the first almost all the bulls made in the city are dated in the Lateran; in the second, at St. Peter's; in the third, at St. Mark's, or in the Quirinal; in the fourth, at St. Maria Maggiore. But no fifth, sixth, or seventh hill has yet been the residence of any Pope. Not that the hill was deserted, when another was made the papal residence; but a new one was added to the other sacred palaces. Perhaps the times hitherto mentioned might be fixed thus: 1058 Wings are given to the woman. 1077 The beast ascends out of the sea. 1143 The forty - two months begin. 1810 The forty - two months end. 1832 The beast ascends out of the bottomless pit. 1836 The beast finally overthrown.

1 AND there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters :

This whole Verse is but a Preface to a new Vision which Iohn had; not new, as to the matter revealed in it; for it plainly revealeth matters relating to Antichrist; and the matter of so contemporizeth with the three last Vials, about the final Ruine of Antichrist, who was before described under the Notion of a Beast, here under the Notion of a great Whore. A Whore properly signifies one that is married, and is false to her Husband's Bed; and so very well sutes the Church of Rome (if they yet deserve that Name) whose Faith was formerly spoken of throughout the World, Rom. 1.8. but is long since turned idolatrous, (Idolatry in the Prophetick stile being [illegible: 2 letters]ite through the Scripture called Whoredom.) She is said to sit upon many Waters, either because she exerciseth a Jurisdiction over much People, or with Allusion unto old Babylon (which gave her her Name) which was scituated near Euphrates, a River in which there was a great Collection of Waters. John is called to hear the Counsels of God concerning her Destruction, which though more generally and shortly revealed before, yet God here designs to reveal to Iohn more fully, particularly and plainly.

Marginal references: Nehem. 3.4▪; Jer. 51.13▪

2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication , and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication .

With which great Whore several Princes of the World have committed Spiritual Fornication, receiving her Idolatrous Worship, yielding to her Authority, and following her example.

And not the Kings onely of the Earth, but the generality of the People, have been influenced with a mad heat, and with the Wine of her Fornication, that is, with that Wine by which she enticed them to commit Idolatry with her: By this Wine are meant Honours, Riches, Preferments, Pleasure, the gaudry of her Worship, the magnificence of the Apostolick See, their pretended Antiquity, Unity; in short, whatsoever specious Arguments Papists use to entice persons into the Idolatrous Communion of their Church.

Marginal references: Chap. 18.3. Jer. 51.7.; Chap. 14.8.

3 So he carried me away in [illegible: 1 word] Spirit into the wilderness : and I saw a wo[illegible: 3 letters] sit upon a scarlet coloured beast , full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns .

That is, being in an extasy; see chap. 4.2. whether in the Body or out of the Body he could not tell, as Paul expresseth it, 2 Cor. 12.2.

A place not, or not much inhabited, either as fittest for Contemplation; or to signify that this Great Whore which had driven the Spouse of Christ into the Wilderness, should shortly her self come into her State; according to the fate of old Babylon, Ier. 50.13.

The great Whore mentioned v. 1. upheld by the Roman Emperors.

The same which is mentioned chap. 13, 1. see the Notes there. Here is a great Question ariseth who this Woman is, or (which is the same, as appeareth by v. 5.) what City is meant by Babylon mentioned, v. 5? a question, (as Mr. Pool noteth) of high concernment; for whoever this Woman is, or whatsoever this Babylon signifieth, the People of God are upon pain of Damnation admonished, to avoid any Communion with her, and to come out of her, chap. 14.9, 10. Mr. Pool hath diligently collected into his Latine Synopsis all opinions about it, and shewed what is to be said for or against them; I will give my Reader the summ of what he saith. 1. Some would have it to be the whole World of wicked Men. Against this it is said, 1. That Iohn speaks here of a certain great City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth, v. 18. This cannot be meant of the wicked World. 2. The World of wicked Men are those Inhabitants of the Earth, whom this Woman made Drunk with the Wine of her Fornications: Now she that made them drunk, and those that were made drunk cannot be the same. 3. This Woman, v. 9. sitteth on seven Mountains, and so do not all the wicked of the World. 4. We are commanded to come out of this Babylon, but we are not obliged to go out of the World. 2. Others would have this Woman, or this Babylon to be the old Chaldean Babylon. But 1. Where then is the Mystery mentioned v. 5? 2. The Babylon here mentioned, is by all agreed to be the seat of Antichrist; so was that never. 3. The generality agree it to be Rome. Amongst the Ancients, Tertullian, Hierome, Ambrose, Oecumenius, Augustine, Eusebius, Of later writers Beda, Aquinas, Salmeron, Pererius, Bellarmine, Lapide, Ribera (all Papists,) besides a multitude of Protestant writers; that City is also like old Babilon for Power and Greatness, for Oppression and Tyranny of, and over God's Israel; besides, the City here mentioned is described by two Characters, agreeing to none but Rome, v. 9. Dwelling upon seven Hills. 2. Reigning over the Kings of the Earth: For the first Rome is the only City in the World founded upon seven Hills, and famed for it by its old Poets, Ovid, Virgil, Horace, Propertius, &c. It is attested to be so founded by Plutarch, Pliny, Dionysius, Halicarnassaeus; the names of these Hills are known. Palatinus, Quirinalis, Aventinus, Celius, Ve[illegible: 2 letters]inalis, Esquilinus, Capitolinus. Both Papist and Protestant writers agree that here by Babylon, Rome is meant. But they are divided, whether it be to be understod of Rome in its old Pagan state, or in its present state, or in a state yet to come. 4. Some would have it to be Rome in its Pagan state; of this mind are Grotius and Dr. Hammond, and some others; but against this many things are said. 1. It is manifest that God here describes Rome not as under its sixth head, viz. the Pagan Emperors, but as it was under its last Head, the eighth King, v, 11. as it should ascend out of the bottomless Pit, v. 8. What Iohn saw herein mentioned as a Secret about the Blood of the Saints, which he wondred at; now the Pagan Emperors spilling the Blood of Saints was a thing long since done. 3. The Desolation of the Babilon here mentioned, was to be final, never to be repaired, as appears by chap. 18.21, 22, 23. but Pagan Rome was never made so desolate. 4. If Rome Pagan be here meant, then after its fall, Rome Christian was the habitation of Devils, chap, 18.2. 5. Rome Pagan fell upon our Saints with downright blows, not with allurements, making them drunk with the Wine of her Fornication, as v, 2.. 5. The Papists, who grant that by Babylon, Rome is meant, would have it to be Rome toward the end of the World, when they say Rome shall apostatize from the Pope to Paganism again; but for this Opinion there is no foundation in Scripture, nor the judgment of the Ancients, and some of the Papists themselves reject it as improbable and detestable. 6. The generality and best of Protestant writers understand by Babylon and by this woman Rome, as it is at this day under the conduct of the Pope, for which they give these Reasons. 1. Because it cannot be understood of Rome in either of the other Notions, as hath been proved. 2. Because Antichrist is to set in the Temple of God, 2. Thess. 2.4. as God, therefore not in any Pagan City. The Mystery of Iniquity was working in the Apostle's time, but v. 7. the Roman Empire hindred the appearance of Antichrist till the Popes had wrung Rome out of their hands, and were the sole Rulers there, then Antichrist shewed himself. 3. Because there is nothing said of this great Whore, or this Babylon, but admirably agreeth to Rome in its present state.

What Iohn saw herein mentioned as a Secret about the Blood of the Saints, which he wondred at; now the Pagan Emperors spilling the Blood of Saints was a thing long since done. 3. The Desolation of the Babilon here mentioned, was to be final, never to be repaired, as appears by chap. 18.21, 22, 23. but Pagan Rome was never made so desolate. 4. If Rome Pagan be here meant, then after its fall, Rome Christian was the habitation of Devils, chap, 18.2. 5. Rome Pagan fell upon our Saints with downright blows, not with allurements, making them drunk with the Wine of her Fornication, as v, 2.

4 And the woman was arayed in purple, and scarlet colour , and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls , having a golden cup in her hand, full of of abominations and filthiness of her fornication .

Purple was the colour of Kings and Princes. This Woman chap. 18.7. said she was Queen; Scarlet also was a rich and noble colour, anciently most used in a time of War. How much it is in use with the Pope and his Cardinals, is sufficiently known.

This shews the Worldly Riches of the Papacy.

Alluring and tempting persons to Idolatry, as Whores use to do with their Philters, or inchanted Cups allure and provoke Men to sensual satisfactions.

Marginal references: Chap. 18.16.; Gr. Gilded.

5 And upon her forehead was a name written , MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH .

As publick Harlots were wont to write their Names, some upon the Fronts of their Houses, some upon their Foreheads; it denotes the open Guilt, and Impudence of this Spiritual Harlot.

That is, there is a Mystery in what follows in her Name.

Babylon the Great, not to be understood of the Chaldean Babylon, but of a City or Polity under the Gospel, as chap. 11.8. she was called Spiritually Sodom and Egypt, so also in a Spiritual or Mystical sence she is called Babylon, because a City like to Babylon for Idolatry and Persecution of God's Israel.

Not a meer Harlot, but one that bred up Harlots, and nursed up Idolatry, communicating it to others. This is the true Name of Rome instead of Holy Mother Church.

A place, in which not only Idolatry reigneth, but all abominable things committed in the World▪ Carnal Whoredom tolerated by them, and Sodomy, &c.

Marginal references: 2 Thess. 2.[illegible: 1 letter].; Or, Fornications.

6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the Saints▪ and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus x: and when I saw her, I wondred with great admiration.

The Papacy

Filled with the Blood of those Holy Ones, which she caused to be slain for bearing Testimony to Jesus Christ.

Which he would not have done had it been a Pagan Rome he had seen in this Vision. But that any that owned Christ, and called themselves the Holy Church, should kill Men for bearing Testimony to Christ, and adherence to his Rule of Faith and Life, this cause in Iohn a just wonderment.

Marginal references: Chap. 18.2[illegible: 1 letter]

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 .

The Angel promiseth to open this Vision, it being the Key of the former Vision, and is the only Vision expounded throughout this whole Book.

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 are 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 .

This Beast was the Roman Empire, the Scarlet coloured Beast which carried the Whore, v. 3.

Was of old, in Rome's Pagan state,

and is not, not in that form, not now Pagan; and yet is (as is said in the close of the Verse) the same in another form, Idolatrous and Persecuting.

Either out of the Sea, which signifies a multitude of People; or from Hell, (the word signifies both.)

And shall certainly be destroyed.

But before he goes into Perdition he shall so cheat the World, that the generality of the People shall wonder at the Beast (see chap. 13.8.) setting aside those who are chosen of God to Eternal Salvation; the 144000 mentioned chap. 14. I conceive that which hath made Interpreters so divided in their Notions about this Beast is, because those words, and yet is, are not added in the beginning of the Verse, which being understood, there appears no difficulty considerable; for it is certain the Roman Empire was from before Christ, and continued Pagan till 310; then was not Pagan but Christian, yet after some years was again as Idolatrous and Bloody against Christians, as the old Pagan Empire was; especially when swallowed up by the Pope, the Beast with two Horns like a Lamb. This is the Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns, chap. 13.2.

Marginal references: Chap. 13.1.; Chap. 13.10.; Chap. 13.3.

9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom . The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth .

That is, here is that which requireth a Mind endued with Spiritual Wisdom.

The seven Heads which he saw the Beast with, signified seven Mountains or Hills upon which Rome is scituated, they were named before (see the Notes on v. 3.) They tell us now Rome is scituated in Campo Martio: Resp. Whatever it now is, certain it is, that in St. Iohn's time it was scituated upon them, and they are now within the compass of Rome.

Marginal references: Chap. 13.18.; Chap. 13.1.

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 k.

The seven Heads do not only signify seven Hills or Mountains, but also seven Kings, that is (according to the best Interpretation I meet with) seven forms of Government which ruled Rome (the term Kings, in Scripture signifying Rulers, whether the Government was in Single Persons, or more, as Deut, 33.5.) Rome was governed, 1. By Kings. 2. By Consuls, 3. Tribunes. 4. Decemvirs. 5. Dictators. 6. Emperors that were Pagans. 7. Emperors that were Christians.

Five of these were fallen, extinguished before Iohn's time, viz. The Government by Kings, Consuls, Tribunes, Decemvirs, Dictators.

The Government by Pagan Emperors was at that time in being.

The Government by Christian Emperors was not yet in being; and when it came, it held but a little time before the Bishops of Rome wrested the Government of Italy out of their hands: This to me seemeth the most probable Interpretation of this difficult Text.

11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth , and is of the seven , and goeth into perdition .

This made the eighth succession of Governments in the Roman Empire.

This was of the seventh Head, for although this was the eighth Government in order as we have counted them; yet one of these, viz. the seventh, (which was that of true Christian Emperours) must not be counted as one of the seven Heads, which were all Idolatrous: So though this was the eighth Government, yet he was one of the seven Heads, i. e. Idolatrous Governments, and

to be destroyed as they were.

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 .

Possibly by ten Kings here are not meant Monarchs but Governments.

Which were not in being in Iohn's time, nor in many years after.

But should, during some time of the Beast's Reign, have power with the Papacy, employing their power with his, to establish his Idolatry. But who these Ten Monarchs be, or what these Ten Governments are, I must confess my self at a loss to determine: It is plain they should be 1. Such as should be contemporaneous with the Reign of the Beast. 2. Such as employed their Power in conjunction with his. 3. S[illegible: 1 letter]ch as should afterwards be Instruments to ruine the Papacy, v. 16, 17. The Beasts Reign being 1260 years, there hath been, and will be such a variety of Princes and Governments, as it is very hard to determine who they shall be. But their being contemporaneous with the Beast, makes me think it cannot be [illegible: 2 letters]derstood eithe[illegible: 1 letter] of any that were in the World before the year 606, when the Beasts Reign began, (tho the Mystery of Iniquity was working, and the Image of the Beast was making long before;) as also that the Ten Barbarous Nations that disturbed Italy from 410, till near 600 could not be me[illegible: 3 letters]; being all before Antichrist came to any Reign, nor did they ever shew any great love or hatred to the Pope; sometimes serving, sometimes opposing him, as suited their respective Civil interests. I am very inclinable to think the Prophecy to concern some Kings nearer the end of Antichri[illegible: 2 letters] 's Reign, who though for [illegible: 1 letter] while they serve the Papacy, yet shall at last be Instruments to ruine him; but who they are shall do this, or when it shall be I cannot determine.

Marginal references: Dan. 7.20. Chap. 13.1.

13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength to the beast .

The shall all be Papists, and for a while shall employ all their Power and Strength to uphold the Popish Religion.

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 chose[illegible: 1 letter] and faithful .

These Ten Kings shall a while oppose themselves to the Gospel, taking part with Antichrist.

But Christ shall overcome them by the Power of his Gospel, or some of them that way; others that will not be converted shall be confounded, some way or other brought to ruine.

For he hath [illegible: 1 letter]ower above others, and knows how to fit Instrument[illegible: 1 letter] his purpose; so as those whom he shall make use [illegible: 1 word] this work, shall be Chosen Persons, and faithful in [illegible: 3 letters]charge of the Trust committed to them.

Marginal references: Chap. 16.14.; Deut. 10.17. 1 Tim. 6.15. Chap. 19.16.

15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth , are people, and multitudes, and nations and tongues.

Iohn saw the great Whore sitting upon seven Mountains, v. 9. and upon many Waters, v. 1. these signified her Dominion and Jurisdiction over many People.

Marginal references: Isa. 8.7.

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 .

See v. 3. and v. 12. The ten Kings

shall Apostatize from the Papacy, and be great Instruments of God to ruine it. When we see some other Kingdoms now in Vassalage to the Pope, do as much as hath been done in England and Scotland, and Sueden, and some other places, we may possibly understand this Prophecy better than we yet do.

Marginal references: Chap. 18.8.

17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will , and to agree and give their kingdom to the beast , until the words of God shall be fulfilled .

That is, what he hath determined shall be done; not what he commandeth Men to do, or approveth their doing of; his permissive Will.

For God puts Malice against himself and his Son into the hearts of none, which is the cause of any persons assisting the Beast.

Nor shall they do this any longer than till the 42 months be expired, which he by his word hath declared, he hath allowed to these mungrel Gentiles, to tread down the outward Court: But till that time be expired, these Kingdoms will agree to give their power to the Beast, whom about the expiration of that time they shall hate, and help to destroy.

18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the Kings of the earth .

See v. 3.

That is, signifieth that great City, see v. 5. Babylon the great.

Commanding and punishing them as she pleaseth. To what person or power that either now is, or ever was upon the Earth, in this applicable, but to the Pope who makes Emperors hold his Stirrop, sends his Edicts to Princes to execute, Excommunicates them, and interdicts their Subjects, and arms them against them if they refuse? So that if the Pope s[illegible: 1 letter]s upon seven Hills, or Rome be built upon them; if the Papacy hath allured the Inhabitants of the Earth to Idolatry; if in her Idolatries she be the [illegible: 1 letter]mage of the old Pagan Idolaters; if to her many Princes have given their Power and Strength; if she reigneth over the Kings of the Earth; and these things be applicable to no other Person or Government; there is no more doubt, whether the Pope be Antichrist, and Rome mystical Babylon, which shall certainly be destroyed for her Idolatries and shedding the Blood of God's Holy Ones, than there is of what we have, chap. 1.1, 2. That this Book contains the Revelation of Iesus Christ to shew unto his Servants, things which must shortly come to pass, which he se[illegible: 2 letters] and signified by his Angel, by his Seruant John, who have R[illegible: 1 letter]cord of the Word of God, and of the Testimony of Iesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

Marginal references: Chap. 16.19.

The Fall of Babylon. (a. d. 95.)

1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery , Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth . 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Here we have a new vision, not as to the matter of it, for that is contemporary with what came under the three last vials; but as to the manner of description, &c. Observe, 1. The invitation given to the apostle to take a view of what was here to be represented: Come hither, and I will show thee the judgment of the great whore, &c., v. 1. This is a name of great infamy. A whore [in this passage] is one that is married, and has been false to her husband's bed, has forsaken the guide of her youth, and broken the covenant of God. She had been a prostitute to the kings of the earth, whom she had intoxicated with the wine of her fornication. 2. The appearance she made: it was gay and gaudy, like such sort of creatures: She was arrayed in purple, and scarlet colour, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, v. 4. Here were all the allurements of worldly honour and riches, pomp and pride, suited to sensual and worldly minds. 3. Her principal seat and residence—upon the beast that had seven heads and ten horns; that is to say, Rome, the city on seven hills, infamous for idolatry, tyranny, and blasphemy. 4. Her name, which was written on her forehead. It was the custom of impudent harlots to hang out signs, with their names, that all might know what they were. Now in this observe, (1.) She is named from her place of residence—Babylon the great. But, that we might not take it for the old Babylon literally so called, we are told there is a mystery in the name; it is some other great city resembling the old Babylon. (2.) She is named from her infamous way and practice; not only a harlot, but a mother of harlots, breeding up harlots, and nursing and training them up to idolatry, and all sorts of lewdness and wickedness—the parent and nurse of all false religion and filthy conversation. 5. Her diet: she satiated herself with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus. She drank their blood with such greediness that she intoxicated herself with it; it was so pleasant to her that she could not tell when she had had enough of it: she was satiated, but never satisfied.

The Fall of Babylon. (a. d. 95.)

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.

Here we have the mystery of this vision explained. The apostle wonders at the sight of this woman: the angel undertakes to open this vision to him, it being the key of the former visions; and he tells the apostle what was meant by the beast on which the woman sat; but it is so explained as still to need further explanation. 1. This beast was, and is not, and yet is; that is, it was a seat of idolatry and persecution; and is not, that is, not in the ancient form, which was pagan; and yet it is, it is truly the seat of idolatry and tyranny, though of another sort and form. It ascends out of the bottomless pit (idolatry and cruelty are the issue and product of hell), and it shall return thither and go into perdition. 2. This beast has seven heads, which have a double signification. (1.) Seven mountains—the seven hills on which Rome stands; and (2.) Seven kings—seven sorts of government. Rome was governed by kings, consuls, tribunes, decemviri, dictators, emperors who were pagan, and emperors who were Christian. Five of these were extinct when this prophecy was written; one was then in being, that is, the pagan emperor; and the other, that is, the Christian emperor, was yet to come, v. 10. This beast, the papacy, makes an eighth governor, and sets up idolatry again. 3. This beast had ten horns; which are said to be ten kings which have as yet received no kingdoms; as yet, that is, as some, shall not rise up till the Roman empire be broken in pieces; or, as others, shall not rise up till near the end of antichrist's reign, and so shall reign but as it were one hour with her, but shall for that time be very unanimous and very zealous in that interest, and entirely devoted to it, divesting themselves of their prerogatives and revenues (things so dear to princes), out of an unaccountable fondness for the papacy.

The Fall of Babylon. (a. d. 95.)

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, and 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.

Here we have some account of the downfall of Babylon, to be more fully described in the following chapter.

I. Here is a war begun between the beast and his followers, and the Lamb and his followers. The beast and his army, to an eye of sense, appear much stronger than the Lamb and his army: one would think an army with a lamb at the head of them could not stand before the great red dragon. But,

II. Here is a victory gained by the Lamb: The Lamb shall overcome. Christ must reign till all enemies be put under his feet; he will be sure to meet with many enemies, and much opposition, but he will also be sure to gain the victory.

III. Here is the ground or reason of the victory assigned; and this is taken, 1. From the character of the Lamb: He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He has, both by nature and by office, supreme dominion and power over all things; all the powers of earth and hell are subject to his check and control. 2. From the character of his followers: They are called, and chosen, and faithful. They are called out by commission to this warfare; they are chosen and fitted for it, and they will be faithful in it. Such an army, under such a commander, will at length carry all the world before them.

IV. The victory is justly aggrandized. 1. By the vast multitude who paid obedience and subjection to the beast and to the whore. She sat upon (that is, presided over) many waters; and these waters were so many multitudes of people, and nations, of all languages; yea, she reigned not only over kingdoms, but over the kings, and they were her tributaries and vassals, v. 15, 18. 2. By the powerful influence which God hereby showed he had over the minds of great men. Their hearts were in his hand, and he turned them as he pleased; for, (1.) It was of God, and to fulfil his will, that these kings agreed to give their kingdom unto the beast; they were judicially blinded and hardened to do so. And, (2.) It was of God that afterwards their hearts were turned against the whore, to hate her, and to make her desolate and naked, and to eat her flesh, and burn her with fire; they shall at length see their folly, and how they have been bewitched and enslaved by the papacy, and, out of a just resentment, shall not only fall off from Rome, but shall be made the instruments of God's providence in her destruction.

CHAP. XVII. Verſe 1. And there came]

THis and the following Chapters are ſet for explanation of the dark and difficult paſſages in the former in the three laſt vials eſpecially.

One of the ſeven] Probably the ſeventh.

And talked with me] Familiarly, as the Samariteſſe with her countrey-men, [non-Latin text not transcribed] Joh. 4 42. or as the Maſter with his ſchollar.

I will ſhew unto thee] Thou ſhalt not only be an ear, but an eyewitnes. Segniùs irritant animum demiſſa per aures; Quàm que ſunt oculis commiſſa fidelibus. Horat.

The judgement] The damnation of her: the deſtruction is reſerved to the next Chapter.

Of the great whore] The whore of Babylon, more infamous and notorious,Saluſt. then any Thais, Lais, Phryne, Meſſalina, Oreſtilla (cujus praeter formam nihil unquam bonus laudavit) or Pope Joane, Func. com. in Chronol of whom Funccius the Chronologer ſpeaketh thus. Ego Funccius non dubito quin divinitùs ita ſit permiſſum ut foemina fi[illegible: 1 letter]ret Pontifex, & eadem meretrix, &c. I doubt not but that God therefore permitted a notorious harlot to be advanced to the Popedome (and this about the very time when the Popes were moſt buſie in ſubjecting the Kings of the earth, and making them their vaſ[illegible: 1 letter]als) that he might point out to men this whore here mentioned, with whom the Kings of the earth committed fornication.

Verſe 2. With whom the Kings] As ſubmitting their ſcepters to his keys; and becoming his feudataries.

And the inhabiters of the earth] So that ſhe is not a noble whore only, but a common ſtrumpet: proſtituting her ſelf to the meaneſt for their money, as in the pardon office.

Have been made drunk] Hence it is ſo difficult to convert Idolaters: ther's no dealing with a man that is drunk. Whoredome and wine take away the heart, Ho[illegible: 1 letter]. 4.

Of her fornication] Both ſpirituall and corporall. Sixtus Quintus lupanar utriuſ que Vener[illegible: 1 letter]s Romae condidit (ſaith Agrippa) & deceſſit tubidus voluptate.

Verſe 3. Into the wilderneſſe] Whether the true Church fled, Chap. 12. of which they muſt be (ſaith one) that can learn to know the Romiſh Church to be a Whore, condemned of God.

I ſaw a woman] See the Note on Verſe 1.

Sit upon] Not going a-foot, as Chriſt and the Apoſtles did: but magnificently mounted, as the Pope is ever, either upon a ſtately palfrey (Emperours holding his ſtirrop) or upon mens ſhoulders. England was once called the Popes aſſe, for bearing his intolerable exactions.

Ʋpon a ſcarlet coloured beaſt] The proper colour of the Court of Rome: and it well ſerves to ſet forth their pomp and their hypocriſie. Innocent the fourth gave a red hat to his Cardinals, to ſhew them (as he ſaid) that they ſhould be ready to ſhed their bloud for the truth. But that Painter was nearer the point, who being blamed by a Cardinal for colouring the viſages of Peter and Paul too red, tartly replied, that he painted them ſo, as bluſhing at the ſtatelineſſe and ſinfulneſſe of his ſucceſſours.

Full of names of blaſphemy] His head only before was buſked with the blaſphemy, Chap. 13.1. now his whole body. Thus evil men and ſeducers grow worſe and worſe, deceiving and being deceived, 2 Tim. 3.13.

Verſe 4. In purple and ſcarl[illegible: 2 letters] ] Clothing for Kings and Nobles, over whom this whore domineers much more then the concubines did over the Kings of Perſia.

And decked with gold] Gr. Guilded with-gold, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. to note her hypocriſie and outſideneſſe, gold without, copper within. The Pope ſtiles himſelf the ſet vant of Gods ſervants, but yet ſtamps in his coin, That Nation and Countrey that will not ſerve thee ſhall be rooted out. At the abſolution of King John of England, Daniels hiſt. 8000 marks o[illegible: 1 letter] ſilver were preſently delivered to Pandol[illegible: 1 letter]us the Popes Legate, who trampled it under his feet, as contemning that baſe matter, but yet received it, and ſent away to Rome.

And precious ſtones and pearls] Beſides the rich ſtones that are in the Popes tripple crown, of ineſtimable price and value, he carries in his pantoſſe (which he holds out to be kiſſed) the picture of the croſſe,Heid[illegible: 2 letters]ld ſet in pearls and precious ſtones, Ʋt plenis fancibus cruc[illegible: 1 letter]m Christi d[illegible: 1 letter]rideat, ſaith one, Pope Sixtus quintus was wont to give to Tireſia his harlot, pantoſſes covered with peatle.I[illegible: 2 letters]. Re[illegible: 1 letter] [illegible: 1 word]. He ſpent two hundred and threeſcore thouſand crowns upon a Condui[illegible: 1 letter], which he built for his pleaſure: and yet he brought in fifty hundred thouſand crowns into the new treaſury built by himſelf in the Caſtle of S. Ang[illegible: 3 letters]. At the coronation of Pope Leo X, Ʋno e[illegible: 1 letter] l[illegible: 1 letter]e 1000000 a[illegible: 2 letters] orum [illegible: 1 span] [illegible: 1 letter]61 Ibid. a thouſand thouſand crowns are ſaid to have been ſpent in one day. Pope Paul the ſecond was wont to ſleep all day, and ſpend whole nights in weighing monies, and beholding jewels and precious pictures.

A golden cup full of abominations] Gold, if it be right, they ſay, diſcovers and expels poiſon. Put poiſon into a cup of gold, and it will hiſſe and ſend up certain circles like rain bows. Hereby is ſignified (ſaith an authour) that God threatneth judgement and [illegible: 1 word] to thoſe that pour poiſon into divine doctrine, as the Pope do[illegible: 1 letter]h with his mad mixtures.

Verſe 5.D. Iames of the co[illegible: 1 letter]r. of Script. Prelace. Myſtery] This word Myſtery is in the Popes mitre, ſaith Brocard the Venetian, and many more who have been at Rome, and profeſſe to have ſeen it. The whole Antichriſtian ſtate is a Myſtery of iniquity, 2 Theſſ. 2.7. and is much converſant about myſteries, Sacraments, Ceremonies, pompous rites, &c. murders, treaſons, thefts, &c. they eaſily diſpenſe with, but none of their Ceremonies. Let God, ſay they, ſee to the breach of his own Law: we will look to ours.

The mother of harlots] The Church of Rome to this day delights to be ſtiled holy-mother-Church. Holy ſhe is in the ſenſe that the Hebrens call harlots. And ſuch a mother, as baſtards have for their mother, by whoſe name they are called: the Father is ſeldome mentioned by them.

Verſe 6. Drunken with the bloud, &c.] Biſhop Bonner delivered Richard Woodman with four more, requiring of them to be but honeſt men, members of the Church Catholike, and to ſpeak good of him. And no doubt (ſaith Woodman) he was worthy to be praiſed, becauſe he had been ſo faithfull an aid in the devil his maſters buſineſſe: for he had burned good Mr Philpot the ſame morning. In whoſe bloud his heart was ſo drunk, as I ſuppoſe, he could not tell what he did, as it appeared to us both before and after. For but two daies before, he promiſed us we ſhould be condemned that ſame day, that we were delivered: yea, and the morrow after, he ſought for ſome of us again, yea and that earneſtly.Act and Mon. ſol 1800. He waxed dry after his great drunkenneſſe: wherefore he is like to have bloud to drink in hell, as he is worthy, if he repent not, &c. It is wiſdom (ſaid a certain unknown good woman in a letter to Bonne[illegible: 1 letter] ) It is wiſdom for me and all other ſimple ſheep of the Lord, to keep us out of your butcherly ſtall, as long as we can: eſpecially ſeeing you have ſuch ſtore already, that you are not able to drink all their bloud, leaſt you ſhould break your belly, Ibid. 1672. and therefore let them lie ſtill, and die for hunger, &c. Thus I kept the bandogs at ſtaves end (ſaid Shetterden the Martyr) not as thinking to eſcape them, Ibid. 1521. but that I would ſee the foxes leap above ground for my bloud, if they can reach it.

I wondered with great admiration] All things are portentous in the Popedome: What monſters were Pope John 12 and Hildebrand, as Luitprandus deſcribes the one,Lib. 6. de [illegible: 1 word]. geſt in Europ. In vita Hil[illegible: 1 letter]eb. and Cardinall Benno the other, both of their own ſide? Tertia cl[illegible: 1 letter]ſſis continet Papas vel potius [non-Latin text not transcribed], ſaith Alſtedius. After the thouſandth year of Chriſt, there was no where leſſe piety, then in thoſe that dwelt neareſt to Rome, as Machiavel obſerveth.

Verſe 7. Wherefore didſt thou marvel?] Nil admirari propè res eſt una, Numici. We wonder at things out of ignorance of the cauſes of them. Hinc admiratio peperit philoſophiam. Alſted. Chron. Disput derep. l. 1 cap. 12.

Verſe 8. Was, and is not] Was, before the time of this Revelatian in the Roman government, which was afterward uſurped by the Pope. A thing that the firſt Biſhops of Rome dreamt not of. And yet Tertullian taxeth the riſing ambition of the Popes in his time thus: I hear, ſaith he, that there is an edict ſet forth,Libide pudicitia and that very peremptory, in theſe tearms, Pontifex ſcilicet maximus Epiſcopus Epiſcoporum dicit. Thus ſaith the high-Prieſt,B[illegible: 1 letter]ron Annal. Tom. 4. the Biſhop of Biſhops, &c. Odifaſtum illius Eccleſiae, I hate the pride of that Church of Rome, ſaith Baſil.

Go into perdition] Go, not run: by degrees, not all at once. He now takes long ſtrides to ward the bottomleſſe pit; which is but a little afore him, and even gapes for him. There ſtands a cold ſweat on all his limbs already.

Shall wonder] Admiration bred ſuperſtition; and illumination draws men off it. Julius Palmer Martyr, was a moſt obſtinate papiſt all King Edwards daies: and yet afterwards, in Q. Maries time, ſuffered moſt cruell death at the Papiſts hands at Newbury, Act. and Mon. 1755, 1756. for the moſt ready and zealous profeſſion of the truth. His words to one Bullingham walking in Pauls after his converſion were theſe: Oh that God had revealed theſe matters unto me in time paſt! I would have bequeathed this Romiſh Religion, or rather irreligion to the devil of hell, from whence it came. Believe them not, Bullingham; I will rather have theſe knees pared off, then I will kneel to yonder Jackanapes (meaning the rood.)

And yet is] In regard of that imperiall power then extant, which the Pope ſhould afterwards take to himſelf.

Verſe 9. Here is the minde] q. d. Here is work for wiſe men to buſie their brains codicibus. about. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Sapientia eſt vel cordibus.

Seven mountains] The Jeſuites cannot deny but that Rome is here pointed at, as being ſet upon ſeven hils. So the ancient Rome was, whereof the preſent Rome is but a carcaſe, as retaining nothing of the old but her ruines, and the cauſe of them her ſinnes.

Verſe 10. And there are ſeven Kings] That is, kindes of government.

Five are fallen] Kings, Conſuls, Dictatours, Decemvirs, Tribunes.

One[illegible: 2 letters] ] i.e. The Heathen Emperours.

And the other is not yet come] ſcil. The Chriſtian Emperours.

A ſhort ſpace] ſcil. At Rome: for Constantine ſoon tranſlated the ſeat of the Empire to Bizantium, calling it Conſtantinople; and left Rome to be the Popes neſt.Zonaras Cedrenus. Joh de co'um [illegible: 2 letters] in mari hiſt. The Emperour Conſtans, nephew to Heraclius, and after him, Otho had ſome thoughts to ſet up again at Rome, but could not: that ſo the kingdome of the Church fore-told by Daniel, might there be ſeated, ſaith G[illegible: 1 letter]nebrard, Geneb. Chron. if he had ſaid the kingdome of Antichriſt fore-told here by John the Divine, he had hit it.

Verſe 11. He is the eighth] viz. The Pontificality.

And is of the ſeven] i.e. Shall exerciſe that monarchicall power, that was before in the ſeven heads.

Verſe 12. Are ten kings] Of ten ſeverall Kingdoms, Naples, Spain, Portugall, France, Polony, Bohemia, Hungary, Denmark, Sweden, and this of England, which as it was the firſt of the ten that ſubmitted to the Popes yoke, ſo was it the firſt that ſhook it off again, in Hen. 8. time.

Verſe 13. Theſe have one minde] This is the unity, or rather conſpiracy of the Church of Rome. The Spouſe only is but one, Cant. 6 9. Other ſocieties are but as they clay in the toes of Nebuchadnezzars image: they may cleave together, but not incorporate one into another.

Verſe 14 The Lamb ſhall overcome them] 1. With a ſpirituall victory, by a ſweet ſubjection; at leaſt by a conviction of their conſciences. 2. With an externall victory, as the imperialiſts in Germany, the Papiſts here.

Verſe 15. Are peoples] Fitly called waters for their inſtability and impetuoſity.

Verſe 16. Theſe ſhall hate] As baſe fellows uſe to hate their harlots, when they finde them falſe.

And ſhall make her deſolate] Shall deny to defend her.

And naked] By denying her maintenance, and laying her open to the world by their Remonſtrances. King Henry 8.Act and Mon. and the French King, ſome half a year before their death, were at a point to have utterly rooted the Biſhop of Rome out of their realms,Spec. Europ. and to exhort the Emperour to do the ſame, or elſe to break off from him. The Realm of France was ready (upon the Popes refuſall to re-bleſſe K. Henry 4. upon converſion to them) to with-draw utterly from the obedience of his Sea, and to erect a new Patriarch over all the French Church. The then Archbiſhop of Burges was ready to accept it: and but that the Pope, in fear thereof, did haſten his benediction, it had been effected, to his utter diſgrace and decay.

And ſhall eat her fleſh] Be ſo bitterly bent againſt her that they could finde in their hearts to tear her with their teeth. See Job 19.22.

And burn her with ſire] For an old bawd. It is reported that in Meroe, the Prieſts of Jupiter had ſo bewitched the people with their ſuperſtition, that they would ſometimes ſend to the king of Ethiopia for his head: which was never denied them,Alex ab Ale[illegible: 3 letters] andro. till it came to King Erganes; who upon ſo inſolent a demand, ſlew them all, and took away their Prieſthood. Why is not the ſame now done to the Bridge-maker of Rome?

Verſe 17. For God hath put] As he ſent Nebuchadnezzar againſt Tyre, Alexander againſt Aſia, and Attilas againſt Rome, who ſirnamed himſelf the Worlds ſcourge, ſo he will one day ſend theſe Kings againſt Rome. It had been burnt when Charles the 5. took it, but that the ſouldiers were kept in by a kinde of violence. Gods time was not yet come for that purpoſe.

Verſe 18. Is that great City] Rome, that radix omnium malorum. This is confeſſed by Bellarmine, Ribera, Alcaſar and other Jeſuites. The Rhemists are ſo ſtraited that they know not which way to turn them, or how to deny ſo clear a truth, which yet they are not willing to acknowledge. The wit of heretikes will better ſerve them to deviſe a thouſand ſhifts to elude the truth, then their pride will ſuffer them once to yeeld and acknowledge it.

And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials. Rev 15:1, 7. Reference is again made to these angels in the same manner in Rev 21:9, where one of them says that he would show to John "the bride, the Lamb's wife." No particular one is specified. The general idea seems to be, that to those seven angels was entrusted the execution of the last things, or the winding up of affairs introductory to the reign of God, and that the communications respecting those last events were properly made through them. It is clearly quite immaterial by which of these it is done. The expression "which had the seven vials" would seem to imply that though they had emptied the vials in the manner stated in the previous chapter, they still retained them in their hands.

And talked with me. Spake to me. The word talk would imply a more protracted conversation than occurred here.

Come hither. Gr., δευρο--"here, hither." This is a word merely calling the attention, as we should say now "here." It does not imply that John was to leave the place where he was.

I will show thee. Partly by symbols, and partly by express statements: for this is the way in which, in fact, he showed him.

The judgment. The condemnation and calamity that will come upon her.

Of the great whore. It is not uncommon in the Scriptures to represent a city under the image of a woman--a pure and holy city under the image of a virgin or chaste female; a corrupt, idolatrous, and wicked city under the image of an abandoned or lewd woman. Isa 1:21 "How is the faithful city become an harlot." Compare Barnes on "Isa 1:8". In Rev 16:18 it is expressly said that "this woman is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth"--that is, as I suppose, Papal Rome; and the design here is to represent it as resembling an abandoned female-- fit representative of an apostate, corrupt, unfaithful church. Compare Barnes on "Re 9:21". That sitteth upon many waters. An image drawn either from Babylon, situated on the Euphrates, and encompassed by the many artificial rivers which had been made to irrigate the country, or Rome, situated on the Tiber. In Rev 16:15, these waters are said to represent the peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues over which the government symbolized by the woman ruled. Rev 16:15. Waters are often used to symbolize nations.

With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication. Spiritual adultery. The meaning is, that Papal Rome, unfaithful to God, and idolatrous and corrupt, had seduced the rulers of the earth, and led them into the same kind of unfaithfulness, idolatry, and corruption. Compare Jer 3:8-9, 5:7, 13:27, 23:14, Eze 16:32, 23:37, Hos 2:2 Hos 4:2. How true this is in history need not be stated. All the princes and kings of Europe in the dark ages and for many centuries were, and not a few of them are now, entirely under the influence of Papal Rome.

And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. The alluring cup which as an harlot she had to said extended them. See this image explained in Barnes on "Re 14:8". There it is that Babylon--referring to the same thing--had "made them drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication;" that is, of the cup that led to wrath or punishment. Here it is said that the harlot had made them "drunk with the wine of her fornication;" that is, they had been, as it were, intoxicated by the alluring cup held out to them. What could better describe the influence of Rome on the people of the world, in making them, under these delusions, incapable of sober judgment, and in completely fascinating and controlling all their powers?

(c) "whom the kings of the earth" Rev 18:3 (a) "scarlet-coloured beast" Rev 12:3 (b) "having seven heads" Rev 13:1

So he carried me away in the spirit. In vision. He seemed to himself to be thus carried away; or the scene which he is about to describe was made to pass before him as if he were present.

Into the wilderness. Into a desert. Compare Barnes on "Re 12:6". Why this scene is laid in a wilderness or desert is not mentioned. Prof. Stuart supposes that it is because it is "appropriate to symbolize the future condition of the beast." So De Wette and Rosenmuller. The imagery is changed somewhat from the first appearance of the harlot in Rev 17:1. There she is represented as "sitting upon many waters." Now she is represented as "riding on a beast," and, of course, the imagery is adapted to that. Possibly there may have been no intentional significancy in this; but on the supposition, as the interpretation has led us to believe all along, that this refers to Papal Rome, may not the propriety of this be seen in the condition of Rome and the adjacent country, at the rise of the Papal power? That had its rise (Dan 7:25 seq.) after the decline of the Roman civil power, and properly in the time of Clovis, Pepin, or Charlemagne. Perhaps its first visible appearance as a power that was to influence the destiny of the world, was in the time of Gregory the Great, A. D. 590-605. On the supposition that the passage before us refers to the period when the Papal power became thus marked and defined, the state of Rome at this time, as described by Mr. Gibbon, would show with what propriety the term wilderness or desert might be then applied to it. The following extract from this author, in describing the state of Rome at the accession of Gregory the Great, has almost the appearance of being a designed commentary on this passage, or is, at any rate, such as a partial interpreter of this book would desire and expect to find. Speaking of that period, he says, (Decline and Fall, iii. 207-211:) "Rome had reached, about the close of the sixth century, the lowest period of her depression. By the removal of the seat of empire, and the successive loss of the province, the sources of private and public opulence were exhausted; the lofty tree under whose shade the nations of the earth had reposed was deprived of its leaves and branches, and the sapless trunk left to wither on the ground. The ministers of command and the messengers of victory no longer met on the Appian or Flaminian way; and the hostile approach of the Lombards was often felt and continually feared. The inhabitants of a potent and peaceful capital, who visit without an anxious thought the garden of the adjacent country, will faintly picture in their fancy the distress of the Romans; they shut or opened their gates with a trembling hand, beheld from the walls the flames of their houses, and heard the lamentations of their brethren who were coupled together like dogs, and dragged away into distant slavery beyond the sea and the mountains. Such incessant alarms must annihilate the pleasures, and interrupt the labours of rural life; and the Campagna of Rome was speedily reduced to the state of a dreary WILDERNESS, in which the land is barren, the waters are impure, and the air infectious. Curiosity and ambition no longer attracted the nations to the capital of the world; but if chance or necessity directed the steps of a wandering stranger, he contemplated with horror the vacancy and solitude of the city; and might be tempted to ask, where is the Senate, and where are the people?

In a season of excessive rains, the Tiber swelled above its banks, and rushed with irresistible violence into the valleys of the seven hills. A pestilential disease arose from the stagnation of the deluge, and so rapid was the contagion that fourscore persons expired in an hour in the midst of a solemn procession which implored the mercy of heaven. A society in which marriage is encouraged, and industry prevails, soon repairs the accidental losses of pestilence and war; but as the far greater part of the Romans was condemned to hopeless indigence and celibacy, the depopulation was constant and visible, and the gloomy enthusiasts might expect the approaching failure of the human race. Yet the number of citizens still exceeded the measure of subsistence; their precarious food was supplied from the harvests of Sicily and Egypt; and the frequent repetition of famine betrays the inattention of the emperor to a distant province.

The edifices of Rome were exposed to the same ruin and decay; the mouldering fabrics were easily overthrown by inundations, tempests, and earthquakes; and the monks who had occupied the most advantageous stations exulted in their base triumph over the ruins of antiquity.

"Like Thebes, or Babylon, or Carthage, the name of Rome might have been erased from the earth, if the city had not been animated by a vital principle which again restored her to honour and dominion. The power as well as the virtue of the apostles revived with living energy in the breasts of their successors; and the chair of St. Peter under the reign of Maurice, was occupied by the first and greatest of the name of Gregory. The sword of the enemy was suspended over Rome; it was averted by the mud eloquence and seasonable gifts of the Pontiff, who commanded the respect of heretics and barbarians." Compare Rev 13:3,12-15. On the supposition now that the inspired author of the Apocalypse had Rome in that state when the civil power, declined and the Papacy arose in his eye, what more expressive imagery could he have used to denote it than he has employed" On the supposition--if such a supposition could be made--that Mr. Gibbon meant to furnish a commentary on this passage, what more appropriate language could he have used? Does not this language look as if the author of the Apocalypse and the author of the "Decline and Fall" meant to play into each other's hands?

And in further confirmation of this, I may refer to the testimony of two Roman Catholic writers, giving the same view of Rome, and showing that, in their apprehension also, it was only by the reviving influence of the Papacy that Rome was saved from becoming a total waste. They are both of the middle ages. The first is Augustine Steuchus, who thus writes: "The empire having been overthrown, unless God had raised up the Pontificate, Rome, resuscitated and restored by none, would have become uninhabitable, and been a most foul habitation thenceforward of cattle. But in the Pontificate it revived as with a second birth; its empire in magnitude, not indeed equal to the old empire, but its form not very dissimilar: because all nations, from East and from West, venerate the Pope, not otherwise than they before obeyed the Emperors." The other is Flavio Blondas: "The princes of the world now adore and worship as Perpetual Dictator the successor not of Caesar but of the Fisherman Peter; that is, the Supreme Pontiff, the substitute of the aforesaid Emperor." See the original in Elliott, iii. 113.

And I saw a woman. Evidently the same which is referred to in Rev 17:1.

Sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast. That is, either the beast was itself naturally of this colour, or it was covered with trappings of this colour. The word scarlet properly denotes a bright red colour-- brighter than crimson, which is a red colour tinged with blue. Isa 1:18. The word here used--κοκκινον--occurs in the New Testament only in the following places: Mt 27:28, Heb 9:19 Rev 17:3-4, 18:12,16, in all which places it is rendered scarlet. Mt 27:28; Heb 9:19. The colour was obtained from a small insect which was found adhering to the, shoots of a species of oak in Spain and Western Asia. This was the usual colour in the robes of princes, military cloaks, etc. It is applicable in the description of Papal Rome, because this is a favourite colour there. Thus it is used in Rev 12:3, where the same power is represented under the image of a "red dragon." Rev 12:3. It is remarkable that nothing would better represent the favourite colour at Rome than this, or the actual appearance of the pope, the cardinals, and the priests in their robes, on some great festival occasion. Those who are familiar with the descriptions given of Papal Rome by travellers, and those who have passed much time in Rome, will see at once the propriety of this description, on the supposition that it was intended to refer to the Papacy. I caused this inquiry to be made of an intelligent gentleman who had passed much time in Rome--without his knowing my design--what would strike a stranger on visiting Rome, or what would be likely particularly to arrest his attention as remarkable there; and he unhesitatingly replied, "the scarlet colour." This is the colour of the dress of the cardinals--their hats, and cloaks, and stockings being always of this colour. It is the colour of the carriages of the cardinals, the entire body of the carriage being scarlet, and the trappings of the horses the same. On occasion of public festivals and processions, scarlet is suspended from the windows of the houses along which processions pass. The inner colour of the cloak of the pope is scarlet; his carriage is scarlet; the carpet on which he treads is scarlet. A large part of the dress of the body-guard of the pope is scarlet; and no one can take up a picture of Rome without seeing that this colour is predominant. I looked through a volume of engravings representing the principal officers and public persons of Rome. There were few in which the scarlet colour was not found as constituting some part of their apparel; in not a few the scarlet colour prevailed almost entirely. And in illustration of the same thought, I introduce here an extract from a foreign newspaper, copied into an American newspaper of Feb. 22, 1851, as an illustration of the fact that the scarlet colour is characteristic of Rome, and of the readiness with which it is referred to in that respect: "Curious Costumes.--The three new cardinals, the archbishops of Thoulouse, Rheims, and Besancon, were presented to the President of the French Republic by the Pope's Nuncio. They wore red caps, red stockings, black Roman coats lined and bound with red, and small cloaks." I conclude, therefore, that if it be admitted that it was intended to represent Papal Rome in the vision, the precise description would have been adopted which is found here.

Full of names of blasphemy. All covered over with blasphemous titles and names. What could more accurately describe Papal Rome than this? Compare for some of these names and titles, Barnes on "2Th 2:4"; 1Timm 4:1, seq. Rev 13:1, Rev 13:5.

Having seven heads and ten horns. Rev 13:1.

(1) "decked" "golded" (c) "fornication" Jer 51:7

And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour. On the nature of the scarlet colour, Rev 17:3. The purple colour--πορφυρα--was obtained from a species of shell-fish found on the coasts of the Mediterranean, which yielded a reddish-purple dye, much prized by the ancients. Robes dyed in that colour were commonly worn by persons of rank and wealth, Mk 15:17,20, Lk 16:19. The purple colour contains more blue than the crimson, though the limits are not very accurately defined, and the words are sometimes interchanged. Thus the mock robe put on the Saviour is called in Mk 15:17,20, πορφυραν--purple, and in Mt 27:28, κοκκινην--crimson. On the applicability of this to the Papacy, Rev 17:3.

And decked with gold. After the manner of an harlot, with rich jewelry.

And precious stones. Sparkling diamonds, etc.

And pearls. Also a much-valued female ornament. Compare Barnes on "Mt 7:6; 13:46".

Having a golden cup in her hand. As if to entice lovers. Rev 14:8.

Full of abominations. Of abominable things; of things fitted to excite abhorrence and disgust; things unlawful and forbidden. The word, in the Scriptures, is commonly used to denote the impurities and abominations of idolatry. Dan 9:27. The meaning here is, that it seemed to be a cup filled with wine, but it was in fact a cup full of all abominable drugs, leading to all kinds of corruption. How much in accordance this is with the fascinations of the Papacy, it is not necessary now to say, after the ample illustrations of the same thing already furnished in these Notes.

And filthiness of her fornication, The image here is that of Papal Rome, represented as an abandoned woman in gorgeous attire, alluring by her arts the nations of the earth, and seducing them into all kinds of pollution and abomination. It is a most remarkable fact that the Papacy, as if designing to furnish a fulfilment of this prophecy, has chosen to represent itself almost precisely in this manner--as a female extending an alluring cup to passers by. Apostate churches, and guilty nations, often furnish the very proofs necessary to confirm the truth of the Scriptures.

(a) "Mystery Babylon" 2Thes 2:7 (1) "HARLOTS" "fornications"

And upon her forehead. In a circlet around her forehead. That is, it was made prominent and public, as if written on the forehead in blazing capitals. In Rev 13:1, it is said that "the name of blasphemy" was written on the "heads" of the beast. The meaning in both places is substantially the same, that it was prominent and unmistakable. Rev 13:1 Compare Barnes on "Re 14:1".

Was a name written. A title, or something that would properly indicate her character.

Mystery. It is proper to remark that there is nothing in the original as written by John, so far as now known, that corresponded with what is implied in placing this inscription in capital letters; and the same remark may be made of the "title" or inscription that was placed over the head of the Saviour on the cross, Mt 27:37, Mk 15:26 Lk 23:38, Jn 19:19. Our translators have adopted this form, apparently, for the sole purpose of denoting that it was an inscription or title. On the meaning of the word mystery, 1Cor 2:7, Compare Barnes on "1Ti 3:16". Here it seems to be used to denote that there was something hidden, obscure, or enigmatical under the title adopted; that is, the word Babylon, and the word mother, were symbolical. Our translators have printed and pointed the word mystery as if it were part of the inscription. It would probably be better to regard it as referring to the inscription thus: "a name was written--a mysterious name, to wit, Babylon," etc. Or, "a name was written mysteriously." According to this it would mean, not that there was any wonderful "mystery" about the thing itself, whatever might be true on that point, but that the name was enigmatical or symbolical; or that there was something hidden or concealed under the name. It was not to be literally understood. Babylon the great. Papal Rome, the nominal head of the Christian world, as Babylon had been of the heathen world. Rev 14:8.

The mother of harlots.

(a) Of that spiritual apostasy from God which in the language of the prophets might be called adultery, Rev 14:8;

(b) the promoter of lewdness by her institutions. Rev 9:21. In both these senses, there never was a more expressive or appropriate title than the one here employed.

And abominations of the earth. Abominable things that prevail on the earth, Rev 17:4. Compare Barnes on "Re 9:20-21".

(b) "drunken" Rev 16:16

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints. A reeling, intoxicated harlot--for that is the image which is kept up all along. In regard to the phrase "drunken with blood," compare Jer 46:10. "The phraseology is derived from the barbarous custom (still extant among many Pagan nations) of drinking the blood of the enemies slain in the way of revenge. The effect of drinking blood is said to be to exasperate, and to intoxicate with passion and a desire of revenge."--Prof. Stuart, in loc. The meaning here is, that the persecuting power referred to had shed the blood of the saints; and that, in its fury, it had, as it were, drunk the blood of the slain, and had become, by drinking that blood, intoxicated and infuriated. No one need say how applicable this has been to the Papacy. Compare, however, Barnes on "Da 7:21,25; Re 12:13-14; 13:15".

And with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Especially with their blood. The meaning is, that the warfare in which so much blood was shed was directed against the saints as such, and that in fact it terminated particularly on those who, amidst cruel sufferings, were faithful witnesses for the Lord Jesus, and deserved to be called, by way of eminence, martyrs. Compare Rev 2:13; Rev 6:9; Rev 11:5, Rev 11:7. How applicable this is to the Papacy, let the blood shed in the valleys of Piedmont; the blood shed in the Low Countries by the Duke of Alva; the blood shed on St. Bartholomew's day; and the blood shed in the Inquisition, testify.

And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. I was astonished at her appearance; at her apparel, and at the things which were so significantly symbolized by her.

(b) "drunken" Rev 16:16

And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? He was doubtless struck with the appearance of John as he stood fixed in astonishment. The question asked him why he wondered, was designed to show him that the cause of his surprise would be removed or lessened, for that he would proceed so to explain this that he might have a correct view of its design.

I will tell thee the mystery of the woman. On the word mystery, Rev 17:5. The sense is, "I will explain what is meant by the symbol--the hidden meaning that is couched under it." That is, he would so far explain it that a just view might be obtained of its signification. The explanation follows, Rev 17:8-18.

And of the beast that carrieth her, etc. Rev 17:3.

(c) "woman" Rev 17:1 (d) "beast" Rev 17:3

The beast that thou sawest was, and is not. In the close of the verse it is added, "and yet is"--"the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." There are three things affirmed here: first, that there is a sense in which it might be said of the power here referred to that it "was," or that before this it had an existence; second, that there was a sense in which it might be said that it is "not"--that is, that it had become practically extinct; and, third, that there is a sense in which that power would be so revived that it might be said that it "still is." The "beast" here referred to is the same that is mentioned in Rev 17:3, 13:1,3,11-16. That is, there was one great formidable power, having essentially the same origin, though manifested under somewhat different modifications, to one and all of which might, in their different manifestations, be given the same name, "the beast."

And shall ascend out of the bottomless pit. εκτηςαβυσσου. On the meaning of the word here used, Rev 9:1. The meaning here is, that this power would seem to come up from the nether world. It would appear at one time to be extinct, but would revive again as if coming from the world over which Satan presides, and would in its revived character be such as might be expected from such an origin.

And go into perdition. That is, its end will be destruction. It will not be permanent, but will be overthrown and destroyed. The word perdition here is properly rendered by Prof. Stuart destruction, but nothing is indicated by the word of the nature of the destruction that would come upon it.

And they that dwell on the earth. The inhabitants of the earth generally; that is, the matter referred to will be so remarkable as to attract general attention.

Shall wonder. It will be so contrary to the regular course of events; so difficult of explanation; so remarkable in itself, as to excite attention and surprise.

Whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. Rev 13:8. The idea seems to be, that those whose names are written in the book of life, or who are truly the friends of God, would not be drawn off in admiration of the beast, or in rendering homage to it.

When they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. That is, the power that once was mighty; that had declined to such a state that it became, as it were, extinct; and that was revived again with so much of its original strength that it might be said that it still exists. The fact of its being revived in this manner, as well as the nature of the power itself, seemed fitted to excite this admiration.

(e) "ascend out" Rev 11:7 (f) "perdition" Rev 17:11 (g) "wonder" Rev 13:3,8

And here is the mind which hath wisdom. Here is that which requires wisdom to interpret it; or, here is a case in which the mind that shows itself able to explain it will evince true sagacity. So in Rev 13:18. Rev 13:18. Prof. Stuart renders this, "Here is a meaning which compriseth wisdom." It is undoubtedly implied that the symbol might be understood--whether in the time of John, or afterwards, he does not say; but it was a matter which could not be determined by ordinary minds, or without an earnest application of the understanding.

The seven heads are seven mountains. Referring undoubtedly to Rome-- the seven-hilled city--Septicollis Roma. Rev 12:3,

On which the woman sitteth. The city represented as a woman, in accordance with a common usage in the Scriptures. Isa 1:8.

(h) "seven heads" Rev 13:1

And there are seven kings. That is, seven in all, as they are enumerated in this verse and the next. An eighth is mentioned in Rev 17:11, but it is at the same time said that this one so pertains to the seven, or is so properly in one sense of the number seven, though in another sense to be regarded as an eighth, that it may be properly reckoned as the seventh. The word kings here--βασιλεις--may be understood, so far as the meaning of the word is concerned,

(a) literally as denoting a king, or one who exercises royal authority;

(b) in a more general sense as denoting one of distinguished honour --a viceroy, prince, leader, chief, Mt 2:1,3,9, Lk 1:5, Acts 12:1

(c) in a still larger sense as denoting a dynasty, a form of government, a mode of administration--as that which in fact rules. Dan 7:24, where the word king undoubtedly denotes a dynasty, or form of rule. The notion of ruling, or of authority, is undoubtedly in the word--for the verb βωσιλευω means to rule, but the word may be applied to anything in which sovereignty resides. Thus it is applied to a king's son; to a military commander; to the gods; to a Greek archon, etc. See Pussow. It would be contrary to the whole spirit of this passage, and to what is demanded by the proper meaning of the word, to insist that the word should denote literally kings, and that it could not be applied to emperors, or to dictators, or to dynasties.

Five are fallen. Have passed away as if fallen; that is, they have disappeared. The language would be applicable to rulers who have died, or who had been dethroned; or to dynasties or forms of government that had ceased to be. In the fulfilment of this, it would be necessary to find five such successive kings or rulers who had died, and who appertained to one sovereignty or nation; or five such dynasties or forms of administrations that had successively existed, but which had ceased.

And one is. That is, there is one--a sixth--that now reigns. The proper interpretation of this would be, that this existed in the time of the writer; that is, according to the view taken of the time of the writing of the Apocalypse, at the close of the first century.

And the other is not yet come. The sixth one is to be succeeded by another in the same line, or occupying the same dominion.

And when he cometh. When that form of dominion is set up. No intimation is yet given as to the time when this would occur.

He must continue a short space. ολιγον. A short time; his dominion will be of short duration. It is observable that this characteristic is stated as applicable only to this one of the seven; and the fair meaning would seem to be, that the time would be short as compared with the six that preceded, and as compared with the one that followed--the eighth--into which it was to be merged, Rev 17:11.

And the beast that was, and is not. That is, the one power that was formerly mighty; that died away so that it might be said to be extinct; and yet (Rev 17:8) that "still is," or has a prolonged existence. It is evident that by the "beast" here there is some one power, dominion, empire, or rule, whose essential identity is preserved through all these changes, and to which it is proper to give the same name. It finds its termination--or its last form--in what is here called the "eighth;" a power which, it is observed, sustains such a peculiar relation to the seven that it may be said to be "of the seven," or to be a mere prolongation of the same sovereignty.

Even he is the eighth. The eighth in the succession. This form of sovereignty, though a mere prolongation of the former government--so much so as to be in fact but keeping up the same empire in the world, appears in such a novelty of form that in one sense it deserves to be called the eighth in order, and yet is so essentially a mere concentration and continuance of the one power, that in the general reckoning (Rev 17:10) it might be regarded as pertaining to the former. There was a sense in which it was proper to speak of it as the eighth power; and yet, viewed in its relation to the whole, it so essentially combined and concentrated all that there was in the seven, that, in a general view, it scarcely metired a separate mention. We should look for the fulfilment of this in some such concentration and embodiment of all that it was in the previous forms of sovereignty referred to, that it perhaps would deserve mention as an eighth power, but that it was nevertheless such a mere prolongation of the previous forms of the one power, that it might be said to be "of the seven;" so that, in this view, it would not claim a separate consideration. This seems to be the fair meaning; though there is much that is enigmatical in the form of the expression.

And goeth into perdition. Rev 17:8.

In inquiring now into the application of this very difficult passage, it may be proper to suggest some of the principal opinions which have been held, and then to endeavour to ascertain the true meaning.

I. The principal opinions which have been held may be reduced to the following:--

(1.) That the seven kings here refer to the succession of Roman emperors, yet with some variation as to the manner of reckoning. Prof. Stuart begins with Julius Caesar, and reckons them in this manner: the "five that are fallen" are Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius. Nero, who, as he supposes, was the reigning prince at the time when the book was written, he regards as the sixth; Galba, who succeeded him, as the seventh. Others, who adopt this literal method of explaining it, suppose that the time begins with Augustus, and then Galba would be the sixth, and Otho, who reigned but three months, would be the seventh. The expression, "the beast that was, and is not, who is the eighth," Prof. Stuart regards as referring to a general impression among the heathen and among Christians, in the time of the persecution under Nero, that he would again appear after it was reported that he was dead, or that he would rise from the dead and carry on his persecution again. See Prof. Stuart, Com. vol. ii. Excur. iii. The beast, according to this view, denotes the Roman emperors, specifically Nero, and the reference in Rev 17:8 is to "the well-known hariolation respecting Nero, that he would be assassinated, and would disappear for awhile, and then make his appearance again to the confusion of all his enemies." "What the angel," says he, "says, seems to be equivalent to this: The beast means the Roman emperors, specifically Nero, of whom the report spread throughout the empire that he will revive, after being apparently slain, and will come, as it were, from the abyss or Hades, but he will perish, and that speedily,'" vol ii. p. 323.

(2.) That the word "kings" is not to be taken literally, but that it refers to forms of government, dynasties, or modes of administration. The general opinion among those who hold this view is, that the first six refer to the forms of the Roman government:

(1) kings;

(2) consuls;

(3) dictators;

(4) decemvirs;

(5) military tribunes;

(6) the imperial form, beginning with Augustus. This has been the common Protestant interpretation, and in reference to these six forms of government, there has been a general agreement. But, while the mass of Protestant interpreters have supposed that the "six" heads refer to these forms of administration, there has been much diversity of opinion as to the seventh; and here, on this plan of interpretation, the main, if not the sole difficulty lies. Among the opinions held are the following:--

(a) That of Mr. Mede. He makes the seventh head what he calls the "Demi-Caesar," or the "Western emperor who reigned after the division of the empire into East and West, and which continued, after the last division under Honorins and Arcadius, about sixty years--a short space."--Works, book iii. chap. 8; book v. chap. 12.

(b) That of Bishop Newton, who regards the sixth or imperial "head" as continuing uninterruptedly through the line of Christian as well as Pagan emperors, until Augustulus and the Heruli; and the seventh to be the Dukedom of Rome established soon after under the exarchate of Ravenna.--Prophecies, pp. 575, 576.

(c) That of Dr. More and Mr. Cunninghame, who suppose the Christian emperors, from Constantine to Augustulus, to constitute the seventh head, and that this had its termination by the sword of the Hernil.

(d) That of Mr. Elliott, who supposes the seventh head or power to refer to a new form of administration introduced by Diocletian, changing the administration from the original imperial character to that of an absolute Asiatic sovereignty. For the important changes introduced by Diocletian that justify this remark, see the "Decline and Fall," vol i. pp. 212-217.

Numerous other solutions may be found in Poole's Synopsis, but these embrace the principal, and the most plausible that have been proposed.

II. I proceed, then, to state what seems to me to be the true explanation. This must be found in some facts that will accord with the explanation given of the meaning of the passage.

(1.) There can be no doubt that this refers to Rome--either Pagan, Christian, or Papal. All the circumstances combine in this; all respectable interpreters agree in this. This would be naturally understood by the symbols used by John, and by the explanations furnished by the angel. See Rev 17:18: "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Every circumstance combines here in leading to the conclusion that Rome is intended. There was no other power or empire on the earth to which this could be properly applied; there was everything in the circumstances of the writer to lead us to suppose that this was referred to; there is an utter impossibility now in applying the description to anything else.

(2.) It was to be a revived power; not a power in its original form and strength. This is manifest, because it is said (Rev 17:8) that the power represented by the beast "was, and is not, and yet is:" that is, it was once a mighty power; it then declined so that it could be said that "it is not;" and yet there was so much remaining vitality in it, or so much revived power, that it could be said that it "still is"-- καιπερεστιν. Now, this is strictly applicable to Rome when the Papal power arose. The old Roman might had departed; the glory and strength evinced in the days of the consuls, the dictators, and the emperors, had disappeared; and yet there was a lingering vitality, and a reviving of power under the Papacy, which made it proper to say that it still continued, or that that mighty power was prolonged. The civil power connected with the Papacy was a revived Roman power--the Roman power prolonged under another form--for it is susceptible of clear demonstration that if it had not been for the rise of the Papal power, the sovereignty of Rome as such would have been wholly extinct. For the proof of this, see the passages quoted in Barnes on "Re 17:3". Compare Barnes on "Re 13:3,12,15".

(3.) It was to be a power emanating from the "abyss," or that would seem to ascend from the dark world beneath. See Rev 17:8. This was true in regard to the Papacy, either

(a) as apparently ascending from the lowest state and the most depressed condition, as if it came up from below, (Rev 17:3, compare Rev 13:11;) or

(b) as, in fact, having its origin in the world of darkness, and being under the control of the prince of that world--which, according to all the representations of that formidable Antichristian power in the Scriptures, is true, and which the whole history of the Papacy, and of its influence on religion, confirms.

(4.) One of the powers referred to sustained the other. "The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth," Rev 17:9. That is, the power represented by the harlot was sustained or supported by the power represented by the seven heads or the seven mountains. Literally applied, this would mean that the Papacy, as an ecclesiastical institution, was sustained by the civil power with which it was so closely connected. For the illustration and support of this, see Barnes on "Re 13:2-3,12,15". In the Notes on those passages, it is shown that the support was mutual; that while the Papacy in fact revived the almost extinct Roman civil power, and gave it new vitality, the price of that was that it should be in its turn sustained by that revived Roman civil power. All history shows that that has been the fact; that in all its aggressions, assumptions, and persecutions, it has in fact, and professedly, leaned on the arm of the civil power.

(5.) A more important inquiry, and a more serious difficulty, remains in respect to the statements respecting the "seven kings," Rev 17:10-11. The statements on this point are, that the whole number properly was seven; that of this number five had fallen or passed away; that one was in existence at the time when the author wrote; that another one was yet to appear who would continue for a little time; and that the general power represented by all these would be embodied in the "beast that was, and is not," and that might, in some respects, be regarded as an "eighth." These points may be taken up in their order.

(a) The first inquiry relates to the five that were fallen and the one that was then in existence--the first six. These may be taken together, for they are manifestly of the same class, and have the same characteristics, at least so far as to be distinguished from the "seventh," and the "eighth." The meaning of the word "kings" here has been already explained, Rev 17:10. It denotes ruling power, or forms of power; and, so far as the signification of the word is concerned, it might be applicable to royalty, or to any other form of administration. It is not necessary, then, to find an exact succession of princes or kings that would correspond with this--five of whom were dead, and one of whom was then on the throne, and all soon to be succeeded by one more who would soon die.

The true explanation of this seems to be that which refers this to the forms of the Roman government or administration. These six "heads" or forms of administration were, in their order, Kings, Cansuls, Dictators, Decemvirs, Military Tribunes, and Emperors. Of these, five had passed away in the time when John wrote the Apocalypse; the sixth, the Imperial, was then in power, and had been from the time of Augustus Caesar. The only questions that can be raised are, whether these forms of administration were so distinct and prominent, and whether in the tunes previous to John they so embraced the whole Roman power, as to justify this interpretation; that is, whether these forms of administration were so marked in this respect that it may be supposed that John would use the language here employed in describing them. As showing the probability that he would use this language, I refer to the following arguments, viz.:

(1.) The authority of Livy, lib. vi. cap. 1. Speaking of the previous parts of his history, and of what he had done in writing it, he says, "Quae ab condita urbe Roma ad captam eandem urbem Romani sub regibus primurn, consulibus deinde ac dictatoribus, decemviris ac tribunis consularibus gossere, foris bella, domi seditiones, quinque libris exposui." That is, "In five books I have related what was done at Rome, pertaining both to foreign wars and domestic strifes, from the foundation of the city to the time when it was taken, as it was governed by kings, by consuls, by dictators, by the decemvirs, and by consular tribunes." Here he mentions five forms of administration under which Rome had been governed in the earlier periods of its history. The imperial power had a later origin, and did not exist until near the time of Livy himself.

(2.) The same distribution of power, or forms of government, among the Romans, is made by Tacitus, Annal., lib. i. cap. 1: "Urbem Romam a principio Reges habuere. Libertatem et Consulatum L. Brutus instituit. Dictaturae ad tempus sumebantur. Neque Decemviralis potestas ultra, biennium, neque tribunorum militum consulare jus diu vasuit. Non Cinnae, non Syllae longa dominatio: et Pompeii Crassique potentia cito in Caesarem, Lepidi atque Antonii arma in Augustum cessere; qui cuncta, discordiis civilibus fessa, nomine Principis sub imperium accepit." That is, "In the beginning, Rome was governed by Kings. Then L. Brutus gave to her liberty and the Consulship. A temporary power was conferred on the Dictators. The authority of the Decemvirs did not continue beyond the space of two years; neither was the consular power of the Military Tribunes of long duration. The rule of Cinna and Sylla was brief, and the power of Pompey and Crassus passed into the hands of Caesar, and the arms of Lepidus and Antony were surrendered to Augustus, who united all things, broken by civil discord, under the name of Prince in the imperial government." Here Tacitus distinctly mentions the six forms of administration that had prevailed in Rome, the last of which was the imperial. It is true, also, that he mentions the brief rule of certain men--as Cinna, Sylla, Antony, and Lepidus; but these are not forms of administration, and their temporary authority did not indicate any change in the government--for some of these men were dictators, and none of them, except Brutus and Augustus, established any permanent form of administration.

(3.) The same thing is apparent in the usual statements of history, and the books that describe the forms of government at Rome. In so common a book as Adams' Roman Antiquities, a description may be found of the forms of Roman administration that corresponds almost precisely with this. The forms of supreme power in Rome, as enumerated there, are what are called ordinary and extraordinary magistrates. Under the former are enumerated kings, consuls, praetors, censors, quaestors, and tribunes of the people. But of these, in fact, the supreme power was vested in two, for there were, under this, but two forms of administration-- that of kings and consuls--the offices of praetor, censor, quaestor, and tribune of the people being merely subordinate to that of the consuls, and no more a new form of administration than the offices of Secretary of the State, of War, of the Navy, of the Interior, are now. Under the latter--that of extraordinary magistrates--are enumerated Dictators, Decemvirs, Military Tribunes, and the Interrex. But the Interrex did not constitute a form of administration, or a change of government, any more than when the President or Vice-president of the United States should die, the performance of the duties of the office of President by the Speaker of the Senate would indicate a change, or than the Regency of the Prince of Wales in the time of George III. constituted a new form of government. So that, in fact, we have enumerated, as constituting the supreme power at Rome, kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs, and military tribunes--five in number. The imperial power was the sixth.

(4.) In confirmation of the same thing, I may refer to the authority of Bellarmine, a distinguished Roman Catholic writer. In his work De Pontiff., cap. 2, he thus enumerates the changes which the Roman government had experienced, or the forms of administration that had existed there:

1. Kings;

2. Consuls;

3. Decemvirs;

4. Dictators;

5. Military Tribunes with consular power;

6. Emperors. See Poole's Synop., in loc. And

(5) it may be added, that this would be understood by the contemporaries of John in this sense. These forms of government were so marked that, in connexion with the mention of the "seven mountains," designating the city, there could be no doubt as to what was intended. Reference would at once be made to the Imperial power as then existing, and the mind would readily and easily turn back to the five main forms of the supreme administration which had existed before:

(b) The next inquiry is, what is denoted by the seventh. If the word "kings" here refers, as is supposed, (Barnes on "Re 17:10",) to a form of government or administration; if the "five" refer to the forms previous to the imperial, and the "sixth" to the imperial; and if John wrote during the imperial government, then it follows that this must refer to some form of administration that was to succeed the imperial. If the Papacy was "the eighth, and of the seven," then it is clear that this must refer to some form of civil administration lying between the decline of the Imperial and the rise of the Papal power: that "short space"--for it was a short space that intervened. Now, there can be no difficulty, I think, in referring this to that form of administration over Rome--that "dukedom" under the exarchate of Ravenna, which succeeded the decline of the Imperial power, and which preceded the rise of the Papal power;--between the year 566 or 568, when Rome was reduced to a dukedom, under the exarchate of Ravenna, and the time when the city revolted from this authority and became subject to that of the Pope, about the year 727. This period continued, according to Mr. Gibbon, about two hundred years. He says, "During a period of two hundred years, Italy was unequally divided between the kingdom of the Lombards and the exarchate of Ravenna. The offices and professions, which the jealousy of Constantine had separated, were united by the indulgence of Justinian; and eighteen successive exarchs were invested, in the decline of the empire, with the full remains of civil, of military and even of ecclesiastical power. Their immediate jurisdiction, which was afterwards consecrated as the patrimony of St. Peter, extended over the modern Remagna, the marshes or valleys of Ferrara and Commachio, five maritime cities from Rimini to Ancona, and a second inland Pentapolis, between the Adriatic coast and the hills of the Appenine. The duchy of Rome appears to have included the Tuscan, Sabine, and Latian conquests, of the first four hundred years of the city, and the limits may be distinctly traced along the coast, from Civita Vecchia to Terracina, and with the course of the Tiber from Areerin and Narni to the port of Ostia."--Dec. and Fall, iii. 202. How accurate is this if it be regarded as a statement of a new power or form of administration that succeeded the imperial--a power that was in fact a prolongation of the old Roman authority, and that was designed to constitute and embody it all! Could Mr. Gibbon have furnished a better commentary on the passage if he had adopted the interpretation of this portion of the Apocalypse above proposed, and if he had designed to describe this as the seventh power in the successive forms of the Roman administration? It is worthy of remark, also, that of this account in Mr. Gibbon's history immediately precedes the account the rise of the Papacy; the record respecting the exarchate, and that concerning Gregory the Great, described by Mr. Gibbon as "the Saviour of Rome," occurring in the same chapter.--Vol, iii. 202-211.

(c) This was to "continue for a short space"--for a little time. If this refers to the power to which in the remarks above it is supposed to refer, it is easy to see the propriety of this statement. Compared with the previous form of administration--the imperial--it was of short duration; absolutely considered, it was brief. Mr. Gibbon (iii. 202) has marked it as extending through "a period of two hundred years;" and if this is compared with the form of administration which preceded it, extending to more than five hundred years, and more especially with that which followed--the Papal form--which has extended now some twelve hundred years, it will be seen with what propriety this is spoken of as continuing for "a short space."

(d) "The beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven," Rev 17:11. If the explanations above given are correct, there can be no difficulty in the application of this to the Papal power; for

(1) all this power was concentrated in the Papacy, all that revived or prolonged Roman power had now passed into the Papacy, constituting that mighty dominion which was to be set up for so many centuries over what had been the Roman world. See the statements of Mr. Gibbon, (iii. 207-211,) as quoted in Barnes on "Re 17:3". Compare also, particularly, the remarks of Augustine Steuchus, a Roman Catholic writer, as quoted in Barnes on "Re 17:3": "The empire having been overthrown, unless God had raised up the Pontificate. Rome, resuscitated and restored by none, would have become uninhabitable, and been thenceforward a most foul habitation of cattle. But in the Pontificate it revived as with a second birth; in empire or magnitude not indeed equal to the old empire, but its form not very dissimilar: because all nations, from East and from West, venerate the Pope, not otherwise than they before obeyed the emperor."

(2.) This was an eighth power or form of administration-for it was different, in many respects, from that of the kings, the consuls, the dictators, the decemvirs, the military tribunes, the emperors, and the dukedom--though it comprised substantially the power of all. Indeed, it could not have been spoken of as identical with either of the previous forms of administration, though it concentrated the power which had been wielded by them all.

(3.) It was "of the seven;" that is, it pertained to them; it was a prolongation of the same power. It had the same central seat--Rome; it extended over the same territory, and it embraced sooner or later the same nations. There is not one of those forms of administration which did not find a prolongation in the Papacy; for it aspired after, and succeeded in obtaining, all the authority of kings, dictators, consuls, emperors. It was in fact still the Roman sceptre swayed over the of world; and with the strictest propriety it could be said that it was "of the seven," as having sprung out of the seven, and as this, see perpetuating the sway of this mighty domination. For full illustration Dan 7:1 and Revelation 13.

(4.) It would "go into perdition;" that is, it would be under this form that this mighty domination that had for so many ages ruled over the earth would die away, or this would be the last in the series, The Roman dominion, as such, would not be extended to a ninth, or tenth, or eleventh form, but would finally expire under the eighth. Every indication shows that this is to be so, and that with the decline of the Papal power the whole Roman domination, that has swayed a sceptre for two thousand five hundred years, will have come for ever to an end. If this is so, then we have found an ample and exact application of this passage even in its most minute specifications.

And the ten horns which thou sawest. On the scarlet-coloured beast, Rev 17:3.

Are ten kings. Represent or denote ten kings; that is, kingdoms or powers. Dan 7:24.

Which have received no kingdom as yet. That is, they were not in existence when John wrote. It is implied, that during the period under review they would arise, and would become connected, in an important sense, with the power here represented by the "beast." For a full illustration respecting the ten "kings," or kingdoms here referred to, see Barnes on Daniel 7, at the close of the chapter, II., (2.).

But receive power. It is not said from what source this power is received, but it is simply implied that it would in fact be conferred on them.

As kings. That is, the power would be that which is usually exercised by kings.

One hour. It cannot be supposed that this is to be taken literally. The meaning clearly is, that this would be brief and temporary; that is, it was a form of administration which would be succeeded by one more fixed and permanent. Any one can see that, in fact, this is strictly applicable to the governments which sprang up after the incursion of the Northern barbarians, and which were finally succeeded by the permanent forms of government in Europe. Most of them were very brief in their duration, and they were soon remodelled in the forms of permanent administration. Thus, to take the arrangement proposed by Sir Isaac Newton,

(1) the kingdom of the Vandals and/klans in Spain and Africa;

(2) the kingdom of the Suevians in Spain;

(3) the kingdom of the Visigoths;

(4) the kingdom of the Alans in Gallia;

(5) the kingdom of the Burgundians;

(6) the kingdom of the Franks;

(7) the kingdom of the Britons;

(8) the kingdom of the Huns;

(9) the kingdom of the Lombards;

(10) the kingdom of Ravenna--how temporary were most of these; how soon they passed into the more permanent forms of administration which succeeded them in Europe!

With the beast. With that rising Papal power. They would exercise their authority in connexion with that, and under its influence.

(a) "ten horns" Dan 7:20, Zech 1:18-21

These have one mind. That is, they are united in the promotion of the same object. Though in some respects wholly independent of each other, yet they may be regarded as, in fact, so far united that they tend to promote the same ultimate end. As a fact in history, all these kingdoms, though of different origin, and though not unfrequently engaged in war with each other, became Roman Catholics, and were united in the support of the Papacy. It was with propriety, therefore, that they should be regarded as so closely connected with that power that they could be represented as "ten horns" on the seven-headed monster.

And shall give their power and strength unto the beast. Shall lend their influence to the support of the Papacy, and become the upholders of that power. The meaning, according to the interpretation above proposed, is, that they would all become Papal kingdoms, and supporters of the Papal power. It is unnecessary to pause to show how true this has been in history. At first, most of the people out of whom these kingdoms sprang were Pagans; then many of them embraced Christianity under the prevailing form of Arianism, and this fact was for a time a bar to their perfect adhesion to the Roman See; but they were all ultimately brought wholly under its influence, and became its supporters. In A.D. 496, Clovis, the king of the Franks, on occasion of his victory over the Allemanni, embraced the Catholic faith, and so received the title transmitted downward through nearly thirteen hundred years to the French kings as his successors, of "the eldest son of the church;" in the course of the sixth century, the kings of Burgundy, Bavaria, Spain, Portugal, England, embraced the same religion, and became the defenders of the Papacy. It is well known that each one of the powers above enumerated as constituting these ten kingdoms, became subject to the Papacy, and continued so during their separate existence, or when merged into some other power, until the Reformation in the sixteenth century, All "their power and strength was given unto the beast;" all was made subservient to the purposes of Papal Rome.

These shall make war with the Lamb. The Lamb of God--the Lord Jesus, (Barnes on "Re 5:6";) that is, they would combine with the Papacy in opposing evangelical religion. It is not meant that they would openly and avowedly proclaim war against the Son of God, but that they would practically do this in sustaining a persecuting power. It is unnecessary to show how true this has been in history; how entirely they sustained the Papacy in all its measures of persecution.

And the Lamb shall overcome them. Shall ultimately gain the victory over them. The meaning is, that they would not be able to extinguish the true religion. In spite of all opposition and persecution, that would still live in the world, until it would be said that a complete triumph was gained.

For he is Lord of lords, and King of kings. He has supreme power over all the earth, and all kings and princes are subject to his control. Compare Rev 19:16.

And they that are with him. The reference is to the persecuted saints who have adhered to him as his faithful followers in all these protracted conflicts.

Are called. That is, called by him to be his followers; as if he had selected them out of the world to maintain his cause. Rom 1:7.

And chosen. Jn 15:16; 1Pet 1:2. In their stedfast adherence to the truth, they had shown that they were truly chosen by the Saviour, and could be relied on in the warfare against the powers of evil.

And faithful. They had shown themselves faithful to him in times of persecution, and in the hour of darkness.

(b) "make war with the Lamb" Rev 19:19 (a) "shall overcome" Jer 50:44 (b) "Lord of Lords" Rev 19:16, De 10:17, 1Timm 6:15 (c) "they" Mic 5:8,9 (d) "called" Rom 8:30,37 (e) "chosen" Jn 15:16 (f) "faithful" Rev 2:10

And he saith unto me. The angel, Rev 17:7. This commences the more literal statement of what is meant by these symbols.

The waters which thou sawest. Rev 17:1.

Are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. For an explanation of these terms, Rev 7:9. The meaning here is,

(a) that these waters represent a multitude of people. This is a common and an obvious symbol--for outspread seas or raging floods would naturally represent such a multitude. See Isa 8:7-8, 17:12-13, Jer 47:2. Compare Iliad, v. 394. The sense here is, that vast numbers of people would be subject to the power here represented by the woman.

(b) They would be composed of different nations, and would be of different languages. It is unnecessary to show that this, in both respects, is applicable to the Papacy. Nations have been, and are, subject to its control, and nations speaking a large part of the languages of the world. Perhaps under no one government-not even the Babylonian, the Macedonian, or the ancient Roman--was there so great a diversity of people, speaking so many different languages, and having so different an origin.

(g) "waters" Rev 17:1, Isa 8:7 (h) "peoples" Rev 13:7

And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast. Rev 17:3. The ten powers or kingdoms represented by those horns. Rev 17:12.

These shall hate the whore. There seems to be some incongruity between this statement and that which was previously made. In the former, (Rev 17:12-14,) these ten governments are represented as in alliance with the beast; as "giving all their power and strength" unto it; and as uniting with it in making war with the Lamb. What is here said must, therefore, refer to some subsequent period, indicating some great change in their feelings and policy. We have seen the evidence of the fulfilment of the former statements. This statement will be accomplished if these same powers represented by the ten horns, that were formerly in alliance with the Papacy, shall become its enemy, and contribute to its final overthrow. That is, it will be accomplished if the nations of Europe, embraced within the limits of those ten kingdoms, shall become hostile to the Papacy, and shall combine for its overthrow. Is anything more probable than this? France (Rev 16:1) has already struck more than one heavy blow on that power; England has been detached from it; many of the states of Italy are weary of it, and are ready to rise up against it; and nothing is more probable than that Spain, Portugal, France, Lombardy, and the Papal States themselves will yet throw off the yoke for ever, and put an end to a power that has so long ruled over men. It was with the utmost difficulty in 1848 that the Papal power was sustained, and this was done only by foreign swords; the Papacy could not probably be protected in another such outbreak. And this passage leads us to anticipate that the period will come-- and that probably not far in the future--when those powers that have for so many ages sustained the Papacy will become its determined foes, and will rise in their might and bring it for ever to an end,

And shall make her desolate and naked. Strip her of all her power and all her attractiveness. That is, applied to Papal Rome, all that is so gorgeous and alluring--her wealth, and pomp, and splendour-- shall be taken away, and she will be seen as she is, without anything to dazzle the eye or to blind the mind.

And shall eat her flesh. Shall completely destroy her--as if her flesh were consumed. Perhaps the image is taken from the practices of cannibals eating the flesh of their enemies slain in battle. If so, nothing could give a more impressive idea of the utter destruction of this formidable power, or of the feelings of those by whom its end would be brought about.

And burn her with fire. Another image of total destruction. Perhaps the meaning may be, that after her flesh was eaten, such parts of her as remained would be thrown into the fire and consumed. If this be the meaning, the image is a very impressive one to denote absolute and total destruction. Compare Rev 18:8.

(i) "these" Jer 50:41,42 (k) "naked" Eze 16:37-44 (l) "burn" Rev 18:8,18

For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will. That is, in regard to the destruction of this mighty power. They would be employed as his agents in bringing about his designs. Kings and princes are under the control of God, and, whatever may be their own designs, they are in fact employed to accomplish his purposes, and are instruments in his hands. Isa 10:7.

And to agree. See Rev 17:13. That is, they act harmoniously in their support of this power, and so they will in its final destruction.

And give their kingdom unto the beast. Barnes on "Re 17:13".

Until the words of God shall be fulfilled. Not for ever; not as a permanent arrangement. God has fixed a limit to the existence of this power. When his purposes are accomplished, these kingdoms will withdraw their support, and this mighty power will fall to rise no more.

(m) "For God hath" Acts 4:27,28 (n) "fulfilled" Rev 10:7

And the woman which thou sawest. Rev 17:3.

Is that great city. Represents that great city.

Which reigneth over the kings of the earth. Rome would of course be understood by this language in the time of John, and all the circumstances, as we have seen, combine to show that Rome, in some form of its dominion, is intended. Even the name could hardly have designated it more clearly, and all expositors agree in supposing that Rome, either as Pagan or as Christian, is referred to. The chapter shows that its power is limited; and that although, for purposes which he saw to be wise, God allows it to have a wide influence over the nations of the earth, yet in his own appointed time the very powers that have sustained it will become its foes, and combine for its overthrow. Europe needs but little farther provocation, and the fires of liberty, which have been so long pent up, will break forth, and that storm of indignation which has expelled the Jesuits from all the courts of Europe; which has abolished the Inquisition; which has more than once led hostile armies to the very gates of Papal Rome, will again be aroused in a manner which cannot be allayed, and that mighty power which has controlled so large a part of the nations of Europe for more than a thousand years of the world's history, will come to an end.

(o) "that great city" Rev 16:19

Observe here, 1. The angel's invitation to the subsequent vision, One of the angels, talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee, &c.

Where we see the readiness of those ministering spirits, the holy angels, to do any good office for the saints, and with what cheerfulness they are employed about things for our consolation, and the sweet familiarity that is between them and the saints, evidenced by that expression, He talked with me, saying, Come hither.

Observe, 2. The promise which the angel makes to St. John, namely, to show him the judgment of the great whore. By the whore, all understand the city of Rome; only some will have it Rome Pagan, others Rome Papal, or the great idolatrous city and church of Rome. Idolatry is often in scripture style called whoredom; and idolaters are said to go a whoring from God. A whore is a person married to an husband, who afterwards proves false to his bed. The Papal present church of Rome deserves this name, having been guilty of the greatest defection and apostasy from the true evangelical doctrine and worship that ever was in the world; and she is deservedly also called the great whore, because of her whoredoms committed with so many under her power and jurisdiction, having many people subject to her, and for that reason is here said to sit upon many waters.

The true church is Christ's bride and spouse, she is betrothed unto him in righteousness, in loving-kindness, and in tender mercy; and at any time by idolatry to apostatize from him is spiritual whoredom, which shall not pass without deserved punishment.

Learn hence, How hateful idolatry is to God, and how highly it provokes God's wrath, even as the whoredom of a woman who plays the common harlot provokes the jealousy of her husband. Verily, never was husband more jealous of the chastity of his suspected wife, than God is jealous in point of worship.

Babylon was charged with committing whoredom in the former verse; in this the persons are declared whom she committed whoredom with, viz. with kings, and the inhabitants of the earth; that is, with all sorts of persons, small and great, rich and poor.

Where note, That she is, 1. A catholic whore, common and shameless; she refuses none that will be lewd with her.

2. A politic whore; she first draws kings and princes to commit fornication with her, and then other inhabitants; well knowing how fast the example of superiors is commonly followed by inferiors: and whereas she is said to make them drunk with the wine of her fornication, the Spirit of God seems to intimate that idolatry is like unto wine; a sensual sort of worship, and therefore alluring: making persons drunk, therefore intoxicating.

Wine is sweet, but proves deceitful; idolatry is pleasing to man's corrupt nature, but brings wrath and judgment upon the sinner.

Observe here, 1. That St. John was not in one continued ecstasy, but at several times in the spirit, that is, in an ecstasy or rapture of mind, wherein his outward senses being bound up, his understanding was fixed and raised up to the contemplation of divine objects, represented to him in the vision. A spiritual frame of mind is requisite for discerning the visions of God: He carried me away in the spirit.

Observe, 2. The place whither St. John was carried, and where he saw the following vision, namely, in the wilderness; He carried me away into the wilderness; a place of privacy, say some, where he might discern things undisturbedly and undistractedly. Solitude is fittest for contemplation. A wilderness, say others, was the fittest place to see that church in a vision, which was itself a wilderness; the apostolical church before was driven into the wilderness; here the apostate church follows her, as an harlot succeeding to a faithful city.

Observe, 3. The vision itself, I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet- coloured beast, &c. The woman here is the same with her that was called whore, ver. 1. namely, idolatrous Rome; she is represented as a woman richly and splendidly arrayed, with her wealth and riches, with her pomp and power, enticing the world to her idolatry, called so often whoredom and spiritual fornication; and the golden cup in her hand is an allusion to harlots, who with their philters, or enchanted cups, do allure and provoke men to sensual satisfaction; in like manner doth Rome by her outward splendour allure, and by other specious pretences and means draw persons to idolatries and superstitions.

Note lastly, The name written on her forehead, to wit, Mystery, Babylon the Great; that is, not literal, but mystical Babylon, the great city of Rome, the mother of idolatry, the pattern of cruelty, the patroness of all impiety; and propagating all these by her power and policies, who calls herself the mother church, but is indeed the mother of harlots, and of all manner of abominations; that is, of abominable doctrines and practices.

St. John porceeds in the description of this woman; he declared her to be a filthy and common whore in the foregoing verse; in this he represents her as a cruel and bloody whore; she is said to be drunk, drunk with blood, drunk with holy blood, drunk with the blood of saints and marytrs. Behold the blood-thirstiness of the Roman church, and her insatiableness therein, even unto drunkenness.

Observe, 2. With what wonder and admiration St. John was filled, when he saw this woman drunk with blood, I wondered with great admiration; intimating, that so astonishing is the cruelty of that church, that it justly causes wonder and admiration to all that are not of her cruel and bloody disposition. I wonder that God should suffer so much of his dear servants' blood to be shed by her, and at her insatiable cruelty in shedding it.

Observe, 3. How the Spirit of God was pleased to open this mystery, which indeed is the only vision of this nature expounded throughout the whole book. He begins first with a description of the beast, affirming that he was, and yet is; as if he had said, "The Roman empire was once Pagan, now is not Pagan, but Christian, and yet is as idolatrous now as it was of old; the same it was, only in another form." Rome Papal is certainly as idolatrous, as cruel and bloody, as ever Rome Pagan was of old; yea, perhaps much more so beyond compare.

Observe next, the rise and original is declared from whence this idolatrous church should spring, namely out of the bottomless pit, because her working is after the working of Satan, with all deceivableness, with signs and lying wonders. And as its rise is declared, so is its ruin foretold; it shall go into perdition, that is, shall be finally destroyed, never to revive again: but before this destruction the world shall be under such an infatuation, that the generality of the inhabitants of the earth, some few excepted, shall wonder after the beast; that is, be wonderfully taken with him, and shall follow him with an implicit faith, paying homage and subjection to him. But these admirers and adorers of the beast are only such whose names were not written in the book of life; intimating to us, that in the times of greatest apostasy, and most universal defection from the truth, the Lord wants not his own true church: he ever had, and has, yea, ever will have, a number to stand up for his name, and bear witness to his truth.

Here the angel cometh directly to declare and unfold the mystery of the beast, premising first, that it requires heavenly wisdom in a person to understand it, and apply the marks accordingly. Here is the mind that hath wisdom, that is, the mind that hath wisdom may here exercise itself.

The seven heads, saith the angel, are seven mountains, that is, signify seven mountains: a clear description of Rome, as to its local situation, being built upon seven hills. And there are seven kings, that is, seven forms of government, by, and according to, which Rome was governed, namely, by kings, consuls, tribunes, decemviri, dictators, and emperors, that were Pagans.

Five of these were fallen in St. John's time, that is, utterly extinct, namely, the government by kings, consuls, tribunes, decemviri, and dictators. And one is, to wit, the government by Pagan emperors, which was in St. John's time in being. And the other is not yet come, that is, the government by Christian emperors was not yet in being, and when it did come, it held but a little while before the bishops of Rome wrested the government out of their hands, and took it into their own.

Behold here! the great mutability of all earthly things; governments have their periods, kingdoms come to an end. Happy they who, serving God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, have secured to themselves a kingdom that cannot be moved! Heb 12:28

Observe here, the angel farther explains to St. John this great mystery of the beast; declaring that the ten horns of the beast do signify ten kings, which should employ their power with the beast, and in conjunction with his established idolatry, to uphold his bloody religion; next their wicked unity is declared in giving their power and strength to the beast: They have one mind, verse 13 that is, they unanimously concur in aiding, strengthening, and assisting the beast, in using their power, and employing their authority, to maintain him in his idolatrous and Pagan-like superstitions.

Lastly it is declared for what end they thus concur together, in giving their power and strength to the beast, namely, to make war with the Lamb; that is, to take part with antichrist, and oppose Christ in his truth and gospel, in his ministers and members, in his children and servants, But the Lamb shall overcome them.

Some shall be converted by the power of the gospel, others shall be confounded, one way or other brought into subjection: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings, that is, clothed with divine power.

Christ though a meek Lamb, yet is a mighty Lord. The titles here given him show his godhead and omnipotency: and having such a power, he knows how to fit instruments for his purpose; and those whom he will make use of in this work, shall be chosen persons, and faithful in the discharge of the trust committed to them. All that are faithful to Christ, shall share with him in his victory.

Here the angel proceeds, and goes on farther in the explication of the vision. By the waters whereon the whore sat, he declares, are to be understood many and divers nations belonging to the Roman empire. Behold then of what church multitude is a note! Not of the church of Christ, his flock is a little flock; but of the antichristian synagogue which vaunts, that multitudes are on her side, The waters whereon the whore sat are multitudes, peoples, nations, and tongues. Alas, the multitude, or generality of persons, are prone to oppose that which is good, and those that do good.

Next, it is declared what instruments God will make use of as the executioners of this vengeance upon this great whore, the ten horns, that is, the ten kings which did before idolize her, and commit idolatry and spiritual whoredom with her, shall at length revolt from her, hate her, make her desolate, and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

Lord! what a strange, sudden, and mighty change, doth the power of converting grace make! Behold these ten kings, who sometimes doated upon the painted beauty of this great whore, when once their eyes shall be opened, their hearts will soon be alienated. Babylon's courts shall be crowded with suitors no longer; they shall make her desolate, by deserting her communion; make her naked, by withdrawing their former supplies afforded to her; they shall eat her flesh, feed themselves with spoils, and take her revenues to themselves; and burn her with fire, that is, shall utterly ruin and destroy her. The destruction of antichrist, once begun, shall hold on constantly, by degrees, till his final destruction.

Observe here, 1. How the infinitely wise and perfectly holy God can, and does, so order things, that all his judgments shall be executed by sinners, without his being the cause of any one of their sins; though by the permissive will of God, these kings gave their power for a time to the beast, yet they never had his aprobation for so doing. God so over-rules the actions of wicked men, that when they are doing their will, contrary to their own intentions, in and by them, the Lord is likewise doing his will. God sometimes does his will by those who resolve they will not do his will.

Observe, 2. The time when Almighty God, who permitted them to submit to the whore will put it into their hearts to hate her, and help to destroy her, namely, when his word is fulfilled. God's word shall be fulfilled in spite of Satan, and all his instruments; yea, the wicked are then fulfilling God's word and will, that is, his permissive will, when they are going on in their wickedness. God hath put it in their hearts to fulfil his will.

This is so clear a description of Rome, that the church of Rome herself acknowledges it: for if that be the city built upon seven hills, the city that allures the inhabitants of the earth to idolatry; if her idolatries be a lively image of the old Pagan idolatries; if to her many kings have given their power and strength; and if she reigneth over the kings of the earth; their remains no doubt but that this great city is Rome:--that Rome is mystical Babylon, which has shed the blood of saints and martyrs without number, and must be destroyed for so doing; no pomp nor grandeur can exempt or shall save her from the revenging hand of God, and his just indignation.

Lord! hasten that desirable time.